Gallery: Generation Axe Tour 2016

Generation Axe, the shred supergroup spawned from Steve Vai, toured coast to coast this year. At the Nashville stop, PG caught up with Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abasi for a candid look at the guitars, amps, and pedals they take on the road. Photo by Igor Vidyashev/Atlas Icons

Steve Vai’s No. 1 touring guitar is his 1993 Ibanez JEM7VWH, dubbed “Evo” for its DiMarzio Evolution pickups. After years of tour abuse, Evo is on its third neck—which features True Temperament frets. He’s also stuffed the trem cavity on the back with paper to reduce noise and feedback.

Vai’s beloved “Bo” is a mirrored Ibanez LACS JEM with a Lo-Pro Edge tremolo, blue LED fret dots, a Fernandes FSK-401 Sustainer system, and a red laser built into the headstock. This one-of-a-kind guitar suffered a broken neck in 2013 and then was stolen in 2015 but eventually found its way back to Vai.

Vai’s Custom Shop Ibanez features a Strat-style body and pickup configuration with a Sustainer in the neck pickup. Vai used this guitar a lot on the Experience Hendrix 2010 tour.

Tosin Abasi plays guitars with necks as big as ironing boards. This strangely beautiful 8-string axe is dubbed “Blur” and was built by luthier Rick Toone. Abasi pulls it out each night for the Animals as Leaders’ tune, “Physical Education.”

From behind, the Blur looks more like a chainsaw than an instrument.

Abasi’s main guitar is a prototype of his forthcoming Ibanez 8-string signature model, which features a multiscale neck and a single volume knob.

Yngwie Malmsteen rolls on tour with almost his entire collection of Marshall amps and cabs. Although impressive visually, Malmsteen only uses a pair of his signature YJM Marshall heads each night (one is 50 watts and the other is 100) and mics two cabs that are loaded with Celestion 75-watt speakers.

Yngwie leaves his vintage Fenders back home is his castle, surrounded by a shark-infested moat and guarded by trolls, but he tours with a few of his Fender signature Strats, which were inspired by those historic originals. This Strat features a C-shaped neck, nitro finish, Seymour Duncan STK-S10 pickups, and a scalloped maple fretboard strung with Fender Yngwie Malmsteen strings (.008–.046).

For a softer, gentler tone, Malmsteen plays his signature Ovation YM68-6P Viper acoustic-electric nylon string, which features a chambered mahogany body, 5-piece neck, and cedar top.

The guitars Zakk Wylde tours with are the same off-the-shelf models available through Wylde Audio. Typically, the Black Label Society frontman hangs on to one axe through an entire set and on this particular night, he chose this Warhammer model. It features a mahogany body, maple neck, ebony fretboard, Floyd Rose tremolo, and a set of Wylde’s signature EMG pickups.

Wylde also plays this Wylde Audio Viking V. It has nearly identical specs as the Warhammer, but with a pinstripe finish.

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Another tour favorite is this Wylde Audio Warhammer with a vertigo graphic over a flame maple top. All guitars are strung up with Dunlop Heavy Core strings (.010–.013–.017–.028–.038–.048).

After a lifetime of playing Marshall amps, Wylde designed his own amps by including his favorite properties and then tweaking it to his ear. Wylde tours with two Wylde Audio Master Model 100-watt heads—one white and one black.

Wylde Audio is currently in the process of designing some pedals, but until they’re finished, the metal lord populates his board with a variety of stomps from Dunlop. Using Monster Cable out of his guitar, he plugs into a Dunlop ZW45 Wah, Dunlop ZW357 Rotovibe, MXR Uni-Vibe, MXR ZW90 Wylde Phaser, MXR ZW44 Berzerker Overdrive, and an MXR Carbon Copy delay. He keeps a Keith McMillen Batt-O-Meter handy because he takes the old-school approach of loading 9V batteries into each pedal.

Nuno Bettencourt’s No. 1 is this Washburn N4 that’s seen tons of gigs with everyone from Extreme to Rihanna. It features a Bill Lawrence L-500 in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan ’59 in the neck.

Bettencourt’s pedalboard is about as simple as it gets: Just a cable into Boss TU-3 tuner, a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, a Boss OC-3 Super Octave, and a Boss GT-8 Guitar Effects Processor.