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Rig Rundown: AC/DC

September 07, 2016

Intro — Premier Guitar’s Chris Kies traveled south to hang with AC/DC techs Trace Foster (above) and Greg Howard before their show at Atlanta’s Phillips Arena. As you watch this video, you’ll slowly understand why both techs claim that this is both the easiest gig (because of the light load of equipment) and the hardest gig (no pedals or effects to hide behind) they’ve ever had.

If things go smoothly, Angus will only use this 1967 Gibson SG during the entire show. All of the volume and tone pots have been changed several times because he sweats so much causing everything to deteriorate and corrode. The pickups have been swapped out with custom-wound, wax-potted Seymour Duncan humbuckers that have a resistance of 7.8k. All of Angus’ guitars use Ernie Ball Slinky (.009-.042) strings and he rocks with Fender Extra Heavy picks.

His backup is a 1970 SG Custom that he used on the Back in Black world tour during the early ’80s. The guitar originally had a natural walnut finish, was loaded with three humbuckers, and had a Maestro vibrato.

The backup to the backup is a Gibson Custom Brian Ray ’63 SG that was built to Angus’ specs. They changed the neck profile, added custom Seymour Duncan humbuckers, and removed the Bigsby. Ray gifted the guitarist to Angus because he’s a huge AC/DC fan.

Trace Foster calls this Kikusui PCR4000M Power Supply a secret weapon because it allows him to run Angus’ amps at 236V—a slightly higher power rating than JCM800 creator Mike Hill suggests (234V)—because the recommended juice gave him too spongy of a tone.

Angus’ rack consists of Shure Axient wireless units and a custom-built Mike Hill amp switcher.

Angus has been a longtime wireless user and he started with the Schaffer-Vega Diversity System in the late ’70s. The original units built by Ken Schaffer included a preamp to boost the signal loss from the wireless creating a slight boost or coloration of the tone that pleased Angus. This is the first tour that he’s using the new Schaffer Replica Tower that was recreated by AC/DC fanatic Fil Olivieri who owns and operates SoloDallas. Trace describes its impact as “holding everything together since we’re running nine different amps and sending signals everywhere. We’re able to dial in just a touch of fizz to give the sustain Angus wants and needs.” The only other item in his rack is a Rocktron Hush pedal that helps keep the cranked amps under control.

For this “small” AC/DC show (normally the band packs stadiums), Angus was using nine 100-watt Super Lead Marshall heads. About four or five years ago the amps were modded with a master volume control to get a bit more preamp gain. The band tours with Simon Murton, a full-time amp tech, who spends every day in his workshop swapping tubes and doing maintenance because they push the heads so hot that they generally only play three to five gigs before visiting his workbench.

All the amps are dialed in with very similar settings to this Marshall head.

Angus’ nine Marshall heads go out to an array of Marshall 4x12 cabinets that are loaded with Celestion 25-watt Greenback speakers. FOH mics one cab onstage and mixes that with a 2x12 iso cabinet that sits beneath the stage.

After Malcolm retired in 2014, the Young brothers filled the vacancy by keeping it in the family and welcomed nephew Stevie Young into the band. To keep the sound as consistent as possible, Malcolm essentially loaned Stevie his entire live rig including this 1963 Gretsch G6131 Jet Firebird. This instrument was Malcolm’s No. 2, but for the Rock or Bust tour it has been Stevie’s go-to. This one still has the original bridge Filter’tron and Burns tremolo. All of Stevie’s guitars are equipped with D’Addario (.012-.056) strings with a wound G.

Stevie’s backup is a generous gift from Uncle Malcolm. This 1963 Gretsch G6131 Jet Firebird was originally a left-handed model. Stevie used this guy quite a bit in his band Starfighters.

Here is what looks to be another one of Malcolm’s old Gretsch Jet Firebirds (without the Burns tremolo), but it’s actually a custom-made copy built by Jaydee Custom Guitars in the U.K. who has done work for brother Angus and Tony Iommi.

Straight from the Gretsch Custom Shop is this Jet Firebird that was handcrafted by Masterbuilder Stephen Stern.

From the guitar, the first thing the signal hits is this Mooer Pure Boost, which is only used on “T.N.T.” to fatten up Stevie’s sound during his intro rhythm part. The pedal is engaged, but the actual boost knob is turned all the way down.

All of the amps used by Stevie are from Uncle Malcolm. Here are amps one through three, which include a 1971 Marshall Super Bass (top—Malcolm’s No. 1 amp), a 100-watt 1966 JTM45 (middle), and a 1976 Super Bass. Unlike Angus’ Marshalls, none of these have a master-volume mod and these amps power six Marshall 4x12 cabinets that are loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.

The second rack of amps is home to a 100-watt 1967 Marshall JTM45 (middle) that powers an iso cab, a 1967 Marshall “Black Flag” Super Lead (bottom), and the lone spare for this gig was a 100-watt 1966 JTM45 head (top).

Here is a closer look at the amp settings dialed up on Malcolm’s 1971 Super Bass that powers the FOH sound.

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Chris Kies has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. He maintains the website and social media, occasionally writes an artist feature, regularly hosts Rig Rundowns, and shoots/edits video for NAMM show coverage. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies.

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