PG’s Perry Bean met with boundary-pushing guitarists Kerry McCoy (left) and Shiv Mehra (far left) of Deafheaven during their stop in Nashville. McCoy and Shiv showed their atypical guitars, workhorse pedalboards, and loud tube-driven amps.
Kerry McCoy tours with two Dunable guitars. His No. 1 is this Moonflower model featuring a walnut body and neck, wenge fretboard with flame maple binding, Dunable Grizzly pickups, Grover Sta-Tite tuners, and a dive-bombing Kahler bridge. This is a body shape/style that Intronaut guitarist/luthier Sacha Dunable normally doesn’t build, but he asked Sacha to build his version of Kerry’s rare blue Les Paul that he used to favor.
McCoy's sinister Dunable V features a mahogany neck and body, ebony fretboard, Dunable Slugwolf pickups, a momentary kill button, Schaller vibrato bridge, and Grover keystone tuners. Both Dunables are strung with D'Addario NYXL .010s and remain in either standard tuning or dropped D.
Both McCoy and Mehra go loud and proud by each using a Peavey 6505 head into a Peavey 430B 412 cab.
McCoy’s pedalboard starts with an Ernie Ball VP Jr. volume pedal (with the tuner out feeding a Boss TU-3), and then goes into an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, and a Boss RE-20 Space Echo. Off to the side sits an EarthQuaker Devices Grand Orbiter and a Boss RV-6 Reverb. The DigiTech JamMan looper runs into a Radial SB-2 DI for sampled spacy interludes.
Shiv plays a Dunable Yeti with a mahogany neck and body, ebony fretboard, brushed aluminum pickguard and hardware, and Gibson Burstbucker pickups. Shiv strings it with D'Addario NYXL .011s, tuned to either standard tuning or dropped D.
Shiv plugs his Dunable into a TC Electronic PolyTune which sends the signal to an Electro-Harmonix Mel9, a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, Boss DD-7 Delay, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano, and an Electro-Harmonix Freeze. Out of sight sits a Roland SP-404 Sampler for any interludes he needs to trigger.
Special thanks to day-to-day manager Dan Nakhoul for all his help.
Click to subscribe to our monthly Rig Rundown podcast:
Perry Bean cut his teeth touring and playing in punk rock and hardcore bands, before he got his start in film. He worked his way up from lowly production assistant to become a producer, art director, and most recently, a music video director nominated for ACM, CMT, and CMA awards. Being Premier Guitar's Chief Videographer was a perfect fit for him, combining his two favorite things—guitars and cameras. Perry doesn't have free time, but his massive dog Beef pays his rent by being Perry's intern.
On PremierGuitar.com, "Sponsored Content" refers to articles, videos, or audio recordings that are produced or curated by an advertiser but that Premier Guitar is happy to share alongside our own editorial content due to the Sponsored Content’s educational, musical, or entertainment value. Sponsored Content is clearly labeled everywhere it appears, and Premier Guitar's editorial department has no involvement in its creation.
