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Co-founding member Mike Sullivan updates PG-er Chris Kies before the band’s show at the Ryman in Nashville, TN, on what has changed in his live setup since our 2013 episode that was shot while the band recorded Memorial.
Mike’s current main squeeze is a 1985 Gibson Les Paul Custom that he bought in his hometown of Chicago at Rock N Roll Vintage. Since acquiring the guitar, he dropped in new pickups—a high-wound Lollar Imperial in the bridge and a standard Lollar Imperial in the neck. Sullivan goes with D’Addario NYXL .011–.056 strings and tunes this one to a DADGAD variant—C#-G#-D-G-C-A#. When it comes to picks, he’s been loyal to the Dunlop Max-Grip Jazz III since he found some inside a box for an Andy Timmons pedal.
Sullivan’s backup is this ’81 Gibson Les Paul Custom (with the original pickups) and is reserved for songs in A-A-D-G-A-D tuning including a new song off 2016’s Guidance called “Afrika.”
For years, Sullivan has been a user of the mighty Verellen Meatsmoke, but for the band’s most recent run of European dates he opted for a Fender Super Bassman and hasn’t looked back. He relies on stompboxes for any dirt and drive, so he really enjoys the clean headroom his all-Fender lineup provides. It rests on and powers a standard Ampeg 8x10 cab.
Mike runs two Twin Reverbs—one on each side of the stage—that are dialed in completely different. One is for the FOH engineer and is brighter and more crisp whereas the Twin on Mike’s side is turned to a bassier sound because he loves to feel the low-end thump when he’s playing. Both amps on his side are completely stock, but Mike admits that the Twin on the opposite side of the stage is the loudest and most unique Twin he’s heard because the tonal character has been effected in such a way from all the experimental tube swapping. As he put it, “I was like Stevie Wonder milkin' a cow!”
Sullivan has always been a pedal junkie and his stomp station is always in flux, but this is how it looked before the Nashville show at the Ryman: DigiTech Drop, Korg Pitchblack Mini, Dunlop DVP3 Volume Pedal, Xotic AC Booster, Strymon Dig, Strymon Flint, Akai E2 Headrush Delay/Looper, DigiTech JamMan, Bogner Wessex, Bogner Burnley, Saturnworks Pedals two-knob mixer (used controlling the dry/wet signal from his Headrush), Source Audio Nemesis, Xotic EP Booster, MXR Micro Amp, ZVEX Fuzz Factory, and a MXR Phase 90.
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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's now the multimedia manager maintaining the website and social media accounts, coordinating Rig Rundown shoots (also hosting and/or filming them) and product demos, and occasionally writing an artist feature, all while still shooting/editing video for NAMM-show coverage. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies.
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