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In a gritty, sticky-floored club called The End in midtown Nashville, PG hung with William Keegan, Danny Bengston (above left), and Roland Cosio of together PANGEA as they van their way across America, bringing brash rock to the masses. The band proves that rigs cobbled together through Craigslist can take you anywhere.
William Keegan is an optimist. He intrepidly embarks on international tours with no backups, just this ’94 Fender Strat that’s loaded with Texas Special pickups. He keeps this lonely axe strung with Ernie Ball Super Slinkys and prays that he does not break a string.
Keegan runs a vintage Music Man Sixty-Five Reverb. Although this amp is close to 40 years old, it sounds great and was a bargain. The Music Man runs into a Fender 4x12 cab with speakers of unknown origin.
Keegan runs a Live Wire cable from his strat to a TC Electronic PolyTune. From there, the signal hits a TC Electronic Spark Mini Boost, an Electro-Harmonix Micro POG and a Boss DD-6 Digital Delay.
A longtime Fender fan, Bengston currently tours with a 2017 Fender P bass.
When not on the P, Bengston plays this 2015 Rickenbacker 4003 Mapleglo bass he purchased in Belgium last year. Both basses are strung with Ernie Ball Cobalt flatwound strings and he plays with .88 mm nylon picks.
Bengston retired his vintage Music Man amp in favor of a bulletproof 1978 Peavey Mark III bass head that he runs into Fender 4x10 and Peavey 1x15 cabs.
Bengston plugs his bass into a Boss TU-3 tune and a Bass Big Muff by Electro-Harmonix.
Cosio’s long time No. 1 is this 2001 Fender Stratocaster that was upgraded with Tex Mex pickups.
His backup is this 1979 American Fender Lead II, with X1 single-coil pickups. Both guitars are strung with Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky Nickle Wound (.009–.046) string. Cosio plays with a Dunlop Tortex .60 mm pick.
Like his bandmates, Cosio digs vintage Music Man amps. He runs a 1980 Music Man HD150 head into the speakers of a ’70s Peavey Classic 2x12 Combo with Vintage 30 Celestion speakers. If the Music Man dies, the Peavey Classic acts as the backup.
Cosio runs a cable from his Fender to a Boss TU-3 tuner, a Boss Tremolo TR-2, Behringer Chorus Space-D, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano, EHX LPB-1 Boost, Ibanez TS9DX Turbo Tube Screamer, and a very cool, early 1970s Electro-Harmonix Big Muff.
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John Bohlinger is a Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist best known for leading the band on NBC's Nashville Star, serving as music director for the CMT Awards and specials on PBS and GAC, and of course for his appearances in PG Rig Rundown, Review Demo, Axes & Artifacts, and What Bohlinger Plays videos.
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