Before his last show of 2017, Devin Townsend met with Premier Guitar’s John Bohlinger backstage at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works to go through his live setup. For a guy known for layering textures of tones and effects, Townsend’s signal path is surprisingly streamlined.
Devin Townsend tours with two prototypes of his signature Framus Stormbender. These Stormbenders feature an ebony fretboard, mahogany body, maple neck, 25.5” scale, and are tricked out with internal LEDs, Townsend’s signature Fishman Transcendence pickups, and an Evertune bridge.
Devin has one of them is tuned to open C, while the other is in open B. Both are rocking D’Addario XL .010–.052 strings and he hammers away with Dunlop Triangle .73 mm picks.
Devin Townsend tours with two Line 6 G90 wireless systems that live in a rack with a Furman Pl-Pro, a Radial JX44, a Radial SW8 Mk2 Auto Switcher, and two Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ units (one is a backup).
All MIDI switching is done remotely, although Devin can tweak effects on the fly with this Fractal Audio Systems MFC-101 Mark III controller and a Dunlop Volume X expression pedal. There are no speakers on stage, just an in-ear mix of a massive guitar tone.
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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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