Composer/producer/bassist Michael League and guitarist Mark Lettieri (above left) of Grammy-winning jazz-fusion group Snarky Puppy met PG before their slamming, sold-out show at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works and took us through their hard-grooving gear.
Michael League has a cache of vintage and modern basses at home, but for touring, he gets it done with his stock 1959 Fender Precision. League strings the P with Dunlop Medium Flatwound strings.
Michael League worked with Markbass to release his own signature bass head, the Markbass Casa. Regrettably, League’s personal Markbass Casa amp had not yet returned from NAMM, leaving him to run his backup, a Markbass Little Mark Tube 800. League runs his amp into a Markbass 4x10 and a 4x8 cabinet.
Here’s a shot of Michael League’s forthcoming sig bass head from Markbass.
Michael League runs a MXR Cable from his P bass into a TC Electronic PolyTune Mini. From there, the signal hits a Boss OC-3 Super Octave, a MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, and a MXR Carbon Copy analog delay. A MXR DC Brick supplies the power. The pedals are connected by MXR cables and live on a modified cutting board.
Mark Lettieri’s main guitar is a Don Grosh NOS Retro model that features a swamp ash body, maple neck, Grosh ‘60s Fat single-coils and a Small Block 327 humbucker. The Grosh is strung with Dunlop nickel-wound strings (.0095–.044) and plucked with heavy Dunlop celluloid picks.
The backup that Mark Lettieri brought on this run is a Nash TK-54 with a swamp ash body, maple neck, a Lollar Low Wind Imperial humbucker and a Lollar Special T single-coil.
The guitarists of Snarky Puppy keep a stash of Supro amps on hand for various tours. At this gig, Mark Lettieri used a Supro Statesman into a matching Supro 2x12 cabinet.
Mark Lettieri runs a Mogami cable from his guitar to an RAF Mirage compressor. From there, the signal hits a Keeley Monterey, his J. Rockett Audio Mark Lettieri signature MeLody overdrive, a J. Rockett Audio Guthrie Trapp signature overdrive, a MXR EVH Phase 90, an Ernie Ball volume pedal, a Line 6 M5 modded by JVH3, an Empress Tremolo, a TC Electronic Nova Delay, and a TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 reverb. A Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+ provides the power. A hodgepodge of Lava, Planet Waves, and MXR cables connect the pedals, while a Supro cable sends the signal back to the amp.
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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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