Guitarist and frontwoman Marissa Paternoster and her longtime low-end rumbling companion, “King” Mike Abbate (above left), took some time before their gig at Nashville’s The End to breeze through their minimalist (and gnarly) setups that are low on fuss and high on volume.
Guitarist and bandleader Marissa Paternoster has played G&L S-500s since she can remember. She got her first S-500 (above) as a gift from her father when she first started playing guitar. She’s not much for tinkering because she likes these models as they are, but had a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails put in the bridge. However, she admits to not liking the sound of the pickup and generally plays in the middle position.
Marissa Paternoster’s other S-500 was also a gift, given directly to her by G&L. Nothing is updated on this 6-string, but during the show before Nashville, she cracked the pickguard while thrashing onstage. Both guitars are strung with GHS Boomers (.009–.042)—Paternoster says her little hands can’t bend thick strings—and she shreds with Dunlop Tortex picks (.88 mm).
“We’re loud as fuck,” declared Marissa Paternoster in an interview with PG in 2016, and much of that credit is to the above ’70s Sunn Concert Lead head that she’s used live and on most of the band’s records.
Marissa Paternoster’s Concert Lead feeds a Sunn 212LH cab that has a funky, recessed construction.
Marissa Paternoster’s pedal playground starts with a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner and her noisemakers include an EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander, MXR Phase 90, Fulltone OCD, Earthbound Audio Supercollider, EarthQuaker Devices Black Eye, and a Boss DD-6 Digital Delay. Everything rests on a SKB PS-45 board and is juiced up thanks to the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus.
Bassist “King” Mike Abbate has had a longtime love affair with this Rickenbacker 4003. No mods have been done to the bass other than the popsicle stick that keeps the neck pickup in its place.
Keeping things tonally (and visually) comparable, “King” Mike Abbate rolls with a lawsuit-era Hondo II bass. Both 4-strings are laced up with GHS Bass Boomers (.045–.105) and Abbate thumps around with Dunlop Tortex picks (.73 mm).
To bring the low-end fire and fury, “King” Mike Abbate rocks through this Acoustic Model 220 that roars through a matching Acoustic 2x15 cab. (No pedals necessary to rock this hard.)
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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 maintains the website and social media, occasionally writes an artist feature, regularly hosts Rig Rundowns, and shoots/edits video for NAMM show coverage. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies.
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