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The Devon Allman Project’s recent tour united two sons of rock royalty, with Duane Betts (above right), son of Dickey Betts, joining Allman onstage for some foreshadowing: Later this spring, they’re unveiling their new group, the Allman Betts Band, with a new album and a series of concerts.
During their gig at Nashville’s Exit/In, they played a mix of originals and classic page-turners from their families’ songbook, while preparing to write their own chapter. And, as PG senior editor Ted Drozdowski learned, they brought some cool and classic gear along for the ride. This rundown starts with some gorgeous vintage guitar straps used by Greg and Duane Allman.
This limited-run Gibson Robbie Krieger signature model SG is a recent acquisition. “When we do ‘Dreams’ and ‘One Way Out,’ I pick up this guitar,” says Allman, who makes it a point to play as least a few Allman Brothers tunes every night. It has ’57 Classic pickups and push-pull phase switching on the neck pickup.
This Linhof T-style was built by the late Kurt Linhof, who also sold Duane Allman his famed tobacco burst Les Paul back in the day. Linhof’s short run of handbuilt T-styles are based on ’50s classics, and bear the following legend on the back of their headstocks: “Pre-Nixon Electrics — Made on Earth.”
Among the guitars once owned by his father, Gregg Allman, on this tour, is this 1961 Fender Stratocaster, which might sport a ’50s neck. The pickups were replaced with an unknown boutique brand and an anodized gold-foil pickguard has been installed. “I didn’t realize how many guitars my dad had,” says Allman, “He had 43, and he left them all to me. And when I saw this one, I was like ‘You’re the man, pop!’ This is the one.” A photograph from the 1972 sessions for Brothers and Sisters shows Gregg Allman playing this Strat.
This Johnny Cash model Martin D-35—finished, of course, in black—was Devon’s dads’ No. 1 acoustic. If you saw Gregg Allman play “Melissa” and “Midnight Rider” during the last decade of his life, you’ve seen this guitar before.
Sitting in at a jam at Chicago’s House of Blues, Allman fell in love with the sound of the Victoria onstage. After using of the company’s 1x12 combos for five albums, he’s moved up to a Golden Melody 2x12.
And for you tone hunters, here are the settings on his Golden Melody.
Devon Allman’s pedalboard ain’t fancy, but it has all the boxes he needs to speak his sonic vocabulary. There’s an Analog Man King of Tone, a Waza Craft edition of the Boss DM-2, with a venerable Boss CE-2 chorus alongside, plus there’s an L.R. Baggs Align Active D.I. for his Johnny Cash signature Martin, and a Boss TU-3 tuner. The near-ubiquitous Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus runs the show.
Betts raided his dad’s guitar collection before he and Allman went to Muscle Shoals to cut their forthcoming album. His pop’s modded ES-335 joined them on their expedition. It’s a ’61 that Betts describes as “a beast,” and its toggle switch has been relocated next to the volume knob, for easy access to all the controls.
According to Betts, Norman Harris of Norman’s Rare Guitars says this Strat is a mid-’50s. The hardtail is Dickey’s, and it once had a stacked humbucker in the neck slot. Duane returned it to all single-coils, with a new neck pickup custom-made by Johnny Stachela—who also plays in the Allman Betts Band.
Here’s the prototype for Gibson’s 114-piece run of the Dickey Betts Les Paul goldtop, which was done in 2001, with aging by Tom Murphy. It’s got ’57 Classic humbuckers. Of course, the model is based on Betts’ own vintage ’57 goldtop. This one is Duane Betts’ main stage guitar and, for a while, it was his dad’s as well. You can hear it at the start of this Rig Rundown.
Duane Betts’ Super Reverb was a gift from another member of his extended royal family of rock: Derek Trucks. Only the right channel operates, to make it push harder.
Betts’ pedalboard is even more basic than Allman’s. There’s a Boss TU-3, an Analog Man King of Tone, and an MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay, plus a T-Rex Fuel Tank Classic that keeps it pumped.
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Ted is an award-winning journalist, musician, songwriter, producer, and film consultant. He has presented workshops on roots music history and on slide guitar in the U.S. and Europe. He is also the leader of Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen, a psychedelic blues-based group that has toured internationally, including such festivals as Bonnaroo, Memphis in May, and Cognac Blues Passions. He is a senior editor at Premier Guitar.
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