Brad Whitford's Echopark Downtowner Used on Aerosmith's new album, this Downtowner is made with old wood recycled from furniture and other products and has a very beefy neck. The pickups are PAF-style Amalfitanos.
Brad Whitford's Fender Telecaster Whitford's Tele is completely stock, he says, "This thing just rocks."
Tom Hamilton's Duesenberg Starplayer Bass This semi-hollow bass is strung with flatwounds for a "plunky" Hofner-style sound in a highly playable package. He uses it on some of the older, bluesy songs.
Joe Perry's Fender Telecaster with B-Bender This Tele is equipped with a B-Bender and a Bartolini Rail pickup in the bridge.
Joe Perry's Dan Armstrong Perry is also known to play a Lucite Dan Armstrong guitar. The one he takes on the road isn't one of his originals (those stay at home). This particular one has a custom-made pickup and is tuned to open A, "Keith Richards-style", utilizing just the five top strings, but Perry adds a bass string at the low A. He uses it for "Draw the Line".
Brad Whitford's Fender Custom Shop '62 Reissue Strat This Strat is stocked with DiMarzio Area 61 noiseless pickups and is used interchangeably with Whitford's Eric Johnson Strat.
Brad Whitford's Epiphone Inspired By Lennon Casino Whitford used this Lennon tribute Epiphone Casino extensively in the studio for both Aerosmith's and Joe Bonamassa's albums. Live, he uses it for "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing", because it cuts through the mix. The guitar is completely stock and he travels with a spare sunburst Casino as well.
Joe Perry's Marshall Plexi The other of Perry's Plexis sits atop the active cabinets for both heads. The top cabinet has four 12" Vintage 30s, while the bottom cab has four 25-watt speakers for a grittier sound.
Joe Perry's Marshall JTM45 Reissues Perry has a trio of Marshall JTM45 reissues, two are backup. He uses the amp for a siren sound he achieves with a special pedal, but they're also set up to run the whole rig if something goes wrong. The Jet City JCA20 was used extensively on Aerosmith's new record, but on the road it's used exclusively for his talk box. Perry says that it's the best sounding talk box amp he's encountered.
Brad Whitford's Amps The second PRS amp is an HXDA, which is designed for a Duane Allman tone and is run through the second 4x12 onstage. Also part of the tonal equation is the Fender Twin Reverb Custom 15. It's been customized to run a single 15" Warehouse speaker which is housed in a custom cabinet. He prefers the Fender for its clean sound with clear low end.
Tom Hamilton's G&L Blue Sparkle ASAT Bass Tom's ASAT basses are basically stock with the active electronics package, but the pickup select, series/parallel, EQ off/on, and treble boost switches are set and removed from the body to avoid hitting them. The basses are set with both pickups set parallel, EQ active, and no boost.
Joe Perry's Ernie Ball/Music Man 6-String Bass Perry uses this short-scale, 6-string bass with a Floyd Rose tremolo for "Back in the Saddle". He plays lead on the guitar, and it's tuned a step down and strung with .045 -.105 strings.
Joe Perry's Amps Guitar tech Trace Foster wasn't exaggerating when he told us that Perry has "20 feet of amps." All of them are on, but not all are used for live sound. Mic'd cabinets feed the live sound, while un-mic'd cabs are used for stage sound.
Brad Whitford's Amps Whitford, founder of 3 Monkeys Amplification, travels with an impressive stack of his own amps. However, the core of his tone is the PRS amp in the center. It is one of two of Paul Reed Smith's personal favorite amps that was loaned to Whitford for this tour. Whitford says it has a "dream Marshall" type of sound and calls it his "holy grail amp". The PRS is ran through one of the 412s, while the other 412 is powered by a second PRS amp behind the stack.
Brad Whitford's Fender Eric Johnson Signature Strat Whitford uses the first version of Fender's EJ Strat, with DiMarzio Area 61 noiseless pickups. He says that it is, "one of the best Strats that they've done in a long time."
Tom Hamilton's F Bass BN Fretted Series Built in Hamilton, Ontario, Mullen cites this as, "an amazingly well-rounded bass." It has two F Bass stacked single-coil/hum-cancelling pickups with separate volume controls and passive or active modes. The bass is Tom's go-to for anything that needs a wide frequency range due to its unique electronics.
Brad Whitford's Gibson Custom Shop Tom Murphy Reissue Les Pauls This trio of vintage reissue Les Pauls were made by the Gibson Custom Shop's Tom Murphy. Whitford calls Murphy's work "hard to beat." The goldtop has WCR Godwood and Fillmore pickups in it.
Joe Perry's Fender Custom Shop Strat This Strat has a few modifications: a shaved-down neck heel and noiseless pickups. Foster says it cuts through well.
Tom Hamilton's Pedals In Tom's rack is the previously mentioned Mojo Hand Rook, as well as a Soundblox Pro Multiwave Bass Distortion for "the really over-the-top stuff," and TC Electronic Stereo Chorus+ Pitch Modulator & Flanger for chorus.
Joe Perry's Marshall Plexi Perry uses two Marshall Plexis for his main sound, a '69 with KT66 tubes and a '70 with EL84s. He switches between the two for main sound and backup from night to night. The amps are set just at the point of breaking up so all of the dirt can be achieved through the guitars and pedals.
Joe Perry's Gibson "Billie" Guitar One of Joe Perry's most recognizable instruments is this modified Lucille model with a picture of his wife, Billie, airbrushed on the front and back by John Douglas. Perry had the guitar custom built by Gibson without F-holes and only one volume and tone knob. Tech Trace Foster told us that the guitar, "Looks really cool but sounds good as well."
Joe Perry's Fender Custom Shop Jeff Beck Esquire Replica Perry uses one of Fender's painstaking recreations, replicated down to each scratch and dent, from Beck's original Esquire. He plays it on songs like "Chip Away the Stone" and "Last Child". Used primarily for rhythm, the guitar is strung with .010s.
Joe Perry's Rack Pedals In the rack drawer is a TC Electronic Vortex flanger set mildly for a bit of texture, a TC Electronic Flashback delay set for long delays, an MXR Carbon Copy delay, a TC Electronic Hall of Fame reverb, a Duesenberg Gold Boost set to about 15dB, an Option 5 Destination Bump Boost set to about 20 dB, and a Klon Centaur. Perry prefers boost effects to overdrive or distortion, but his Centaur is a core part of his tone that he's relied on for about 10 years. Tech Trace Foster says Perry uses the pedals differently every night, depending upon how they feel. He explains, "He likes to be inspired. I have about 200 pedals out with me."
Joe Perry's Budda Verbmaster This custom-built, EL84-based combo has a single 15" speaker and the sound goes through Perry's wedges. The Friedman head is a spare.
Joe Perry's Fender Custom Shop Telecaster This Tele came from the Custom Shop with an oddball vintage Gretsch pickup in the neck. It's tuned to all Es and Bs for the intro to "No More, No More." He switches to a standard-tuned guitar for the solo.
Brad Whitford's Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster Though not a true Mary Kay reissue, this Strat is one of a few that were made in the color by the Fender Custom Shop prior to the reissue. It also has DiMarzio Area 61 pickups.
Tom Hamilton's G&L Gold Sparkle ASAT Bass Tom's ASAT basses are basically stock with the active electronics package, but the pickup select, series/parallel, EQ off/on, and treble boost switches are set and removed from the body to avoid hitting them. The basses are set with both pickups set parallel, EQ active, and no boost.
Joe Perry's Gibson Joe Perry Signature Les Paul Prototype The third guitar built for Perry by Gibson, this model features a Les Paul Axcess-style body with a deep neck heel carve and thinner profile for weight relief, and only a volume control for the single pickup. Foster said it is still unknown whether it would become a production model.
Tom Hamilton's G&L ASAT Bass Tom's ASAT basses are basically stock with the active electronics package, but the pickup select, series/parallel, EQ off/on, and treble boost switches are set and removed from the body to avoid hitting them. The basses are set with both pickups set parallel, EQ active, and no boost.
Joe Perry's Echopark Ghetto Bird Perry digs this new guitar for its looks as well as a fat neck profile, which he prefers. It has a P-90 and humbucker combo with just volume and tone controls.
Joe Perry's Pedalboard Perry uses a handful of pedals at the front of his stage, but most are in his rack controlled by the '90s Bradshaw switcher to the left of his board. The "Talk" button on his switcher disables all of the amps, leaving only the talk box functioning. At the top right is Perry's Siren pedal, built by Rob Lowry of Boston, Massachusetts. It functions as a police siren and is used with the Boss DD-7 set to long delays. He uses a Dunlop Jimmy Hendrix Cry Baby and an original DigiTech Whammy I. The Electro-Harmonix POG is modified by Rob to work with the Ernie Ball VP JR, which functions as a low-pass filter to roll the POG in and out.
Brad Whitford's Fender XII This 1967 12-string belongs to Whitford's tech, Marco, and has yet to see action onstage, but Whitford has plans to incorporate it into the set for "Crying," which he originally recorded on a 12-string.
Tom Hamilton's Sadowsky Sunburst 5-String Tom uses both this 5-string, and a Tele-style Sadowsky that have been part of his stable for years. Tech Aidan Mullen says, "Roger Sadowsky makes some of the best instruments available. The blond Tele has been his 'crutch' for a long time."
Tom Hamilton's Gallein-Krueger Stacks Hamilton uses Gallien Krueger Fusion 550 heads, after spending three weeks in the studio in 2010 testing different amps. He uses GK cabs loaded with CK Neodinium drivers for a light weight and punch sound. One head is hooked up to two 410 cabs, another head powers a bass 412, and another is set up with a 412 loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers running a Mojo Hand Rook ovedrive that's always on for a grindy, "bass nasty" sound, like a overdriven Marshall but with low end meat.
Joe Perry's Friedman Dirty Shirley The Friedman head has 5881 tubes (Perry likes to have a little of every flavor at his disposal) and powers a cabinet with a 15" speaker.
Joe Perry's BC Rich Bich 10 Another iconic guitar for Perry, this particular version of the 10-string Bich is covered in Swarovski crystals. The guitar is tuned to Drop D, and the D, G, B, and E strings are in unison, but with different gauges for a slightly varied sound. The extra switches and electronics are bypassed, so Perry uses just the tone and volume controls.
Joe Perry's Rack Perry's rack has four Shure ULDX wireless units that are running all the time to facilitate guitar changes. Foster calls the units the closest thing to a cable he's ever heard. The signal from the amps splits to the RJM Effects Gizmo on one side and the Digidesign Eleven Rack on the other, which is set to a Vox tone and just used for monitoring the sound pre-effects. Foster has a Bradshaw switching system above the rack as well, and watches Perry to see when he needs to control his effects throughout the night.
Joe Perry's Echopark Guitars Blue Rose This semi-hollow T-style from Echopark Guitars features a reverse trem and was used extensively on Aerosmith's new album. The guitar was partially filled to combat feedback for live playing.
Brad Whitford's Pedalboard Whitford's pedalboard is set up with a trio of Voodoo Lab pedal switchers with four loops each, which feed the Pedal Commander with preset pedal combinations. On the board is a Boss TU-2 Tuner, Framptone amp selector (though all three amps are always on), Mojo Hand Rook (which recently replaced Whitford's Klon Centaur on his board), Pigtronix Philosopher's Rock (used as a sustainer), Pigtronix Fat Boost, Xotic EP Booster, BK Butler Tube Driver (new issue), Eventide TimeFactor, Fulltone wah, Pigtronix Disnortion (one of Whitford's go-to effects he calls "Hendrix in a box"), TC Electronic VPD1 Vintage Pre-Drive, two TC Electronic Flashback delays (set similarly while he experiments with different sounds), TC Electronic Vortex flanger, TC Electronic Corona Chorus, TC Electronic Hall of Fame reverb, and Fulltone Supa-Trem. The Fender combos on each side are used as monitors.
Joe Perry's Marshall Bluesbreaker and Majors Beneath the U.S. flag is a 1965 Marshall Bluesbreaker with 5881 tubes and four 10" speakers. Foster says it cuts well so they use it if he's not cutting through on a given night. The Marshall Majors beneath it are two 1970 200-watt heads with KT88 tubes. He uses the top one and keeps the bottom as a spare. They find the amp to be a little dark, so it's used in conjunction with an MXR 10-Band EQ to boost the 125 and 1K frequencies.
Tom Hamilton's Eastwood Airline Map Bass distinctive Airline Map bass is Tom's dressing room warmup instrument.
Click here to watch our video Rig Rundowns of Joe and Brad's gear!
Rebecca Dirks graduated from the University of Iowa with degrees in journalism and art, and joined Premier Guitar as an intern in 2007. She lives in the Iowa City area with her husband, two giant dogs, and more cats than are appropriate to mention. When not petsitting, she enjoys challenging herself in the kitchen, watching the Packers dominate, and discovering new music or rediscovering old favorites.
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