
Diaries of the Mad Axemen: relive the Woodshed Chronicles of the guitars designed for and played by Randy Rhoads.
As Randy dazzled the guitar community with his playing, many guitarists remained curious about the tools of his trade. Randy's main guitar was a GibsonĀ Les Paul Custom, which was flanked by two unique V-shaped guitars. While much has been written about these guitars, most observations have simply scratched the surface. With the help of luthiers Karl Sandoval and Grover Jackson, we revisit these very special guitars of Randy Rhoads.
Randy Rhoads began his performing career playing a cream-colored Gibson Les Paul Custom. His Quiet Riot bandmates had acquired it collectively for Randy's sole use in the late seventies. Initially, Randy thought it was made in 1963, but would later discover it was actually made in 1972. This revelation came from John "JT" Thomas, an avid Gibson collector and guitarist for the British band Budgie, who opened during Rhoads' first European tour with Ozzy. The Les Paul was Randy's main guitar throughout his career and he used it for a majority of his recordings and performances with Osbourne.
The Les Paul Custom, per 1972 spec, had a four-piece body: two layers of mahogany with a thin layer of maple in the middle and a carved maple top. It was white when new, but the nitrocellulose lacquer yellowed over time. It was also heavier than fifties era Les Paul Customs. Randy made only a few cosmetic alterations to the guitar, replacing the brass toggle switchplate and substituting the Grover tuning machines with Schallers. The most noticeable marking on this guitar was Randy's name engraved on the pickguard. Pickups during this era of construction were Gibson-produced "T-Buckers," named for the T-shaped tool marking made in the forward bobbin of the pickup.
An Idea for a New Guitar
Before joining up with Ozzy Osbourne for Blizzard of Ozz, Randy was still slugging it out on the L.A. scene, playing shows with Quiet Riot. In 1979, Randy found himself gigging with another local guitarist he admired from the band Xciter, George Lynch, who would later come to fame in Dokken. In those days, the two often conversed about technique, amps and, of course, guitars. One particular evening, Lynch showed up with a new single-pickup V-shaped guitar. Randy was excited to see it and asked to check it out. The guitar had a flat radius fretboard and a tremolo bar on the body, something uncommon on V-shaped guitars at the time. To Randy, it was like two worlds collidingāa Gibson-inspired shape with a Fender-made mechanism. Lynch had had the guitar custom-made by a local luthier named Karl Sandoval. As Randy was fascinated by the design of this guitar, George urged him to give Karl a call.
Karl Sandoval began his career as a luthier while playing guitar in the band Smokehouse. He was on the same scene that included many of Randy Rhoads's contemporaries, like Eddie Van Halen and George Lynch. He built relationships with other guitar players on the basis of his guitar playing and the amazing guitars he made for himself. He had been working with Wayne Charvel at the Charvel guitar shop when he received a call from the Quiet Riot guitarist. He recalls that first conversation with Rhoads, saying, "I remember Randy giving me a call, telling me that he was backstage with George doing a show and got to play the guitar I made for George."
On his first visit with Sandoval, Randy discussed ideas for his own version of what he had seen on George Lynch's V. That was July 3, 1979.
"I can remember that day," Sandoval says, "walking around in my garage discussing this guitar ... talking about the headstock, the color, the bowtie inlay on the neck. He wanted the Les Paul's double humbuckers and the Fender Strat tremolo. He also asked about putting the toggle switch and the output jack on the upper wing." Randy also mentioned that he did not want a bolt-on neck because he wanted the guitar to have the playability of a Gibson.
Sandoval with Rhoads'' in-progress first V.
As Sandoval tells the story, "I talked with Randy about coming up with something different in a guitar, a different look, saying, 'Let's come up with a different headstock, a different color, come up with an identity.' And then he started to tell me, 'V body with polka dots' ...honestly, I thought that was hideous but then I just kinda used my imagination." Randy wanted 3/4" dots painted all over the guitar, and to give it perspective, he didn't want them randomly placed on the guitar.
"I took his ideas and I put them all together," Sandoval continues. "I was real good at putting guitars together in my head. I could visualize the guitar in my head before it's even started. He didn't want a bolt-on, so the neck is set into the body."
Building a New V
The first step in building this guitar was finding a Danelectro neck. Sandoval had become accustomed to using these necks, and they were a central feature of his guitars, but he still had to hunt one down: "I would go to swap meets and pawn shops a lot. Back in the day, I was picking up Silvertones and Danelectros for like 15 to 25 bucks. I couldn't even get necks from wholesalers for that price! Basically I took them off the guitars and I ended up with a lot of guitar bodies and no necks."
Contrary to popular belief, these necks did have truss rods. As Sandoval describes them, "It's two I-beam, non-adjustable truss rods glued into the neck before the fretboard is glued on. If you look at the end of these necks, you'll see two slots. That's where these on-edge I-beam truss rods are. It's like an inch-thick steel that will not bend. And it makes a maple neck very heavy. I think that's what contributed to the sound of Randy's guitar. There's a lot of metal there."
Because Randy wanted a Gibson sound, the two-piece body was constructed out of mahogany. But unlike a traditional Gibson-made Flying V, this body had to be much thicker to accommodate the depth needed for the Fender tremolo bridge sustain block.
"I had to tell him that it's going to be thick because 1 3/4" is the size of the block on the bridge," says Sandoval. "A Strat body is anywhere from 1 5/8" to 1 3/4". An original Gibson Flying V isn't that thick." Control cavities would be placed on the upper wing for the pickup selector switch and on the outside edge of the upper wing for the output jack. Having cut the body out, the next procedure was attaching the Danelectro neck to it.
Sandoval hit upon a unique way to position the neck and glue it to the body that incorporated the surrounding support: "I came up with a very simple neck pocket glue-in system. I have an extension of the neck underneath the existing neck where the neck pocket is and you shape the body around the neck. There's actually more wood that extends out and supports the neck. It's a square neck going into a square neck pocket, but you've got a lot of surface area when you clamp it with wood glue. It will never break."
Routing for the pickups presented a minor problem because the string spacing of the Gibson-style bridge position pickup was narrower than the width of the Fender tremolo bridge. As Sandoval states, "It's a good thing that you have a flux circle magnetic field underneath the strings." The pickups used on this guitar were a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge position, and a PAF in the neck position. The electronics were similar to Gibson specs: two volume and two tone controls located on the bottom wing of the guitar.
When Randy and Karl drew up the design of this guitar, they also came up with a headstock design that was shaped like a harpoon or an arrowhead. Using the existing Danelectro headstock, Sandoval attached wood to either side, creating a paddle that the new shape could be drawn onto.
"I left the existing headstock on and doweled the sides to graft on pieces of wood," explains Sandoval. "Then the correct shape was cut out."
Rhoads with his Sandoval V.
Photo by David Plastik
When Randy and Karl drew up the design of this guitar, they also came up with a headstock design that was shaped like a harpoon or an arrowhead. Using the existing Danelectro headstock, Sandoval attached wood to either side, creating a paddle that the new shape could be drawn onto."I left the existing headstock on and doweled the sides to graft on pieces of wood," explains Sandoval. "Then the correct shape was cut out."
The outcome of these elements was a Flying V shaped guitar made by Karl Sandoval but based on Randy Rhoads's ideas. The guitar had a scale length of 25 1/2", a 17" radius neck, and was finished in nitrocellulose lacquer. Although it is not widely known, Randy actually broke the headstock off the guitar only three weeks after it was built.
"He was devastated," Sandoval remarks. "I remember that call." As Randy described it, he was standing with the guitar when the strap came loose. The guitar fell and crashed to the floor, neck first. When Randy brought the guitar back to Sandoval, it wasn't as bad as it looked, but it was still a major wreck. "When the neck broke," he remembers, "it shattered down the middle. It blew out ... I saw multiple fibers of the wood sticking out on the neck part."
Sandoval continues: "He was more concerned about my work and what I had done, and he felt like he ruined my work. But I took it in and charged him another $75. I repaired it and it came out as good as new." The damage proved a testament to the strength of the neck pocket and of the neck itself, because the guitar did not break at the area where the neck joins the body. Guitars that take a similar fall will normally break somewhere in the middle or at the neck joint. Randy's guitar was repaired and little could be seen of the damage.
Randy Rhoads's Sandoval V guitar, a hybrid of a Gibson and a Fender, was completed in September 1979. Soon after that, Randy would leave his band Quiet Riot, having been tapped to play in Ozzy Osbourne's new band. Sandoval's creation headed overseas to England and a tour through Europe in 1980, and scores of Europress photographers snapped shots of it. In December of that year, Randy flew home to the states for Christmas. It was on that flight that he came up with an idea for a new guitar. He couldn't wait to get it built.
A Second V Takes Shape
Around the same time, Wayne Charvel sold the San Dimas, California workshop to a prospective new business partner, Grover Jackson. With Wayne gone, Karl Sandoval left to continue developing his company, Sandoval Engineering. This is what led Randy to call Grover Jackson about making his new guitar.
On December 23, 1980, Randy went to the San Dimas production facility to meet with Grover Jackson, the new head of the Charvel Manufacturing at that time. The Charvel factory was empty, since all of the employees had gone for the week of the Christmas holidays. Jackson sat in his office awaiting Randy's arrival. He recalls, "We sat there from noon until midnight and just talked about everything in the world. He brought a little scrap of paper that had four to five line drawings, saying, 'This is kinda what I want this guitar to look like.' We scribbled and made more drawings and he left."
Grover Jackson circa 1980.
Those line drawings featured an asymmetrical V-shaped guitar body, with the bottom wing shorter than the top. It was to have pinstripes and, like the Sandoval V, a neck-thru-body design, rather than a bolt-on neck. During this marathon conversation, Randy told Jackson he had already chosen a name for the guitar: The Concorde.
According to Jackson, Ozzy and Sharon (then Arden) had bought him a ticket on the Concorde to come home to the United States, and that's where he came up with the name. From a marketing point of view, Jackson was concerned about the general look of the guitar and how the company's name should be presented.
"Charvel, at the time, was producing bolt-on, Fender-style guitars. Well, here's this crazy batwing thing, and I was afraid that might dampen the sales of the Charvels," Jackson reveals, "so I asked Randy if he would mind if we put a different name on this instrument, because we were going to create this new thing that was not like the other stuff. So it was also out of fear that I didn't want to piss on what we already had going on."
The final detail to be sketched out was the headstock shape. In time, that shape would become the company's trademark.
"Randy had that body shape drawing and it needed something that sort of matched it in radical-ness," Jackson explains. "So I came up with the head. I had been a vintage guitar guy and was always a Gibson Explorer fan. I wondered what I could do to an Explorer head to make it more modern and aggressive looking. Randy and I sketched around that idea and came up with the head, which later became a trademark." Charvel began making the guitar a few days after Christmas and Randy went back to England after the holidays.
The line drawings turned into reality when Jackson transferred them to a piece of Baltic birch.
"We band-sawed it to shape and then sanded it as best we could to use that as a template on a pin router to cut out the body," recalls Jackson. "It was real Cro-Magnon stuff." That template went through quite a few edits so they'd only have to cut the body once. Jackson remembers the sculpting of the guitar as being prehistoric in technique when compared to today's production standards: "The body was screwed to the template and then run around the pin router. This was pre-vacuum fixtures and pre-toggle clamps. And then it was sanded and sent to the paint shop."
Jackson says he added the beveled edges while carving the body: "I was making some BC Rich Bich's right about that time for my friend Bernie Rico. Those had beveled edges and I added the beveled edges to the Rhoads body. I ripped off my buddy! I'm being honest, okay?"
Jackson continued work on this guitar with Charvel's woodshop foreman, Tim Wilson, who did all the woodworking at the factory. As Wilson remembers, this was going to be a big guitar.
"The whole center block was solid maple," he explains. "The wings were also maple. It was a big hunk of tree. This thing was going to weigh a ton."
The end result was a very pronounced V-shaped guitar with a lot of surface area. The neck joined the body at the 14th fret, and it featured 22 frets on a compound radius ebony fretboard with pearl block inlay and binding. The frets were Dunlop 6230s, which is considered a small fretwire in comparison to Gibson frets. This was basically Dunlop's version of Fender fretwire.
Wilson recalls how certain things were done by hand back then that would be considered obsolete by today's standards: "Compound radius makes the surface of the fretboard flatter as you move up the neck, which goes from 12" to 16" in radius. We shaped that by hand. The neck shape was thick, somewhat like a fifties-era Gibson Les Paul, which is what Randy specified, and it was 25 1/2" in scale."
And, like a Gibson, the nut width was 1 11/16". In contrast to the Sandoval V, this time Randy's aim was to have a guitar that had a Gibson sound and Fender playability. Like the Sandoval V, it also had a tremolo bridge. Made by metalsmith Bill Gerein for Charvel, this bridge was a production standard on many Charvel guitars at the time. It was made of brass with a heavy brass sustain block.
Also like the Sandoval V, it had two volume and two tone controls. The pickups were a Seymour Duncan Distortion at the bridge, and a Jazz model in the neck positions, both mounted to the body with solid brass pickup bezels, also made by Gerein. The selector switch was located along the outer edge of the upper wing of the guitar. The output jack was placed on the outside edge of the lower wing, where the V shape converges. It was painted white with black pinstripes, undercoated with polyester and finished in polyurethane. And, as Tim Wilson had predicted, it was a very heavy guitar.
Redesign for the Concorde
The first version of the Rhoads Concorde guitar was completed in late February or early March of 1981, and it was shipped to Randy in Europe. Randy would report back to Jackson that he was having trouble reaching the upper register frets. He was also concerned with public perception of the guitar, since fans were asking him if he'd cut up a Gibson Flying V. Approaching Jackson for another guitar, Rhoads wanted to have a second one made that was more radical, with a narrower V shape so that it would be more original looking; so people wouldn't think he'd butchered a Gibson.
"One of the things that wasn't cool was the guitar was just too big," Wilson is quick to point out. "The body shape was just too big and it was made out of maple, so it weighed a ton."
In October of 1981, Randy and Grover Jackson got together once again to scribble, draw and debate the design of another guitar. Jackson had prepared three neck-thru-body guitar blanks with headstocks on them; the wings or sides of the body were just blank pieces of material. He placed one on a table while Randy looked on.
Rhoads playing the second Concorde shortly before his death.
"We stood over a workbench and drew for several hours ... drew on the blanks, erased it, sanded it off and drew some more ... more here, less there, and finally Randy said, 'That's it'," remembers Jackson. With the crude pencil drawing on this piece of wood, Jackson took it to the bandsaw and carved the body, a procedure that Randy could not stand to watch. Laughingly, Jackson admits, "Some guys want to know about the mechanics like car guys would be. And some guys want to know none of that, and Randy was one of those guys. He couldn't watch me cut it on a bandsaw."
By the end of the day, Jackson had shaped the wood according to the pencil drawings and handed it to Randy so he could hold it and see how it felt and what it would look like. Having done that, he began planning the building process while Randy went off to begin the first leg of the 1981 Diary Of A Madman tour with Ozzy overseas.
By the time the tour landed in the US a couple of months later, manager Sharon Arden had built the Ozzy Osbourne show up to major headline status by investing in full production staging, lighting and tour staff. Full stage rehearsals were conducted at Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope studios in Hollywood before everyone headed to San Francisco to begin the tour. Meanwhile, in his San Dimas factory, Jackson had the second guitar built and completed. He delivered it to Randy on December 27 during the final rehearsals at Zoetrope. This version of the guitar had a much more distinctive shorter lower wing, making the upper wing much more pronounced.
"It had a simple elegance to it," says Jackson. Clearly, this was not a hacked-up Gibson Flying V.
Jackson with one of his latest projects.
Despite the success of the guitar's redesign, Randy seemed a little hesitant to dive into it. Jackson offers some insight, saying, "A strange little quirk about Randy in my memoryāand other people might dispute thisāRandy was superstitious about guitars. I made a guitar for Jeff Beck one time and he just took the guitar onstage and played it in front of thousands of people. Randy was the opposite of that. Boy, he wanted to look at the guitar and then put it away. The next day, he'd pick it up, hold it, put it down and he'd go away. And a few days later, he'd pick it up and he'd play it a little bit and then he'd put it away. He had to kind of get synced up to it. He was playing the guitar by the time he passed away. There are pictures of him playing it, but he didn't play it the whole show. It wasn't the only guitar he played, and he was warming up to it. I think he was happy with it."
Two and a half months later, Randy Rhoads was killed in a plane crash. He was dead at the age of 25. His death still echoes within those who knew him. Fans around the world were just discovering his fantastic guitar style, and then suddenly he was gone. Grover Jackson, who had just stepped off a plane himself to visit a girlfriend in Reno, received the news while he was still at the gate. He is quick to admit he was, "Stunned ... and I'm still stunned."
Jackson says he owes a large portion of the success of his company to Randy. In fact, "... a huge amount ... an unbelievable amount is owed to Randy." Today, Jackson manufactures motorcycle, medical and musical instrument parts. Reminiscing about his days with the Jackson/Charvel Guitar Company, he says, "I saw the company as a toolmaker. There were these guys that had a job, which happened to be playing guitar. We were trying to be a toolmaker for guys doing work."
Karl Sandoval in his southern California workshop.
As for Karl Sandoval, hearing of Randy's death is still a fresh memory: "I remember I was in my shop and one of my friends called. He said Randy Rhoads had been killed. I turned the radio on and sure enough, they were talking about it. It was something like how a local rockstar was tragically killed in a plane crash. I was sad and felt bad because he was so young."
In the years since, Sandoval has expanded his guitar manufacturing business to include a guitar building school in southern California. For more information, visit his website at karlsandoval.com.
The man who did much of the woodwork on the white pinstriped V guitar made for Randy, Tim Wilson, holds the experience in very high regard. He would later become Jackson Guitars' general manager, and he built the company into a major player in the guitar manufacturing game.
Retired and living in southern California, Wilson says in retrospect, "I thought it was just going to be a big hit. I really did, and I really thought we were onto something. If things went our way, we were going to be pretty big. So, I was pretty proud of it, and I'm still proud of it to this day. It's one of the proudest moments of my life, having the honor of working on that guitar."
[Updated 11/4/21]
Hereās how 21 killer players from the past year of Rig Rundownsāincluding Justin Chancellor, Zakk Wylde, MonoNeon, Carmen Vandenberg, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and Grace Bowersāuse stomps to take their sounds outside the box.
TOOL'S JUSTIN CHANCELLOR
Justin Chancellorās Pedalboard
If you ever catch yourself playing air guitar to Tool, youāre probably mimicking Justin Chancellorās parts. āSchism,ā āThe Pot,ā āForty Six & 2,ā āH.,ā āFear Inoculum,ā āDescending,ā āThe Grudge,ā and plenty of others feature his buoyant bass riffs.
What stomps does he run his Wal, StingRay, and Fender basses through? Glad you asked. His setup is either a bass playerās dream or nightmare, but for someone as adventurous as Chancellor, this is where the party starts.
Youāll notice many of his pedals are available at your favorite guitar store, including six Boss boxes, an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, and MXR Micro Amp. Crucial foot-operated pedals are in blue: the Dunlop JCT95 Justin Chancellor Cry Baby Wah with a Tone Bender-style fuzz circuit (far left) and DigiTech Bass Whammy (middle). He really likes using the Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 for distortion and feedback when the Whammy is engaged or heās playing up the neck. Covering delays are three pedalsāhe has the pink Providence DLY-4 Chrono Delay programmed to match drummer Danny Careyās BPMs in āPneuma,ā which slightly increase during the song from 113 ms to 115 ms. The Boss DD-3s are set for different speeds with the one labeled āFasterā handling āThe Grudgeā and the other one doing more steady repeats. Thereās a pair of vintage Guyatone pedalsāthe Guyatone VT-X Vintage Tremolo Pedal (Flip Series) and Guyatone BR2 Bottom Wah Rocker (a gift from guitarist Adam Jones). The Gamechanger Audio Plus pedal is used to freeze moments and allow Justin to grab onto feedback or play over something. The Boss GEB-7 Bass Equalizer and Pro Co Turbo RAT help reinforce his resounding, beefy backbone of bass tone, while the MXR Micro Amp helps goose his grimy rumbles. The Boss LS-2 Line Selector is a one-kick escape hatch out of the complicated signal chain for parts of āSchism.ā The Wal and Music Man stay in check with the TU-3S tuner, a pair of Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Pluses help bring things to life, and everything is wired up with EBS patch cables.
STURGILL SIMPSON AND LAUR JOAMETS
Sturgill Simpsonās Pedalboard
Alt-country veteran Sturgill Simpson packed light for his latest run. His board bears just a Peterson Stomp Classic tuner running into a Fulltone True-Path ABY-ST, which splits his signal to his two Magnatone Panoramic Stereo amps. āI wouldnāt use a tuner if I didnāt have to,ā he chuckles. The LILY P4D beside the splitter lets him control his mic signal to cut interference from onstage noise.
Laur Joametsā Pedalboard
For his main board, Laur Joamets packs a little heavier than his boss. The platform, made by West Coast Pedal Board, carries a Peterson StroboStomp, Greer Amps Arbuckle Trem, sRossFX fuzz/overdrive, MXR Booster, T-Rex Replica, sRossFX germanium octave pedal, TC Electronic Viscous Vibe, Dunlop EP103 Echoplex, and Source Audio True Spring Reverb. An MXR Tap lets him tap in delay tempos. He has a second pedalboard, as well, for his Stage One steel guitar. It goes into a Peterson StroboStomp HD, then on to a Greer Black Tiger and Goodrich Sound Company volume pedal, before hitting his Magnatone Varsity Reverb and a custom-built Fender brown-panel Deluxe clone he calls āthe Charmer.ā
PANTERAāS ZAKK WYLDE AND REX BROWN
Zakk Wyldeās Pedalboard
When Panteraās bassist Rex Brown and singer Phil Anselmo decided to fire the band up again, the choice of fellow road dog Zakk Wylde on guitar seemed perfect. Hereās what Wylde had on the floor and in the racks for the bandās February date at Nashvilleās Bridgestone Arena.
His signature arsenal of effects seen here includes a MXR Wylde Audio Overdrive, MXR Wylde Audio Phase, Wylde Audio Cry Baby wah, and a Dunlop ZW357 Zakk Wylde Signature Rotovibe. The lone box that isnāt branded Wylde is a standard fare MXR Carbon Copy. Offstage, his rack is home to a MXR Smart Gate and MXR Wylde Audio Chorus thatās always on. Both are powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 3 Plus. Another drawer holds a Radial BigShot I/O True-bypass Instrument Selector, Lehle Little Dual II Amp Switcher, and a Radial BigShot EFX Effects Loop Switcher.
Rex Brownās Pedalboard
This tour was the first time Rex Brown used a switching system. His stage board sported a Dunlop JCT95 Justin Chancellor Cry Baby Wah, a 2000s Morley Pro Series II Bass Wah, Origin Effects DCX Bass Tone Shaper & Drive, a MXR M287 Sub Octave Bass Fuzz, and a Peterson StroboStomp HD. The brain of everything in the rack and onstage is the RJM Mastermind GT. And to help āmove mountains,ā Rex has a Moog Taurus III.
MSSVāS MIKE BAGGETTA AND MIKE WATT
Mike Baggettaās Pedalboard
Mike Baggetta has some core pedals in MSSV, his indie supergroup with legendary bassist Mike Watt and drummer Stephen Hodges. His arsenal includes a Creepy Fingers Hold Tight fuzz, an Electro-Harmonix Ring Thing, a Wilson Effects Freaker Wah V2, an EHX Deluxe Memory Man, and a Red Panda Tensor. The signal flows from his Benson amp into the Tensor, which he uses for glitch sounds, harmonizing, and overdub mode, among other feats. His Memory Man adds spaceāthe final frontier.
Mike Wattās Pedalboard
Mike Watt puts his signature Reverend Wattplower bass into a Broughton Audio high-pass filter, an EarthQuaker Devices The Warden optical compressor, and a Sushi Box Effects Finally tube DI that functions as a preamp. Thereās also a TC Electronic PolyTune.
MONONEON
MonoNeonās Pedalboard
The Memphis-born avant-funk bassist keeps it simple on the road with a signature 5-string, a tried-and-true Ampeg stack, and just four stomps. Almost all of his stomps have been zhuzhed up in his eye-popping palette. Heād used a pitch shifting DigiTech Whammy for a while, but after working with Paisley Park royalty, the pedal became a bigger part of his playing. āWhen I started playing with Prince, he put the Whammy on my pedalboard,ā Thomas explains. āAfter he passed, I realized how special that moment was.ā MonoNeon also uses a Fairfield Circuitry Randyās Revenge, a Fart Pedal (in case the Fairfield ring mod isnāt weird enough, we guess), and a JAM Pedals Red Muck covers fuzz and dirt needs. A CIOKS SOL powers the whole affair.
GRACE BOWERS
Grace Bowersā Pedalboard
Grace Bowers is one of the freshest new guitar stars to emerge in the past year. She has the essential fixinās for her classic rock tones: a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, Grindstone Audio Solutions Night Shade Drive, EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job, MXR Phase 90, MXR Phase 95, and Boss DD-2. Bowers powers them with a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power ISO-5.
GREEN DAYāS JASON WHITE
Photo by Raph Pour-Hashemi
Jason Whiteās Pedalboard
Long-time touring member Jason Whiteās stable is dominated by his Gibson Les Pauls and ES-335s. A Shure wireless system sends his signal to a rack set-up with an ISP noise gate, just in case Whiteās P-90s are picking up a lot of noise. From there, it hits a Dunlop Cry Baby and DVP1XL, then a MIDI-controllable RJM Effect Gizmo, which handles Whiteās effects: an MXR Reverb and Poly Blue Octave, Strymon TimeLine and Mobius, API Select TranZformer GTR, and a Custom Audio Electronics 3+SE Guitar Preamp, which gets engaged for clean tones and small combo sounds. A Lehle Dual SGoS Switcher and Fishman Aura DI Preamp handle changes with the piezo-equipped guitars. A Strymon Zuma provides the juice.
BONES UKāS CARMEN VANDENBERG
Carmen Vandenbergās Pedalboard
Carmen Vandenberg covers a lot of ground with her Bones UK guitar sounds, and sheās got a carefully curated collection of stomps to span the territory. Her guitar first hits an Ernie Ball Cry Baby before running through the rest of the pedals: a Boss TU-3, Fulltone OCD, Supro Drive, Pigtronix Octava, EHX Micro POG, Supro Chorus, Blackstar Dept. 10 Boost, EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master, MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe, Catalinbread Belle Epoch, and Boss NS-2. A Live Wire Solutions ABY manages the signals on their way to her signature Blackstar CV30s.
BLACK PUMASā ADRIAN QUESADA, BRENDAN BOND, AND ERIC BURTON
Adrian Quesadaās Pedalboards
Adrian Quesada loves tremolo and reverb, and uses a Strymon Flint for both. His other main stomp is the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail that provides a healthy dose of spring reverb. Also along for the tour: a Line 6 Echo Park, a Catalinbread Echorec, a Boss GE-7 Equalizer, a Catalinbread Belle Epoch, and an EarthQuaker Devices. The Fulltone Clyde Wah Deluxe has stepped in for a different filter sweeper. Thereās also a JAM Pedals Ripple two-stage phaser, and a TC Electronic PolyTune2 Noir keeps his guitars in check. Thatās all on board one.
His second board includes a JHS 3 Series Delay, a JHS Crayon, and an Electro-Harmonix Nano POG. Utility boxes on hereāStrymon Ojai, JHS Mini A/B, and TC Electronic PolyTuneāhandle switching, tuning, and power.Brendan Bondās Pedalboard
Three pedals get the job done for Mr. Bond: an Acme Audio Motown D.I. WB-3 passive D.I., a JHS Colour Box, and a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner.
Eric Burtonās Pedalboard
Frontman and guitarist Eric Burton is the bandās lone wireless member. To accommodate his onstage prowling, tech Bryan Wilkinson uses a Radial JDI passive direct box that takes in the XLR from the audio subsnake wireless rackmount and routes it into the first pedal: a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner. From there, Burton only has a couple pedalsāa DigiTech Mosaic to mimic a 12-string for āOCT 33ā and a JHS Colour Box for any required heat. A Strymon Ojai turns everything on.
JASON ISBELL AND SADLER VADEN
Jason Isbellās Pedalboards
Jason Isbell could open a huge gear shop just by clearing off his boards and racks. First off, he has a complex wet/dry/wet setup that is parsed out via a RJM Mastermind, with two Magnatone Twilight Stereo combos carrying the all-wet effects. Thereās also a Radial JX44v2, which serves as the core signal manager. Above it, on the rack, is an Echo Fix Chorus Echo EF-X3R. Moving up the rack, one drawer includes an Ibanez DML10 Modulation Delay II, EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle, and a trio of stereo-field-only effects: a Boss MD-500, Strymon Volante, and Hologram Electronics Microcosm. Another level up, youāll find a Chase Bliss Preamp Mk II, Chase Bliss Tonal Recall Delay, Chase Bliss Dark World Reverb, Chase Bliss Condor EQ/Filter, Chase Bliss Gravitas Tremolo, Chase Bliss CXM-1978 Reverb (stereo-field only), Keeley 30ms Automatic Double Tracker, gold Klon Centaur, Analog Man Sun Lion Fuzz/Treble Booster, Analog Man King of Tone with 4-jack mod, Keeley 4-knob CompROSSor, Pete Cornish OC-1 Optical Compressor, EHX Micro POG, Analog Man ARDX20 Delay, and a trio of Fishman Aura Spectrum DIs.
Sadler Vadenās Pedalboard
Isbellās 6-string sparring partner Sadler Vadenās pedalboard chain starts with a Dunlop Clyde McCoy Wah, then a Lehle volume pedal, which feeds the Gig Rig. He uses a Line 6 M5 with a Dunlop expression pedal for a lot of modulation effects. Other pedals include a Crowther Prunes & Custard, Nordvang No.1, an Analog Man Dual Analog Delay, Comp, and King of Tone, a Strymon BlueSky, and a Greer Lightspeed. Every effect is isolated into the Gig Rig. The board has four outputs, two for each side of his 3rd Power British Dream, one for a Marshall plexi, and one that goes to an aux line and splits to a Vox Pacemaker. The auxiliary line is as a backup in case Sadlerās amps go down. It consists of a Strymon Iridium into a Seymour Duncan Power Stage that goes to FOH. And finally, his acoustic pedalboard sports a Shure wireless running into an ART Tube MP/C preamp into a L.R. Baggs Venue DI, with a Radial Engineering Bigshot selector.
MICHAEL LEMMO
Michael Lemmoās Pedalboard
Rising star player Michael Lemmo relies on his stomps for tone sculpting, but he doesnāt need much to get the job done. His signal hits a Korg tuner, followed by an Xotic EP Booster, Bearfoot FX Honey Bee OD, Red Panda Context, Boss DD-7, and TC Electronic Ditto. Theyāre all juiced by a Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS7.
HELMETāS PAGE HAMILTON
Page Hamiltonās Pedalboard
Page Hamilton used to travel with a full Bradshaw rig with rack gear, but heās reduced things to a pair of Eventide H9 units and a handful of Boss boxesāa PS-5 Super Shifter, a MT-2W Metal Zone Waza Craft, a TS-2 Turbo Distortion, a NS-2 Noise Suppressor, and a FB-2 Feedbacker/Booster. A couple of Peterson Stomp Classic tuners keep his ESP Horizons ready, and a Boss ES-5 Effects Switching System organizes all his sounds and settings.
BARONESSā JOHN BAIZLEY, GINA GLEASON, AND NICK JOST
John Baizleyās Pedalboard
The Baroness frontmanās board is packed with staged dirt boxes and tasteful mod stomps, all held in check with a GigRig G2, Peterson StroboStomp, and Ernie Ball Volume Pedal. The crown drive jewels are a heavily modded EHX Big Muff and Crowther Double Hot Cake, but a Beetronics FX Overhive and Pro Co RAT add sizzle, too. A Boss DD-3, DM-2W, and TR-2, EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master and Tentacle, MXR Phase 90 and Dyna Comp, and EHX Deluxe Memory Man handle the rest, while a DigiTech Whammy lurks for its moment to blast off.
Gina Gleasonās Pedalboard
Gleasonās favorite drive these days is the EQD Zoar. Piling on top of that are a MXR Super Badass Distortion, MXR Timmy, modded EHX Big Muff, and a touchy Philly Fuzz Infidel prototype; an Xotic SP Compressor and UAFX 1176 Studio Compressor tighten things up when needed. Three time machinesāthe Strymon TimeLine, EQD Space Spiral, and Boss DD-3āhandle delay, and a Walrus Slo dishes out reverb. The MXR EVH Phase 90 adds some color along with another DigiTech Whammy. The Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, Peterson StroboStomp, and GigRig G2 finish the line-up.
Nick Jostās Pedalboard
The bassistās board is powered by an MXR Iso-Brick, with an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal and Boss TU-3 pulling utility duties before an Xotic Bass BB Preamp, Boss ODB-3, DOD FX69B Grunge, MXR Stereo Chorus, and Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI.
WOLFMOTHERāS ANDREW STOCKDALE
Andrew Stockdaleās Pedalboard
When we walked into Nashvilleās Eastside Bowl for this Rig Rundown with Wolfmotherās alpha canine, Andrew Stockdale, it sounded like he was playing his SG through a Marshall stack at head-ripping volume. Nope! Stockdale was blasting skulls apart with a Line 6 HX Stomp doing the heavy tonal lifting. The rest of his boardās layout is a Snark floor tuner, an EHX Micro Synth (a Wolfmother staple), an Xotic AC Booster, an EHX Micro POG, a Dunlop Cry Baby 535Q Multi-Wah, a Boss TR-2 tremolo, a CIOKS DC5 power supply, and Shure GLXDC+ wireless.
FEARLESS FLYERS' CORY WONG AND MARK LETTIERI
Cory Wongās Pedalboard
Through a Shure GLXD16 wireless system, Cory Wong flows his guitar into his Neural DSP Quad Cortex, which runs a beta version of his Archetype: Cory Wong plugin, based off of a melding of a Dumble and a Fender Twin. The signal hits an onboard envelope filter and rarely used pitch shifter, then exits out the effects loop into a Wampler Cory Wong Compressor, Jackson Audio The Optimist, and a Hotone Wong Press. The signal goes back into the Quad Cortex, where thereās a preset phaser, stereo tape delay, and modulated reverb, plus a freeze effect. Two XLR outs run to front of house, while two run to Wongās Mission Engineering Gemini 2 stereo cabinet.
Mark Lettieriās Pedalboard
Mark Lettieriās signal first hits a Keeley Monterey Custom Shop Edition, followed by an MXR Deep Phase, J. Rockett HRM, J. Rockett Melody OD (Lettieriās signature), Pigtronix Octava, and a Dunlop DVP4, all powered by a Strymon Ojai. A TC Electronic TonePrint Plethora X5 pedalboard handles coordination and switching between the devices.
SLASHāS BLUES BALL BAND
Slashās Pedalboard
āI havenāt had a pedalboard in front of my feet since the ā80s,ā Slash told us. But with the Blues Ball tour, he kept it simple, stomping his own boxes. His chain includes a Peterson StroboStomp, Dunlop Cry Baby, MXR CAE Boost/Line Driver, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, MXR EVH90, BBE Soul Vibe Rotary Simulator, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, and MXR Uni-Vibe, with everything powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus. All pedals are taped down with their settings dialed in. When his signal leaves the board, it hits a Whirlwind Selector A/B box, where it splits off between his amps and his Talk Box rig.
Tash Nealās Pedalboard
Tash Neal keeps a modest pedalboard at his feet: a DāAddario Chromatic Pedal Tuner, Dunlop Cry Baby, XTS Custom Pedals Precision Multi-Drive, EHX Green Russian Big Muff, and a Fender Waylon Jennings Phaser, powered by a T-Rex Fuel Tank.
RANCIDāS MATT FREEMAN
Matt Freemanās Pedalboard
Bassist Matt Freemanās signal goes wireless into one of his Avalon U5 Class A Active Instrument DI and Preamps, and then through a Way Huge Pork Loin Overdrive, set to give his Bassman a good push.
CHRISTONE āKINGFISHā INGRAM
Kingfishās Pedalboard
Kingfishās signal starts with a Shure Wireless BLX4, which hits a Boss TU-3w Chromatic Tuner. From there, the route is a Dunlop Cry Baby Mini Wah, a Marshall ShredMaster, and a Boss DD-3 Delay. The pedals live on a Pedaltrain Nano board and were assembled by Barry OāNeal at XAct Tone Solutions.
DIXIE DREGSā STEVE MORSE
Steve Morseās Pedalboard
Steve plays through a pair of 3-channel Engl Steve Morse signature 100-watt ampsāone wet, one dryābut his pedal chain is relatively simple: a Keeley Compressor, two Ernie Ball volume pedals, two TC Flashbacks, a TC Electronic Polytune, and a foot controller for his Engls.
Stretching the boundaries of reverbās realm through dynamic and pitch control.
Nice core reverb sounds. Invites cool compositional and arrangement directions. High quality.
If you lack patience, it will be hard to unlock its coolest secrets.
$329
Gamechanger Audio Auto Reverb
gamechangeraudio.com
When the first Moog synthesizer appeared, it freaked out a lot of musiciansānot least for the way it blurred the divisions between instruments and their roles. Was it percussion? A keyboard? A reed instrument? Many effects makers build from this philosophical foundation. The Latvian company Gamechanger often seems to revel in itāan attitude thatās manifest in the companyās Auto Series pedals, which includes the Auto Reverb.
Thereās no reason you canāt use the Auto Reverb in a very straightforward fashion. The plate, spring, and hall settings are all very nice digital representations of their analog inspirationsāand Iād be perfectly happy playing an instrumental surf set with the spring mode, for instance. But because you can control the parameters like the reverbās level, decay, tone, and the filter with changes in pitch and dynamics, the Auto Reverb can function in highly orchestral ways, transforming itself from subtle to outlandish as a musical piece shifts in intensity or rises from low to high keys toward a blurred, hyper-spacious climax. While these attributes make the Auto Reverb a great fit for prepared guitar and conceptual piecesāand invites many themes and compositional ideas within those formsāit can just as easily be configured to create an especially dynamic and dramatic pop song arrangement on stage or in the studio that might otherwise be relegated to automations within a DAW. Itās fun to use, if not always intuitive. But knowing its ways can expand your musical options significantly.
Black Sabbath to Reunite for First Time in 20 YearsāOzzy Osbourneās Final Performance
The original Sabbath lineup will reunite on July 5 in Birmingham, England, and be joined by Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, and more.
The concert will feature founding members Tony Iommi on guitar, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward, and singer Ozzy Osbourne. Profits from the show, called "Back to the Beginning," will be donated to charities including Cure Parkinson's.
On future Black Sabbath plans, Ozzy's wife, music manager, and TV personality Sharon Osbourne had this to say (via Reuters) about Ozzy: āWhile other bandmembers might continue to make records and perform, Black Sabbath's gig at the birthplace of the band will certainly be the 76-year-old's final performance.
"For Ozzy right now, it's definitely: 'I love you and good night'," she said.
The shredder and son of legendary artist Frank Zappa gives a tour of his up-to-date gear, including a complex stereo switching system, four racks of pedals, and some of his fatherās favorite guitars.
Dweezil Zappa was always going to end up being an incredible guitarist. His dad, Frank Zappa, is celebrated as one of the most talented and creative guitarists in history, and by age 12, Dweezil was recording music produced by Eddie Van Halen. (Little surprise that heās covering Van Halenās 1981 stunner āPush Comes to Shoveā lately.) Heās been a bona fide guitar star ever since, releasing seven original solo records, six tribute records, two LPs with his brother Ahmet Zappa, and guesting on recordings across the music universe.
Ahead of his gig at Memphisā Minglewood Hall on his 2024 Rox(postroph)y tour, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Frank Zappaās Apostrophe (') and Roxy & Elsewhere records, Dweezil gave PGās John Bohlinger a boot-to-bonnet look at his current road setup. Thereās a lot of ground to cover between his and his fatherās catalogues, and Dweezil loves the challenge, which he meets with a mix of his own gear and some special vintage assists courtesy of his dad.
Brought to you by DāAddario.Shut Up ān Play Yer Les Paul
This coveted GibsonĀ Les Paul Custom, featured on the cover of Frankās 1981 record Shut Up ān Play Yer Guitar, came out on the road this tour. Dweezil says that around 1986, his dad swapped in Dan Armstrong-made ceramic pickups. At one point, Frank installed a second input to try to use the guitar as a synth controller, but it didnāt track well enough to continue the experiment.
Along with the standard controls, the guitar includes switches to turn on different parts of the onboard preamp, which boosts the signal and adds plenty of gain. A rotary knob controls a wired-in parametric EQ set up to emulate different settings along the sweep of a wah pedal. Dweezil didnāt get much of the lowdown from his father on the complex operations; it was more trial-and-error. āYou just have to turn knobs until you find something that you like,ā he says. He connects to his rig with ZZYZX SnapJack magnetic cable connectors.
Rockin' with Roxy
Also out on the Rox(postroph)y tour is Frankās iconic Roxy & Elsewhere-era Gibson SG. Like the Les Paul, itās got a preamp circuit to boost the signal, a sweepable EQ, and can achieve acoustic, piezo-adjacent sounds. The preamp configuration in this one is red-hot; it dishes out tons of gain.
Signature Shabat
For Strat-style tones, Dweezil calls on his signature Shabat Lynx DZ, which has been used to dial in his cover of āPush Comes to Shove.ā Per Shabat, it has a ābody-mounted HSS configuration with a push/pull phase shift on the middle pickup, simplified single-knob layout, custom-cut 3-ply parchment/gold pickguard, and ⦠a Vega-Trem VT1 tremolo."
The Lynx DZ is constructed with an alder body and a quartersawn hard maple, medium-C-profile neck with a 25.5" scale length. Itās loaded with Lollar Special S and Lollar El Rayo pickups, and the middle Special S is wired for phase shift. The Lynx, as well as the SG and Les Paul, are strung with Optima Gold-Plated 2028 FZ Frank Zappa strings (.008ā.046), and struck with DāAddario .50 mm celluloid picks. (Dweezil likes them for pick slides.)
On the Ground
Zappa keeps a significant board at his feet, which he controls with a Fractal FC-12 controller. He runs his sound in stereo, with different effects going to each side, so he keeps volume pedals for each side in front of him, plus a wah and expression pedal.
The row of pedals perched atop the pedalboard includes a TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir, a Marshall-style prototype pedal, J. Rockett Audio Designs PXO, Union Tube and Transistor Lab, SoloDallas Orbiter, a Jext Telez White Pedal (to nab a specific tone for playing āNanook Rubs Itā), and a 29 Pedals FLWR.
In the Rack
On our 2013 Rig Rundown, Dweezil was using the Fractal Axe-Fx II, and this time around, heās upgraded to the Axe-Fx III as the basis of his sound. Given the sonic territory covered in his shows, it simply became too unwieldy and expensive to tour an analog rig.
The brains of his show are held in a rack system. A couple of out-of-sight splitter boxes help with the complex stereo signal paths, as do a pair of Voodoo Lab HEX audio switchers. The Axe-Fx III lives on the top shelf, and just below it are an Eventide H90 and TC Electronic TC 2290 that go to both sides.
The next rack down runs only to the left side, and includes a BK Butler Tube Driver, DigiTech FreqOut, Red Panda Radius and Raster, Krozz Devices Airborn Analog Flanger, and a Paul Trombetta Design Tornita! fuzz.
The level below it runs to the right side, with a āClown Vomitā fuzz, Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl, Korg FLG-1 Flanger, Chase Bliss Generation Loss, Goochfx Holy Cow, and another Red Panda Raster.
Wrapping up the rig is the bottom rack, which again runs to both sides. It carries most of Zappaās exquisite dirt sounds, thanks to a Union Tube and Transistor Tsar Bomba, Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp MKII, Goochfx Dirty Hippie, Tru-Fi Two Face, Foxrox Electronics Paradox TZF2, and a Paul Trombetta Design Rotobone that ⦠somewhat reasonably apes a trombone sound. Paul Trombetta, we salute you.