
Now the world’s best-known 6-string duo, Gabriela Quintero and Rodrigo Sánchez have long-reaching roots that extend from metal to Irish folk music and distill into their unique take on nylon-string-acoustic-guitar music.
On their new album, In Between Thoughts… A New World, the acoustic duo goes half-electric, plumbs programmed beats, adds slide guitar, and explores nondualism—following a creative path that opened due to the Covid shutdown.
Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuosi Rodrigo y Gabriela started recording what would become their latest album, In Between Thoughts… A New World, in February 2021. At the time, crafting a new album wasn’t the catalyst for making new music. They really just wanted to write, jam, and record without an agenda while locked down during the pandemic.
“It was just something to kill time,” admits Gabriela Quintero, one half of the Mexican guitar duo. “Just to be in the moment and not to think too much about it, even though here in Zihuatanejo it was more like the tropical version of the apocalypse [laughs].”
The other half of the duo, Rodrigo Sánchez, concurs that the pandemic presented a unique set of circumstances that allowed them to be creative without the added pressure of making a record, going on tour, or meeting a deadline. “Musically speaking, it was a very unusual process for us,” he says. “We weren’t really thinking about recording a new Rod and Gab record, and we didn’t really know what was going to happen. It was a really detailed process we never had done before, because we never had this amount of time to record an album.”
Rodrigo y Gabriela - True Nature (Official Audio)
"True Nature" is off Rodrigo y Gabriela's first album in 4 years. The album 'In Between Thoughts...A New World’ is available now on limited edition vinyl, CD...Guided by spiritual practices like Buddhism and nondualism, Rodrigo y Gabriela’s presence-of-mind approach to the guitar has led them on a fantastic, fulfilling journey from their humble heavy metal beginnings in Mexico City, to busking on the streets of Ireland, to performing in front of tens of thousands of people on the world’s biggest stages, opening for Muse and others.
Formed in 1998 out of the ashes of their heavy metal band, Tierra Ácida, Rodrigo y Gabriela left their hometown of Mexico City to pursue their musical ambitions in Dublin, Ireland, where they first began busking with their acoustic guitars on tourist-heavy Grafton Street, mixing elements of flamenco, rock, and heavy metal. In 2002, they released re-Foc, showcasing their virtuosity on guitar and their unique fusion of musical styles—even incorporating elements of the Irish folk music they had immersed themselves in while living abroad. In 2006, the duo released Rodrigo y Gabriela, a mix of original compositions and covers of classic songs by early influences Led Zeppelin and Metallica. The album was a commercial success, reaching the top of the Irish album charts and earning them a nomination for the Mercury Prize, awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. In 2008, they released 11:11, which featured 11 original compositions—each dedicated to a different musician who had influenced their music. In January 2020, Mettavolution, their fifth album, won Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the Grammy Awards, cementing Rodrigo y Gabriela’s status as one of the most innovative and exciting guitar duos in the world.
“Gab has seven piezos inside her guitar, and everything is very tight. And I have five piezos.”—Rodrigo Sánchez
Gabriela Quintero’s Gear
Lead guitar provides the flash, but Gabriela Quintero’s right hand is what keeps the party jumping, with a driving, uncommon approach drawn more from traditional Irish music than flamenco.
Photo by Jim Bennett
Guitars
- Yamaha NCX5 Signature Model
Effects
- Boss FV-500L Volume Pedal
- Boss OC-3 Super Octave
- Boss TU-3S Chromatic Tuner
- Dunlop Cry Baby Standard Wah
- Dunlop DVP4 Volume (X) Mini Pedal
- Lehle P-Split III Box
Strings
- D’Addario Pro-Arté EJ45 Normal Tension
Self-produced by Rodrigo y Gabriela at their studio in the resort city of Ixtapa, Mexico, In Between Thoughts… A New World reasserts their seemingly innate ability for cultivating a musical repertoire that captures the zeitgeist. And while it may have begun without intention, that doesn’t mean In Between Thoughts lacks direction. Like its predecessors, there’s a familiar and explosive display of virtuosic guitar craft, including all of the hallmarks one would expect from Rodrigo y Gabriela. The powerful, percussive playing of Quintero and the deft melodicism of Sánchez remain the duo’s calling cards. But new, unexpected sonic elements abound as well, including the reverb-drenched slide guitar on “Egoland,” the energetic percussion on “Descending to Nowhere,” the kinetic electronic beats on “The Ride of the Mind,” the passionately chanted vocals of “Broken Rage,” and the dreamy mystique of the robotic vocal effects embedded within “Finding Myself Leads Me to You.”
In fall 2020, while recovering from Covid, Sánchez stumbled upon an online video on nondualism—the notion that there is a “single, infinite, and indivisible reality, whose nature is pure consciousness, from which all objects and selves derive their apparently independent existence,” as defined by author/teacher Rupert Spira. “Advaita Vedanta, or nonduality, is often called the direct path—accepting what is,” explains Sánchez. “We’re not saying that everything in this structure of the body/mind we live in is right. It is just what is, and we cannot really argue with that.”
“The beauty about music is that it’s always expanding.”—Gabriela Quintero
During the early stages of the pandemic, Rodrigo y Gabriela did what many other artists did: They turned to social media, posting short anecdotal performances from their studio. But when they finally got bored of that, they started to write music based on the concept of nondualism without really thinking it would become their new album. “It was just a project,” emphasizes Sánchez. “We were just here in the studio doing things that we would never dofor Rod and Gab. I started to work with electronics, I left my acoustic guitar [at home] and just took my electric guitars [into the studio]. We started writing the music at the same time as we were writing a story based on this philosophy that we were so much attracted to. If we had known that it was going to become the Rod and Gab album, we probably would’ve limited ourselves in terms of not using electronics, or not using too much electric guitar. But we didn’t really think that way. That’s how the album came about.”
Their new album began as a pandemic songwriting and recording project, and took shape almost by accident as they accumulated tracks and tunes.
As for Quintero, she took a slightly more pragmatic approach to the endeavor, particularly regarding nondualism. “I think me and Rod, we share a lot of things that we like, and we feel attracted to, but we process differently,” she explains. “That’s where the nondualism becomes dual [laughs]. I discovered these teachings through a book called The Power of Now [by Eckhart Tolle]. To me, that book was incredibly insightful and practical, and such a ‘no rules’ type of thing. I tried to meditate but there was too much discipline with some of the spiritual teachings. I remember when Rod was into Buddhism, and he was meditating a lot of hours a day and learning some mantras that were very strict. And for me, it was too much of a discipline. When I discovered The Power of Now, it was like, ‘Oh great, you don’t have to basically do anything [laughs].’ And then, when the pandemic came in and Rod discovered these videos about nondualism, the way he presented them to me sounded super confusing and too much like nihilism. So, we were constantly having friendly debates here in the studio. And I was going, ‘This is too crazy.’ It felt to me that it was denying this existence. But then we discovered these are the same teachings as The Power of Now, but in different words, in a different way. Then we stopped the debates.”
Quintero, very late into their writing and recording process, asked Sánchez if they were, in fact, writing their next record. “And then she asked, ‘When are we going to record it?’” says Sánchez. “We’d been recording [what we were writing] from day one with quality, and so I went back to the studio that afternoon and I checked all the recordings and all the levels, and we had produced the album already. We had the record.”
“We love flamenco. My best friend in that scene, Vicente Amigo, is one of the best. But no, we never play flamenco.”—Rodrigo Sánchez
As for how they record, Sánchez says it happens all sorts of ways—sometimes tracking together, sometimes individually. Sánchez says the acoustic guitars get picked up by German-made Schoeps MK 4 mics, recommended to him by his close friend, Spanish guitar maestro Vicente Amigo. They also adopted some of what he calls his “old-school metal techniques” for recording. “Knowing that we were going to have orchestra and electronics and all that, I used room mics for Gabs—and instead of just copying her track, I have her record two guitars exactly the same,” he explains, noting he did not use the copy/paste shortcut many musicians use nowadays. “She would do one guitar rhythm and then she would double that to make it sound bigger. Overdubbing the same rhythms and the same parts actually give her much more presence on top of the electronics. And she’s so good at it.”
Due in large part to Quintero’s right-hand technique, which Sánchez recorded so well on In Between Thoughts, “heavy metal flamenco” is a label often applied to the duo. “Ah, the ‘F’ word,” laughs Sánchez. “We love flamenco. My best friend in that scene, Vicente Amigo, is one of the best. But no, we never play flamenco. I understand some people are confused because of Gab’s rasgueado[gesture to invoke her right-hand technique], but actually she’s not doing the flamenco technique at all. She learned most of these techniques from an Irish bodhrán player, Robbie Harris.”
Rodrigo Sánchez’s Gear
Rodrigo Sánchez wears his musical roots on his chest,
in a t-shirt proclaiming his fan status for the Bay Area metal band Testament.
Photo by Dan Locke/Frank White Photo Agency
Guitars
- Yamaha NTX5 Signature Model
- Fender Jaguar
Amps
- Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II XL+
- Marshall JCM900 4100 Hi Gain Dual Reverb
Effects
- Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
- Boss FV-500L Volume Pedal
- Boss OC-3 Super Octave
- Ibanez WH10 V3 Wah Pedal
- Lehle P-Split III DI Box
- MXR M133 Micro Amp
- MXR M234 Analog Chorus
- One Control Minimal Series AB Box
- TC Electronic Ditto X2 Looper
- Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS7 Power Supply
- TWA WR-03 Wah Rocker
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario EXL115 (.011–.049
- D’Addario Pro-Arté EJ46 Hard Tension
- Jim Dunlop Jazz III Black Stiffo
The bodhrán is a frame drum used in traditional Irish music that Quintero learned about when they moved to Ireland. “At the time, I was trying to imagine how flamenco players played their rhythms,” she explains. “I couldn’t figure it out, because back then there was not YouTube—there was nothing. Nowadays, you can go and say, ‘How to play rasgueado flamenco, how to play rhumba,’ and you’ll find something, but not back then. And I always got it wrong. And then I discovered the bodhrán.”
In the old days, the bodhrán was played with hands, not with a stick, as is often seen presently, and she says the Irish kept telling her she actually exhibited the movements of a bodhrán player, but on guitar. “They encouraged me to do certain rhythms. So, just watching them, it was easy to emulate a lot of the movements—it just came organically. The beauty about music is that it’s always expanding.”
“If I came back to a solo bit or something, there was not that beat—people were not jumping anymore, and it was like, ‘Ah, we’re losing the audience,’ so I tried to become more the drummer of the band.”—Gabriela Quintero
After weaning his guitar craft on West Coast thrash metal bands Testament, Megadeth, and Slayer, and New Yorkers Anthrax, Sánchez’s nylon-string style was originally grounded in a lot of the palm-muting he carried over from that style of electric playing. “First of all, I had to translate my palm muting [from electric to nylon string],” he explains. “Then, I used a little bit more of Al Di Meola’s technique, but he was playing steel-strings, right? So, I was like, ‘Okay, how can I translate this into nylon?’ And then I started to listen to Strunz & Farah, and they are incredible. I listened to the way they played, especially Jorge Strunz, who is so clean and so fast. And I started to learn some of his licks here and there, so I was in that zone already.”
They want a whole lotta folk! Rodrigo y Gabriela get down on the Newport Folk Festival’s Harbor Stage in 2014.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
It’s worth noting that the nylon-string guitars Rodrigo y Gabriela play live are the result of years of practical research and application in collaboration with Yamaha and are not models or designs your average nylon-string player would use, nor are they commercially available. “It’s not like any nylon-string guitar can just go and play in the middle of a festival of 40,000 people,” explains Sánchez. Originally, they were using guitars made by Irish luthier Frank Tate, which they still use at home and in the studio. But the guitars they now use live were specially designed over a 14-year period by Yamaha’s Japan-based Custom Shop for arena-concert environments. “These guitars have a very special system for us to sound the way they sound live,” he says. “Gab has seven piezos inside her guitar, and everything is very tight. And I have five piezos, which is really important for those kinds of shows.”
Within the duo, both players are very melodic and very rhythmical, but Quintero did gravitate to doing more of the beats, simply out of necessity, once they started playing bigger shows. “At the beginning when we used to play together, we swapped all the time—solos, arpeggios, and all of this,” she explains. “Eventually, when we started playing rock festivals, because I was the one who played the chords and the beat, if I came back to a solo bit or something, there was not that beat—people were not jumping anymore, and it was like, ‘Ah, we’re losing the audience,’ so I tried to become more the drummer of the band.”
Jumping from a metal band in Mexico City to an acoustic guitar duo busking the streets of Ireland seems quite serendipitous and grounded in the kind of ideology they eventually discovered via nondualism. Circling back to Quintero’s The Power of Now-influenced, pragmatic approach, she jokes that the decision was really quite simple. “Eventually, we were so internationally non-famous and miserable, we decided we’re going to quit the band,” she chuckles. “But we’re not going to quit music. We wanted to travel the world. So, our new goal was to travel and play guitar.”
YouTube It
While this live performance doesn’t capture the duo’s current blend of acoustic and electric sounds, it does afford a close-up look at their playing technique. In particular, check out Gabriela’s right-hand approach, which is based on the traditional Irish instrument called the bodhrán.
- Quick Hit: Fender CN-60S Review ›
- Interview: Rodrigo y Gabriela - Busking for Broke ›
- Shredding Nylon: Rodrigo y Gabriela ›
- Rodrigo Y Gabriela 2023 Rig Rundown - Premier Guitar ›
Two Notes Unveil the Next Giant Leap in Their Reactive Load Box Legacy With Reload II
Introducing Torpedo Reload II - Two Notes Audio Engineering's latest groundbreaking reactive load solution, featuring twin-channel operation, multi-impedance compatibility, and continuous attenuation. With a Celestion® Approved Load Response and 215W per channel power amplifier, Reload II redefines backline control.
Two Notes Audio Engineering, the world's leading innovator and manufacturer of load boxes, attenuators, and digital cabinet emulators, has just announced Torpedo Reload II - The latest installment in Two Notes’ class-leading reactive load solution legacy marking the definitive watershed in contemporary backline control.
Featuring twin-channel operation, selectable multi-impedance compatibility, and true continuous attenuation, Reload II is Two Notes’ most advanced Load Box to date. Its mission is simple: unleash the power of any amplifier or line-level source without compromise. Armed with a ground-up rework of their defining reactive load for a Celestion® Approved Load Response, the match is set to drive any amp’s power stage (rated up to 200W RMS) to perfection, retaining all the sonic integrity your performance demands. Scalable from a whisper to a full-throttle onslaught, Reload II’s ultra-transparent dual-mono 215W (per channel) amplifier/attenuator and paired speaker outputs preserve every facet of your tone. Add a Stereo FX Loop, dual Line outputs, and GENOME Reload II Edition (software download) into the mix and Reload doesn't just enhance your rig, it redefines it.
“When it came to developing Reload II, it was obvious this couldn't be a run-of-the-mill update of its predecessor. Fuelled by an ethos rooted in continual redefinition of contemporary backline control, we set our sights on a ground-up rework of our defining reactive load. The results speak for themselves: hands-down the best-in-class impedance match available on the market to date and the first reactive Load Box to feature an industry first Celestion® Approved Load Response.” Said Guillaume Pille, Two notes CEO. “Whether it’s a tube amp, a line level source, or even both simultaneously, all the hookup flexibility you demand from a Two Notes product is here. Throw a 215W (per cab output) power amplifier into the mix, and you’re primed with everything from studio-friendly silent loadbox operation to mainstage-ready source amplification. If that wasn't enough, there’s a suite of expertly-tuned tone-shaping tools - plus a super-versatile Stereo/Dual Mono FX loop - that all combine to make Reload II our most adaptable solution to date. The next generation of our Reactive Load legacy has arrived. It’s now up to you to reimagine your backline with everything the Two Notes ecosystem has to offer!
Reload II is now available for pre-order from Two Notes stockists worldwide, scheduled for shipping Q1 2025. At launch, Reload II ships with the following MAP / MSRPs
US: $999.99 (MAP)
Euro: 999.99€ (MSRP)
GBP - £849.99 (MSRP)
For more information, please visit two-notes.com.
Introducing Torpedo Reload II - YouTube
Three new powerful and versatile solid-state heads from the British amp maker provide crunch, headroom, and classic tones in a small package with a same-sized price.
Epic sounds in a small, light, versatile package. Simple control set. Effects loop and footswitchable volume (with independent control) and channels. Dirty channel sparkles and spanks.
Clean channel lacks mid control
$599
Orange Gain Baby 100
orangeamps.com
Playing through a 100-watt head is immensely satisfying, regardless of your style. If you want dirty, and there’s a gain control, you’ve got dirty. If you want clean, the headroom hits the sky. Whether you’re purveying rock ’n’ roll filth, snarling blues, old-school roots, or avant-skronk, it’s all there—especially if you use pedals for low-gain drive and color.
In the case of Orange’s new Baby series entries, these possibilities exist in triplicate: the compact, highly controllable Gain Baby 100, Tour Baby 100, and Dual Baby 100 amps. These grab-and-go solid-state units with strong metal chassis are a mere 6 1/2 pounds, come with a durable shoulder bag for transport, and can be dropped atop a cabinet or into a rack. (These amps measure 12.8" x 3.13" x 7.68".) Each model has two radically different channels, guaranteeing versatility, plus a class A/B power stage for clarity and heavy lifting. They all offer the fat, midrange growl and the fast touch-sensitivity I associate with the classic, Orange sounds of players ranging from Peter Green to Slipknot’s Jim Root, which is perhaps a result of their single-ended JFET preamp stage.
I tested these Babies with a vintage Les Paul, a PRS Silver Sky SE, and a Zuzu custom with coil-splitting, to get a wide variety of tones. I also switched between a 1x12 cabinet with a G 12M Greenback and another with a 50-watt Eminence Red Coat Private Jack. Both cabs were 8 ohms, but the amps can also run 70 watts into 16 ohms. While the Celestion drilled down on nasty, Hendrix- and early ’70s-era voicings, the 50-watter really let the amps breathe in lush harmonic detail.
Each of the triplets has a footswitch option for channel and volume switching, an effects loop, and a balanced XLR out, and can be easily used with a DAW, cab sims, and IR captures. These units can also be switched for 100, 110, and 220 volts AC. Short take: I found a lot to like about these sonic siblings.
Gain Baby 100
While I’m not typically a high-gain player, I took to the Gain Baby 100 immediately, enjoying the edgy tone, responsiveness, sustain, and articulation in its dirty channel. Dirty offers gain, volume, presence, and 3-band EQ, plus the footswitchable volume has its own level control, and it delivers a stinging rock voice where chords hang and bloom. This channel’s real “dirty” secret is a toggle that can be flipped to “tight” mode, which functions like an additional EQ stage that polishes lows and focuses the mids, making them really singing and dimensional.
I initially viewed the clean channel on the Gain Baby and Tour Baby as pedal platforms, with just a volume control and bass and treble, but the clean side’s built-in, single-knob compressor pushes the Gain Baby’s volume and low-end character to the fore, conjuring memories of that ’70s uber-beast, the Sunn Beta Lead (and the Melvins’ King Buzzo). Ultimately, the Gain Baby 100 delivers very distinct and appealing bookends of heavy for just under 600 bucks.
Key: Dirty channel rhythm > dirty channel rhythm with tight switch engaged > dirty channel lead > dirty channel with tight switch lead > clean channel rhythm > clean channel lead
Tour Baby 100
The road-oriented Tour Baby seems the most versatile of the trio. The dirty channel has the same control panel as the dirty side of the Gain Baby, minus the tight switch. And while overall the amp seems to have a bit less gain, it’s still easy to get into Wayne Kramer territory by cranking up the gain control when you want to kick out the jams. Sweet, sustained tones were a snap to achieve by dialing back the guitar’s tone pots, riding the amp’s mid control high, setting treble to about 7 or 8, and dialing in the bass at 3.5 to 4. And, again, like the Gain Baby, the 3-band EQ offers plenty of range. If even more crunch is desired, the presence knob helps dial it in.
The Tour Baby’s clean channel also mimics the Gain Baby’s clean setup, but the compressor doesn’t lean into the low end like it does on the Gain Baby. It does, however, sculpt and define tones in a very appealing way, warming and pushing midrange. While I preferred the dirty channel here, my colleague Tom Butwin fell for the clean side, and his excellent demo video online is well worth watching. For me, this amp’s strength is that it stands on its legs and growls from the dirty side, and provides a characterful pedal platform on the clean side. All three amps, by the way, sound terrific with a reverb pedal, though less so at higher-gain settings.
Dual Baby
For players devoted to traditional British voicings, the Dual Baby may be the most enticing option, providing at least two recognizably classic sounds in one small, efficient package. Channel A is based on the company’s Rockerverb series, minus the reverb, and both A and B channels on the Dual Baby have 3-band EQ. The B side has the same setup and tonal characteristics as the dirty channel of the Tour Baby, sans the footswitchable volume, so you can’t pump up the level for solos with a quick stomp. However, it does have a “tight” toggle, so it’s easy to get into the same spanking, airy terrain as the Gain Baby’s dirty side or play it relatively clean.
But the A channel has another asset: a “tubby” switch, which is new for Orange. With gain pushing toward 7 and presence at about midway, and the treble rolled back, the tubby setting’s low-end boost evokes Black Sabbath—dark and ominous and perfect for sustained power chords. If your tastes run toward nasty, there’s a lot to like with the Dual Baby.
Key:
Channel A rhythm > channel A lead > channel A rhythm tubby > channel A lead tubby >
Channel B rhythm > channel B lead > channel B rhythm tight > channel B lead tight
The Verdict
Orange’s three versatile Babies cover a lot of ground in small, very affordable, well-built packages. Their response and rich-hued sounds–available even at low volumes–never left me pining for tubes, and their 100-watts make them useful for any stage. For travel, studio, or at-home playing, they are well worth investigating. These Babies can unquestionably run with the big boys. PG
The fast-rising, indie-rock outfit shows how they bring their varied four-piece string section to life on tour.
Last year’s Manning Fireworks was a breakout moment for Asheville, North Carolina’s MJ Lenderman, which is both the name of the band and the actual name of singer and guitarist Jake Lenderman, who also plays in the band Wednesday. The record topped plenty of year-end lists and drew favorable comparisons to the likes of Neil Young, Dinosaur Jr., and other stars of the pre- and post-’90s indie-rock boom.
On tour behind the record, the band stopped in at Birmingham, Alabama, joint Saturn on February 1. PG’s Chris Kies met up with Lenderman, guitarist Jon Samuels, pedal-steel player Xandy Chelmis, and bassist Landon George before the show to get the dirt on their dirt.
Brought to you by D’Addario.The SG
Lenderman’s main guitar these days is this 1979 Gibson The “SG,” which he bought in Birmingham while opening for Plains. It’s tuned to D standard, with Ernie Ball Beefy Slinky strings.
Do the Mascis Mash
It’s no surprise that Lenderman digs the Squier J Mascis Signature Jazzmaster. He’s a big Dinosaur Jr. fan and got to sit in with them in Los Angeles to play “In A Jar” in December 2024. From top to bottom, this one is tuned C–G–D–G–G–E for “You’re Every Girl to Me.”
Tele Time
This Fender American Vintage II 1977 Telecaster Deluxe comes out for cleaner needs in the set.
Original Jazz
This is Lenderman’s iconic 2008 Jazzmaster, which he bought back in Asheville.
Hi-Steppin'
Lenderman borrowed a Hiwatt to use at some hometown shows in Asheville and fell in love, so he brings this Custom 50 out on the road now. He’s working his way to a full J Mascis setup, “one cab at a time.”
MJ Lenderman's Board
Lenderman’s clean, easy board has a D’Addario tuner, Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver Deluxe, a Dunlop wah which he uses as a subtle filter, and TC Electronic Flashback 2.
Loan from Lenderman
Lenderman recorded plenty with this Fender Player Telecaster, but now Samuels puts it to work
Hartzman's Hot Rod
Another loaner, this Hot Rod DeVille combo is on long-term borrow from Wednesday’s Carly Hartzman.
Jon Samuel's Board
Samuels’ board, which is a hybrid of his own pedals and even more borrowed units, carries a Hardwire HT-6 polyphonic tuner, Death By Audio Fuzz War, JHS Double Barrel, Dunlop wah, J. Rockett Archer Clean Boost, Joyo Tremolo, EHX Nano Small Stone, and TC Electronic Flashback 2.
Xandy's ZB
Chelmis, also a member of Wednesday, plays this 10-string ZB Custom, made in the early ’70s with a proprietary pickup. It stays in E9 tuning, and Chelmis makes it sing with a steel he bought from a pawn shop. It runs through a Fender Twin Reverb outfitted with a single 15", and a Goodrich H-120 volume pedal handles swelling duties. From time to time, Chelmis adds in a Guyatone SD2 sustainer for some fuzzy fun.
Precision Vision
George’s go-to is this 2006 Fender Mike Dirnt Precision Bass, strung with Ernie Ball medium-gauge flatwound strings.
Better Beta
George runs through a Sunn Beta Bass head into an Ampeg SVT810E cabinet.
Landon George's Board
On his board, George packs a Korg Pitchblack tuner, Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Bass, Boss DD-7, Darkglass Electronics Alpha Omega, and a Noble Amplifier Company utility box: It’s a tube preamp, DI box, and power supply, all in one.
The solo artist and leader of Asking Alexandria and We Are Harlot finds inspiration in an innovative new guitar that he calls “absolutely game changing.”
“I’m a big fan of old things,” says Danny Worsnop. “From cameras to guitars to microphones to cars, I like the stories they tell and the lives they’ve lived. I think old stuff has more soul.”
Best known as the lead vocalist of rock bands Asking Alexandria and We Are Harlot, British-born Worsnop has also released two solo albums that explore country and blues. He’s currently in the studio working on his third solo release.
With his love of vintage aesthetics and appreciation for instruments that age with character, he’s spent much of his life searching for a guitar that feels like home. “I’m always on the quest to find the perfect thing,” he says.
For years, Taylor’s GS Mini-e Koa Plus has been his go-to songwriting companion. “I don’t need a bunch of things to do the job,” he explains. “This guitar was the first one that did that, and it’s been with me for years. The finish is beat up. It’s got shiny spots from the sweat on my arm. This has been my daily driver and workhorse and life partner since I got it. It’s more than a guitar. It has a life and a personality and a sound. You pick up any other GS Mini-e Koa Plus in the world, it doesn't sound like this one.”
With his love of older things, Worsnop acknowledges the challenges of making a deep connection with an out-of-the-box acoustic. “All the nice, shiny new guitars that anyone has sent me over the years are great—I have fun with them,” he says. “But I've never loved them. I find it hard to love new stuff because it kind of doesn't have a life or personality yet.”
Worsnop’s done his best to infuse them with some of his own personality by tweaking them in different ways–chasing a specific feel and sound that makes a guitar feel more like an extension of himself rather than just another utilitarian tool. But his most recent acoustic arrival was different.
“It’s more than a guitar. It has a life and a personality and a sound.”
Striking Gold
Worsnop recently got his hands on Taylor Guitars’ new Gold Label 814e, designed by Andy Powers, the creative visionary behind many of Taylor’s guitar innovations since 2011. For Taylor’s new Gold Label Collection, Powers drew inspiration from the sound of flattop acoustics from the 1930s and 1940s.
Worsnop was immediately drawn to the Gold Label 814e’s vintage-inspired visual aesthetic—influenced by old banjos and mandolins, early Taylor designs, and Powers’ pre-Taylor archtop guitars. But the true revelation came when he played it.
“When I saw this guitar... I mean, it looks super cool, like an older guitar,” he says. “And the second I picked it up, it was different. It was like, this plays like a guitar that is so old and has stories and songs in it already. I fell in love with it.”
Worsnop says that with other Taylors he has owned, including his GS Mini-e Koa Plus, he would often modify them in some way to give them a more vintage sensibility. But not with the Gold Label.
One of the defining features of the Gold Label 814e is its new Super Auditorium body shape. The non-cutaway body bears a clear family resemblance to Taylor’s popular Grand Auditorium, but the Super Auditorium is slightly longer and wider at the lower bout, with a slightly shallower depth. The new body dimensions, combined with Andy’s version of a long-tenon neck and his new fanned V-Class bracing pattern, are all key ingredients in a new sonic recipe that defines the sound of Taylor’s Gold Label collection. The result is a warm, old-heritage voice that’s unlike anything Taylor has ever produced.
Worsnop says the guitar complements him musically because it supports his dynamic vocals with extraordinary volume and responsiveness to a lighter touch.
“Because I sing loud, having something that’s loud enough, but not so loud that when I do drop down you can’t hear me anymore, is important for me,” he explains.
The Gold Label 814e comes with back and sides of solid Honduran rosewood or solid Hawaiian koa (Worsnop has the Honduran rosewood model) paired with a torrefied Sitka spruce soundboard. Each model is available with a natural or sunburst top.
The Revolutionary Action Control Neck™
One of the standout features of the Gold Label 814e is Taylor’s patented new Action Control Neck™, an innovative neck joint design that allows for quick, easy, and precise neck angle adjustments. It marks another step forward from the patented, micro-adjustable design Bob Taylor introduced back in 1999. Unlike traditional neck resets, this system, like Bob’s, is also glue-less, and in this case enables effortless fine-tuning on the fly without having to remove the neck or even the strings, and without the use of shims. By simply using a 1/4" nut driver (or standard truss rod wrench) on a nut in the neck block (accessible through the soundhole), a player can raise or lower the action to dial in an ideal setup.
“It is a massive deal,” says Worsnop. “When it comes to traveling musicians, it’s absolutely game changing. This allows you to do a micro-adjustment without having to get in the car and drive. When I’m in the studio, I like having that precision to be able to make it just perfect.”
For professional musicians, service techs, and recreational players who want to quickly fine-tune their action, the innovative neck design marks a paradigm shift.
In Studio and Onstage
In his Tennessee home, Worsnop has an upstairs studio where he records most of his music. It’s where he’s tested countless guitars, searching for the right fit. Though his trusty songwriting guitar has been the aforementioned GS Mini-e Koa Plus—perfect for capturing spontaneous new ideas—when it comes to recording, the Gold Label 814e has taken center stage.
“I’m working on the new album right now,” he shares. “If I’m at home and I’m just wandering around downstairs, which is usually where and how writing happens, [the GS Mini] is the guitar I’m walking around with. And then as soon as there’s an idea, I’ll go upstairs, and it’s the Gold Label. Honestly, I don’t play anything else up there now. I put the album recording on hold for this guitar. It’s the only guitar on the album.”
And it won’t just live in the studio. Worsnop plans to bring the Gold Label 814e on tour, making it his primary acoustic guitar for live performances.
Performance Highlight: "Ain't No Use"
In a recently recorded performance of his song “Ain’t No Use”, Worsnop showcases why the Gold Label 814e is such a great fit for him. The song, rich with storytelling and emotional depth, aligns well with the guitar’s vintage aesthetic and warm tonal character. It explores the universal tension between who we are and who we want to be, while emphasizing the transformative power of acceptance despite imperfections. The guitar’s deep, open sound and full-bodied, muscular tone are a perfect complement to Worsnop’s soaring, soulful vocals, amplifying the expressiveness of his performance and highlighting a symbiosis between player and instrument. A video of the performance is featured at the top of this article.
For Worsnop, the Gold Label 814e represents the culmination of years of searching, experimenting and refining his sound. It’s an instrument that feels like it has lived a life, carrying with it the soul and character he always craved in an acoustic.
“I have played music since I was 6 years old, and I’ve spent my entire life looking for my instrument,” he reflects. “At 34, I’ve found it.”