
The litter, minus one: most of the line-up of Snarky Puppy’s Empire Central.
This 6-string Cerberus finds it way home on Empire Central, an album honoring classic Black music and the band’s Dallas roots.
Back in the big-band-swing heyday of the 1940s, seeing up to 20 musicians onstage performing what was the era’s brand of popular music was not just common, but the norm. Today, with 19 members and a rotating crew of 25, Snarky Puppy is perhaps some new-age iteration of that once ubiquitous model—an electric jazz-rock-funk fusion orchestra version.
But before the four-time-Grammy-Award-winning ensemble was so massive in both size and sound, it was a somewhat smaller group of 10 college students, formed by bassist Michael League while he was studying at the University of North Texas in Denton, a city 30 miles outside of Dallas. The band’s music featured a blend of the aforementioned genres, and given the makeup of their original members, that made them an incidental example of cultural integration.
Snarky Puppy - Belmont (Empire Central)
“The band started with only white kids, when we were in college, but we basically only played the music of Black Americans,” acknowledges Chris McQueen, one of Snarky Puppy’s three guitarists. “Whether it was jazz or fusion, gospel, R&B … that was the source of all our inspiration. We started playing gigs, jamming with several musicians from the Black Dallas music scene. They were our heroes. That’s how we got connected to that world.
“What ended up happening was, we combined it, and it felt very natural,” he continues. “Shaun Martin, Bobby Sparks, Robert ‘Sput’ Searight, Jason ‘JT’ Thomas…. All those guys welcomed us in. I remember we would go to jam sessions. Sput was playing drums, and we would get up there and play the same songs that he wanted to, while coming at it from a very different perspective … then would meet in the middle and hopefully inspire each other.”
“People think of Nashville or Austin, but Dallas is really where it’s at!”–Chris McQueen
As Snarky Puppy’s lineup grew to include those players and many more, the group’s makeup became increasingly diverse. And on their new release, Empire Central,League asked the collective to reconnect with both the city of their founding and the lineage of Black music that defines their sound. “This is a ‘coming home’ kind of album. The idea was to try to either do an homage to [our musical foundation] or encapsulate it; pay tribute to it,” McQueen shares. “Dallas doesn’t always get the credit it deserves for being the music city that it is. People think of Nashville or Austin, but Dallas is really where it’s at!”
The 77-minute album was recorded over the course of eight nights in front of a live audience at Deep Ellum Art Company in Dallas, and, like everything Snarky Puppy has done, is musically polyglottal. While combining jazz, rock, funk, R&B, soul, and various international elements into one new, chimerical artistic mode is becoming a modern vernacular in its own right, the way they pull it off is all their own—as if it was delivered to us, their humble audience, via interstellar starship.
Snarky Puppy’s new album features a 19-piece version of the ensemble paying homage to its roots in Black American music and in the Dallas-area scene from which it emerged.
For example, “Trinity,” composed by guitarist Mark Lettieri, doesn’t announce a definitive musical identity. Rock weaves in, funk weaves out, and jazz makes for some adhesive, overall giving off a strong Weather Report influence. Violinist Zach Brock’s horn-driven “Honiara” jumps between odd-meter grooves, while keyboardist Bobby Sparks’ “Take It!” leans into a deep pocket with vibrato-heavy synthesizers and laidback trumpets. It also features a synth solo by Bernard Wright, a close friend of the group who passed away not long after the recording sessions.
More than half the band’s members contributed original compositions to Empire Central, and it all came together quickly. Leading up to the recorded performances, which took place in early March 2022, each composer put together a demo to bring to the band. While some final aspects of the arrangements were decided as a collective, most of each song was fully prepared before being shared.
Mark Lettieri’s Gear
Mark Lettieri used PRS guitars, a Dano baritone, and a Kemper Profiler for the Empire Central sessions. Here, he digs into his signature PRS Fiore model.
Photo by Brian Friedman
Guitars
- PRS Mark Lettieri Signature Fiore
- PRS McCarty 594
- Danelectro ’56 Reissue Baritone
Amps
- Kemper Profiler (Naylor Duel 60 head and 1x12)
Strings & Picks
- Dunlop (.009–.044, Fiore; .010–.046, McCarty 594; .014–.068, Danelectro)
- Dunlop heavy celluloid
Effects
- J. Rockett Mark Lettieri Signature Melody OD/EQ
- J. Rockett Hot Rubber Monkey
- Boss DS-1 Distortion
- MXR Poly Blue Octave
- MXR Carbon Copy
- MXR EVH Phase 90
- TC Electronic Nova System multi-effects
- TC Electronic Hall of Fame
- Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeler
“Usually, whoever writes the song writes everything. They just make demos in Logic. We’ll send the Logic files to everyone in the band, and everybody learns all of the parts,” says Bob Lanzetti, another of Snarky’s guitarists. “We’ll learn the chords or the melodies; usually it’s not totally figured out in terms of form. Then, when we get together, we’ll trade parts around and see what works best for each section. Things definitely shift when we play live, too. Depending on who ends up being on stage, you might have to play parts that you’ve never played before. It keeps you on your toes, for sure.”
The drum parts are “sometimes, but not usually” fleshed out, Lanzetti explains. “If anything, it would be some kind of simple groove just to keep time. A lot of the time, we leave it up to the percussionists and drummers to come up with something, ’cause it’s always much better than what the rest of us do.”
The track list for Empire Central was put together during a series of intensive rehearsals for the live performances. As Lettieri explains, rehearsals were roughly 8 to 10 hours each day. “We would basically work on two songs in the morning, two songs in the afternoon, then two more songs that night. We holed up at Universal Rehearsal in Dallas, and that was our home for about a week.”
Given that Snarky Puppy’s mix of genres lends itself to a live setting, there’s been some division among fans over the quality of their studio versus stage recordings. For Empire Central, the band sought to actualize the best of both worlds through a live-in-the-studio recording process they prefer, with the Deep Ellum Art Company audience wired into the mix via headphones.
“Depending on who ends up being on stage, you might have to play parts that you’ve never played before. It keeps you on your toes, for sure.”–Bob Lanzetti
“The albums that most people know us for are ones that we did [with that setup], where we were trying to blend the best parts of a studio album with the best parts of a live album,” explains McQueen. “We felt like we needed that energy, but we didn’t want to have the sound of a live album, so the solution was to do that.”
In preparation for the performances, a crew built a studio at the venue that was fully equipped with mixing consoles, drums, keyboards, DI boxes, and Kemper Profiler amps, creating what Lettieri refers to as a “laboratory for us to record in.” Kempers were ideal for the small bar space. “Having that many guitar amps would have been a sound isolation nightmare,” he notes. They captured about five to six takes of each song. “It wasn’t really like a live gig, in the sense that we wanted to stay true to the compositions and keep our risk-taking to a minimum,” Lettieri adds, “but also, we still wanted to express ourselves and feed off of the audience.”
Lanzetti and Lettieri each contributed a song to Empire Central, following League’s suggestion to draw influences from artists who shaped Black music history. Lanzetti shares, “Especially in the United States, Black music is such a huge part of everything. Pretty much everything that exists was influenced by Black Americans, and in the early days by Africans who were brought here. It’s music we all grew up with. It was such a huge part of who I am. With writing, everything that you’ve ever listened to is going to be all wrapped up in that.”
Chris McQueen’s Gear
“We listen to each other a lot, and probably end up imitating each other,” says Chris McQueen of the band’s trio of guitarists. “We’re trying to mimic each other sometimes, or at least I am.”
Photo by Brian Friedman
Guitars
- Moollon Thinline T Classic
- Moollon LP-style
Amps
- Supro Coronado
- Supro Royal Reverb
- Brown-panel Fender Princeton
- Kemper Profiler (Doug Sewell amp)
Strings & Picks
- Dunlop Nickel .010s
- Blue Chip TD60
- Dunlop Gator 2.0 mm
- Surfpick wooden picks
Effects
- J. Rockett Archer
- Moog MF Delay
- Moog MF Chorus
- Moollon Tremolo
- Moollon British Octah Fuzz
- Telonics Multi-Taper Volume Pedal
- ZVEX Instant Lo-Fi Junky
- MXR M300 Reverb
- Vintage MXR Envelope Filter
- Jim Dunlop Cry Baby
- MXR Phase 95
- MXR Uni-Vibe
- (Wingman Option Knobs on all pedals)
With 19 members in the band, you might think it would besomewhat like a traditional big band, in the sense that there would be first, second, and third chairs, etc. But that’s not really how Snarky Puppy works. “There’s no competition,” says Lettieri. “Everyone’s on equal footing. Mike [League]’s assembled this crew of players that are all top-notch, who all have a very unique thing that they bring to the table. I think the main thing that makes the band work is just the massive amount of respect we have for each other’s talent.”
“Everyone has the opportunity to be an artist. None of us are really sidemen within Snarky Puppy,” Lanzetti adds. There is, however, still a leader in League, although his approach has shifted somewhat over the years. “In the beginning, Mike controlled things a lot more,” Lanzetti continues. “But once everyone started to get a sense of what the band was, and it started to have its own identity and its own sound, everybody kind of understood it and then he didn’t need to control it so much.”
“It’s kind of impossible, especially for a band this size, to be without a leader,” McQueen says, elaborating on some of the practical inner workings of performances. “We’ve kind of developed a system where, if he’s shaking his head, that means, ‘No, stay there, do exactly what you’re doing right now.’ And if he’s nodding his head, that means, ‘Yes, go on to the next thing.’ And that’s pretty much the way that we keep things organized.”
McQueen, Lanzetti, and Lettieri each come from slightly different musical backgrounds, which shape their individual playing and contributions to Snarky Puppy’s sound. McQueen mentions that he’s probably spent the most time playing indie rock, notably in the Texas-based bands Oso Closo and Foe Destroyer, which gives his approach a rawer edge. “I’m definitely very inspired by Radiohead, too—always have been,” he adds.
“It wasn’t really like a live gig, in the sense that we wanted to stay true to the compositions and keep our risk-taking to a minimum. But we still wanted to express ourselves and feed off of the audience.”–Mark Lettieri
“We listen to each other a lot, and probably end up imitating each other,” he continues. “We’re trying to mimic each other sometimes, or at least I am. I don’t know if the other guys are,” he laughs. He plays guitars made by Moollon, a Korean manufacturer, including a thinline T-style and another model that’s “kind of like a Les Paul, but not quite as saturated sounding.” Regarding influences, Hendrix is his “North Star,” but Kurt Rosenwinkel and Johnny “Guitar” Watson also come up, as well as the psychedelic rock band, Unknown Mortal Orchestra. “It’s a continual virtuous cycle between hearing the music in my head, finding it on the instrument, and then playing it well. It’s a little bit of that Hendrix thing, too,” he continues. “He was very obsessed with surprising people. Once you get them accustomed to the thing that they think they’re going to hear from you, you play something else.”
For the past few years, Lanzetti has been playing a Fodera, made by the Brooklyn-based company, modeled after his favorite Stratocaster. “I have a Tokai as well that I used to use all the time. I’m starting to use it a little more again,” he shares. “But that’s what I’m usually playing—some sort of single-coil Strat-type sound. I also do a lot of single-note, syncopated funky stuff. I used to be in an Afrobeat band, so a lot of that influence comes out.”
Lanzetti lists Bill Frisell, Wayne Krantz, and David Fiuczynski of the Screaming Headless Torsos among his main influences, along with Freddie King, Albert King, Django Reinhardt, and Charlie Christian. “Then, besides that, a lot of the textural stuff I do is kind of coming from non-guitar-based music. I’m really into a lot of 20th-century classical music—people like György Ligeti, Belá Bartók, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern.”
When it comes to improvising, Lanzetti says, “The goal for me is to try to have there be no difference between improvising free or improvising on a tune. A lot of times when I’m practicing, I’ll play free for a while, and then start improvising over a tune. I try to make it feel as open as it did when I was playing free.”
Bob Lanzetti’s Gear
For the Empire Central sessions, Bob Lanzetti relied on a Tokai S-style and the Fodera seen here.
Photo by Brian Friedman
Guitars
- Fodera S-style
- Tokai S-style
Amps
- Kemper Profiler (Fender Vibrolux)
- Victoria 20112
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario sets
- Gravity Gold series 1.5 mm
Effects
- ZVEX Fuzz Factory
- ZVEX Box of Rock
- Boss DD-6 Digital Delay
- Boss VB-2 Vibrato
- Empress Tremolo
- Strymon blueSky
- Electro-Harmonix POG2
- EBow
Lettieri comes from a rock background, but has a “pretty heavy funk influence, and sometimes I like to shred, sometimes I like to play lyrical stuff. The Snarky Puppy guitar chair is a challenging gig, because a lot of times I’m playing a part that makes more sense when somebody else plays it.” He shares that when the band is on tour, he might be the only guitar player, and then he has to learn Lanzetti and McQueen’s parts. “It stretches me,” he elaborates. “They probably feel the same: ‘Aw, man, I’ve got to learn this Lettieri part! This is a Lettieri part!’ But with this record in particular, I’m at home with a lot of the stuff I’m playing. I don’t feel like I’m having to wear someone else’s pants to do it.”
Lettieri’s primary guitar is a PRS Mark Lettieri Signature Fiore. His secondaries include a PRS McCarty 594 and a Danelectro ’56 Baritone reissue. His big three influences are Prince, Jeff Beck, and Eddie Van Halen, but also mentions Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Metallica, A Tribe Called Quest, and ZZ Top as heroes. As an improviser, he subscribes to Eddie Van Halen’s philosophy that soloing can be like “falling down the stairs and landing on your feet.” “That always resonated to me,” he says. “I love risk-taking improvisers. Sometimes it’s brilliant, sometimes it’s flawed, but it’s human and it’s personal.”
It’s clear from the guitarists that the band dynamic is overall familial and playful. After hearing about our interview with Lanzetti, Lettieri immediately interjects, “Whatever he said was a lie! All hearsay. He’s a big liar.”
And McQueen later calls everything into question, saying, “But you don’t know if Mark is a liar, too. How can you know who to trust?”
“Everyone has the opportunity to be an artist. None of us are really sidemen within Snarky Puppy.”–Bob Lanzetti
Lettieri adds, “We haven’t killed each other yet, so I guess we’re good enough buddies. It’s a family at this point.”
“There’s so many different kinds of personalities given the fact that the band is so big,” says Lanzetti. “It’s also nice because you can bounce around from little groups of a couple people. There are little groups within the band of people who like to hang out with each other a lot. But we all really like food, so we like to go find nice restaurants or whatever a particular place has to offer.” He adds, as an afterthought, “We used to play frisbee a lot.”
In response to a tongue-in-cheek question asking what this album would say if it had a voice, Lettieri laughs heartily: “It would say, ‘What’s up!’ You know what I mean? It’s a very inviting album. It’s deep compositionally, but it’s not going to be over your head.” He continues, “Honestly, it might be a cool way for a lot of people who have never heard the band to hear the band. There’s something for everybody. There’s some pretty heavy, intricate stuff; there’s some really beautiful, melodic ballad stuff; there’s some really deep, groovin’ stuff. It’s a little bit of energy. I’m really, really stoked about this one.”
Snarky Puppy - Bet (Empire Central)
In this excerpt from the live sessions for Empire Central, Snarky Puppy highlight their intuitive synergy on “Bet,” with 19 voices forging one fluid vibe.
- Rig Rundown: Snarky Puppy ›
- Hooked: Mark Lettieri on Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" ›
- Cory Wong: The Sound of Joy ›
- The Evolution of Guitar Content and Media - Premier Guitar ›
Here’s how 21 killer players from the past year of Rig Rundowns—including Justin Chancellor, Zakk Wylde, MonoNeon, Carmen Vandenberg, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and Grace Bowers—use stomps to take their sounds outside the box.
TOOL'S JUSTIN CHANCELLOR
Justin Chancellor’s Pedalboard
If you ever catch yourself playing air guitar to Tool, you’re probably mimicking Justin Chancellor’s parts. “Schism,” “The Pot,” “Forty Six & 2,” “H.,” “Fear Inoculum,” “Descending,” “The Grudge,” 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 player’s dream or nightmare, but for someone as adventurous as Chancellor, this is where the party starts.
You’ll 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 he’s playing up the neck. Covering delays are three pedals—he has the pink Providence DLY-4 Chrono Delay programmed to match drummer Danny Carey’s BPMs in “Pneuma,” 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 “Faster” handling “The Grudge” and the other one doing more steady repeats. There’s a pair of vintage Guyatone pedals—the 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 “Schism.” 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 Simpson’s 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. “I wouldn’t use a tuner if I didn’t have to,” he chuckles. The LILY P4D beside the splitter lets him control his mic signal to cut interference from onstage noise.
Laur Joamets’ 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 “the Charmer.”
PANTERA’S ZAKK WYLDE AND REX BROWN
Zakk Wylde’s Pedalboard
When Pantera’s 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. Here’s what Wylde had on the floor and in the racks for the band’s February date at Nashville’s 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 isn’t branded Wylde is a standard fare MXR Carbon Copy. Offstage, his rack is home to a MXR Smart Gate and MXR Wylde Audio Chorus that’s 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 Brown’s 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 “move mountains,” Rex has a Moog Taurus III.
MSSV’S MIKE BAGGETTA AND MIKE WATT
Mike Baggetta’s 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 space—the final frontier.
Mike Watt’s 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. There’s also a TC Electronic PolyTune.
MONONEON
MonoNeon’s 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. He’d 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. “When I started playing with Prince, he put the Whammy on my pedalboard,” Thomas explains. “After he passed, I realized how special that moment was.” MonoNeon also uses a Fairfield Circuitry Randy’s Revenge, a Fart Pedal (in case the Fairfield ring mod isn’t 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 Bowers’ Pedalboard
Grace Bowers is one of the freshest new guitar stars to emerge in the past year. She has the essential fixin’s 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 DAY’S JASON WHITE
Photo by Raph Pour-Hashemi
Jason White’s Pedalboard
Long-time touring member Jason White’s 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 White’s 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 White’s 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 UK’S CARMEN VANDENBERG
Carmen Vandenberg’s Pedalboard
Carmen Vandenberg covers a lot of ground with her Bones UK guitar sounds, and she’s 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 PUMAS’ ADRIAN QUESADA, BRENDAN BOND, AND ERIC BURTON
Adrian Quesada’s 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. There’s also a JAM Pedals Ripple two-stage phaser, and a TC Electronic PolyTune2 Noir keeps his guitars in check. That’s 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 here—Strymon Ojai, JHS Mini A/B, and TC Electronic PolyTune—handle switching, tuning, and power.Brendan Bond’s 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 Burton’s Pedalboard
Frontman and guitarist Eric Burton is the band’s 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 pedals—a DigiTech Mosaic to mimic a 12-string for “OCT 33” and a JHS Colour Box for any required heat. A Strymon Ojai turns everything on.
JASON ISBELL AND SADLER VADEN
Jason Isbell’s 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. There’s 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, you’ll 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 Vaden’s Pedalboard
Isbell’s 6-string sparring partner Sadler Vaden’s 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 Sadler’s 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 Lemmo’s Pedalboard
Rising star player Michael Lemmo relies on his stomps for tone sculpting, but he doesn’t 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. They’re all juiced by a Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS7.
HELMET’S PAGE HAMILTON
Page Hamilton’s Pedalboard
Page Hamilton used to travel with a full Bradshaw rig with rack gear, but he’s reduced things to a pair of Eventide H9 units and a handful of Boss boxes—a 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.
BARONESS’ JOHN BAIZLEY, GINA GLEASON, AND NICK JOST
John Baizley’s Pedalboard
The Baroness frontman’s 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 Gleason’s Pedalboard
Gleason’s 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 machines—the Strymon TimeLine, EQD Space Spiral, and Boss DD-3—handle 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 Jost’s Pedalboard
The bassist’s 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.
WOLFMOTHER’S ANDREW STOCKDALE
Andrew Stockdale’s Pedalboard
When we walked into Nashville’s Eastside Bowl for this Rig Rundown with Wolfmother’s 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 board’s 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 Wong’s 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 there’s 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 Wong’s Mission Engineering Gemini 2 stereo cabinet.
Mark Lettieri’s Pedalboard
Mark Lettieri’s signal first hits a Keeley Monterey Custom Shop Edition, followed by an MXR Deep Phase, J. Rockett HRM, J. Rockett Melody OD (Lettieri’s 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.
SLASH’S BLUES BALL BAND
Slash’s Pedalboard
“I haven’t had a pedalboard in front of my feet since the ’80s,” 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 Neal’s Pedalboard
Tash Neal keeps a modest pedalboard at his feet: a D’Addario 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.
RANCID’S MATT FREEMAN
Matt Freeman’s Pedalboard
Bassist Matt Freeman’s 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 “KINGFISH” INGRAM
Kingfish’s Pedalboard
Kingfish’s 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 O’Neal at XAct Tone Solutions.
DIXIE DREGS’ STEVE MORSE
Steve Morse’s Pedalboard
Steve plays through a pair of 3-channel Engl Steve Morse signature 100-watt amps—one wet, one dry—but 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.
An overdrive boost that takes cues from a Klon but goes beyond by adding useful tone-sculpting features.
A large range of wide-open tones to explore in the overdrive/boost family. Easy to voice with various types of gear. Might free up space on your pedalboard.
Potentially a little more expensive than alternatives.
$249
Walrus Audio Voyager MkII
walrusaudio.com
When it comes toKlon-style pedals, I like to think I have my bases covered. I’ve done too much research, I own a few, and I have some personal methodology for deciding which ones go on the board for which gig. (Not even I always understand that methodology, but it seems to work!) I’d like to put a check mark next to boost/overdrive in my mental notebook, but things don’t always go according to plan, so, on occasion, I find myself wooed by new offerings.
I promised myself I’d approach the Walrus Voyager MkII with a steely resolve. “I’m not going to fall for this pedal,” I whispered to my current klone-du-jour as I swapped stomps, confident that I’d never feel the need to add more options to a perfect pedal formula, as the Voyager does with its six knobs. But I guess there’s always room to grow.
More Knobs!?
In spite of the many similarities, you can’t really call the Voyager MkII aklone. It has germanium 1N34A diodes like a klone does. When I AB’d with myJHS Notaklön—which sounds exactly like my Klon KTR and has become my go-to thanks to its sturdier build—I was able to dial them in to sound quite close. I wasn’t able to set the controls to identical positions and I had to use my ear to tune the Walrus to get them. But with a baseline established, it was time to explore.
The Voyager MkII features five modes, which include the 1N34A diodes with a bass boost (mode 2), symmetric silicon diodes (mode 3), asymmetric silicon diodes (mode 4), and asymmetric silicon diodes with a bass boost (mode 5). If you’re familiar with what that all means, you know what to expect. If you’ve never tinkered with pedal design or dug into the finer details of your overdrives, distortions, and fuzzes deeply enough to understand those things, this is an excellent way to learn with your ears.
A 2-knob EQ, controlled by a footswitch, opens up the voicing of the Voyager. The mid control determines the amount of boost or cut from clockwise, and the freq knob selects the frequency that is cut or boosted, ranging from 350 Hz to 2 kHz.
Modes and Mids
I jumped around the modes to taste, finding each suitable in different scenarios. As much as I love the warm, compressed sound of the germanium diodes—and the bass boost option is a welcomed touch—the silicon diodes are more open, dynamic, and even feel a little grittier. That creates a lot of sonic variety. I always keep another boost/overdrive on my board along with my Klon or klone, but the Voyager would be a fine way to replace both.
The mid boost turned out to be my favorite feature on the Voyager. This would be a super-handy thing for kicking on between one section of a song and another, perhaps changing color for a lead or single-string part after heavy strums.
As I switched guitars, it was handy to hone in on some frequencies. After reveling in the higher side of the gain knob with a Powers Electric A-Type into my Deluxe Reverb, I had a hankering for some Strat-like bridge pickup sounds. Grabbing my G&L Legacy, I fine-tuned the high-mid cut, taming some of that guitar’s spanky quack and adding some saturation by using just the slightest touch of gain. Moving to my Creston JM, with the Voyager MkII set to moderate gain, I cranked the boost in the lower mid frequencies, where I discovered a cocked-wah sound that lent a ’70s Zappa flair to some off-kilter leads.
The mid boost proved especially useful when getting my existing gear to sit well with the Mk II. In front of my Mattoverse Just-a-Phase, cranking the high mids lent noticeably more attack to a particularly gooey phaser setting in a useful way. And when I plugged into my Champ, I was able to beef-up that amp’s thinner sound in the same way I might otherwise use an EQ pedal.
The Verdict
The Voyager MkII is built from a Klon-style foundation. But its well-considered features make it a much more versatile tight boost and overdrive that’s easy to voice for different guitars, amps, and pedal pairings. With a wide range of tones on hand, it also allows me to stay “in the zone” when looking for a sound instead of going on a pedal-swapping hunt for tone. At $249, the Voyager is priced competitively with other pedals in its class but offers more room to roam.
Walrus Audio Voyager MKII Overdrive Pedal - Seafoam Green
Voyager Pre-Amp/Overdrive mkII - Seafoam GreenBassist Scott Thunes first started with Frank Zappa’s band when he was 21 years old.
The idiosyncratic musician has gone from Zappa to the classroom, even though he says “I can’t write a bass line to save my life.”
I was surprised, intrigued, and thrilled to encounter some rather audacious bass playing at an outdoor school benefit show I played this past fall in Lagunitas, California. I was nowhere near the stage (instead, I was waiting in line for my benefit show compensation—a free meal), but I could still hear the emergence of busy, angular lines and unusual chords rumbling across the hillside venue. When I started setting up for my band’s set and the earlier band was packing up, I spotted the responsible bassist, and it all made sense.
It was Scott Thunes, the low-end raconteur who started playing with Frank Zappa at age 21. He spent the better part of the ’80s in Zappa’s band, appearing on numerous live albums and a couple of studio recordings, including the bandleader’s 1982 Top 40 single, “Valley Girl.” His career resume includes stints with Steve Vai, Mike Keneally, the Waterboys, the Mother Hips, and Fear, among others.
In recent years, Thunes (pronounced “too-ness”) has toured with the re-formed Zappa Band, Banned from Utopia, which plays a few times a year at the venerable Los Angeles venue the Baked Potato. Catch one of these shows and you’ll see how Scott’s tremendous facility on his instrument and unusual creative approach add a level of complexity to Zappa’s famously challenging music.
“I can’t write a bass line to save my life,” he claims, striking a tone that seems less like a reluctant confession and more like a bold stylistic declaration. “For 99 percent of bass players, the job is to be the intermediary between the drums and the guitar—to be both harmonic and rhythmic. And a lot of bass parts have that really great element. That’s wonderful, but people who know my playing don’t hire me to do that,” he says.
“I’m not big on laying down a bass part and then just sitting on it. I’m not a groove monster, and I never have been. That’s not why Frank hired me. I need to have space to express myself, and unfortunately that makes me fall very drastically into the overplaying bass player type. I have absolutely no problem with that because Frank didn’t have a problem with that.”
Thunes describes his “mindful overplaying” as something he’s not always been happy with. “I’ve been fired from more bands than I’ve been hired by,” he deadpans, before allowing a slight, sly grin.
Then there’s the Ramones. Thunes is a teaching artist for the rock band program at Marin School of the Arts at Novato High School in Novato, California. On the day we spoke, his six teenage bands performed medleys of the pioneering American punk band’s material as part of a final exam.
“I was really not expecting them to do well with the Ramones,” he reveals, “especially the more advanced kids, who think the Ramones are too simple. But they pulled it off. I’m very happy about it. The energy was really high, the percentage of downstrokes was up at around 85 or 90 percent, and they got tired—they’re supposed to. It was a great experience for me today, to have my kids not piss all over one of the greatest bands of all time.”
As for his own approach to playing music. Scott says he doesn’t really think of himself as a bass player. “I think of myself as Scott Thunes, who has chosen the bass as the area in which I express myself,” he says. “Now, I may not be able to write a melody or a bass line, but I can find my way through the intricacies of a harmonic system and ply my trade. That’s really all I wanna do. I just want to find a space to put my stuff in.”
For a more in-depth perspective on Scott Thunes, check out two books by Thomas Wictor: In Cold Sweat: Interviews with Really Scary Musicians and Ghosts and Ballyhoo: Memoirs of a Failed L.A. Music Journalist.
Eminence Speaker launches the Karnivore guitar speaker, developed in collaboration with metal producer Kristian Kohle.
Eminence Speaker, renowned for its high-performance speakers in the heart of Kentucky, is launching the Karnivore, a groundbreaking guitar speaker developed in collaboration with world-class metal producer Kristian Kohle.
Following their successful partnership on the Eminence / Orange Bass Guitar Cabinet ImpulseResponse Pack and the Kristian Kohle DV-77 IR Pack, this new venture takes the Kohle/Eminence collaboration to new heights, bringing the ultimate high-gain solution to guitarists everywhere.
Available in 8 ohm and 16 ohm models, the 12” Karnivore is designed with a ceramic magnet to deliver everything heavy players need: a massive low end, a thick, vocal mid-range, and mid-range bite that effortlessly cuts through even the most demanding metal mixes — all without becoming harsh or brittle. Whether it's crushing rhythm tones or searing leads, the Karnivore provides the perfect balance of power and precision, making it a must-have for modern guitarists pushing the boundaries of tone.
Kristian Kohle, a renowned producer and engineer known for his work with legendary metal bands like Powerwolf, Aborted, and Electric Callboy, has been instrumental in shaping the Karnivore’s sonic profile. With years of expertise refining tones for metal artists, Kohle's influence can be heard in every aspect of the speaker's design, ensuring that the Karnivore is not only a technical marvel but also an artistic tool for achieving unparalleled high-gain tones.
Key features of the Karnivore:
- 12” speaker with ceramic magnet
- 8 and 16 ohm options available
The Karnivore carries a $159.99 street price.
For more information, please visit eminence.com.