Looking for more great gear for the guitar player in your life (yourself included!)? Check out this year's Holiday Gear Finds!
DR-05X Stereo Handheld Recorder
The NS-1X is designed to intelligently silence noise without affecting the natural tone and playing feel of a guitar or bass. Speedy processing and versatile operation modes deliver superior performance for a wide range of scenarios, from gentle noise reduction for general stage and studio setups to ultra-fast gating for heavy rhythm styles and other techniques that rely on high-gain tones. Background noise can be problematic with guitar and bass, particularly in high-gain setups. The proprietary MDP approach in the NS-1X delivers fast, transparent operation in every application, eliminating the unnatural attack and decay artifacts that can be introduced with standard noise suppression systems. High-speed digital technology analyzes the input signal on multiple levels in real time, enabling ultra-detailed processing that provides the optimum noise reduction for any playing style or performance venue. The NS-1X features multiple operation modes to suit various setups: Reduction—This mode provides gentle noise suppression and natural note decay with all pickup types, including low-output single coils. Gate—Ideal for high-gain players, this mode immediately silences the sound when no signal is present.
Mute—This mode turns the pedal’s bypass setting into a convenient mute switch for changing instruments, tuning, and set breaks. The NS-1X will operate in either Reduction or Gate mode when the pedal switch is off, assignable using a simple power-up procedure. The NS-1X offers intuitive operation with Threshold, Decay, and Damp knobs to fine-tune the performance of the selected mode. There’s also a Reduction indicator that dynamically displays the current noise suppression status. Along with standard input and output connectors, the NS-1X features a send/return loop for enhanced performance with distortions, overdrives, and other noise-producing pedals. Thanks to its advanced digital processing and wide frequency response, the NS-1X provides outstanding results with standard guitars and basses and extended-range instruments with additional strings. It’s also an excellent noise suppression solution for keyboards and other types of electronic instruments.
The NS-1X features multiple operation modes to suit various setups: Reduction—This mode provides gentle noise suppression and natural note decay with all pickup types, including low-output single coils. Gate—Ideal for high-gain players, this mode immediately silences the sound when no signal is present. MDP provides a lightning-fast response that no other noise reduction pedal can deliver, ensuring a natural playing feel and punchy note attack for percussive djent riffs, sweep picking, and legato tapping techniques. Mute—This mode turns the pedal’s bypass setting into a convenient mute switch for changing instruments, tuning, and set breaks. The NS-1X will operate in either Reduction or Gate mode when the pedal switch is off, assignable using a simple power-up procedure. The NS-1X offers intuitive operation with Threshold, Decay, and Damp knobs to fine-tune the performance of the selected mode. There’s also a Reduction indicator that dynamically displays the current noise suppression status. Along with standard input and output connectors, the NS-1X features a send/return loop for enhanced performance with distortions, overdrives, and other noise-producing pedals. Thanks to its advanced digital processing and wide frequency response, the NS-1X provides outstanding results with standard guitars and basses and extended-range instruments with additional strings. It’s also an excellent noise suppression solution for keyboards and other types of electronic instruments.
BOSS NS-1X Noise Suppressor | Noise No More
The new NS-1X Noise Suppresor is available now for purchase at authorized US BOSS retailers for $199.99. To learn more about the NS-1X and other BOSS X series pedals, visit www.boss.info.
![Rig Rundown: Steve Vai [2023]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-steve-vai-2023.jpg?id=38640211&width=1200&height=800&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C200%2C0)
Steve Vai is much more than a great guitarist. The American guitarist has established himself as a key figure in guitar culture, and one of the world’s leading masters of shred. Vai broke on the scene in 1980 as Frank Zappa’s transcriptionist, until Zappa hired Vai, age 20, to join his touring band—Zappa allegedly called Vai his “little Italian virtuoso.”
Bolstering his guitar theatrics with sharp songwriting and producing, Vai went on to conquer the world of guitar music, winning three Grammys and selling 15 million records. PG was lucky to be invited to Vai’s recent show at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s CMA Theatre in Nashville, where his tech, Doug MacArthur, took John Bohlinger through Vai’s jaw-dropping current touring rig.
Special thanks to Doug MacArthur for explaining this incredibly complex rig.
Brought to you by D’Addario XS Strings.
Evo
Currently on its fifth neck, Vai’s trusty axe has been a constant for touring and recording since roughly 1992. It sports DiMarzio “Evolution Bridge” pickups in both the neck and bridge position, “EVO gold” Jumbo frets, and a cosmo black Ibanez LO-PRO tremolo. Vai keeps this one in standard tuning, courtesy of .009-.042 Ernie Ball Super Slinkies.
Flo III
Flo III has been Vai’s main guitar since the late 2000s. This Jem was assembled at the Ibanez Los Angeles Custom Shop, where it was fitted with a Fernandes Sustainer, and modified with a lightly scalloped fretboard. It’s outfitted with EVO gold jumbo frets, a DiMarzio Evolution Bridge pickup, and an Ibanez LO-PRO tremolo. This one also lives in standard tuning, with .009-.042 Ernie Ball Super Slinkies.
Bo
A truly unique aesthetic. Circa 2001, BO was the prototype for the “Jem 77BRMR” model. You’ll notice the mirror crazing under the finish, on the forearm contour. This was worked out for production models, but Vai fell in love with the sound of this particular prototype, and has kept it in the touring lineup since the early 2000s. The neck boasts blue LED front and side dot markers, which were done by Martin Sims. It’s equipped with Jumbo Jescar nickel silver frets, a Fernandes Sustainer, a DiMarzio Evolution bridge pickup, and a LO-PRO Ibanez tremolo. This one rides in drop C tuning, with a set of .010-.052 Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottoms.
Little Pretty
This one is a production model Ibanez John Schofield JSM, outfitted in a loud Bonvillain Dip, with gold leaf binding and unique pin-striping on the back. The electronics are stock, although the tone controls have been disconnected. Little Pretty sports locking Grover tuners, and a Tusq nut. Doug MacArthur has also re-radiused the fretboard to 16” throughout, and re-fretted it with Jumbo EVO gold fretwire, giving this guitar a very familiar feel to Vai. Plus, it’s gussied up with a very well-loved fluffy white strap!
Zeus
Zeus is a 1998 one-off prototype for the Hoshino 90th anniversary Jem model. Only one 7-string with this aesthetic was made, and it has remained stored away in Steve’s collection until recently, when pulled into touring duty in early 2023. It’s got custom chrome-topped DiMarzio Blaze pickups, and abalone dot inlays, mods made by MacArthur to get it ready for its first tour. It has jumbo nickel-silver frets, and hangs in standard tuning with a low A, thanks to .009-.056 Ernie Balls.
Candle
Made in the early 2000s by the Ibanez Custom Shop, this unique Jem/Strat hybrid boasts a classic sound while still maintaining the Vai aesthetic. It’s loaded with Fender Fat 50s single coils, a Wilkinson tremolo, and EVO gold jumbo frets over 21 frets with a custom 12” radius.
The Beast With Three Necks
This Frankenstein monster, known as the Hydra, has one body, two headstocks, and three necks, accommodating both seven- and 12-string guitars as well as a four-string bass and half-fretless neck. Pickup combinations include a sustainer, humbuckers, single-coils, and a piezo. Oh, and did we mention there’s also a harp onboard?
The Beast With Three Necks
The Hydra has two outputs. One is an ethernet cable, and the other is midi.
The ethernet plugs into a custom Hydra Brain built by Ibanez, which is mounted in the middle of the rack. The ethernet input distributes the signal for each individual instrument on the hydra, and the brain gives each instrument its own 1/4” output, as well as a master level control for each instrument. The harp, bass, and 12-string 1/4” brain outputs go into individual inputs of the AXE FX III TURBO, for the Hydra Song Patch. These three instruments utilize effects and amp modeling in the Fractal, and come out stereo to the front-of-house mixing console. The 7-string, however, doesn’t utilize modeling at all. Its output from the brain goes into the Little Lehle III A/B pedal on Vai’s pedalboard, which gets routed into his pedalboard and normal amplifier signal path. In other words, the 7-string runs through Steve’s rig just like his normal guitars.
There are 3 small MIDI trigger buttons hidden in various locations on the Hydra’s body, which trigger sound effects featured in the song. The MIDI cable goes into a small custom-built splitter box, which feeds each trigger button into a Roland TD-27 drum module, hard-mounted in the middle of the rack and routed to front-of-house.
Rack 'Em Up
Vai runs a neon green, 60-foot-long custom DiMarzio instrument cable from his guitar to his board. The first pedal in the chain is a Little Lehle III A/B switch, that allows Vai’s team to switch between the Hydra and his regular guitars.
From there, the signal hits Vai’s Dunlop 95Q automatic wah, modded by MacArthur to remove the gain switch and add a volume and Q control on the left side of the wah. Vai runs the volume pot all the way up, and the Q around 95 percent of the way up.
From there the signal hits an Ibanez Jemini Distortion then a Digitech Whammy DT. Vai always has the right side of the pedal set to jump 7 semitones up from the moment the switch is stepped on. He uses this constantly, and its work can be heard on songs like “Weeping China Doll,” “Lights Are On,” and “Greenish Blues.”
Then the guitar goes into the input of the rack unit. There’s a Morningstar Effects ML5 MIDI looper, which has an Ibanez Jemini (seen on top of the rack) in a loop, that only comes on during various points during the Hydra performance, via MIDI.
After the ML5, the signal flows into two Synergy SYN-2 preamps, which are daisy-chained together to allow Vai full use of all four modules that are loaded into them: two Synergy VAI modules, and two Synergy B-MAN modules. The 2 Vai modules are set fairly similar—the first is his main tone, and the second one is set virtually identical, but with the gain backed down a bit. The B-MAN modules are used mainly for their beautiful clean channels, but also for their great ’70s overdriven channels, which Vai occasionally uses throughout the night. The module channels are controlled via the Mastermind LT MIDI footswitch on Vai’s pedalboard.
Shred Synergy
From the Synergys, the signal exits into the input of a Fractal Axe FX III Turbo. This unit is controlled simultaneously by the FC-12 switcher on Steve’s pedalboard, and a second FC-12, at MacArthur’s guitar boat. Each song in the set has its own patch in the Fractal, mainly utilizing different digital delays, chorusing, and reverbs for each song. Vai runs his rig in stereo, so the signal exits the Fractal’s outputs via left and right.
From the stereo output of the fractal, the left and right outputs now go into the left and right inputs of the Fryette LX-2 Stereo Tube Power amp. This power amp is 50 watts per-side, and both left and right are controlled via one single volume control, which allows Vai’s team to maintain even levels between the left and right guitar cabinets. Vai usually rides the volume around 1 or 2 o’clock (depending on the venue), with the depth control pushed in. A second LX2 powers Vai’s front-stage 1x12 stereo guitar monitors, which were custom-built by CARVIN.)
The main Fryette sends its output to the Carvin Legacy 4x12 cabinets on stage left and stage right. These cabs are each loaded with a quartet of Celestion Vintage 30s, and feature unique “Inviolate” artwork grill cloth, which MacArthur had custom-made by NoiseyHammer. These cabs have been with Vai for a long time, and can be seen in the Where The Wild Things Are DVD, when they were fitted with custom grill cloths from the Sound Theories album artwork.
Enter here but check out the prizes below!
Pedalmania 2023 Week #3Eventide TriceraChorus Tri-chorus Pedal
Inspired by the classic Tri-Stereo Chorus and stompbox choruses of the 1970s and early 1980s, the TriceraChorus pedal pairs rich Bucket Brigade-style chorusing with Eventide’s legendary MicroPitch detuning for a lushness that rivals the jungles of the late Cretaceous Period. TriceraChorus features three chorus voices and three unique chorus effects which can be used to create a wide stereo spread with pulsing waves of modulation. The innovative “Swirl” footswitch adds psychedelic flanging, phasing, and Uni-vibe-style tones. It has never been easier to dial in syrupy smooth, deep modulation on guitar, bass, synths, strings, vocals, and more.
FLAMMA FS02 Reverb
This compact reverb pedal crams seven distinct digital reverb effects in to a sturdy, metal shell and several control features. The various reverb effects aim to simulate different environments from a small room to large, open cave. More niche effects are also included such as studio-style plate reverb, classic spring reverb effect, and the more far-out modulation reverb effect. Each effect can be modified with the Hi-Cut, Lo-Cut, Decay, and Pre-Delay knobs and then saved to their own save slot. An effect trail feature can be toggled on and off to have each effect fade out naturally after being switched off.
Karma MTN-10
The Karma MTN-10 is a much-improved clone of the revered but long discontinued Ibanez Mostortion, a must-have favorite of many Nashville session players.
The Karma MTN-10 is true-bypass and uses advanced construction techniques, including much sturdier and more reliable pots, switches, and enclosures. The elusive CA3260 IC chip used in the originals is a key component used in the Karma. All circuit board design and pedal assembly is done in the United States.
Silktone Fuzz
The Silktone Fuzz is a modern marvel with exploding with vintage tones.
"Cons: none:" writes Premier Guitar in the Fuzz's perfect score review. That was designer Charles Henry's favorite part, what else can we say?
At it's heart are two germanium transistors in the classic fuzz face topology, tweaked to get a huge array of tones and fix all the annoyances you get with a typical germanium fuzz. We wanted to nail the awesome tones everybody knows and loves when these transistors are biased to their sweet spot… and also when they’re not. With our active bias monitor you can easily hit them all. Want that oh, so sweet sweet sweet spot? Dial it to ~4.50. Prefer some fat sticky fuzz? Dial it past 7.50. Want spitty gated fuzz? Cool, me too - dial it to ~1.10.
Combine this with the onboard pickup simulator to place this fuzz anywhere in your chain without the normal issues and a cleanup knob to get you into drive territory that rivals the best overdrives out there with beautifully musical germanium color - and you have one of the most useable, versatile fuzzes to date with sooo.. much.. texture.
Source Audio Ventris Dual Reverb Pedal
Create rich, spacious reverberations with the Ventris Dual Reverb. The Ventris features 14 meticulously crafted reverb engines built on two completely independent 56-bit signal processors, essentially housing a matching pair of high-powered, stereo reverb pedals in a single box. The pedal’s dual DSP architecture provides massive processing muscle, adjustable preset spillover time, and advanced dual reverb effects. Step into a vast realm of ambient space.
Universal Audio UAFX Orion Tape Echo Pedal
Emerging from UA's flagship Starlight Echo Station, Orion Tape Echo gives you the magical hazy delay effects of vintage ’70s Maestro Echoplex EP-III tape delays, in a classy, compact package.*
- Create with a stunning emulation of the iconic vintage tape echo hardware
- Craft eccentric effects with authentic wow, flutter, and tape types
- Fatten your tone with a perfectly captured EP-III analog preamp
- Rely on timeless UA craftsmanship, built for decades of rock-solid performance
*All trademarks are property of their respective owners and used only to represent the effects modeled as part of Orion Tape Echo.