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Itās been just over 10 years since we had legendary South Bend, Indiana, jam band Umphreyās McGee on Rig Rundown, so when we saw that they were coming to play at Nashvilleās Ryman Auditorium in early April, we figured it was time to reconnect.
Guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss showed PGās John Bohlinger what pieces of kit theyāre digging these days, and how they orchestrate their incredibly broad range of sounds.
Brought to you by DāAddario.
Simply Z Best
Hereās an up-close look at Cinningerās No. 1, a G&L Comanche. The Z-coil pickups do away with typical single-coil 60-cycle hum issues at high-gain settings. Itās an all-purpose workhorse.
Cinninger replaced the stock trem bar with a Jake Blade, a custom-made replacement patented by Mark Benjamin of RoughGauge LLC. Compared to a regular trem bar, itās out of the way and allows for more expressive playing.
For strings, Cinninger uses DāAddario .10s, and he swears by his beveled-edge Telefunken 2 mm picks.
Special S
Cinninger says only 50 of these G&L S-styles were made, with remarkable pieces of wood and specially designed pickups. This one cuts closer to a classic, throaty Stratocaster sound, and if a venue has quiet, clean power that wonāt present excessive noise issues, itās more likely to be called into action.
Two by Two
Cinningerās signal runs to one amp at a time. The Schroeder head, which is used for cleans, was built with military-spec durability by Tim Schroeder in Chicago and is one of 10. Cinninger says itās got some Dumble qualities, with its clarity, power, consistency, and speed to the speaker, and it connects to a Schroeder cabinet and custom speaker.
The Oldfield Marquis 100-JC, built by Paul Gussler in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the Marshall-flavored side of Cinningerās rig. It handles dirty signals and is connected to classic Electro-Voice drivers.
Jake Cinningerās Pedalboard
Cinningerās board, which he made with his dad, is 25 years old, and itās constantly changing. His always-on boxes include a Banzai Cold Fusion Overdrive, Fuchs Royal Plush Compressor, and Mesa Boogie Five-Band Graphic EQ, plus a Steel Guitar Black Box tube buffer that adds some āairā in the high end.
On top of those, thereās a Boss TU-3, MXR Smart Gate, Radial Tonebone Hot British, MXR Distortion III, Sarno Earth Drive, TC Electronic Flashback, Boss PS-5, Source Audio Soundblox 2 Multiwave Distortion, Malekko Fuzz, Guyatone MD2, Boss PH-3, Morley Bad Horsie, BBE Mind Bender, and a custom āFuzzBucketā fuzz made by a friend.
Utility units include a Lily P4D, Radial BigShot ABY, and Ebtech Hum Eliminator, plus a 9-channel effects switching system.
Sorry, Mark
Meet Miss Lucy. This is a PRS Mark Tremonti Signature, albeit without Tremontiās name on the headstock, and tricked out with the Jake Blade. This one runs a bit hotter than Brendan Baylissā other PRS guitars, and his tech changes the strings on itāDāAddario XL .010sāevery day. Like Cinninger, he digs the Telefunken 2 mm picks.
Also in the stable are another PRS single-cutaway and a double-cut PRS McCarty.
Doubles of the Oldfield
Bayliss runs both a Mesa Boogie Lonestar head and a Gussler-built Oldfield head (which sounds similar to his Lonestar) at the same time. The Mesa runs to a cab with Celestion 12ā³ speakers.
Brendan Baylissā Board
Baylissā board also features the Steel Guitar Black Box, a Lily P4D, Radial BigShot ABY, a Boss TU-3, and a Morley 20/20 Bad Horsie wah.
Aside from those, thereās a Keeley Compressor, MXR Custom Badass Modified O.D., Cusack Screamer, MXR Timmy, Cusack Tap-A-Whirl, Audio Blend Edge EQ, Boss OC-5, Boss CE-5, MXR Phase 95, Eventide H9, Stigtronics Delay, and Boss DD-20.
