Rhett Schullās a busy guy. Between being one of the most prolific YouTubers in the guitar sphere, working as a trusted hired gun, and creating his own original music, including last yearās EP The Early Days, heās an avid cyclist. Just a week before we met up with Rhett at Eastside Bowl in Madison, Tennessee, for this Rig Rundown, he was slated to ride a 100-mile race in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Those plans were dashed when 70-mile-an-hour winds stoked a wildfire near town and burned just over 26,000 acres. But the show must go on: The next night, Schull played a gig in town, a special release for people reeling from a brutal natural disaster.
Schullās a certified gear aficionado and tone wizard, so PGās Chris Kies headed to Eastside Bowl to have him walk us through his current live rig. Check out the Rundown here, and stay tuned; Schullās got more music coming later this year.
Brought to you by DāAddario.
Special Serus
Schullās wife pointed out this Novo Serus J hanging on the wall of a guitar shop back in 2017, and it was love at first strum. Made from tempered pine and loaded with Amalfitano P-90 pickups, plus sporting an unmissable pink sparkle polyurethane finish, itās a real looker, and one of Schullās favorite guitars.
Third Man Thumper
After Schull did a video on the Fender Jack White Pano Verb amplifier, Fender sent him a Jack White Triplecaster Telecaster, part of his signature series of gear with Fender launched last year. Schull calls it one of the most versatile guitars he owns, with each of the three pickup options virtually splitting it into three separate guitars.
Firebird-Watching
This beauty from Gibsonās Custom Shop came to Schull following NAMM in 2020. On tour, he needs something with humbuckers and something with single-coils. Then, he thinks of whatās exciting him. These days, itās this Firebird V, which doesnāt have a typical Firebird tone, but cuts closer to something like a Telecaster at times.
Rockin' Two With a Two-Rock
Schull runs two amps onstage, but he doesnāt run them in stereo; he believes the stereo image doesnāt translate as well in a live situation where listeners are spread across the speaker systemās field. With this Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature and an AC15-ish David Edwards Apollo, Schull gets a ābroadbandā sound set for big, fat clean tones, like one giant amp on the edge of breakup.
Fun fact: Edwards surprised Schull with the Apollo when Rhett went to Florida to work on some videos.
Rhett Schull's Pedalboard
Schullās 2024 EP is very effects-heavy, so he commissioned the pedalboard-whisperers at XAct Tone Solutions to build him this double-decker station based around an RJM Mastermind PBC/6X switcher. Some of the stomps, like the Chase Bliss Mood, are activated by MIDI, and all the different sounds from each songāfrom intro to chorus to bridge to finishāis set up in the RJM. If Rhett wants to go off script, he can hit the function button, which lets him engage pedals on a one-by-one basis. A Line 6 HX One is a āwildcardā pedal in this rig, filling in gaps as needed.
In addition to those machines, the rig includes a Chase Bliss Dark World, GFI System Synesthesia, Hologram Electronics Chroma Console, Boss Space Echo RE-202, GFI System Duophony (which mixes the Dark World and Synesthesia), Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp MkII (used for boost, EQ, fuzz, or overdrive depending on the song), Old Blood Noise Endeavors Beam Splitter, Source Audio ZIO, Memory Lane Electronics Tone Bender clone, and a Mythos Argonaut. A mysterious Japan-made Noel dirt pedal, finished in striking red and gifted to Shull by JHS Pedalsā Josh Scott, rounds out the collection. Utility boxes include a TC Electronic PolyTune3 Noir, Lehle Little Dual, a pair of Strymon Ojai power supplies, and a bigger Strymon Zuma supply.
