
A look at some of Stevie's guitars, amps, and effects from the book, Stevie Ray Vaughan Day By Day, Night After Night His Final Years, 1983-1990.
As one of the most influential guitarists to ever pick up a Strat, Stevie Ray Vaughan left a Texas-sized mark on guitardom that is still felt decades after his untimely passing on August 27, 1990. In the early '80s, his unique brand of Hendrix and Albert King-inspired wailing expanded outside his native Lone Star state, and soon he was on the road and rubbing elbows with his heroes.
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Day by Day, Night After Night—His Final Years, 1983-1990
In Craig Hopkins' new book, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Day by Day, Night After Night - His Final Years, 1983-1990 [Backbeat Books], you can see a virtual day-by-day account of highlights from the last seven years of SRV's life. Hopkins conducted several hundred interviews with many of Vaughan's closest friends and family in an effort to create the definitive work on Vaughan's legacy. Here, we present Hopkins' information on Vaughan's gear.
He says, "The first two secrets to Stevie’s tone are his soul and his hands, so you are defeated before you even begin in your quest for his tone. For those who are interested, the following is the best I can do for you in answering gear questions."
Acquired by Stevie in 1974 from Ray Hennig's Heart of Texas Music, Austin, Texas. Price: $0; value now estimated at $1,000,000.
Age: Number One was disassembled by Fender Custom Shop employees in 2003, and they stated that the neck is from December '62 and the body is a '63. So Number One can rightly be called a '63 Strat. Pickups are 1959, which is why Stevie referred to it as a '59.
Neck size: Nut width is the typical 1-5/8" and the neck profile is "D."
Neck adjustment: .012" relief at the 7th and 9th frets, leveling out for the remainder of the fingerboard.
Fret wire: .11" wide by .047" tall. Original height likely .055". No particular brand or size of fretwire the tallest bead and smallest tang that would fit in the fingerboard without damaging it. They were not bass frets. In the early to mid-80's the fret wire was Dunlop 6100.
Fingerboard: Veneer rosewood (most other rosewood fingerboard Strats of Stevie's had slab-boards). Radius is flatter than the standard vintage 7.25" radius due to at least two refrets, creating a 9" or 10" radius in the upper register.
String height: High action for clear, ringing tone. At the 12th fret: 5/64" on the treble E, 7/64" on the bass E. Each string with three full winds on the tuning machines for best angle at the nut.
String gauge: GHS Nickel Rockers .013, .015, .019 (plain), .028, .038 and .058. Stevie would use .011 Es when his fingers were sore. Always tuned down a half-step.
Saddles: vintage replacement saddles, not matched, modified to minimize the severity of the angle of the string break over the contact point to reduce string breakage. The strings were also run through a small piece of plastic tubing from inside the tremolo block hole beyond the saddle contact point, also to reduce string breakage. The block/bridge top plate is also ground to eliminate the sharp edge where the string contacts the metal.
Nut: Fender-style, but made of bone. (Brass nut on Scotch and Red for studio work)
Tremolo: stainless steel Fender tremolo bar (cotton at the bottom of the block hole to ease removal of broken bars). Graphite and grease lubricant on all moving parts and contact points. The lefty bar is non-original to the guitar. Stevie used all five springs on the tremolo. In photos from 1983-85 one can see a much heavier gauge tremolo bar on Number One. These were made by Stevie's roadie's father. Some were straight (as in the photos from the In Session recording with Albert King) and some were bent (as used at the El Mocambo in 1983). Approximately ten of these custom bars were made either to reduce the number of broken tremolo arms (Stevie still broke them), or merely because the threads in the left-hand trem block were stripped and retapped, requiring the larger gauge.
Pickup height: on the treble side - very high. Laying a metal rule on the frets, the bridge pickup touched the rule, the middle pickup almost touched it, and the neck pickup was 1/16" from the rule. On the bass side, bridge 1/32", middle 1/16", and 1/32" neck.
Tuners: started with original but were replaced at least twice.
Misc.: The gold-plated hardware was not added until late '85 or early '86. Five-way pickup switch is non-original.
Pots: stock Fender 250k. In the last tone position, a push-pull pot to cut down on hum, a dummy coil to prevent buzz, and different value capacitors to preserve the original tone.
Prior to July 1990, the original neck from Number One was retired because it couldn't take another refret job. The original '62 neck from "Red" was put on Number One (Red's neck was changed to a non-Fender left-handed neck in 1986). It was the "Red" neck that was broken into pieces by a falling sound baffle after a show in New Jersey. After that, Number One had a new Fender neck until after Stevie died, when the original Number One neck was reinstalled on it.
Acquired on April 29, 1984, a gift from Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), crafted by James Hamilton. Two-piece maple body, neck through the body design. Originally with EMG preamped pickups, René installed vintage Fender pickups. Fingerboard is ebony with inlaid mother-of-pearl. The original active pickups were replaced (after they were damaged in the filming of the “Couldn’t Stand the Weather” video) with passive pickups. It is said that Stevie didn’t want to get Number One wet during the filming and didn’t like the pickups on Main, so it was used in the video. It is also said that the guitar was coated in beeswax to protect it from the water used in the video. Jim Hamilton made a few genuine copies of the guitar, but there are many imitations made overseas.
A gift from Charley Wirz of Charley’s Guitar Shop, Dallas, in 1984. A hula girl sticker was applied to the back of the guitar and can be seen in photos when Stevie plays behind his head. This guitar was originally called “Ol’ White,” and later called “Ol’ Pearl” after the addition of the hula girl, a reference to the paint color and the hula girl. Alder body, ebony fingerboard, maple neck and Danelectro “lipstick” pickups. Hardtail (non-tremolo), single tone and volume controls. White “trick” or “flip-flop” automotive paint, which gives an irrdescent blue tint, depending on the light and angle of view. Seen on the cover of Couldn’t Stand the Weather. In 2003, Charley’s and René Martinez made 23 numbered limited edition replicas of this guitar, selling for $2500. Owners of these replicas have included Carlos Santana, John Mayer and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. In 2005, ten more replicas were made by René and the former owner of Charley’s without the Charley’s logo.
A 1965 Fender Stratocaster Stevie found in a pawn shop in the early ’80s but didn’t have the $350 for. His wife Lenny and other friends bought the guitar for him. Original sunburst finish removed and brown stain applied. A butterfly tortoise-shell inlay in body, believed to be a 1910-era mandolin pickguard. It had a rosewood fretboard, later switched to maple neck that Billy Gibbons gave Stevie. It is reported that Stevie did the switch himself and used non-stock screws, screwing one through the fretboard. Used to record “Lenny” and “Riviera Paradise.” Lenny sold at the Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar auction on June 24, 2004, to the Guitar Center for $623,500. In December 2007, the Fender Custom Shop produced 235 replicas of Lenny, with an original price of $17,000 each.
Acquired in about 1984 from Charley’s Guitar Shop, Dallas. Red was a stock 1962 until the left-handed neck was installed in 1986 and a new Fender neck installed in July 1990. The black color showing where the red has worn away is because the guitar was originally sunburst, then repainted red, probably at the factory for a special order.
Stolen from Stevie in 1987 and never recovered. Previous owner was Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge, who sold it to Charley’s Guitar Shop, Dallas, who painted it yellow and gave it to Stevie. The cavity had been hugely routed for four humbuckers. Charley gave it to Stevie in early 1981 with a single-coil DiMarzio neck pickup.
1961 Strat acquired in the fall of 1985 in either Baltimore or the Boatyard in Norfolk, it was to be a prize at a Stevie show, but Stevie bought it and they gave away some other guitar. Butterscotch-colored stock 1961 Stratocaster. Non-original pickguard made by René Martinez.
Acquired as a gift from roadie Byron Barr, the 1928 (or 1929) National Steel guitar seen on the cover of In Step. Rumors that it may have belonged to Blind Boy Fuller are unsubstantiated. Serial number said to be 0034. Acquired from Charley’s in 1981.
The 1951 Fender Broadcaster was a hand-me-down from Jimmie to Stevie in the late 1960’s. Presumably it was Jimmie who carved “Jimbo” on the back of the guitar. He also had a porcelain door knob on the guitar for a while. Stevie took it to shop class at school and sanded all the finish off. It is apparently this guitar that can be heard on the earliest known recording of Stevie, playing at the End of Cole Avenue club in Dallas in 1969. Stevie traded it for an Epiphone Riviera, and it changed hands again and is now owned by a private collector in California.
It’s a stretch to call the Diplomat one of Stevie’s guitars, but he definitely played it at least once. He purchased this guitar in New Zealand in late 1986 for his girlfriend Janna to learn to play on. The only markings visible without taking it apart are “Diplomat” in abalone on the headstock, and “Made in Japan” on the neck plate.
The Diplomat guitars were apparently made in Japan by the Aria company, which exported guitars under the names Diplomat, Diamond, Arbor and Conrad, among others. One fan says that he took the Diplomat badge off his guitar to find Ibanez underneath. I’m told The Cure’s early sound is from Diplomat single coil pickups installed in a Fender Jazzmaster guitar.
In the early 1980s, Stevie used a Marshall 4140 2x12 Club and Country 100-watt combo amp for clean tone and his two Vibroverbs for distortion. The Marshall’s factory test date was February 18, 1980. Photos from 1981 show two Celestion G12-80 speakers. It had brown “elephant” cabinet vinyl and tan basketweave grill cloth. In a 1983 interview, Stevie mistakenly suggested that this was a 200-watt amp that did not perform properly, peaking at 80-watts. It would not produce 200 watts because it was a 100-watt amp. In 1983 Stevie was preparing to go on tour with David Bowie but at the last minute dropped out. Before he did, however, Bowie’s crew took the Marshall amp and painted the vinyl black and the grill cloth grey, presumably to approximate the look of other amps that would be on stage. Stevie’s road manager, Cutter Brandenburg, recalls that after the paint job, the Marshall letters would not stay on and they would catch in the guitar strings when Stevie leaned Number One against it for feedback. Some of the letters broke off, so photos show the amp with “Marshall,” “Marsha” and “Marsh” before the remainder of the name was finally removed completely. All three of Stevie’s roadies/techs from this era recall this amp. Once Stevie started making some money, he upgraded to larger Marshall and Dumble amps and traded this one in sometime after the spring of 1983, possibly as late as 1984. It was then owned by another Texas guitar player for many years. It was then sold and pawned. In May 2003, the author purchased the amp. It still has the Bowie paint job and the Celestion speakers, though the broken knobs and logo have been replaced.
1985: two blackface Fender Super Reverbs (4x10 EV’s), a 150-watt Dumble Steel String Singer (4x12 with four 100-watt EV’s, and 6550 tubes), another Dumble 150-watt 4x12. The 4x12 cabinets were non-angled homemade cabs. Sometimes a 200-watt Marshall Plexi-Major was substitued for the second Dumble head. Stevie had two Fender Vibroverbs ca. 1963-64, (1x15) one often used to power a Fender Vibratone. The Vibroverbs and Supers had 3/4” plywood baffle boards to accommodate the weight of the speakers. The EVM’s larger magnets required repositioning some of the transformers in the chassis. In the later years, the Vibroverbs had Super Reverb-style transformers. The first channel from the phase inverter tube was disconnected and the tremolo disabled (by disconnecting the wires from the intensity control - don’t try this at home unless you want to turn yourself into a light bulb). In the summer of 1990, Stevie also took a couple of 4x10 Fender reissue Bassmans on the road, but the speakers were replaced.
The two Vibroverbs are often referred to as “sequentially numbered” 5 and 6, but the serial numbers were in fact 36 digits apart. 5 and 6 are references to the Dumble amps, which were numbers 005 and 006.
Tubes were typically Philips 6L6’s and 12AX7’s and GE 6550’s. Mesa Boogie STR415’s and STR387’s were also used when they could be found.
Volume settings on stage usually started at 7 or 7.5 but would end up at 10 for “Voodoo Chile.” Roadie Cutter Brandenburg recalls that Stevie would often run his hand down the bottom of the knobs, turning them all up as far as they would go.
Ibanez Tube Screamer: Stevie upgraded as new versions came out - TS-808, TS-9, TS-10 Classic. A fan reports that the chip in Stevie’s pedals was probably the RC4558 chip for clean boost.
Wah-wah: Vox wahs from the ’60s. Occasionally connected two together.
The usual setup in the later years was Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-10, Vox wah, vintage Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face, and Tycobrache Octavia. For a brief time he used a Univibe. Roger Mayer Octavias were used prior to the Tycobraches. Cesar Diaz installed matching germanium transistors in the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face body to increase transistor life.
Microphones in the studio for In Step were Shure SM57’s and Sennheiser 142’s. Occasional use in the studio of a Roland Dimension D for extra chorusing effect.
Loop Selector - Stevie had several MXR loop selectors in the early ’80s, one of which is in the author’s collection.
The splitter box which later replaced the loop selectors was one input and six outputs to the amps. No preamp, but resistors to cut down the noise. With the Vibratone he used a Variac AC power regulator.
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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.
Stretching the boundaries of reverb’s realm through dynamic and pitch control.
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Gamechanger Audio Auto Reverb
gamechangeraudio.com
When the first Moog synthesizer appeared, it freaked out a lot of musicians—not least for the way it blurred the divisions between instruments and their roles. Was it percussion? A keyboard? A reed instrument? Many effects makers build from this philosophical foundation. The Latvian company Gamechanger often seems to revel in it—an attitude that’s manifest in the company’s Auto Series pedals, which includes the Auto Reverb.
There’s no reason you can’t use the Auto Reverb in a very straightforward fashion. The plate, spring, and hall settings are all very nice digital representations of their analog inspirations—and I’d be perfectly happy playing an instrumental surf set with the spring mode, for instance. But because you can control the parameters like the reverb’s level, decay, tone, and the filter with changes in pitch and dynamics, the Auto Reverb can function in highly orchestral ways, transforming itself from subtle to outlandish as a musical piece shifts in intensity or rises from low to high keys toward a blurred, hyper-spacious climax. While these attributes make the Auto Reverb a great fit for prepared guitar and conceptual pieces—and invites many themes and compositional ideas within those forms—it can just as easily be configured to create an especially dynamic and dramatic pop song arrangement on stage or in the studio that might otherwise be relegated to automations within a DAW. It’s fun to use, if not always intuitive. But knowing its ways can expand your musical options significantly.
Black Sabbath to Reunite for First Time in 20 Years—Ozzy Osbourne’s Final Performance
The original Sabbath lineup will reunite on July 5 in Birmingham, England, and be joined by Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, and more.
The concert will feature founding members Tony Iommi on guitar, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward, and singer Ozzy Osbourne. Profits from the show, called "Back to the Beginning," will be donated to charities including Cure Parkinson's.
On future Black Sabbath plans, Ozzy's wife, music manager, and TV personality Sharon Osbourne had this to say (via Reuters) about Ozzy: “While other bandmembers might continue to make records and perform, Black Sabbath's gig at the birthplace of the band will certainly be the 76-year-old's final performance.
"For Ozzy right now, it's definitely: 'I love you and good night'," she said.
The shredder and son of legendary artist Frank Zappa gives a tour of his up-to-date gear, including a complex stereo switching system, four racks of pedals, and some of his father’s favorite guitars.
Dweezil Zappa was always going to end up being an incredible guitarist. His dad, Frank Zappa, is celebrated as one of the most talented and creative guitarists in history, and by age 12, Dweezil was recording music produced by Eddie Van Halen. (Little surprise that he’s covering Van Halen’s 1981 stunner “Push Comes to Shove” lately.) He’s been a bona fide guitar star ever since, releasing seven original solo records, six tribute records, two LPs with his brother Ahmet Zappa, and guesting on recordings across the music universe.
Ahead of his gig at Memphis’ Minglewood Hall on his 2024 Rox(postroph)y tour, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe (') and Roxy & Elsewhere records, Dweezil gave PG’s John Bohlinger a boot-to-bonnet look at his current road setup. There’s a lot of ground to cover between his and his father’s catalogues, and Dweezil loves the challenge, which he meets with a mix of his own gear and some special vintage assists courtesy of his dad.
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This coveted Gibson Les Paul Custom, featured on the cover of Frank’s 1981 record Shut Up ’n Play Yer Guitar, came out on the road this tour. Dweezil says that around 1986, his dad swapped in Dan Armstrong-made ceramic pickups. At one point, Frank installed a second input to try to use the guitar as a synth controller, but it didn’t track well enough to continue the experiment.
Along with the standard controls, the guitar includes switches to turn on different parts of the onboard preamp, which boosts the signal and adds plenty of gain. A rotary knob controls a wired-in parametric EQ set up to emulate different settings along the sweep of a wah pedal. Dweezil didn’t get much of the lowdown from his father on the complex operations; it was more trial-and-error. “You just have to turn knobs until you find something that you like,” he says. He connects to his rig with ZZYZX SnapJack magnetic cable connectors.
Rockin' with Roxy
Also out on the Rox(postroph)y tour is Frank’s iconic Roxy & Elsewhere-era Gibson SG. Like the Les Paul, it’s got a preamp circuit to boost the signal, a sweepable EQ, and can achieve acoustic, piezo-adjacent sounds. The preamp configuration in this one is red-hot; it dishes out tons of gain.
Signature Shabat
For Strat-style tones, Dweezil calls on his signature Shabat Lynx DZ, which has been used to dial in his cover of “Push Comes to Shove.” Per Shabat, it has a “body-mounted HSS configuration with a push/pull phase shift on the middle pickup, simplified single-knob layout, custom-cut 3-ply parchment/gold pickguard, and … a Vega-Trem VT1 tremolo."
The Lynx DZ is constructed with an alder body and a quartersawn hard maple, medium-C-profile neck with a 25.5" scale length. It’s loaded with Lollar Special S and Lollar El Rayo pickups, and the middle Special S is wired for phase shift. The Lynx, as well as the SG and Les Paul, are strung with Optima Gold-Plated 2028 FZ Frank Zappa strings (.008–.046), and struck with D’Addario .50 mm celluloid picks. (Dweezil likes them for pick slides.)
On the Ground
Zappa keeps a significant board at his feet, which he controls with a Fractal FC-12 controller. He runs his sound in stereo, with different effects going to each side, so he keeps volume pedals for each side in front of him, plus a wah and expression pedal.
The row of pedals perched atop the pedalboard includes a TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir, a Marshall-style prototype pedal, J. Rockett Audio Designs PXO, Union Tube and Transistor Lab, SoloDallas Orbiter, a Jext Telez White Pedal (to nab a specific tone for playing “Nanook Rubs It”), and a 29 Pedals FLWR.
In the Rack
On our 2013 Rig Rundown, Dweezil was using the Fractal Axe-Fx II, and this time around, he’s upgraded to the Axe-Fx III as the basis of his sound. Given the sonic territory covered in his shows, it simply became too unwieldy and expensive to tour an analog rig.
The brains of his show are held in a rack system. A couple of out-of-sight splitter boxes help with the complex stereo signal paths, as do a pair of Voodoo Lab HEX audio switchers. The Axe-Fx III lives on the top shelf, and just below it are an Eventide H90 and TC Electronic TC 2290 that go to both sides.
The next rack down runs only to the left side, and includes a BK Butler Tube Driver, DigiTech FreqOut, Red Panda Radius and Raster, Krozz Devices Airborn Analog Flanger, and a Paul Trombetta Design Tornita! fuzz.
The level below it runs to the right side, with a “Clown Vomit” fuzz, Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl, Korg FLG-1 Flanger, Chase Bliss Generation Loss, Goochfx Holy Cow, and another Red Panda Raster.
Wrapping up the rig is the bottom rack, which again runs to both sides. It carries most of Zappa’s exquisite dirt sounds, thanks to a Union Tube and Transistor Tsar Bomba, Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp MKII, Goochfx Dirty Hippie, Tru-Fi Two Face, Foxrox Electronics Paradox TZF2, and a Paul Trombetta Design Rotobone that … somewhat reasonably apes a trombone sound. Paul Trombetta, we salute you.