Experimenting with odd-time signatures and unusual tunings isn’t the only reason for the band’s unique mojo—a few eye-popping guitars, classic amps, and a pile of pedals are also required for their brand of melodic post-hardcore.
Dustin Kensrue and Teppei Teranishi (above right) of Thrice have a hectic schedule of relentless touring. Luckily, PG’s Perry Bean was able to meet up with the band before their latest Nashville stop at the Cannery Ballroom.
A big part of the Thrice sound comes down to the way Teppei Teranishi and Dustin Kensrue find their own distinct tone. Kensrue has been getting a lot of mileage out of this Nash JM-63 that’s loaded with a Lollar High Wind Imperial Humbucker in the bridge and a Lollar El Rayo Humbucker in the neck. He strings it up with Ernie Ball Cobalt strings (.011–.056). The custom set features these string gauges: .011, .014, .018, .032, .044, .056.
Kensrue also goes with this Cave and Canary Baritone Solaris that’s equipped with a Bigsby and strung up with Ernie Ball Cobalt strings (.011–.068).
Dustin favors a two-amp setup. This Fender ’68 Custom Vibrolux lives behind a baffle to help control volume.
He combines the Vibrolux with a New Vintage Amps Custom DK36 that was modded by Nic Patullo from New Vintage.
The control center of Kensrue’s Pedaltrain Classic Pro is an FAMC Liquid Foot+ Mini, which works with a pair of Voodoo Lab Hex units to switch between pedals. The choices available are plentiful and include a trio of Strymon pedals (a TimeLine, a Mobius, and a BigSky), JHS Mini Foot and Muffuletta fuzzes, a Walrus Audio Deep Six, a Line 6 M5, an Electro-Harmonix POG2, and a pair of custom Mojo Hand Fx “Kensrue” Rook overdrives. A TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Noir aids with tuning.
Teppei Teranishi likes it low and rumbly with this Fender Baritone Custom Jaguar (which was renamed the Jaguar Bass VI Custom in 2006).
This 1972 Gibson Les Paul Standard—bought off eBay—was Teppei’s first real guitar he got when first starting out in the band. The guitar originally came with DiMarzio Super Distortions, but at some point Teranishi put in a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge.
Teranishi’s 2004 Nash T-style guitar is strung up with Ernie Ball strings (.011–.054).
This Supro Dual Tone is only part of Teranishi’s dual-amp setup and rests comfortably atop a blonde Fender Bassman 2x12 cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s.
A rather young, but well worn, Vox AC30 sits alongside the Supro/Fender setup to add some British chime.
A full shot of Teppei's dual-amp setup.
Teranishi’s Pedaltrain board is stocked with a variety of tone-shaping tools. He rocks a few JHS pedals (a Double Barrel, a Pulp ’N’ Peel, and a Panther Cub), Walrus Audio gear (Descent and Julia pedals, as well as an Aetos power supply and Transit 5 switcher), a Line 6 M5, and a Mojo Hand Fx Bayou. A TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Mini is used for tuning, and a Mission Engineering continuous controller governs various Walrus Descent parameters.
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With a bit of downtime back in Nashville, co-shredders-in-chief Megan and Rebecca Lovell joined Shred With Shifty to deconstruct their face-melting leads on “Summertime Sunset,” off of their 2022 record Blood Harmony.
The Georgia-born, Nashville-based roots-rock outfit Larkin Poe have had a busy year. Last summer, they toured across the U.S. supporting Slash, and released their seventh studio album, Bloom, on January 22. With a bit of downtime back in Nashville, co-shredders-in-chief Megan and Rebecca Lovell joined Shred With Shifty to deconstruct their face-melting leads on “Summertime Sunset,” off of their 2022 record Blood Harmony.
The Lovells grew up reading sheet music and learning violin via the Suzuki method—there was little room for going off the beaten path until they fell in love with Jerry Douglas’ dobro playing on Alison Krauss records. Rebecca took up the mandolin, while Megan went for the dobro and the slide side of things. It took a while for them to get comfortable turning up from their bluegrass roots, but eventually they built Larkin Poe’s amplified, blues-rock sound.
First up, Rebecca, playing a pristine ’60s SG, shows how she put together her stinging, fuzzy solo by “hunting and pecking out” melodies in her mind, building up the chops to follow her intuition. Then Megan, playing a Rickenbacker-inspired lap steel of her own design through a Rodenberg TB Drive, details her dizzyingly fast slide acrobatics, and her particular “rake” technique that she copped from Jerry Douglas and Derek Trucks.
Tune in to hear them talk about how to sustain family relationships while going professional, keeping music community-minded, and whether or not they’ll go back to bluegrass.
If you’re able to help, here are some charities aimed at assisting musicians affected by the fires in L.A:
https://guitarcenterfoundation.org
https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html
https://www.musiciansfoundation.org
https://fireaidla.org
https://www.musicares.org
https://www.sweetrelief.org
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
The legendary Louisville rockers brought tons of vintage tone tools on the road this year.
My Morning Jacket’s Is, their 10th album, released on March 21, and as we reported in our feature on the band in our May print issue, it showcased a band exercising their classic strengths as well as newfound vision and curiosity. Helmed by superstar producer Brendan O’Brien, Is finds MMJ at their anthemic, psychedelic best.
We caught up with Carl Broemel for a Rig Rundown back in 2015, but on this year’s tour, PG’s John Bohlinger checked in with all three axemen—Jim James, Broemel, and bassist Tom Blankenship—to hear about their road rigs. In Broemel’s estimation, they’re lazy—they just like to bring everything.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Three's a Crowd
This gorgeous Gibson Jimi Hendrix 1967 SG Custom, aged by Murphy Labs, initially had three humbuckers, but James kept hitting his pick on the middle pickup, so it got the yank—as did the hefty bridge and Maestro Vibrola system, which were replaced with a simple stopbar tailpiece.
Mirror Image
James picked up this 1998 Gibson Flying V right around when My Morning Jacket got started. He traced and ordered the flashy mirror pickguard himself. It’s got Gibson pickups, though James isn’t sure of the models.
Jim James' Jimmy
James plucked this one-of-a-kind from Scott Baxendale’s collection of restored vintage guitars. He guesses it’s either an old Kay or Harmony guitar, but the decorations, including the custom plastic headstock plaque, make exact identification difficult. But it was clear this one was meant for James, since it has his name on it.
Elsewhere backstage is James’ Epiphone Jim James ES-335, a custom shop Fender Telecaster and Strat, a 1967 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman, and a Gibson Barney Kessel.
Make Love, Not War
James loves repurposing old military equipment for creative, peaceful purposes, which is how this old radar system came to be a part of his live amplification kit. Along with the old tech, James runs two 3 Monkeys Orangutan heads through a 3 Monkeys cab.
Jim James' Pedalboard
James’ board is built around a pair of GigRig QuarterMaster switching systems, which lets him navigate the stomps you see here: a Devi Ever US Fuzz, Boss BD-2w, SoloDallas Schaffer Boost, Boss OC-2, EarthQuaker Devices Spatial Delivery, Strymon blueSky, EQD Ghost Echo, Malekko Spring Chicken, ISP Deci-Mate, Electro-Harmonix Mel9, UA Starlight Echo Station, and UA Astra Modulation Machine. A D’Addario Chromatic Pedal Tuner duo keep things on pitch, a Strymon Zuma and Ojai pair handle the power, and a Radial SGI-44 line driver maintains clarity.
Arts and Crafts Night
One night while a bit tipsy, Broemel took out his paint pens and set to work on this Gibson Les Paul Standard Faded, resulting in this masterpiece. He also removed the pickup selector switch; even though the neck pickup remains, it never gets used.
Relic By Broemel
This 1988 Les Paul Standard predates the band, and Broemel has given it its aged finish over the years—on one occasion, it fell out of a truck. It’s been treated to a Seymour Duncan pickup upgrade and occasional refrets when required.
Carl's Creston
This Creston Lea offset has two Novak lipstick pickups in the neck, with a switch to engage just one or both, plus a low-end roll-off control. It’s finished in the same blue-black color as Broemel’s house and sports a basil leaf on the headstock in tribute to Broemel’s son, Basil.
Also in the wardrobe are a shiny new Duesenberg tuned to open G, and a custom shop Fender Telecaster with a fattened neck and Bigsby to swing it closer to Broemel’s beloved LPs.
Milk Route
Broemel routes his GFI Ultra pedal steel, which is tuned to E9, through a board which includes a Milkman The Amp, which is projected through the speaker of a Fender Princeton Reissue combo. Operated with another GigRig QuarterMaster, the board also includes an Eventide H9, Moog MF Delay, Fender The Pelt, MXR Phase 90, EHX Nano POG, Xotic Effects EP Booster, Source Audio C4, and a Peterson StroboStomp HD.
Side-Carr
This time out, Broemel is running two Carr Slant 6V heads in stereo.
Carl Broemel's Pedalboard
Broemel commissioned XAct Tone Solutions to build this double-decker board, which depends on a GigRig G3S switching system. From top to bottom (literally), it includes a Boss TU-3, Durham Electronics Sex Drive, JAM Pedals Tubedreamer, Source Audio Spectrum, JAM Retrovibe, MXR Phase 100, Fender The Pelt, Origin Effects SlideRIG, 29 Pedals EUNA, two Eventide H9s, Kingsley Harlot V3, JAM Delay Llama, Merix LVX, Hologram Chroma Console, and EHX POGIII. A wah and Mission Engineering expression pedal sit on the left side, while a Lehle volume pedal and Gamechanger Audio Plus hold down the right edge.
Utility units include two SGI TX interfaces, two Strymon Ojais and a Strymon Zuma, and a Cioks Crux.
More From the Creston Crew
Blankenship, too, has brought along a few guitars from Lea, including these Precision-bass and Jazz-bass models. The dark-sparkle P-style rocks with GHS flatwound strings, while the natural-finish J-style has roundwounds.
Emperor's New Groove
Blankenship just got these brand-new Emperor cabinets, through which he cranks his Mesa Boogie WD-800 Subway heads.
Tom Blankenship’s Pedalboard
Like James, Blankenship uses a GigRig QuarterMaster to jump between his effects. After his Boss TU-3, that includes an Origin Effects Cali76, DigiTech Whammy Ricochet, Pepers’ Pedals Humongous Fuzz, MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, Tronographic Rusty Box, and EHX Bassballs Nano. A Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 Plus lights things up, and a Radial SGI TX keeps the signal squeaky clean.
Shop My Morning Jacket's Rig
EarthQuaker Devices host Echo Reverb Pedal
ISP Technologies DECI-MATE Micro Noise Reduction Pedal
Electro-Harmonix Mel9 Tape Replay Machine Pedal
EarthQuaker Devices Spatial Delivery Envelope Filter Pedal
Universal Audio UAFX Starlight Echo Station Delay Pedal
Universal Audio UAFX Astra Modulation Machine Pedal
Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster
Experience the pinnacle of Taylor playing comfort and tone with the Builder’s Edition 514ce, 514ce Kona Burst, and 524ce. These models feature solid Shamel ash back and sides, uniquely voiced V-Class bracing, Gotoh 510 tuners, ES2 electronics, and a Deluxe Hardshell Case.
The Builder’s Edition 514ce, 514ce Kona Burst and 524ce join our acclaimed Builder’s Edition Collection, giving you more ways to experience the pinnacle of Taylor playing comfort and tone.
Each model boasts a gloss-finish cutaway Grand Auditorium body with solid Shamel ash back and sides, an artfully applied Kona burst on the back, sides and neck, uniquely voiced V-Class interior bracing, Gotoh 510 antique chrome tuners, ES2 electronics, and a Deluxe Hardshell Case.
Refined, comfort-enhancing features include a beveled armrest and cutaway, chamfered body edges and a smoothly contoured Curve Wing bridge. Italian acrylic “Compass” inlays and a vibrant firestripe pickguard add tasteful aesthetic accents.
Responsibly sourced from cities in Southern California, Shamel ash is given a second life as a tonewood in our premium-class guitars. It yields a focused, fundamental-strong voice with midrange power and balance comparable to Honduran mahogany.
Models:
- Builder's Edition 514ce - $3,399 - Featuring a natural Sitka spruce top paired with solid Shamel ash back and sides, the Builder’s Edition 514ce delivers warmth, depth and musical versatility for any style or genre.
- Builder's Edition 514ce Kona Burst - $3,499 - Showcasing a vintage aesthetic flair, this solid Shamel ash/Sitka spruce model features a Tobacco Kona burst top.
- Builder's Edition 524ce - $3,499 - This model pairs solid Shamel ash back and sides with a mahogany top—also featuring a Tobacco Kona burst—that adds a bit of natural compression to help create incredible tonal balance across the frequency spectrum.
For more information, please visit taylorguitars.com.
Expansive range of subtle thickening and focusing tones to fuzz. Great alternative to run-of-the-mill overdrive and fuzz. Enables surgical shaping of guitar sounds within a mix.
Interactive, sometimes sensitive controls make certain tones elusive and lend the pedal a twitchy feel.
$179
Catalinbread Airstrip
With the preamp from a Trident A-Range console as their target, Catalinbread conjures up a varied gain device that can massage or mangle your guitar tone.
Replicating a recording console preamp in a pedal is a pretty elementary idea, but it’s inspired stompboxes as varied as theJHS Colour Box andHudson Broadcast. All recording desks—and the pedals that imitate them—have their own color. Catalinbread’s Airstrip chases the sound of a Trident A-Range channel strip. (Search “Trident Studios” to get a handle on the kind of clientele the place attracted back in the ’60s and ’70s).
Presently, a new Trident A-Range channel strip costs thousands of dollars. An original? Well, only 13 desks were made, so you can probably get a nice used Rolls Royce for less—if you can find one. Rightly then, one should temper expectations about how well a $179 pedal can ape a priceless console. But like many preamps in a box, the Airstrip excels at a wide range of gain-shaping tasks, from surgical boost and EQ shadings to fuzzy, filtered, ready-to-rip-through-a-mix Jimmy Page/Beatles/Neil Young-style direct-to-desk tones. Even at extremes, the Airstrip is sensitive to touch, volume, and tone dynamics, enabling pivots from light (if very focused) overdrive to ’60s germanium-fuzz-like sounds with changes in guitar volume and tone. And though it’s dynamic and responsive, at many settings it also exhibits lovely compression tendencies, softening transients before giving way to wide-vista tone blooms—a great recipe for spare, lyrical, melodic leads with a ’60s biker-flick-soundtrack edge. Without any of its market-leading competitors around for comparison, it’s hard to say exactly how the Airstrip aligns with their EQ biases and core tones. What is certain is that there are scores of mellow to unconventionally aggressive colors here to explore.