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Rig Rundown: Kurt Vile & The Violators

The Philly-based group explains how they use vintage Fender gear, classic tube amps, and a few homemade pedals to produce their brand of psychedelic folk-rock.

Jesse Trbovich’s pedalboard has some old favorites and custom pieces on it. The signal starts at the Xotic SP Compressor (used to fatten his Tele and for smoother tracking out of the EHX Bass MicroSynth), then hits the Crowther Audio Hotcake (set for a light boost or slight overdrive), Trbo Face (silicon Fuzz Face clone with a BC108 transistor that Jesse built himself), Electro-Harmonix Bass MicroSynth (volume-swelling textures), Moog MF Trem (set to mimic a Vox-style tremolo), Moog MF Flange, Trbo-Vibe (another stompbox built by Jesse—it’s an old Uni-Vibe pedal with a modern power supply), ZVEX Box of Rock, EarthQuaker Devices Disaster Transport, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, and a Korg Pitchblack tuner. An Eventide PowerFactor 2 is along for the ride to keep everything running smoothly.

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Guest columnist Dave Pomeroy, who is also president of Nashville’s musicians union, with some of his friends.

Dave Pomeroy, who’s played on over 500 albums with artists including Emmylou Harris, Elton John, Trisha Yearwood, Earl Scruggs, and Alison Krauss, shares his thoughts on bass playing—and a vision of the future.

From a very young age, I was captivated by music. Our military family was stationed in England from 1961 to 1964, so I got a two-year head start on the Beatles starting at age 6. When Cream came along, for the first time I was able to separate what the different players were doing, and my focus immediately landed on Jack Bruce. He wrote most of the songs, sang wonderfully, and drove the band with his bass. Playing along with Cream’s live recordings was a huge part of my initial self-training, and I never looked back.

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A reverb-based pedal for exploring the far reaches of sound.

Easy to use control set. Wide range of sounds. Crush control is fun to explore. Filter is versatile.

Works best as a stereo effect, which may limit some players.

$299

Old Blood Noise Endeavors Dark Star Stereo
oldbloodnoise.com

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The Old Blood Dark Star Stereo (DSS) is one of those pedals that lives beyond simple effect categorization. Yes, it’s a digital reverb. But like other Old Blood designs, it’s such a feature-rich, creative take on that effect that to think of it as a reverb feels not only imprecise but unfair.

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The exquisite BilT Brothers collaborative guitar: a Frank Brothers Ultra Light in BilT eggplant sparkleburst with Arcane 3x3 Gold Foil Humbuckers and loaded with a Caroline Custom Cannonball Distortion.

This forward-thinking custom guitar commissioned by our columnist makes a special case for partnership in the guitar building community.

Owning a guitar shop, your brain is full of to-do lists, questions, and plenty of compulsive thoughts over details. And when you run a shop that specializes in custom builds that you spec out from boutique companies, the ideas for these guitars often come at the most random times of day (and night). While I don’t subscribe to the notion of fate, the following makes a case for its existence.

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Introducing the new Gibson Acoustic Special models, handcrafted in Bozeman, Montana, featuring solid wood construction, satin nitrocellulose lacquer finishes, and L.R. Baggs electronics.

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