The L.A. rockers explain how they weave and manipulate their boundless tones with some classic Gibson ’birds and a mix of tube power and digital modeling. Plus, we find out guitarist Brian Aubert’s secret weapon.

Starting out on the Fender P bass, Nikki was never quite satisfied with her tone until taking a Gibson Thunderbird for a ride and enjoying its power and sustain. Her No. 1 is a ’90s model that is completely stock except the Thunderbird logo was converted into a giraffe for Nikki. This one is named after the Bond character Pussy Galore. This one is in standard tuning and all her 4-strings are equipped with Ernie Ball Slinky .050–.105 strings.

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