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Rig Rundown: The Doobie Brothers

The guitarists from one of classic rock’s most enduring hitmakers walk us through how they combine old-school custom axes with some of the latest technology.

A single drawer in his rack houses all his stomps, which includes a MXR Carbon Copy for added depth/vibe on most parts, while the Boss DD-20 is set for “China Grove.” On most of the time—especially for the clean parts—is the JHS Pulp ‘N’ Peel compressor, crunch and boost tones are bumped up by the Xotic AC Booster, and the raunchiest distortion comes from the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. A Boss RV-6 Digital Reverb is in the effects loop of the Archon that’s dialed for rhythm duties. All switching is handled by either Tom or his tech Chris Ledbetter who have their own Custom Audio Electronics RS-T 16 controller. Also, the “solo” Archon is routed through a Two Notes Audio Engineering Torpedo Studio Digital Loadbox/Speaker Simulator.

Special thanks to tech Chris Ledbetter.

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