In this video, some of your favorite players—Marty Friedman, Jared James Nichols, Steve Reis, and Nate Garrett—share personal stories that go back to the beginning of their guitar journeys when Black Sabbath riffs constructed their musical foundation.
Declan Mehrtens and Gus Romer brought the heat for the punk quartet’s storming spring headline tour.
Australian punks Amyl and the Sniffers have had a pretty good year. In October 2024, they released their third full-length, Cartoon Darkness, and opened a run of North American shows for Foo Fighters. This year, they warmed up the stage for the Offspring for a handful of shows in Brazil, then tore off across the United States and Canada for a headlining tour.
Ahead of their stopover at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, PG’s Chris Kies met with guitarist Declan Mehrtens and bassist Gus Romer to see what weapons the Aussie invaders are using to conquer the music world.
Mehrtens reckons he’s played around 300 gigs with this trusty Gibson Explorer, and it was used on just about every track on Cartoon Darkness. While recording, he equipped it with flatwound strings and a Lollar P-90 pickup in the bridge, but for tour, it’s got a Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Special in the bridge in addition to its stock neck pickup. It’s tuned a half-step down, and an identical (though less beat-up) Explorer is on hand in case this first one goes down.
Deluxe Dreams
This FenderTelecaster Deluxe comes out for the set’s softest song, “Big Dreams.”
Marshall and Friends
In addition to his beloved JCM800, Mehrtens is running a Hiwatt Custom 100, a model he discovered in Foo Fighters’ studio. Both are dialled in for a general-purpose rock tone, and an always-on Daredevil Drive-Bi, kept behind the stacks, runs into the Hiwatt to push it into breakup.
Declan Mehrtens’ Pedalboard
The jewel of Mehrtens’ board is his SoloDallas Schaffer Replica, famous for its recreation of Angus Young’s guitar tone. In addition, he runs a TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Noir, Electro-Harmonix Soul Food modded with LED diodes, MXR Micro Flanger, two MXR Carbon Copy Minis, and a Vox wah pedal. A switcher with six loops, built by Dave Friedman, manages the changes.
P for Punk
Romer plays this Fender Precision Bass, which is either a 2023 or 2024 model, though he insists the “P” in P bass stands for “punk.”
Three-Headed Beast
Romer’s signal is split into three channels: One split comes after his tuner, and runs clean to front-of-house, another channel runs direct and dirty from this Ampeg SVT Classic, and the last runs through his cabinet into a Sennheiser MD 421.
Gus Romer’s Pedalboard
Romer’s board, furnished with the help of Mehrtens, gets right to the point: It features a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, a Boss ODB-3, and an MXR Distortion+.
Looking for versatility without cranking a stadium-level rig?
In this video, PG contributor Tom Butwin puts three sub‑50-watt amplifiers to the test: the British‑voiced Suhr SL15, the mid‑’60s American‑style PRS Sonzera 20, and the gig‑ready solid‑state Blackstar Debut 50R. Tom explores the tones, features, and ideal use cases of all three amps—highlighting who they're best suited for and how they perform in different setups. Which one fits your playing style and needs?
Tuning up for their own tour that starts this week, the loud ’n’ heavy merchants from Buffalo show PG’s Perry Bean how they apply the hot sauce.
In Better Lovers, guitarists Jordan Buckley and Will Putney, plus bassist Stephen Micciche, go heavy and strange—a combination they achieve by carefully selecting their instruments, amps, and effects. Their latest album is called Highly Irresponsible, but when it comes to nailing their riffs and sounds, this Rundown with PG’s Perry Bean, filmed recently at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, makes it clear they are anything but that!
One-Eyed 6 Strings
Putney’s main guitar is a road-worn Dunable Cyclops, built especially for him by Sacha Dunable. It became the blueprint for his Dunable signature model. “The signatures are awesome, but I love this guitar. I play it to death,” he says. It‘s got an EMG 81 pickup and a master volume dial. That’s it. Putney has a backup that’s nearly identical, except for the stage rash.
Practice Makes….
Putney is using this DE version of his signature to practice new songs and the new sounds that come along with them, including those made via the onboard EHX Pitchfork circuit, with power/signal bypass, momentary on/off latching, pitch up/down/both selection, an interval selector, and a mix knob. The scale is 25.5" and it sports a Graphtech TUSQ nut along with an EMG 81. Most Better Lovers tunes are in drop D, by the way, with Ernie Ball strings.
Power Rager
This Peavey 6505 V2 arrived just in time for this night's gig, sliding in next to the two 5150s that have been in Putney’s live rig for years. It’s got 120 watts and invokes the spirit of one of Eddie Van Halen’s favorite heads. It’s got 6L6s, but he’s contemplating a swap with EL84s after the tour, just for an A/B test.
Cab Envy
How about a pair of Atlas custom 6x12 cabinets to plug your guitar and pedals into? “They’re loud,” Putney understates. And he A/Bs between that Peavey/Atlas combination and a Vox AC30 for his clean and dirty sounds. He uses a Mastermind PBC by RJM Music Technologies for switching both amps and pedals.
Set It, Don’t Sweat It
Here’s a look at where Putney’s AC30 lives.
Pedal Power
Running through that Mastermind are a fuzz pedal Putney designed with God City’s/Converge’s Kurt Ballou called the Pariah, and there’s also a Sinkhole, Astral Destiny, and Soft Focus Reverb from Catalinbread, an EQD Dispatch Master, two EHX Pitchforks, a Fortin Zuul+, a Strymon El Capistan, a Better Lovers signature Night Terror overdrive, and a Kevin Hickey Signature Chorus.
Blue Bomber
Buckley got this ’78 SG from Rochester, New York’s House of Guitars when he was a kid. It’s been through a lot of breaks but has come through triumphant, with double EMG 81s. And the Vox AC30 it’s leaning on is his, too. Listen to how it sounds with a whole lotta reverb and a slide in the Rundown! That’s his sound for the concert opener on the current tour.
Don’t Even Look at This Guitar
Here’s Buckley’s favorite ESP Eclipse, also with EMGs and lot of wear on the rear upper bout an around the picking zone. It’s got an ESP “full-thickness” body, so it’s heavier than his beloved SG.
More Dunable
This Cyclops has got its original two Dunable pickups and a tone and volume control—another stripped-down heavy-rock machine! How did Buckley acquire this one? He wanted a red guitar for a video, and Dunable, after an ask from Putney, delivered.
Effect-ive
What’s he got on the floor? A Lehle Little Dual II amp switcher, a TC Electronic Polytune, a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, an EarthQuaker A/B box and Dispatch Master, an MXR Analog Chorus, a Walrus Audio Fathom Multi-Function Reverb, a Better Lovers signature Night Terror overdrive, and a Coppersound X Jack White Triplegraph Octave.
Marshall Power
Buckley says he’s been using JCM 800s for decades. This one is borrowed and “feeds back a little less than the ones I own,” he confides.
Preacher Tone
And here’s his Revv Generator 120, which he sets on channel 4.
Foam-O
Micciche’s seafoam green Deluxe PJ is a not-so-common bottom rung. It has a P body and a J neck. It boasts a pair of Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder bass pickups.
The Ass Beater
That’s right: Micciche calls this one the Ass Beater. It’s an Ibanez with active Bartolini pickups. Strictly speaking, it’s an Iron Label SRMS625EX with a 5-piece, multi-scale walnut neck and Ebonol fretboard.
California Dreamin’
This Sandberg California model was a custom order, with active and passive pickup options.
Bass Barkers
Here’s the array of Micciche’s powerhouse bass amp line-up: an Orange AD 200 Bass Mk3 he’s had about 15 years anchors his stage left, stage right hosts an Orange Terror Bass, the AD 200 goes through an Orange cab while the Terror hits an Aguilar 8x10. Both rigs fire at once, all the time.
Dirty Half-Dozen
A modest six boxes rest on Micciche’s board: an Orange Two-Stroke, a Darkglass Microtubes B7K Ultra, an MXR Studio Compressor, a Lehle Little Dual switcher, a TC Electronic Polytune, and his wireless. A Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 4 stokes the fires.
Are you looking for a flexible amp modeler for the stage, studio, or home? In this in-depth demo, PG contributor Tom Butwin takes you through gigging, practicing, and recording with two compelling options: the touchscreen-powered Hotone Ampero II and the tactile, amp-style Blackstar AMPED 3.
