The Dan O. Mano series, armed with a pair of P-90 style pickups providing a dynamite match for the DANO's hollow inner body and rosewood bridge.
With their Atomic Age styling – drawing heavily upon Danelectro’s boldly original 1950s roots – and turbocharged retro vibe, the DANO line might be the company’s most true-to-the-spirit guitars ever. Key features include:
Full Bell Headstock, a Danelectro original design dating back to 1954
Rosewood Saddle Bridge, another feature from 1954 prized by generations of players for its warm tone
Skate Key Tuners, gloriously recapturing the Danelectro vibe from 1958 with smooth, modern tuning accuracy
Ultracool vintage colors – all of them authentic to the 1950s
And every DANO® guitar comes with a FREE 8-page collectable reproduction of a Danelectro catalog from the 1950s!
Back in February, PG’s Perry Bean headed over to Nashville’s Cannery Hall to catch up with his longtime friends in the Tennessee mathcore outfit the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza. Before their gig, guitarists Layne Meylain, Josh Travis, and Eric Berngruber, along with bassist Mike Butler, took Bean through the Kiesel-and-Quad-Cortex-powered guts of their audio acrobatics. Check out some highlights below, and watch the full Rig Rundown for more.
Layne Meylain asked Kiesel to ship him this wicked 7-string Kira model, which is loaded with Kiesel pickups—a Lithium and Nail Bomb. He uses a custom set of Stringjoys, .010-.074 gauge.
Purple Pain
This 8-string Kiesel, with a walnut neck and swamp ash body, was initially a loaner, but Meylain found a way to hang onto the guitar. If the company ever comes to retrieve the instrument, he’s willing to pay for it.
Green Giant
This 8-string was custom-built by Jeff Kiesel, and features a multi-scale, green-stained fretboard, and neck-through-body construction.
Layne Meylain’s Amp and Effects Rig
Meylain and his bandmates run Neural Quad Cortex units onstage, but the main sounds are from an amp and cab he captured with his Fractal Axe-Fx unit. He relies on the Quad Cortex's in-house effects, though, and prefers its interface. A Laney LFR-212 cabinet moves some air onstage.
A Real Looker
Josh Travis never had a guitar this gorgeous before. He runs this 8-string Kiesel with Dunlop 72-8 gauge string set, and most of his axes are loaded with either Kiesel Lithium or Thorium pickups.
Woody
Travis also brought this darker-finish Kiesel, with plenty of natural wood grain showing through, along for this run.
High-5-String
Butler primarily plays this Kiesel A2 5-string bass, which features fanned frets, active pickups, and .065–.105 gauge strings.
Mike Butler’s Bass Rig
While Butler is getting used to the Quad Cortex, he runs a Darkglass Micro Tubes X900 preamp and matching 410 cabinet.
Berngruber’s Balaguer
Newest member Eric Berngruber is endorsed by Balaguer Guitars, and the red 7-string in the middle here, loaded with Fishman active pickups, is his primary weapon. The Kiesel and Ibanez flanking it are on hand for certain tunes, and Berngruber, too, runs a Quad Cortex.
Upon resurrecting the long-lost Dual Op-Amp Big Muff 2 circuit with Josh Scott of JHS Pedals, Electro-Harmonix recognized that the pedal would be an instant favorite of low-end lovers and went to work “bassifying” the pedal. Enter the low-end optimized Bass Big Muff Pi 2 with features selected for full spectrum fuzz tones of all flavors.
The Bass Big Muff Pi 2 features the original’s pushed mid grunt and classic singing sustain any Big Muff lover would feel at home with. The bass version now includes a clean BLEND knob and Bass Boost for extended tone performance with Bass Guitar or any player looking for extra clarity and low-end. The typical VOL/TONE/SUSTAIN knobs set overall output volume, treble/bass eq balance, and distortion respectively. BLEND sets the overall wet/dry mix to dial in the perfect balance of fuzzy chaos and solid fundaments from your clean tone. The BASS BOOST switch adds even more low-end to your signal for booming bass tone even at higher TONE knob settings.
Additionally, the pedal features a silent true bypass footswitch with Latching/Momentary Action. Click the footswitch for normal latching functionality or press and hold the footswitch of a momentary burst of fuzz.
The Valeton GP-150 and GP-180 pack a lot into a small footprint. Tom Butwin breaks down what these compact processors share and where they part ways. Both offer 24-bit/48kHz audio, 200 effects, 100 NAM profiles, built-in battery life up to 6 hours, and Bluetooth streaming, along with essential multi-effects features like a looper, tuner, drum machine, and metronome. The GP-150 adds an expression pedal, making it a strong candidate for an all-in-one fly rig. The GP-180 swaps that for a third footswitch and dedicated effect buttons, a better fit for players who want tactile control or need to slot it into an existing pedalboard.
At this point, Nashville heavy hitters All Them Witches are friends of the show. They’ve had their rigs rundown twice before, but like they say, the third time’s the charm. PG’s Chris Kies rendezvoused with bassist/vocalist Charles Michael Parks Jr., guitarist Ben McLeod, and keyboardist/violinist Allan Van Cleave at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl for this new Rig Rundown, packed with tone goodies you’re gonna wanna see. Tune in for the full scoop, and skim the highlights below.
McLeod’s 2010 GibsonLes Paul Traditional is his first pick. It’s been modified with a bone nut, Tone Pros bridge, DiMarzio Super Distortion in the neck position, and a custom bridge pickup, plus a string butler. No doubt about it—this one is ready to rock.
Black Beauty
This Knaggs Honga is used for certain songs in alternate tunings, like those off the band’s 2015 record, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker. McLeod mainly uses D’Addario NYXL .011s, tuned to drop C and D standard.
Take It to the Bank
This Banker V-style is tuned to D standard for slide playing; McLeod’s slides wait atop his Fender Twin. The Martin acoustic beside it is used for collaborative live performances with tourmates King Buffalo.
Fruit and Fender
The Orange AD30 head is McLeod’s main amplifier, running into a Marshall 1960B cabinet loaded with Celestion Greenback speakers. The Fender Twin beside it is on hand as a backup.
Ben McLeod’s Pedalboard
McLeod carries a Dunlop Cry Baby 95Q wah, TC Electronic PolyTune Mini, WEM CCB-1 Copicat Boost, Lehle Mono Volume S, Analog Man-modded Boss BD-2, Stomp Under Foot Silverfish, Boss DM-2W, and Strymon TimeLine.
Boomsticks
On the left, we have Parks’ number-one “Doom Broom”—a custom copy of a 1972 Rickenbacker 4001 bass—with its distinctive horns sheared, of course. The ’60s-era Fender Precision/Jazz hybrid beside it, which belonged to Parks’ dad, is a backup, and features unique out-of-phase switching.
Sovtek Siblings
<p>This Sovtek MiG 100 recently came out of retirement for this tour, and its smaller relative—the not-so-sensitively-named Sovtek Bassov Blues Midget—runs into a custom cabinet with a single 12" speaker. A Milkman The Amp is nearby in case of emergencies. </p>
Charles Michael Parks Jr.’s Pedalboard
PArks runs a Shure GLXD16+ Guitar Pedal System, Radial ABY switcher for switching between bass and guitar, Boss EQ, Electro-Harmonix Hum Debugger, Ibanez Echo Shifter, Amptweaker Bass Tight Fuzz, Greer Little Samson, Keeley 30ms Double Tracker, Electro-Harmonix Pitchfork, and Hiwatt Fuzz.
Keys to the Kingdom
<p>Allan Van Cleave’s Fender Rhodes runs into a Twin Reverb, with a couple of pedals perched atop the Nord keyboard. These include a Donner Hexadrive, Fender Pugilist, Electro-Harmonix Canyon, Moog MF Delay, and MXR Carbon Copy, all powered by a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 Plus. </p>
Allan Van Cleave’s Violin Pedalboard
Van Cleave’s 5-string Yamaha violin has its own humble board, loaded with a Boss TU-2, JHS Series 3 Reverb, MXR Carbon Copy, Electro-Harmonix Pitchfork, Demonfx Overdrive Preamp, and a wah pedal.
![Rig Rundown: All Them Witches [2026]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=65403822&width=1245&height=700&quality=70&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
