It’s been a busy year for Jack White. The enigmatic artist and Third Man Records boss rolled out his sixth solo album, No Name, this summer, first as secret, unmarked vinyls distributed to Third Man customers, then with a full-blown digital release on August 2. He celebrated the record with a tour of last-minute-notice, small-room gigs around the U.S., proving that mystery and randomness can still exist in the world of algorithms and overblown marketing.
That’s not all. In September, Fender and White launched a line of signature products that were years in the making, including the eye-popping Pano Verb amplifier and feature-packed Triplecaster. PG’s John Bohlinger scored an invite to White’s Nashville headquarters to do a full walk-through of White’s current touring rig, courtesy of tech and collaborator Dan Mancini.
Here’s a sneak peek at some key pieces of White’s arsenal, but you’ll have to watch the full rundown to catch Jack’s custom Jazzmaster with some Mancini-executed “redneck engineering,” his new Triplesonic Acoustasonic model, and a cameo from the Third Man himself—right after Bohlinger accidentally breaks one of his guitars.
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This Jack White Triplecaster Telecaster is the culmination of White’s career of tinkering, tweaking, and optimizing his favorite pieces of gear. This Frankenstein’s monster is packed with features, like a kill switch on the lower bout, a Bigsby B5 Vibrato, a Hipshot Xtender to jump into drop-D tuning, and a three-way switch that can kill the signal or bypass the guitar’s tone circuit. White’s personal model, though, also counts a B-bender system he started using on the Raconteurs’ 2019 tour, which doesn’t come with the production-line models.
White worked with Fender pickup guru Tim Shaw to build the three-pickup arrangement. The custom Jack White Humbucker in the bridge was inspired by a Shaw-built pickup Jack heard in his wife’s guitar; the middle JW-90 is a Shaw-voiced, P-90-inspired unit; and the neck bears a Jack White Cunife Wide-Range Humbucker.
Two other Triplecasters, finished in sparkle blue, lurk near at hand, too. They’re all strung with .010–.046 strings.
A special, Mancini-modded Fender Jazzmaster in sparkle blue also figures into White’s current rotation. It’s loaded with Tim Shaw Firebird pickups, and Mancini managed to squeeze the guts of an Electro-Harmonix Pitchfork pedal into the body, along with the required controls. It takes .011–.049 strings.
Kay.O.
According to Mancini, White has had this vintage Kay Archtop since he was 20 years old—he shares its origin story in the 2008 documentary It Might Get Loud. With 25 years of service to one of rock’s most heavy-handed guitarists, it’s been through the ringer. Mancini has executed fix-ups over the years as needed, including a binding patch he whipped up at BBC’s Maida Vale studios using old console knobs.
For other acoustic-ish set pieces, White calls on his signature Triplesonic Acoustasonic Telecaster, strung with .012–0.53s.
Jack White's 2024 Pedalboard and Amp
White’s signature Fender Pano Verb combines some of his favorite amps into a dream scenario, where the best vintage elements are housed alongside modern capabilities. Influenced in large part by his 1964 Fender Vibroverb, the 70-watt Pano Verb uses two 6L6 and two 6V6 power tubes to deliver its stereo sound, which is realized via one 15" Jensen C15N and one 10" Jensen P10R speaker. The onboard spring reverb can be sent to both speakers, or just the P10R for a different flavor. The tremolo can be split up to run in either stereo or mono, and there’s a built-in boost to drive the amp even harder.
Currently, White has three Pano Verbs onstage, and runs one amp at a time: The center-stage amp for his electric, the stage-right one for his Kay, and the stage-left box as a backup.
White builds on that substantial base sound with what Mancini describes as a “modular” pedalboard setup, consisting of two boards. The first is White’s “burger and drink” board, the things he has to have; the other is his “fries and milkshake” board, the things that would be nice to bring along but aren’t 100 percent necessary.
There are a few prototype and unreleased boxes that Mancini skips over, but aside from those, White’s stomp setup, from nose to tail, includes a Boss TU-3W, Radial BigShot ABY, Dunlop Cry Baby, DigiTech Whammy, MXR x Third Man Hardware Double Down Pedal, rehoused Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, Donner x Third Man Hardware Triple Threat, rehoused Klon Centaur, ISP Technologies Deci-Mate, CopperSound Pedals Triplegraph, Anasounds La Grotte, Eventide Knife Drop, Union Tube & Transistor Bumble Buzz, Third Man Records x Mantic Flex, and Third Man Records x Gamechanger Audio Plasma Coil.
![Rig Rundown: Jason Isbell & Sadler Vaden [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-jason-isbell-the-400-unit-with-sadler-vaden-2024.jpg?id=51106877&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Jason Isbell’s last Rundown was in 2019. The guitarist and songwriter, who we’ve called “Americana’s poet laureate,” is a huge gearhead though—and his collection is truly the stuff of dreams—so a lot can happen in a few years. Currently touring with his acclaimed 400 Unit band in support of the highly acclaimed Weathervanes album, he rolls with a stash of vintage Fenders and Gibsons that would make even the least gear-motivated among us blush. That’s not to mention his enviable traveling amp and effect closets. Isbell invited Perry Bean and the PG team to the Ryman for a look at his current touring rig and that of Sadler Vaden, the band’s ripping co-guitarist whose relatively more modest collection is still quite the enviable one!
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The Finest of Fenders
The guitarist’s own Jason Isbell Custom Telecaster features a sunburst finish and cream double-binding on its ’59-style Tele Custom body, a mid-’60s C-shaped maple neck, a 21-fret rosewood fingerboard, custom Jason Isbell Telecaster Pickups, and a modified bridge.
Way back in April 1965, this candy-apple-red Tele came out of the Fender factory, and its bridge pickup and neck profile were the inspiration/template for Isbell’s signature instrument.
While it boasts many 1957 features, like a V-shaped neck and ’57-like finish, this sunburst Strat is a ’58. Isbell has updated it with a 5-way switch.
The Greatest of Gibsons
This 1961 Gibson ES-335 is the first really old, really awesome guitar that Isbell obtained. It’s mostly original with a few key upgrades: Isbell had famed Nashville luthier Joe Glaser give the guitar a refret and install a TonePros tailpiece along with new tuners since, after years of use, the originals started to look like “a dead man’s toe.”
Old Gold? The Bigsby and tailpiece on Isbell’s 1953 goldtop Les Paul were installed by longtime Neil Young tech Larry Cragg, which makes it kin with Neil’s Old Black.
This 1961 SG has lived a long life playing and managed to avoid any neck breaks. It features the original PAFs.
This rockin’ 1960 Les Paul Custom features at trio of original PAFs, an all mahogany body, and a “Red Beauty” custom finish. It’s been refretted with bigger frets. All of Jason’s electrics take Ernie Ball Slinky .010–.046s. He hammers away with Dunlop Tortex 1.14 mm picks and gets slippery with Dunlop 218 slides.
And a Pair of Martins
Isbell tours with two new Martin Modern Deluxe dreads. One is tuned down to Eb, the other in standard. Both acoustics stay strung with Martin Lifespan 2.0 medium (.013–.056) strings.
Amp Army
Stage right of the Dumble lives Isbell’s 1964 Fender Vibroverb with a “Diaz” mod (named SRV tech Cesar Diaz), which means they pulled the preamp tube in the vibrato channel. (For what it’s worth, this mod can be done to the normal channel, too. You just need to pull the V1 preamp instead.) The impact of the mod is summarized best by PG columnist Jens Mosbergvik on his Fenderguru site: “The other channel’s tube will be hotter biased and offers more gain. The amp will play louder than before given the same volume knob setting. The stronger signal will push the second gain stage (V4 tube) harder and give you increased sustain, compression and harmonics.” It has a 15" JBL speaker and was a Christmas gift from wife Amanda Shires.
Above the Dumbles, Isbell runs two 22-watt Magnatone Twilighter Stereo 2x12 Combos in stereo. Not pictured is Isbell’s Fender ’59 Twin-Amp High-Powered Tweed 80 Watt, which sits stage left of the Dumble.
Along for the ride is this 1971 50-watt Marshall and a 1964 Marshall.
Effects Heaven
While many of the effects from Isbell’s 2019 Rundown are still in the rack, several have been removed and many have been added. Additionally, the rig can be used in a wet/dry/wet configuration (it toggles throughout the show), with the two Magnatones carrying the weight of any all-wet effects. Tech Michael Bethancourt points out, “TheMagnatones we have are one of a kind, or three of a kind I guess. We wanted to retain the Magnatone vibrato we love, but I wanted it to pan between the two active amps. After some time spent speaking with Obeid Khan, someone who has worked closely with Magnatone for a long time, we came up with a plan to mod the amps in a way that would drag the vibrato through the stereo field. The LFO from one amp is ‘hijacked’ and sent to the other amp’s vibrato circuit in reverse phase, so when the vibrato is engaged via the expression pedal on the pedalboard, the vibrato pans from side to side. In the wet/dry/wet mode, that vibrato swirls up big reverbs or can be set to mimic the world’s goofiest ADT, lots of options there. In dry/dry mode, the vibrato is the classic pitch-shifting stuff that Magnatone has produced for years to great effect.”
On the floor, the pedalboard itself is a little different from last time. It’s a simpler layout now, no effects on board, just a PolyTune tuner, MXR Custom Audio Electronics buffer, his RHM Mastermind GT controller with expansion and a few Mission expression pedals. A Strymon Zuma delivers power.
Also new to the rig is the Radial JX44v2, which serves as the core signal manager. If the RJM Mastermind is the brain, this is the beating heart. Above on the rack is an Echo Fix Chorus Echo EF-X3R.
Moving up the rack, this drawer includes an Ibanez DML10 Modulation Delay II, Earthquaker Devices Tentacle, and a trio of stereo-field-only effects: Boss MD-500, Strymon Volante, Hologram Electronics Microcosm.
Continuing upward, Isbell’s stash includes a Chase Bliss Preamp Mk II, Chase Bliss Tonal Recall Delay, Chase Bliss Dark World Reverb, Chase Bliss Condor EQ/Filter, Chase Bliss Gravitas Tremolo, Chase Bliss CXM-1978 Reverb (stereo-field only), Keeley 30ms, gold Klon Centaur, Analog Man Sun Lion Fuzz/Treble Booster, Analog Man King of Tone with four-jack mod, Keeley four-knob CompROSSor, Pete Cornish OC-1 Optical Compressor, EHX Micro POG, AnalogMan ARDX20 Delay, and a trio of Fishman Aura Spectrum DIs.
Sadler Vaden's Acoustic Duo
Tele Trio, Strat Stash, a Glut of Gibsons, and a Rick
Sadler picked up this 1968 non-reverse Firebird this year, and it’s all original as far as we know.
On the rockers, like “Honeysuckle Blue” and “Deathwish,” Sadler reaches for his all-stock Murphy Lab Les Paul Standard. All of his electrics wear Ernie Ball .010s. Sadler uses Dunlop .88s for picks and Dunlop Blues Bottles for slide.
Finally, here’s Sadler’s 1992 12-string Rickenbacker 360-12.
Amp Duo—and More
Sadler runs a more svelte (it’s all relative!) two-amp rig. At stage left is a black flag-era Marshall plexi head into a Craigslist-find, 2x12 cab with Celestion Vintage 30s. The plexi is attenuated with a Weber MASS 200. At stage right sits a 3rd Power British Dream combo with a Celestion Alnico Gold 12" speaker. Sadler also carries a ’60s Vox Pacemaker and a Vox AC30HW, which are on stage but primarily there as backups. Occasionally the Pacemaker gets the call for more stage volume and flavor.
Pedal Posse
Vaden’s pedalboard chain starts with a Dunlop Clyde McCoy Wah, then a Lehle volume pedal, which feeds the Gig Rig. Vaden has a few patches setup for songs like “24 Frames,” which save him from tap dancing too much, but he mainly works it like an old-school board. He uses a Line 6 M5 with a Dunlop expression pedal for a lot of his modulation effects. Other pedals include a Crowther Prunes & Custard, Nordvang No.1, and an Analog Man Dual Analog Delay, Comp, and King of Tone, a Strymon BlueSky, and a Greer Lightspeed. Every effect is isolated into the Gig Rig. The board has four outputs, two for each side of the British Dream, one for the plexi, and one that goes to an aux line and splits to the Pacemaker.
The aux line serves as a backup in case Sadler’s amps go down. It consists of a Strymon Iridium into a Seymour Duncan Power Stage that goes to FOH.
Sadler’s acoustic pedalboard consists of a Shure wireless running into an ART Tube MP/C preamp into a LR Baggs Venue DI, with a Radial Engineering Bigshot selector.
There is something about the primitively mechanical manner in which a Bigsby works and feels that makes it uniquely fun among vibrato systems. Even the way it looks like a very beautiful motorcycle grafted to the face of a guitar is cool. But what’s interesting about Gamechanger’s Bigsby digital pitch shifting pedal is that it doesn’t merely reproduce the function of a conventional Bigsby. Instead it explodes the basic functions and capabilities of mechanical vibrato, making this very vintage-inspired piece of gear into a modern funhouse of polyphonic pitch-shifting possibilities. It’s full of surprises, and in the get-to-know-you phase, you’ll probably experience more than a few “what the hell?” moments. But for a lot of players these quirks will be delightful revelations. Indeed, someone out there may well invent a whole style of playing with this pedal.
Moving the Goalposts
Gamechanger puts a lot of time and resources into developing brilliant, mutant, and far-out pedals. That’s a compliment, and the guitar world is a better place for having these people around. It’s a delight to imagine the brainstorming that led to conceiving and executing this pedal. But the Gamechanger Bigsby is complex enough that there were probably a lot of challenges and headaches to deal with, too. The Gamechanger Bigsby is an ambitious design, and with MIDI control capabilities, 10 preset slots (which are accessible via MIDI program change messages), and a trove of interlaced functionalities that yield unexpected sounds and profoundly change the manner with which you interface with the pedal, Gamechanger must have had their work cut out for them to fit it all in.
“It’s a delight to imagine the brainstorming that led to conceiving and executing this pedal.”
On the surface, the pedal doesn’t look that complex. Apart from the foot-actuated vibrato arm—which here echoes the look of a traditional Bigsby, in an elegant “7” shape—there are three, dual-function, sideways-oriented rotary knobs. The three knobs can be adjusted pretty readily with your toe and illuminate in different colors and in various intensities and pulses to indicate status and level. They regulate depth (the number of semitones the pedal will detune over the pedal’s travel), wet/dry blend, and rate (which controls how precisely the pitch follows the travel of the pedal). In secondary mode, which can be accessed via a small button on the pedal’s face, the knobs regulate detune, a function that emulates the asymmetric detuning of different strings, and tone, which adds brightness to the wet signal. In secondary mode, you can use the depth control to regulate entirely different semitone ranges for pitch-up and pitch-down actions. The pitch-up-/pitch-down orientation of the rocker pedal can also be switched so that heel-down positions pitch up, and vice versa. You can even use the pedal to double as an expression pedal for other effects.
Wobbly on Yer’ Feet
Gamechanger says that the Bigsby can be set to approximate the sound of a traditional vibrato. I didn’t achieve those results so easily—there’s just no way to make your ankles and feet move in concert in quite the way your wrists and fingers do. And if, like me, you’re the kind of player who keeps a vibrato arm in hand for much of the time you play, you’ll find some nuances of that technique hard to replicate. Nevertheless, by using the pedal’s arm in the fashion of a wah treadle, applying a tender touch, darkening the tone, and keeping the semitones of travel within a modest range, you can color chords and spacious single note lines with sweet, organic pitch feathering that can animate a simple instrumental section beautifully. At these same settings, you can also twang away in classic Duane Eddy style as heard in audio Clip 1.
Transforming the Gamechanger Bigsby from a vibrato arm stand-in into something entirely different doesn’t take much effort. Quick changes to the depth and rate controls can turn the pedal into a pretty sweet-sounding vibrato/chorus/rotary speaker pedal that you can manipulate to create pitch wobbles of subtle or pronounced intensity (Clip 2). Changing the rate and darkening the tone yet again enables sleepy warped record textures that can transform and deconstruct pedestrian instrumental sections (Clip 3). And, if you put the right fuzz on either side of the Bigsby, it’s possible to replicate Kevin Shields’ melting Jazzmaster vibrato haze with a very vibrato-less Telecaster(Clip 3, section 2).
The Verdict
The textures described here really only scratch the surface of what the Gamechanger Bigsby can do and the demented ways in which it can twist the mechanical vibrato concept. There are easier ways to achieve many of these effects, but the unexpected paths the Gamechanger takes to those ends is a deep creative well, and it’s a great tool for those that savor unexpected musical results. Is it easy to use? Not exactly—at least in the early going. It takes practice to master the basics. The mechanical action of the pedal can feel a touch alien, and extracting the most from the pedal takes a bit of deep diving that, in the end, is well worth it, but takes time. On the other hand, it rewards blind experimentation, and this approach to using the pedal yielded some of my most fruitful discoveries. However you approach it, the Gamechanger Bigsby is an instrument that starts to live up to its creator’s bold company name. And if you like non-traditional, off-kilter, and unsubtle applications of pitch shift, the Bigsby is a riff machine in waiting.
