![Rig Rundown: Gov't Mule's Warren Haynes [2023]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-gov-t-mule-s-warren-haynes-2023.jpg?id=34115762&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Maestro Warren Haynes invited PG’s John Bohlinger to Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, where they hang out after Gov’t Mule’s soundcheck and take a tour through his live rig. This Gibson-heavy collection has been a 40-year-work in progress for the guitarist, who has spent his career playing with David Allan Coe, Dickey Betts, The Allman Brothers, The Dead, leading Gov’t Mule, and much, much more.
New Gov't Mule Album Peace...Like A River out 6/16.
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Chester
“Chester,” the guitarist’s own signature Gibson Les Paul, was inspired by a ’58 body and ’59 neck, and is loaded with Burstbucker pickups and a switchable buffered preamp.
Big Red Two
“Big Red Two” is another of Haynes’ signature models, this time an ES-335, which is a copy of the guitarist’s PAF-loaded ’61 model.
Almost Firewood
Thanks to a pair of extra screw holes that were a factory accident, this flame-bedazzled tobacco ’burst LP was marked as a flaw and spent a couple years hanging around, unable to be sold. But back when he was in the Allman Brothers, Haynes visited Gibson and fell in love. He installed Classic ’57 pickups and he’s toured with it since.
The Dead Bird
Haynes picked up his blue mini-humbucker-loaded Gibson Firebird, “The Dead Bird,” when he was playing with the Grateful Dead in 2009 and says it “has a unique sound that’s somewhere between a Gibson and a Fender.”
Three's a Crowd
This Gibson Custom Shop Firebird is loaded with a trio P-90s and, like his other Firebird, stays tuned down a half step. Each of Haynes’ 6-strings are strung with GHS Nickel Rockers .010–.046.
Dirty Dozen
It takes a massive headstock to fit a dozen strings on this Les Paul. Haynes keeps “Railroad Boy” tuned to drop D, and he uses its coil-tap switch for extra flexibility when needed.
100 Watts for Might
Haynes runs a two-amp rig and calls on each at different times—never both at once. On one side is his Soldano SLO-100, which the guitarist had modded by Mike Soldano to boost low-mid response at his preferred low preamp volume settings. The 100-watt head is paired with a Marshall cab loaded with a quartet of 75-watt Celestions.
Home Is Where the Tone Is
On the other side is a 100-watt Homestead head that Haynes runs into a 4x12 cab loaded with 25-watt Celestion Greenbacks.
Warren Haynes' Pedalboard
Haynes uses a Custom Audio Electronics MIDI foot controller to access most of his pedals, which live in an offstage rack. His Ernie Ball JP Jr. volume pedal, signature G-Lab WOWEE Wah WH-1, and a D’Addario tuner sit alongside.
On one shelf of Haynes’ rack sits a gold Klon Centaur, Diaz Texas Ranger treble booster, Boss OC-2 Octave, Emma DiscumBOBulator envelope filter, and a CAE Super Tremolo.
And on the other is a Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere, G-Lab DR-3 Dual Reverb, DigiTech Hardwire DL-8 Delay Looper, MXR Carbon Copy, and a Boss GE-7 Equalizer.
![Rig Rundown: Rival Sons' Scott Holiday [2023]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-rival-sons-scott-holiday-2023.jpg?id=33810150&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
It’s all about the yin and yang … and the heavy guitar tones when Scott Holiday of Rival Sons plugs in and rocks out onstage. This year, the band has got something special cooking: a pair of albums, the just-released Darkfighter and the upcoming Lightbringer, speaking of yin and yang.
On the current Darkfighter tour, Rival Sons recently stopped at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works and invited PG onboard their stage for a tour of Scott’s gear. He’s made some changes since his 2017 Rig Rundown. He’s still a Firebird devotee, and that epic moustache is untouchable. But there are plenty of 6-string additions and some big changes in the amp department. Check it out!
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Original Recipe
This 1999 Gibson Custom Firebird VII, aka “Bluebird,” is Scott Holiday’s first avian. He uses a custom set of Dunlop strings—typically .011–.050.
This custom-built Yamaha is tuned to C#-F#-C# F#-A#-C#—essentially, a variation on open C sharp.
Double the Fun...
He also has a few specially made doublenecks, including a Banker Custom that gives Holiday a baritone tuned A to A and a second standard-tuned neck.
And Double to Love!
Plus this semi-hollow Kauer Super Chief doubleneck that gives him a 12-string/6-string combination. Surprise! Both necks are tuned to DADGAD.
King of Birds
Holiday calls this ’Bird-inspired Kauer his “Excalibur,” for its comfort, dependability, and big, dominating tone.
More Hot Wings, Please
This Banker Custom Flying V features a Bigsby, at the risk of writing the obvious, and it stays in standard tuning. Thank you, Lonnie Mack!
Ice Bird
This custom-built Gretsch Penguin lives in D-standard tuning and has Gretsch’s own flair on the classic whammy formula.
Peacocking
This custom Gretsch Falcon lives in Standard tuning. (Notice the unusual bird adorning the pickguard per Holiday's request in keeping with Gretsch's fowl flags on their instruments.)
Offset Flier
This 1962 Fender Jazzmaster is tuned C#-F#-C#-F#-A#-C# and was Holiday's first major vintage-guitar purchase.
Spiral Flier
Holiday crunches like a tube amp player, but what you are hearing is a Line 6 Helix into a Seymour Duncan PowerStage pedal amplifier, which drives an Orange 4x12 and a Supro 2x12. But it also has a lot of effects going into it. Read on!
Scott Holiday's Amps and Effects
Here’s the break-down of Scott Holiday’s multiple-board system. At right, there’s a Custom Audio Electronics Wah, ZVEX Fuzz Probe, a Way Huge Attack Vector, and a Custom Audio Electronics Line Driver, plus a juiced-up kitty cat delivering the power. The middle board holds the Line 6 Helix, with four Dunlop expression pedals. And the final board is a Custom Audio Electronics RS-T MIDI Foot Controller that is used to patch in effects from offstage boards that contain an Electro-Harmonix Micro Synth, a Way Huge Atreides Analog Weirding Module, a Deep Trip Hellbender, a kossekFX Kraken multi-octave fuzz, a Victory Kraken Preamp, a Keeley Synth 1, an Isle of Tone fuzz, two Vox Time Machines, an Electro-Harmonix POG, a Way Huge Ring Worm, a Sweet Sound Mojo Vibe, a Strymon Mobius, a Line 6 DL4, and a Caroline Guitar Company Météore Lo-Fi Reverb.
![Rig Rundown: The War on Drugs [2022]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-the-war-on-drugs-2022.jpg?id=29981353&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
For nearly two decades and across five albums, The War on Drugs’ founder and frontman Adam Granduciel has narrated our complex modern lives while his band has scored our dreams.
The captivating moods of their music, much like us, morph from dense melancholy to saturated, swirling madness and everywhere in between. Granduciel often layers his Springsteen-meets-Young proletariat prose atop a post-rock soundscape, but the heartbeat of their impressive, expansive live shows is their gear and how it is implemented.
“I could play the whole tour with two or maybe three guitars—a White Falcon, Strat, and maybe a Jazzmaster—but I bring all these out just for fun,” he says with a laugh as he considers his trove of axes.
So, let’s have some fun already! Before a full evening of The War on Drugs’ jams in support of 2021’s I Don’t Live Here Anymore, PG was invited to Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. We covered Granduciel’s growing guitar collection, got the skinny on how Jerry Garcia’s monstrous setup played into the bandleader’s theatre rig, and we took in a cockpit view of his stompbox squadron full of tone ticklers, sizzlers, and wigglers. In addition, bassist David Hartley showed off a trio of Ps, an armada of Ampegs, and demo’d a fuzz that has ended his quest for razing tones.
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Keeping It in the Family
If you’re a fan of Rig Rundowns or Kurt Vile & the Violators, you’ve already seen this Strat. The above Fender American Vintage ’57 reissue was once owned by Jesse Trbovich, who’s flanked Vile for years. Trbovich landed a true-blue ’70s Olympic white Strat and needed to unload this to make room. Granduciel quickly raised his hand as a landing spot because he really enjoyed how comfortably the neck played. And since bonding with it, he likes its low-output single-coils because he can “juice it with pedals.” (It’s worth noting that Trbovich put in a Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Strat Surfer Series in the middle position, allowing him to have hum-canceling operation in the second and fourth position.) All of Granduciel’s electrics take Ernie Ball 2220 Power Slinkys (.011–.048).
It’s the One
“When this thing is in my hands, I can react with it, and it becomes this whole other animal. It can be unwieldy, but this guitar plugged into a cranked Princeton or small tweed sounds incredible,” allows Granduciel. So, as you can imagine, this 1969 Gibson SG is Adam’s right-hand when it comes to recording, but, as he explains later in the video, it doesn’t coexist pleasantly with his live setup. He scooped this gem at Rivington Guitars in New York City.
Story Time
This SG’s headstock has a library of tales it is sitting on.
Flip a Coin
Granduciel had lusted after this vintage offset for weeks when seeing it listed on Reverb by Chelsea Guitars. The listing was removed and he thought that it was gone forever. A few months later, he was in NYC and decided to stop into the shop and, low and behold, the sunburst Jazzmaster was on their bench in pieces. Apparently, the original buyer from the Reverb listing was after a birth-year model (1964, as listed on the Reverb page), but when he removed the neck its pocket revealed a 1963 date. He traded in the guitar for a proper ’64 and, fatefully, Granduciel didn’t let a second pass before offering to buy it. Alongside the SG, this is another heavy hitter for recording.
Down Under with Terry
During a 2018 tour of Australia, Granduciel scored this 1966 Fender Jazzmaster that looks swanky with a matching black headstock. He claims the rhythm circuit in this one “sounds killer,” while the lead circuit is “super bright and used on ‘Occasional Rain.’” In addition to being a remarkable instrument, he loves that it reminds him of a short span of time that included a wonderful tour of Down Under, earning a Grammy for Best Rock Album, and the Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl.
Checked Past
Cracks aren’t meant to be beautiful, especially on guitars, but looking at the ’66’s backside reveals a twisted thumbprint.
Fly, Firebird Fly
This 1965 non-reverse Firebird was upgraded by its previous owner with a set of Lollar P-90s. If you recall the last Rundown with TWOD, Granduciel added a Bigsby, but that has since been removed.
Ol’ Reliable
This Fender American Vintage ’65 Jazzmaster has been a dependable dynamo for Adam. He prefers it because he knows what he’s going to get sonically and he can throw it around without worry. The newer pickups offer a snarlier tone, so it gets used for songs like “Pain,” and the top-end sear helps him cut through the seven-piece live band.
Hummingbird Season
This new-ish Gibson Hummingbird gets busted out for C# tunes and features a LR Baggs M1 soundhole pickup.
Bastion of Tone
Not quite the famed Wall of Sound procured by the Dead and audio engineer Owsley “Bear” Stanley, but Granduciel’s evolving setup is heading in that direction.
Alembic Ace
Since our last Rundown, Adam has ditched the Hiwatts (although he admits to enjoying that era of TWOD) for the Alembic F-2B Stereo Preamp that was used by Jerry Garcia and David Gilmour. He describes its circuity as mimicking the front end of a Fender Dual Showman. “There’s just so much clean headroom and they’re so creamy. And I don’t know what it is, but single-coils and P-90s just come to life here in a way that other amps don’t, so maybe that’s why Jerry and David used them so much.” The Mesa/Boogie Stereo Simul-Class 295 powers the Alembic. He does run a direct line signal from the F-2B to FOH for a clean DI option.
Take a Guess
In the video, Granduciel challenged me to guess how many speakers are in the oversized cab, and I said four. Seemed logical but, as he quickly pointed out, the Marshall 2041 Lead Organ has only a pair of Celestion (pre-rola) 12" speakers. The Alembic runs through this pillar of power.
Fender Firepower
The other side of Adam’s grand equation is a 1960s Fender Bandmaster head that hits a Marshall 1960BV 4x12.
The Swart Solution
As we alluded earlier, his beloved 1969 SG doesn’t jive with his Alembic-Fender setup, so he incorporates its humbuckers into his live rig by plugging into the 5W Swart STR-Tremolo. The SG and Swart typically dance for “Thinking of a Place,” but Granduciel admits to kicking it on with the Fenders during the heat of battle and treating it like a tremolo pedal for parts of “Pressure” and other jams. To the right of the Swart you’ll notice a pair of Rockman Tom Scholz (yeah, the Boston legend) Power Soak attenuators throttling the Alembic and Fender.
Keeping Time in the Loop
The band uses this AKAI Professional MPC Live II for additional drum machines for the show.
User Input
They are harnessed by four Boss FV-500L Foot Volume Pedals controlled by Adam that allow him to bring the samples into the room mix. Additionally, the band syncs their modulation to it, so everyone is locked in. (The MPC clocks or syncs the pulsing of the tremolo for the band. Adam uses a Lightfoot Labs Goatkeeper 2, while bassist David Hartley uses a Malekko Goatkeeper.)
Horseshoe of Madness
Here’s a crow’s-nest view of Adam Granduciel’s massive pedal playground.
Bradshaw’s Boardroom
Most of what Adam does with his feet is simplified by this Custom Audio Electronics R-ST 24 + 2x PSS MIDI controller.
The Fun Begins
Here’s one of the sections of Granduciel’s expanding pedalboard that includes a Wren and Cuff Tri Pie 70, a MXR/Custom Audio Electronics Boost/Line Driver, an Ernie Ball Expression Tremolo, anElectro-Harmonix 1440 Stereo Looper, a Lightfoot Labs Goatkeeper 2, a Strymon TimeLine, a Boss DC-3 Digital Dimension, and a Morley ABC Pro (for switching amps). A Boss TU-3s Chromatic Tuner keeps his guitars in check.
To the Moon, Adam, to the Moon!
Here’s the meat and potatoes of Granduciel’s spreading stomp setup: (top left) a Boss FT-2 Dynamic Filter, another MXR/Custom Audio Electronics Boost/Line Driver, DigiTech Hardwire RV-7 Stereo Reverb, ADA Flanger, JHS Bun Runner, J. Rockett Audio Designs Archer, MXR Flanger, Moutainking Electronics Loud Box, Crowther Audio Prunes & Custard, a Fulltone OCD, and a trifecta of Eventides that rest on the right side—a Space, TimeFactor, and H9. Everything gets current by either a MXR Custom Audio Electronics MC403 Power System or the Eventide PowerMax.
Clovis the Rough Rider
At first glance, you’d probably mistake this for a ’60s or ’70s Fender P, but as bassist David Hartley attests, this is a 2002 Fender Precision named Clovis that he acquired brand new almost two decades ago. Part of Clovis’ charm for Hartley is that it’s the lightest P he’s ever held, making their “Evening With” shows a little easier on the back. It’s stock aside from him swapping out the standard anodized gold pickguard for the tortoiseshell. He uses La Bella 760FS Deep Talkin’ Bass Flats (.045–.105).
Jam Like Jamerson
Another 4-string that does a lot of heavy lifting for Hartley is this 1983 Fender Fullerton ’62 Reissue Precision Bass. While this one isn’t as light as the previous P, he does love how much it sustains.
Find the Note
And occasionally you’ll see Hartley put down all the guardrails and dance with this Fender Tony Franklin Fretless Precision Bass. The connection with this one came through when he heard how much vocal tonality it has. It’s a highly expressive instrument.
Ampeg Assault
The Ps come to life thanks to this boulder of bass tone: a pair of Ampeg Heritage 50th Anniversary SVT amps that hit an Ampeg Heritage SVT-810AV. The SVT on the left is a backup and Hartley plugs into the normal channels.
Simple but Not
Prior to this run, Hartley toyed with the idea of just plugging his Ps into a DI and his Ampeg. Clearly, that plan changed and he’s probably having more fun because of it. His stomp station contains a pair of Boss GE-7 Equalizers (one to help Clovis pop a bit more and the other helps brighten up the ambient drone of the Gamechanger), an Eventide H9, a Gamechanger Audio Plus Sustain Pedal, a Mountainking Electronics Megalith, a Malekko Goatkeeper, a Keeley Super Mod Workstation, and a MXR Phase 90. A Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner keeps his Ps sounding right.