Hey, what’s happenin’ people?!!! For Cory Wong, who kicks off episodes of his Wong Notes podcast with that question, the answer is he’s currently deep into an international tour—while still recording new episodes, writing music, and producing. But that didn’t stop the prodigious, prolific picker from taking the time during a recent stop at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl to guide us through his rig. By the way, the new season of Wong Notes begins March 9 with a big-deal guest, so stay tuned.
[Brought to you by D’Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://www.daddario.com/XPNDRR]
Dracula Is in the House
Okay, so that’s a guitar case and not a sarcophagus, but there’s a bloody cool instrument inside. Cory Wong tours exclusively with his signature Fender Cory Wong Stratocaster. This sapphire-blue-transparent-satin-lacquer-finished Strat features a scaled-down alder body with sculpted contours, a maple D-shaped neck with a 10–14" compound radius, Seymour Duncan Cory Wong Clean Machine single-coils, a vintage-style 6-screw synchronized tremolo, and deluxe locking tuners. A panic button push/push pot on tone dial 2 bypasses the 5-way switch and defaults to Wong’s favorite sound: position 4. Wong tours with two of these instruments in standard tuning and one tuned down a half-step. While Wong’s on tour, Fender sends examples of his signature Strats for him to play—and quality check—at shows before they are sold. The Strats stay strung with Ernie Ball Paradigm steel .010 sets and he uses Dava Delrin medium picks.
Plenty of Bark
Wong runs two DV Mark Eric Gales signature Raw Dawg heads. They’re solid-state but have a 6205 mini tube in the preamp, and, despite weighing less than six pounds each, power out 250W at 4 ohms and 150W at 8 ohms.
Convene the Cabinets
To run with the Dawgs, Wong uses a pair of DV Mark cabinets. One has a Jensen 12" and the other an EV EVM12L—all in service of staying clean.
The Chairman’s ’Board
Wong runs his Strat into a Shure GLX D16 Wireless. From there the signal hits a Wampler Ego Compressor, Hotone Soul Press II volume/wah, GFI Systems Rossie envelope filter, a Beetronics Vezzpa octave fuzz, Vertex Ultra Phonix Special Overdrive, a Jackson Audio The Optimist overdrive, a Strymon BigSky reverb, and a TC Subnup dual octave pedal.
Torpedo C.A.B. M+
Designed to be the missing link between a guitarist’s rig and the PA or audio interface, this pedal is loaded with 32 Two Notes cabinets, eight power amps, eight mics, and eight rooms to choose from.
Red Box 5
This handy DI and speaker simulator offers powerful control over your sound, including cabinet size and cab tightness, and a means to avoid miking up your rig onstage.
OmniCabSim Deluxe
Designed for guitarists who want to create their own cabinet response settings, rather than rely on presets, this pedal allows players to define their sound and get an accurate reproduction of it when gigging or recording.
Iridium
This pedal has mathematically modeled every aspect of three iconic tube amps, and includes nine of Iridium’s IR cabinets with 24-bit 96 kHz resolution for the entire 500 milliseconds of its impulse responses.
CabClone IR
Featuring two banks of eight Mesa cab presets for 16 proprietary IRs and the ability to upload third-party IRs, this pedal also functions as a tone-rich, silent practice tool with a set of headphones.
Element
With five cabinet simulations, a multi-channel USB-C audio interface, and Bluetooth tech to listen to backing tracks, this pedal was designed with practicality in mind, to empower modern musicians.
Radar
With 30 cab models to choose from and microphone and power-amp simulation ideal for recording or silent practice, this mini can help transform a pedalboard into a complete guitar rig.
Cabzeus
This two-channel cabinet/speaker/miking simulator uses advanced DSP processing techniques coupled with clean and robust circuit designs for minimal noise and optimal headroom.
CabDriVR
Featuring 14 guitar- and bass-cabinet impulse responses and dual inputs and outputs, this emulator also has separate level controls so players can balance each cab’s volume in the mix.
Omni IR
This compact pedal houses 40 legendary guitar and bass cabinet IRs, a 4-band EQ with 12 dB boost/cut, and a hi-res OLED screen for easy operation in any recording or live scenario.