John Doe and Billy Zoom keep things spare and powerful, with two basses and a single guitarāand 47 years of shared musical historyābetween them, as founding members of this historic American band.
There are plenty of mighty American rock bands, but relatively few have had as profound an impact on the international musical landscape as X. Along with other select members of punkās original Class of 1977, including Patti Smith, Richard Hell, and Talking Heads, the Los Angeles-based outfit proved that rock ānā roll could be stripped to its bones and still be as literate and allusive as the best work of the songwriters who emerged during the previous decade and were swept up in the corporate-rock tidal wave that punk rebelled against. Xās first three albumsāLos Angles, Wild Gift, and Under the Big Black Sun-were a beautiful and provocative foundation, and rocked like Mt. Rushmore.
Last year, X released a new album, Smoke & Fiction, and, after declaring it would be their last, embarked on what was billed as a goodbye tour, seemingly putting a bow on 47 years of their creative journey. But when PG caught up with X at Memphisās Minglewood Hall in late fall, vocalist and bassist John Doe let us in on a secret: They are going to continue playing select dates and the occasional mini-tour, and will be part of the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas in April 12.
Not-so-secret is that they still rock like Mt. Rushmore, and that the work of all four of the foundersābassist, singer, and songwriter Doe, vocalist and songwriter Exene Cervenka, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer D.J. Bonebreakāremains inspired.
Onstage at Minglewood Hall, Doe talked a bit about his lead role in the film-festival-award-winning 2022 remake of the film noir classic D.O.A. But most important, he and Zoom let us in on their minimalist sonic secrets.Brought to you by DāAddario.
Gretsch A Sketch
Since Xās earliest days, Billy Zoom has played Gretsches. In the beginning, it was a Silver Jet, but in recent years heās preferred the hollowbody G6122T-59 Vintage Select Chet Atkins Country Gentleman. This example roars a little more thanks to the Kent Armstrong P-90 in the neck and a Seymour Duncan DeArmond-style pickup in the bridge. Zoom, who is an electronics wiz, also did some custom wiring and has locking tuners on the guitar.
More DeArmond
Zoomās sole effect is this vintage DeArmond 602 volume pedal. It helps him reign in the feedback that occasionally comes soaring in, since he stations himself right in front of his amp during shows.
It's a Zoom!
Zoomās experience with electronics began as a kid, when he began building items from the famed Heath Kit series and made his own CB radio. And since heās a guitarist, building amps seemed inevitable. This 1x12 was crafted at the request of G&L Guitars, but never came to market. It is switchable between 10 and 30 watts and sports a single Celestion Vintage 30.
Tube Time!
The tube array includes two EL84, 12AX7s in the preamp stage, and a single 12AT7. The rightmost input is for a reverb/tremolo footswitch.
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Big Black Sun
Besides 3-band EQ, reverb, and tremolo, Zoomās custom wiring allows for a mid-boost that pumps up to 14 dB. Not content with 11, it starts there and goes to 20.
Baby Blue
This amp is also a Zoom creation, with just a tone and volume control (the latter with a low boost). It also relies on 12AX7s and EL84s.
Big Bottom
Here is John Doeās rig in full: Ampeg and Fender basses, with his simple stack between them. The red head atop his cabs is a rare bird: an Amber Light Walter Woods from the 1970s. These amps are legendary among bass players for their full tone, and especially good for upright bass and eccentric instruments like Doeās scroll-head Ampeg. āI think they were the first small, solid-state bass amps ever,ā Doe offers. They have channels designated for electric and upright basses (Doe says he uses the upright channel, for a mid-dier tone), plus volume, treble, bass, and master volume controls. One of the switches puts the signal out of phase, but heās not sure what the others do. Then, thereās a Genzler cab with two 12" speakers and four horns, and an Ampeg 4x10.
Scared Scroll
Hereās the headstock of that Ampeg scroll bass, an artifact of the ā60s with a microphone pickup. Doe seems to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this instrument, which has open tuners and through-body f-style holes on its right and left sides. āThe interesting thing,ā he says, āis that you cannot have any treble on the pickup. If you do, it sounds like shit. With a pick, you can sort of get away with it.ā So he mostly rolls off all the treble to shake the earth.
Jazz Bass II
This is the second Fender Jazz Bass that Doe has owned. He bought his first from a friend in Baltimore for $150, and used it to write and record most of Xās early albums. That one no longer leaves home. But this touring instrument came from the Guitar Castle in Salem, Oregon, and was painted to recreate the vintage vibe of Doeās historic bass.
The Decemberists formed in Portland, Oregon, in 2000, and with their latest, have released nine full-length studio albums.
On their ninth studio full-length, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, the folk quintet expands on the landscape theyāve been weaving together for the past 20-plus years, and dip their feet back into prog territory.
Decemberists frontman Colin Meloyās keening, reedy, distinctively traditional-Irish singing voice has always seemed to me like a tiny rebellion against the homogenizing effects of globalization on music. Over the past 75 years, the imitation of American pop and rock has spread like a pandemicāmaking the indelibility of Meloyās Irish heritage on his sound a refreshing presence in modern U.S.-based indie folk. That, paired with the singer/songwriter/guitaristās penchant for both novelistic and classic-prog-inspired storytelling, has kept the music of the Decemberists evergreen over the past two decades.
As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is the Portland, Oregon-based bandās ninth studio full-length, and their first in six years. āWeāve had a long arc of experimentation,ā says supporting guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk, reflecting on how the album partially honors various mosaic fragments of the bandās past works, while also expanding on them in a wise, informed, and beautiful, if not subtle, progression. āAt the end of the day, thereās nothing wrong with going to a studio and making a record without a narrative. So, thereās no smoke and mirrors on this one.ā
On As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, Meloy and Funk, joined by bassist Nate Query, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, and drummer John Moen, revisit the country twangs heard on The King Is Dead(2011), with āLong White Veilā and āAll I Want Is Youā; and even traipse back into the more worldly folk realm heard on Picaresque (2005) with the playful, chiming āBurial Groundā and folk-tango āOh No!ā Others, like the lo-fi electroacoustic, Grandaddy-esque āBorn to the Morning,ā build on elements from their previous release, 2018ās Iāll Be Your Girlāa record thatās pleasantly peppered with synths extracted straight from the Twin Peaks-, a-ha-, Tears for Fears-era of composition, and lyrics that could have been written by Moz himself. (āOh, unabashedly,ā says Meloy, moments after he recognizes the copy of the Smithsā Hatful of Hollow seen mounted on the wall behind me on our Zoom call.)
āAt the end of the day, thereās nothing wrong with going to a studio and making a record without a narrative. So, thereās no smoke and mirrors on this one.ā āChris Funk
The album concludes with āJoan in the Garden,ā a 19-minute suite inspired by the story of Joan of Arc, which shamelessly hijacks the previous 49 minutes of rhapsodic folk songs with a summoning of Pink Floyd long-form-composition aesthetic, Ć la āEchoes,ā āSheep,ā and āDogs.ā Sixteen minutes in, the spirit of Judas Priest rears its head with a muscular metal gallop that carries the track to a sudden and satisfying halt.
On As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again,the Decemberists subtly call back to some past markers in their evolution, while still growing in their multifaceted traditional-, pop-, and prog-folk palette.
Itās been 18 years since the Decemberistsā The Crane Wife(2006), whose second track, āThe Island,ā rises with Keith Emerson-style synth towards the end of its 12-minute wayfaring, and 15 years since The Hazards of Love (2009), a crowning folk-rock opera in their overall discography. Yet, fans likely havenāt forgotten those earlier bold (and somewhat left-field) infusions of ā70s-prog dialect, and may welcome As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Againās final, albeit extended, punctuation. What may come as a surprise, however, is that Meloy finds āa lot of prog to be sort of unlistenable.
āBut,ā he continues, āI have a weird kind of intellectual love for it. Being an ardent music fan, I can say I donāt really love Bob Dylan that much, for example, but I know everything about his career. I own so many records of his. There are certain people that, even if you donāt adore them or they donāt speak to your inner heart, you know how important they are, and you can see their contribution.ā
Intersecting with that perspective is the fun fact that Meloy studied English, theater, and creative writing in college, and has a separate career as a childrenās book author, with seven published works. ā[Stories are] where my heart is, and thatās what drew me to people like the Pogues, Robyn Hitchcock, the Smiths. Thereās a story being told, one way or another, in any of their songs,ā he shares. āProg also really lends itself to telling a longer story, a more sophisticated story. It kind of started with āCalifornia Oneā on our first record, which is toying with these sort of longer-form suite songs, which can be owed to āScenes from an Italian Restaurantā by Billy Joel as much as anything Genesis did with Peter Gabriel. But I also think it was an opportunity to set ourselves apart from how we were being perceived [in the beginning].ā
The Decemberists, from left to right: drummer John Moen, frontman Colin Meloy, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, and bassist Nate Query.
Photo by Holly Andres
Speaking of setting themselves apart, Funk says that when the band was coming up in the early ā00s, they were one of the first in the indie-folk-rock scene to bring a broader array of folk instruments into their mostly ārock bandā arrangements. Starting with their 2002 debut Castaways and Cutouts, the multi-instrumentalist has recorded a variety of stringed instruments on Decemberists albums aside from standard guitars, including dobro, pedal steel, lap steel, bouzouki, banjo, tenor guitar, baritone guitar, and mandolin. Funk has also contributed performances on other odds and ends, such as theremin, hammered dulcimer, Marxophone (a hammered, fretless zither), hurdy-gurdy, and synths.
āAt the time when we signed to Kill Rock Stars [in 2003] and I moved to the Pacific Northwest,ā says Funk, āthere werenāt really rock bands with accordions [played in the Decemberists by Jenny Conlee] and pedal steels. And we really stuck out from our peer group. I think it was just wanting to expand our palette. Historically, thereās a lot of world-building in the Decemberists, so [I was thinking], what else could live inside that world? And then with the next record, how can we tear down that world and create something new?ā
āHistorically, thereās a lot of world-building in the Decemberists, so [I was thinking], what else could live inside that world?ā āChris Funk
That inspiration came in part from growing up listening to ā80s groups like R.E.M., whose guitarist Peter Buck first recorded mandolin on their sixth studio album, 1988ās Green. āI donāt even think I knew what a mandolin was when [I first heard it on R.E.M.ās songs],ā Funk shares. āThat was sort of our gateway into it.ā
āThereās also bands like Belle and Sebastian,ā Meloy adds. āItās just like, everybody grab whatever instrument you have laying around and letās give it a shot. There was a DIY [approach of], you donāt really have to be a virtuoso at this instrument to make songs with it. That was sort of the guiding principle, too.ā
Of course, accordion, pedal steel, lap steel, banjo, and the like are hardly uncommon in country and folk settings, but were in the evolving 2000s indie-folk scene, which was competing (and still is) with a hip-hop and pop zeitgeist for the ears of a youthful audience. Other indie artists like Neutral Milk Hotel and Sufjan Stevens were also a bit ahead of the Decemberists, with Neutral Milk Hotelās use of flugelhorn and musical saw on 1998ās In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and Stevensā generously broad mixture of folk instruments on his 2000 debut A Sun Came. However, along with those bands, the Decemberists rose to more popular visibility and influence circa 2005.
Colin Meloy's Gear
Frontman Colin Meloy identifies more as a songwriter than a guitarist, and focuses on storytelling through his songs.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
Guitars
- Gibson J-200 Montana Gold
- Gibson J-45 True Vintage
- Goya nylon-string
- Andrew Mowry bouzouki
- Two Guild F-512 12-strings (one is tuned down a half step)
- Reverend Buckshot
- Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins
- Effects
- MXR Dyna Comp (modified with a 1980 CA3080E chip)
- ZVEX Box of Rock
- EHX Oceans 11
- Two Boss DD-3 Digital Delays
Amps
- Phoenix Audio DRS-Q4 MkII preamp (for acoustics)
- Carr Viceroy amp (for electrics)
- Orange OR50 head through a 2x12 cabinet (for electrics)
Strings & Picks
- DāAddario Light Acoustic (.012ā.053)
- DāAddario Medium Wound 3rd Electric (.011ā.049)
- Tortex .73 mm picks
- Golden Gate thumbpicks
ā¦
āCan you talk about your passion for guitar? Thatās to the both of you,ā I quiz Meloy and Funk halfway through the interview.
Meloy pauses, smiling. (At this point, heās already confessed that he identifies more as a songwriter than a guitarist.) āFunk, would you like to talk about your passion for guitar?ā he deflects, wryly.
āI think I was just saying I donāt have much left,ā laughs Funk. āItās just endless with electric guitar, with combinations of amps and pedals and the revival, or the beginnings of, boutique pedal building. I mean, itās kind of insane. Iāve kind of put a moratorium on buying pedals, but itās always fun just to see what people are building and that people are still pushing it. Iām not really attracted to people building 17-string guitars or anything like that, but Iām passionate about the possibilities of making the guitar sound less and less like a guitar.
āI religiously watch Rig Rundowns,ā he continues. āI literally watch them every night. Iām just fascinated with how people are doing stage setups. I love it. Iām really fascinated with all the metal players or the heavier players; it seems like everybodyās using Fractal systems now, but even thatās interesting to me. Iāll never do it. But I think thatās cool.ā
ā¦
Chris Funk's Gear
Multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk has contributed a wide variety of instruments to the Decemberistsā recordings over the years, and lately, has felt a bit more detached from the guitar. He still, however, obsessively watches Rig Rundowns.
Photo by Debi Del Grande
Guitars
- Weber Yellowstone Octave Mandolin
- Deering John Hartford Banjo
- Reverend Club King 290
- Gibson ES-390
- Gibson Chris Cornell Signature ES-335
- Eastwood Messenger
- Reverend Airwave 12-string
- Fylde Falstaff acoustic
- Epiphone Elitist ES-335
- Sho-Bud E9 pedal steel
Amp
- Supro 1695T Black Magick 1x12 combo (pedal steel)
- Two early Benson Monarch amps with Tall Bird reverbs
- Benson 1x12 cabs
Effects
For pedal steel:
- Boss FV-500 volume pedal
- Malekko Spring Chicken reverb
For electrics:
- Tuner
- Xotic AC Booster
- Keeley Dark Side
- Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
- Third Man Mantic Flex
- Boss SY-1 Guitar Synthesizer
- Strymon TimeLine
- Radial Twin-City ABY amp switcher
For acoustics:
- Fishman Aura Spectrum DI preamp
- Voodoo Lab Amp Selector
- Radial DIs
Modular Synth Rig:
- Busy Circuits Pamelaās Workout Master Clock
- Mutable Instruments Plaits
- Mutable Instruments Rings
- Knobula Poly Cinematic
- Strymon Magneto
- Instruo Arbhar
- Make Noise Rosie
Strings
- DāAddario Light Acoustic Guitar Strings (.012ā.053)
- DāAddario Medium Wound 3rd Electric Guitar Strings (.011ā.049)
Meloy and Funk were in their mid and late 20s, respectively, when they founded the Decemberists, and spent the following years of youthful adulthood developing a deeper friendship. When Meloy comments modestly on his guitar skills, Funk chimes in, āI think youāre undercutting your guitar playing. Colinās a really great guitar player.ā
āI learned a lot about guitar from Funk,ā Meloy obliges. āI feel like when I started the Decemberists, I was afraid of electric guitar to a certain degree, and was much more comfortable with acoustic guitar. Funk has sort of pushed me in the direction of experimenting with guitar tones and pedals and setups and stuff like that. [I have gone] in that direction a little bit ā¦ not necessarily kicking and screaming, but just like, so intimidated by it. [Heās helped me to] open up to some ideas and approaches I donāt think I wouldāve had before.ā
That appreciation is mutual, as Funk shares his own perspective on what theyāve learned from one another over the years: āColinās always been pretty bold with some ideas that one might not do when theyāve entered a period of recording their second record on a major labelāmaking Hazards of Love, which is a 45-minute folk-rock opera, if you will. So my takeaway is that the art comes first and itās not always trying to find a singleāitās just being brave, to write from the heart.ā
YouTube It
With Meloy on a Guild 12-string and Funk on a Reverend semi-hollowbody, the Decemberists rock their way through their 12-minute narrative folk-prog composition āThe Island,ā from 2006ās The Crane Wife.
These barnstorming bandmates are multi-instrumentalists who parade out a music store's worth of gear that provides all the twanginā, cryinā, moaninā, howlinā, and note-bendinā thatāll get you two-steppinā or dropping a tear in your beer.
The Food Stamps have been cooking onstage behind the redheaded songwriter pretty much since he left Appalachia and began touring as a full unit. These loyal road dogs have worn the rubber off the tires touring with Mr. Childers. First, they were strictly a live band enlisted to recreate and recharge the material from his first three studio albums Bottles and Bibles (2011), Purgatory (2017), and Country Squire (2019). But with the last two studio recordsāthe triple-album, gospel-country opus Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? and last yearās classic-meets-contemporary Rustin' in the Raināthe Food Stamps went from being his road-warrior comrades to eating big time alongside their leader onstage and in the studio.
During Childersā headlining arena run and before his second sold-out night at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville, the Food Stampsā CJ Cain (acoustic/electric guitar/mandolin), Jesse Wells (electric guitar/mandola/banjo/baritone/fiddle), James Barker (guitar/pedal-steel), and Craig Burletic (electric bass/double bass) invited PGās Perry Bean inside their āliving roomā stage set. When we last chatted with them in 2019, the boys were burning through the small-club circuit with many of the same tone tools still in their rig today, but as venues grow and tours extend, gear needs change and the arsenal capacity increases. In this hour-long Rundown, we cover all their fresh friends, old standbys, and everything else these four buckaroos require to make music that matters.
Brought to you by:
DāAddario Strings: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr and https://ddar.io/tuttle-rr
Like New
While CJ Cain is the newest member in the Food Stamps, heās had a long history hanging out and making music with his bandmates in other outfits for years. His addition to the band was a smooth transition and he handles acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and mandolin on a nightly basis. In this Rundown, CJ mentions heās most comfortable on a dreadnought, but is finding his footing with electric guitar and the accompanying gear.
These old beauts are a pair of vintage Harmony instruments. The electric on the left is a 1960 Stratotone thatās been overhauled with stainless-steel frets, Waverly tuners, and a proper setup. The big boomer on the right is a 1960s H1266 Sovereign Deluxe that also has been upgraded with stainless-steel frets and plays like a dream. The H1266 has a midrange like a Mack truck and sat in the mix really well for the Rustinā in the Rain sessions. All of his acoustics take DāAddario XTAPB1356 XT Phosphor Bronze strings and his Stratotone uses DāAddario NYXL1149 Nickel Wound strings.
A Class
Cainās friend Will Parsons has been hand-carving mandolins in Elizabethton, TN, since he was 14 years old. This A-style mando is barky and choppy, qualities that let it gnash through their full-band spread.
The 14-fret dreadnought on the right is a Collings D1A that has a Sitka spruce top, Honduran mahogany back, sides, and neck (modified V profile), an ebony fretboard, bone nut and saddle, nickel Waverly tuners, and pre-war scalloped X-brace pattern (with Sitka spruce).
Lucky Loaner
Hereās a 1966 Stratocaster that Cain was able to bring on the road from an encouraging friend. He notes that itās a āmagical guitar.ā The owner let Cain play it as a teenager and recently let him dust it off for this yearās Mule Pull tour with Tyler Childers. This one rocks DāAddario NYXL09544 Nickel Wound strings.
CJ Cainās (Electric) Pedalboard
His ātrial-by-fireā christening into electric guitar has sparked the need for some pedals and his current stable includes a Dunlop EP103 Echoplex delay, a Keeley Mini Katana Clean Boost, a Kingsley Page Tube Boost, a Greer Lightspeed, a JHS Pulp āNā Peel V4 compressor, and a Peterson StroboStomp HD.
One Nation, Under Tone
The Harmony and Strat run through CJās electric board and then hit his Amplified Nation Overdrive Reverb that plugs into a 1x12 extension cab, which runs a JBL D120F speaker taken out of a 1970 Fender Twin Reverb.
CJ Cainās (Acoustic) Pedalboard
CJ Cainās (Acoustic) Pedalboard
Covering his coloring, switching, and tuning needs for flattops and mandolin are a Strymon Flint, another JHS Pulp āNā Peel, a Grace Design ALiX preamp, a Keeley Mini Katana, a L.R. Baggs Venue DI, a Morley ABC Pro Switcher/Combiner Pedal, and a pair of Peterson StroboStomps.
Sturdy Steeds
āThis is the heartbeat of my rig,ā contends Jesse Wells. The kickstart to his rigās heart is a 1968 Fender Telecaster (top left) that once upon a time had a Bigsby vibrato on it. He bought it off Food Stampsā tech Patrick Boyle, who still gets to see his old friend every night. The ES-style guitar is a Collings I-35 (top right) has been upgraded with ThroBak PAF humbuckers. RS Guitarworks (lower left) created this Slab Series mashup that blends a T-style with an LP Junior. The pickups are a set of growly Fralin Soapbar P90s. One of the Bluegrass State brothers built him this relicād partscaster that has a set of Ron Ellis 64S single-coils. And on the far right is a Gretsch G6128T-GH George Harrison Signature Duo Jet that Wells wanted for mellower vibes, and into which he dropped a set of Ron Ellis Ellisonic JLs codesigned by the masterful Julian Lage.
The Oddities
As the man in the band that wears the most hats, Jesse Wells carries a lot of auxiliary instruments. Starting with the Eastwood MRG Tenor (top left), a fancy little unit with mini humbuckers. Next is the Collings 360 Baritone that has a 27.5" scale length and custom Lollar Alnico Pole P90s. Then he has the Gibson RB-250 5-string banjo and a violin handmade by Jonathan Cooper out of Portland, Maine. On the far right is Wellsā Danelectro 59X12 12-string.
Mighty Mites
Letting FOH and PA do a lot of the work, Jesse utilizes a pair of puny punchersāa Muleskinner Tweed based on the 5E3 circuit with a couple 6V6s, and a 1974 Fender Princeton Reverb.
Jesse Wellsā Pedalboards
Up top is the board for Jesseās fiddles and banjo, which both go to a Grace Design FELiX2 preamp, a duet of L.R. Baggs pedalsāan Align Reverb and Para DI Acoustic Guitar Preampāa Universal Audio Golden Reverberator, and two tuners (TC Electronic PolyTune3 and Peterson StroboStomp HD). A Strymon Zuma powers everything.
The electric board that handles everything else includes a Strymon Flint, MXR Phase 90 (script logo), Origin Effects SlideRIG Compact Deluxe, FX Engineering RAF Mirage Compressor, Wampler Germanium Tumnus, Nocturne Brain Mystery Brain BS-301 tape echo, and Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp. Utility boxes include a Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner, a Radial Headlight Amp Selector, and Truetone 1 SPOT PRO CS12 power supply.
Jamesā Barkers
For this arena run, James Barker took out a handful of electrics. The candy-apple red Fender Eric Johnson Strat is the lone instrument that he had during the last Rundown. Barker mentions, āItās all stock. Iāve never done anything to it, and itās one of my favorite guitars in existence.ā Next is a USA-made Epiphone Casino that has a laminated maple-poplar-maple body, a rounded-C mahogany neck, bound rosewood fretboard, and a pair of gnarly Gibson dogear P90s. Then we have a glowing Rickenbacker 1993Plus 12-string that gets busted out for āUniversal Sound.ā A Gretsch G6122T-62GE Vintage Select Country Gentleman hollowbody gives Barker some traditional country-western twang. And finally on the right side we have a CME Exclusive Gibson Les Paul Standard ā50s that boasts a dazzling āDirty Lemon Burstā finish that was inspired by the organically fading cherry bursts from the holy-grail period.
Lonesome Whippoorwill
Our 2018 tour visit with the Food Stamps saw Barker using a Sho-Bud pedal-steel guitar. All of his repairs on that 10-string beast were done by Nashville luthier Jeff Surratt who owns and operates Show Pro Steel Guitars. Just before COVID shut down tours, Barker received his custom 10-string Show Pro model seen above, and has been enjoying bending notes and sliding all over it ever since.
Get Amped!
James plays through a pair of amps all night. The pedal-steel Show Pro hits an old Fender Bassman that powers a CavAmp passive rotary speaker cabinet. For the steelās main tone, Barker relies on a Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb. When heās playing electric guitar, he drives with the custom-voiced Hall combo (seen in the last Rundown) and a 1970s Fender Super Reverb thatās been modded by removing the first channelās tone stack (when he hits the bright switch), giving the amp a lot of volume and gain. The Hall is a two-channel design with the right channel (his prime choice) modeled after a Trainwreck Rocket, while the left channel is similar to a Gibson GA-40. The Super Reverb is used for clean parts, and the Hall is for rockinā.
James Barkerās Pedalboards
To accommodate his dual duties, heās got a pair of pedalboards. Up top is his steel board that uses a Keeley Omni Reverb, Keeley D&M Drive/Boost, Strymon Mobius, and Strymon TimeLine. A Fulltone True-Path ABY Soft Touch switcher controls the amps, while a CavAmp box handles the rotary speaker speeds and stops. His steel is kept in check with a Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner.
Down below is his electric-guitar stomp station that has some duplicates from the steel board (Strymon TimeLine & Mobius, Fulltone True-Path ABY Soft Touch switcher, and Peterson StroboStomp). The fresh faces include a Universal Audio Golden Reverberator, an Analog Man Bi-CompROSSor, a JHS Double Barrel, a JHS AT Drive V2, a Kogoy Musical Devices Rainbowsound, an Analog Man King of Tone, and a Dunlop 535Q Cry Baby.
All About That Bass
Bassist Craig Burletic hasnāt met a 4-string he couldnāt thump. Back in 2018 he was boogying down on a sunburst 2011 Fender P, but heās since acquired a similar-looking P from 1965 that actually is decked out in pre-CBS specs. He purchased this special instrument off fellow bassist J.T. Cure, whoās in Chris Stapletonās band. Burletic was floored with the vintage Precision and pinches himself each night because as he puts it, āI didnāt know basses could sound so good.ā If you look closely at the D string off the bridge, youāll notice a bulky burl hanging near the saddle. Itās actually the end of a double-bass string that he slapped on when his standard electric-bass string snapped during a āmiddle-agedā jam out. He didnāt have any extra electric-bass strings so he put on the double-bass D gut string and hasnāt looked back.
While studying at Marshall University, Burletic fell in love with a 1974 fretless Fender P bass. He learned how to play upright bass on that instrument and wanted to buy it from Marshall, but found the bureaucratic hoops a bit much. However, a few years later he found this fretless 1972 P with a rare maple neck and fingerboard. His double bass is an old American Standard that he scooped off Facebook Marketplace.
10 Outta 10!
Burletic brings the low-end rumble with a pair of thunder buddiesāan Orange AD200B MK3 200-watt bass head and an old Fender Bassman. The Orange goes into a Ampeg Heritage SVT 610AV cabinet while the Fender runs through an Aguilar DB 410 cab. And you gotta love the looks of his full setup glowing under the EBT (Eatinā Big Time) logo.
Craig Burleticās Pedalboard
No pedals were on the floor for Burletic last time, but heās since fleeced out a proper pedalboard for the arena tour (even if most of the boxes are utilitarian units). The actual tone twisters are a Boss OC-2 Octaver and an Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Bass Compressor. An A Designs REDDI DI box helps give FOH a crystal bass signal, while the Radial BigShot ABY wrangles the amps. Then he has a pair of Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuners and double Strymon Ojai power supplies.
Childersā Children
Tyler Childers has long been loyal to Collings. He used them exclusively during our last Rig Rundown, and heās still plucking those Collings like they owe him money. For a while, his No. 1 was the DS1A (right), but just a few days before we interviewed the gang, the Collings OM1 Julian Lage showed up and since then itās been used 99 percent of the time. It has many traditional orchestra-model specs (Sitka spruce top, Honduran mahogany back, sides and neck, medium nickel frets, and bone nut and saddle), but what makes this small-bodied acoustic special are the intricate requests from Lage, like recreating the neck profile of his 1939 Martin 000-18 and using a custom satin lacquer that makes the new guitar feel and sound old. FOH has noted that the smaller acoustic with less bass sits much better in the full-band mix. Both acoustics take DāAddario Medium Phosphor Bronze strings (.013ā.056).
Tyler Childersā Pedalboard
For a picker that mainly plays acoustics, his board is expectedly tame with a pair of Grace Design ALiX preamps (one for the Collings and another for fiddle) and a Boss TU-3w Waza Craft Tuner.
TV Time!
When Childers does grab an electric and throw down (usually during instrumental āTwo Coatsā from Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?), heāll get loud with this old TV that was actually his grandfatherās RCA set. On the backside rests a custom Square Amps head that Matt Richards built upon Tylerās request. (Head here to read its quick backstory.) It has a single 12" Weber Vintage Series Ferromax speaker.
Shop the Food Stamps' Rig
Fender Stories Collection Eric Johnson 1954 "Virginia" Stratocaster
Fender Vintera II '60s Stratocaster
Amplified Nation Overdrive Reverb 50-watt Tube Head
Dunlop EP103 Echoplex Delay Pedal
Keeley Katana Mini Clean Boost Pedal
JHS Pulp 'N' Peel V4 Compressor Pedal
Peterson Strobostomp
Strymon El Capistan
LR Baggs Venue DI
Grace Design ALiX Acoustic Instrument Preamp / EQ / DI / Boost Pedal
Morley ABC Pro 3-button Switcher/Combiner Pedal
Fender Custom Shop Time Machine '68 Thinline Telecaster Journeyman Relic
Gretsch G6128T-GH George Harrison Duo Jet
Danelectro 59X12 12-string Electric Guitar
Fender '64 Princeton Reverb 1x10"
Grace Designs Felix Preamp
LR Baggs Acoustic Series Reverb
LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI
Universal Audio UAFX Golden Reverberator Pedal
TC Electronic PolyTune
MXR Phase 90 Script
Strymon Flint
Wampler Tumnus
Radial Engineering Headlight
Gibson Custom 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue Electric Guitar - Murphy Lab Light Aged Dirty Lemon
Epiphone USA Casino Hollowbody Electric Guitar
Rickenbacker 360/12C63 12-String Electric Semi-Hollow
Gretsch G6122T-62GE Vintage Select Country Gentleman
Fender Tone Master Twin
Fender Super Reverb
JHS Double Barrel V4
JHS AT (Andy Timmons) Drive V2 Pedal
Dunlop CBM95 Cry Baby Mini Wah Pedal
Strymon Mobius
Strymon Timeline
Keeley Omni Reverb
Keeley D&M Drive
Fender Tony Franklin Fretless Precision Bass
Orange AD200B MK 3 200-watt Bass Head - Black
Ampeg Heritage SVT-810AV 8x10"
Aguilar DB 410
Origin Effects Cali76
Boss OC-2 Octaver
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Radial Bigshot ABY
A Designs Reddi Tube Direct Box
Boss Waza Craft Tuner TU-3w
Dunlop 511P100 Primetone Standard Smooth Guitar Picks 1.0mm 3-pack
DāAddario XTAPB1356 XT Phosphor Bronze Strings
D'Addario NYXL1149 NYXL Nickel Wound Strings
DāAddario NYXL09544 NYXL Nickel Wound Strings