![Green Day Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=53614011&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
This year marks two huge anniversaries for Green Day. They defined an entire era of pop-punk with their 1994 major-label debut, Dookie, then did it all over again 10 years later with the punk-rock-opera American Idiot. This year, Idiot turns 20; Dookie is 30.
To celebrate the milestones, Green Day has been blasting through stadiums across North America playing both albums in full, back-to-back, with a few odds and ends from their 30-plus years together, plus choice hits from their 2024 record, Saviors. It’s a ton of ground to cover—especially considering each epoch seems to have different and defining sonic characteristics. The guitar and bass tones on Dookie alone are the subject of amp mods, guitar pedals, and signature guitars.
At the band’s Nashville stop at GEODIS Park, techs Darian Polach and Gabe Monnot, who manage the rigs of bassist Mike Dirnt and guitarist Jason White respectively, took Premier Guitar’s Chris Kies through the rockers’ gear wardrobes for this mammoth tour.
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I Declare I Dirnt Care No More
Mike Dirnt’s main axes for this year’s tour have been his Fender Mike Dirnt Signature Precision basses. He’s got them tuned up with different paint jobs from Mike Bender for different portions of the set—the green-star-adorned P-bass comes out for American Idiot.
Dirnt runs these mostly stock, with ash bodies, Fender HiMass bridges, either maple or rosewood fretboards, and Ernie Ball strings (.045–.105s), but some have small tweaks in the pickup department, with either custom vintage-style ’59 split single-coils or a Pure Vintage ’63 Precision pickup.
Caffeinated Rabbit
This Fender parts-project bass got a special makeover, this time featuring the logo from Green Day’s own Punk Bunny Coffee. This sleek, hyper 4-string has a roadworn ’50s-style neck, Hipshot KickAss bridge, and Hipshot tuners to drop to C-sharp for “Dilemma” off Saviors, then to jump back up to E-flat for fan-favorite “Minority.”
Homecoming
No replica or roadworn copy here. This is a genuine Dookie-era Gibson G3 that comes out for the ’94 portion of the show. Polach says the added Bartolini pickup in the bridge position woke up the bass. Along with its Gotoh bridge, the bass’ defining feature is its “buck-and-a-half” wiring, which turns two of the single coils into a humbucker, with the third single coil as the extra “half” for loads of tone possibilities. Dirnt has since undertaken a signature Epiphone model based on this guitar—tune in to the full video for more details.
All About That Superbass
Dirnt runs his bass into this custom-design Fender Super Bassman, an amp he developed with Fender based on a mix of amps, preamps, and DI units he loved. The Super Bassman runs into a 4x10 in an onstage isolation cabinet, front of house, and Dirnt’s in-ears.
Gibson Garage
Long-time touring member Jason White’s stable is dominated by his Gibson Les Pauls and ES-335s. His number-one is his Custom Shop ’54 Reissue goldtop LP loaded with P-90s and Ernie Ball strings (.010–.046). Like the rest of the band, White runs his guitars to his rig through a Shure AD4Q wireless unit. The goldtop is used extensively during the set, including for Idiot and Saviors hits and “Know Your Enemy” from 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown. The stunning, light blue LP Special is a backup for the goldtop. Another black, early-2000s Les Paul Standard is tuned a half-step down and comes out for Dookie and older tunes.
The red Gibson ES-335 is another Idiot-era pickup that still sees heavy action. It’s wired with piezo saddles, and tech Monnot switches between the magnetic system and the piezo to cop acoustic sounds for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Minority.”
The lone Fender in White’s boat is his Esquire, which Monnot guesses is a late ’60s or early ’70s model. It usually stays at home, but it came along for this special tour, and gets used on Idiot deep cuts “Extraordinary Girl” and “Whatsername.”
Jason White's Rig
White’s Shure wireless system sends to a rack system with an ISP noise gate, just in case White’s P-90s are picking up a lot of noise. From there, it hits a Dunlop Cry Baby and DVP1XL, then a MIDI-controllable RJM Effect Gizmo, which handles White’s effects: an MXR Reverb and Poly Blue Octave, Strymon TimeLine and Mobius, API Select TranZformer GTR, and a Custom Audio Electronics 3+SE Guitar Preamp which gets engaged for clean tones and small combo sounds. A Lehle Dual SGoS Switcher and Fishman Aura DI Preamp handle changes with the piezo-equipped guitars. A Strymon Zuma provides the juice.
True to Green Day style, White rocks with two Marshall heads. The first one is a ’90s reissue JMP 1959SLP MKII with the famed Dookie mod. It handles cleaner, more midrange-focused sounds. The bottom box, a late ’70s 100-watt JMP Super Lead with SE mod, gets more gain-y. They both run into 4x12 cabs in isolation boxes on stage, so like the rest of the band, White works just with in-ears.
Shop Green Day's Rig
Fender Mike Dirnt Signature Precision Bass
Fender HiMass Bridge
Ernie Ball Strings (.045–.105s)
Pure Vintage ’63 Precision Pickup
Bartolini Pickup
Gotoh Bridge
Fender Super Bassman
Gibson Custom Shop ’54 Reissue Goldtop LP
Ernie Ball Strings (.010–.046)
Shure AD4Q
Gibson LP Special
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Gibson ES-335
Fender Esquire
Dunlop Cry Baby
Dunlop DVP1XL
MXR Reverb
MXR Poly Blue Octave
Strymon TimeLine
Strymon Mobius
Lehle Dual SGoS Switcher
Fishman Aura DI Preamp
Strymon Zuma
Billie Joe Armstrong's Guitars
Armstrong brings a mixed bag of new and old guitars on tour with him. The mass majority of them are Gibson Les Paul Jr models, but the most iconic guitar dating back to the early-90s is the super-strat coined Blue. The stickered axe is a Fernandes Stratocaster copy that he got for his birthday when he was 11. Among the things BJA has changed on this axe was the bridge pickup, which he originally swapped out the stock single-coil for a Bill Lawrence humbucker, but eventually deciding in the late '90s to go with a Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB that is set at an EVH-inspired angle. In addition, the guitar's pickup selector is locked in the bridge position and the middle and neck pickups are disconnected. Armstrong uses Blue on primarily Green Day's earlier stuff like "Basket Case," "Longview," "Brain Stew," and "Hitching' a Ride," so the guitar is tuned to Eb and is strung with Ernie Ball Slinky .010--.046 strings (the rest of Armstrong's guitars are tuned to E standard with .010s, too). Other go-to guitars Armstrong uses during live performances includes the repaired TV-yellow Gibson Les Paul Jr doublecut that he busted during the Las Vegas I Heart Radio festival, and a silver-sparkle signature Gibson Les Paul Jr singlecut with a Seymour Duncan P-90 Antiquity in the bridge.
From his collection of vintage Jrs, BJA's brought a doublecut '59 TV yellow model and a '55 black singlecut both outfitted with a single P-90 in the bridge. New acquisitions to Armstrong's touring arsenal are a Rickenbacker 330, modified with only one volume control, and a late '60s Martin GT-70 has a bolt-on neck and original DeArmond pickups.
Billie Joe Armstrong's Amps and Effects
His two Marshall 100-watt 1959 SLP reissue heads were modified by Martin Golub at L.A. Sound Design. The top head (Pete) has a crunch mod (a.ka. “Dookie” mod or Bradshaw gain mod) and Meat (lower head) has Golub’s SE Lead mod, which adds another preamp tube for more gain. The two heads have been Armstrong's got-to amps since even before their iconic 'mud set' at Woodstock '94 performance. For his clean tone, BJA uses a rackmount Custom Audio Electronics 3+ SE guitar tube preamp. Both heads and the CAE 3+ SE run through two Marshall 1960B cabinets that are equipped with Celestion Vintage 30s.
The Shure R4D+ wireless units go into a RJM iS-8 allowing Buscher to switch between eight guitar inputs, which then splits off into either the CAE 3+ SE preamp or Marshall heads and the RJM RG-16 switcher and MasterMind MIDI controller that engage the four main presets that Billie uses. The controller’s presets are Clean and Mid (both settings bypass the Marshalls’ preamps in favor of a Custom Audio Electronics 3+ SE guitar tube preamp), Big (both Marshalls without the CAE preamp), and Big Effect (which kicks in a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver pedal for solos). BJA does have a MXR Carbon Copy Delay that is used for "Kill the DJ."
Jason White's Guitars
White's main guitar is a '50s Gibson Les Paul Jr doublecut with two P-90s (and a Gibson Les Paul goldtop with P-90s as its backup) that White uses on rhythm duties, while his Gibson Les Paul is used on any of the band's newer where White takes lead guitar duty. For thin-and-jangly tones, White leans on his Silvertone for "Kill the DJ" and "Stray Heart." For acoustic tones, he goes with one of his two Gibson ES-335s that are outfitted with a Fishman piezo pickup through a Fishman Aura preamp set to dreadnaught. For '90s material, White counts on his black Gibson Les Paul that is tuned to Eb.
Jason White's Amps and Effects
White uses the same 100-watt Marshall heads with the same Dookie mod (top) and SE Lead mod (bottom), and like Billie's two-headed monster, White's amps are always used in conjunction with each other for a full, rich, rounder sound with sustain and cut. Whereas BJA's Marshalls are set to noon, White scoops mids on the SE Lead head. Also, White's clean tones are coming from the CAE 3+ SE tube preamp. For White's Big Effect patch, he uses a Chandler Limited Little Devil Colored Boost. Also in his rack is a Dunlop Crybaby Rack Module (with remote foot controller onstage) and a rackmount Line 6 Echo Pro (set to a basic eighth note triplet), and both are used on White's solo for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." Other pedals in his rack (but not used) are a MXR Phase 90 and a Boss PS-6 Harmonist. The Shure R4D+ wireless units go into a RJM iS-8 White's tech Chris Schleyer to switch between eight guitar inputs, which then splits off into either the CAE 3+ SE preamp or Marshall heads and the RJM RG-16 switcher and MasterMind MIDI controller that engage the four main presets that Jason uses.
[Updated 12/30/21]