Pete Thorn has constructed a dream career on being heard, not seen. He’s toured the world backing Chris Cornell, Don Henley, Melissa Etheridge, Jewel, and Japanese rock icon Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi (even performing at Mt. Fuji for over 100,000 fans on the biggest concert stage ever assembled in Japan). For a self-proclaimed “guitar nerd” (check out Pete’s 2011 album under the same name), it was a 21st century guitarist’s goal. After that, what does one do in between tours to stay busy and relevant in a modern world? You become a beloved YouTuber, of course!
His channel is a great destination for gear demos and comparisons, but Pete’s content stands out with his simple, and east-to-apply tone tips. (It’s worth noting that Pete did this very thing inside Premier Guitar for years with his “Tone Tips” column. Check it out!) The fun, diverse, informative videos Thorn has delivered have blossomed into a parallel profession with a built-in audience pushing 250k subscribers.
While PG was on the road in SoCal, Thorn graciously invited Chris Kies into his Hollywood-based recording sanctuary, where his YouTube channel takes form. The hour-long chat covers Thorn’s signature Suhr gear (guitars, amps, and humbuckers), he shows how his setup can switch between eight tube amps in a flash (only outdone by his ability to interchange cabs, mics, and speakers in a snap), and we dive deep into Pete’s primary pedalboard.
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Suhr Signature II
As you’ll soon find out, longtime luthier John Suhr and Pete Thorn go together like peanut butter and jelly, or, in this case, alder and maple. Suhr and Thorn have collaborated on several pieces of signature gear, and the above Pete Thorn Standard HSS is their latest. The S-style is built with a 2-piece alder body, roasted maple neck with a “Pete Thorn ’60s soft-V profile (a digitized copy of one of Thorn’s 2008 S-style Suhrs), ebony fretboard, Wilkinson WVS130 bridge, and Suhr pickups (V63 single-coils with a Thornbucker II in the bridge). Thorn is always trying the newest string offerings from Ernie Ball, and he’s currently using Primo Slinkys that are gauged .0095, .012, .016, .024, .034, and .044.
For His Spiritual Guitar Godfather
“I’ve talking a lot about Eddie Van Halen in this Rundown because he’s my spiritual guitar godfather. I’m a Van Halen nut and this guitar is something I had to have,” admits Thorn. After realizing that much of Eddie’s mind-blowing guitar work for Van Halen’s first albums were done on a 1976 Ibanez Destroyer, Thorn was on the prowl for his own. He recently acquired this “lawsuit-era” ’76 Destroyer in a Huntington Beach parking lot after securing the purchase online. The surprise of the score was that the pickups are early TV Jones P.A.F. humbuckers, because the owner that sold it to Pete actually bought it from the company’s founder Tom Jones. Pete’s thoughts: “Whatever’s going on in the pickups, they sound fantastic!”
Previous Pete
Here’s Suhr’s first Pete Thorn Standard signature model, with quite a different recipe than the HSS. This one has a chambered mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany neck with an “even slim-C profile,” an Indian rosewood fretboard, and a pair of Pete’s Suhr humbuckers—a Thornbucker+ in the bridge and a Thornbucker in the neck. Like its successor, this one also has jumbo stainless-steel frets, Suhr locking tuners, a Wilkinson WVS130 bridge, and a Graph Tech TUSQ nut.
Sweet as Cherry Pie
This cherry Gibson ES-335 looks new or neatly relic’d, but it’s from 1963. It fell into Pete’s lap nearly 20 years ago and wasn’t an astronomical price because it had a broken headstock (and has since garnered another wound by Thorn) and one of the previous owners went at the bridge pickup cavity with a chisel trying to get at the electronics. The sweet sauce that makes this baby sing is its ’60s, low-wound P.A.F.s—original in the neck and early patent numbered in the bridge—that sound like honey tastes.
A Crusher for Chris Cornell
This meaty, hulking 2000 Gibson Les Paul Custom toured with Pete when he backed up Chris Cornell. It would see the stage for Soundgarden smashers like “Spoonman” and “Outshined.” This guitar took a lot of abuse while onstage with Thorn, as he’d often end the night ripping off the strings one by one and Cornell would slam his microphone into the pickups. During these collisions, nothing ever broke (except the strings). However, one slow-motion fall off a guitar stand onto carpet caused this axe to need headstock surgery. He dropped in a set of Thornbuckers and swapped out the gold hardware for chrome.
Not a Bad Day
During a Chris Cornell tour stop in Nashville, Thorn ventured into Gruhn Guitars to find a pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster. He walked out with this sunburst ’64. That night, he got to play it alongside Peter Frampton, starting a longtime friendship. “There’s just so many great things I remember about that day. You know, these times in your life where you’re going to have bad days, this wasn’t going to be one of them. This was a good day [laughs]. This guitar just gives me great memories.”
Meet Frankie
Thorn’s collection wouldn’t be complete without this EVH Striped Series Frankenstein named “Frankie.” It’s got the paint job, the exposed electronics, and the Floyd Rose. The rest is up to Pete. “How can you not have fun with a guitar like this? I’ve seen Paul Gilbert with one—and he’s a diehard Ibanez guy. I’ve seen Andy Wood with one—and he’s a longtime Suhr artist. We all have signatures, but we had to have one of these Frankensteins to shred on. We all bow down to the church of Eddie,” confesses Thorn.
Tone Henge
For a dude whose main business is making videos and playing riffs, you need to maximize not only space, but inspiration. Before you is Pete Thorn’s twin tower of tone that can cover any amp sound he needs. Starting in the top left and working our way down, we have a 1972 Marshall JMP 1986 model pumping 50W, a handful of Synergy Amps modules (Synergy IICP, Engl Powerball, Soldano SLO, Vai Signature preamp, Engl Savage, Friedman BE-BB, Bogner Ecstasy, Bogner Uberschall, and a Fryette Pitbull), a Soldano SLO-100, a Jim Kelley Reverb, and a Suhr SL68. The right side is home to a Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box, a Suhr Hedgehog 50, a Top Hat Amplification Emplexador, a Suhr Pete Thorn PT100, and a Komet Concorde. Possibly the most impressive part of this whole structure is the Ampete Engineering 88S-Studio Amp and Cabinet Switcher that allows Thorn to switch between all these amps with a smash of a button.
Upside Down Cabinet Cake
The Ampete 88S runs all those amps into a late-’70s Marshall 4x12 loaded with Celestion Black Back G12M 25W speakers and mic’d with a Shure SM57 and an Audio-Technica AT4050.
Pete Thorn’s Pedalboard
For a pedal-loving session-booked YouTuber-guitarist, you gotta believe Thorn is stuffed to the gills with stompboxes. What’s above is the board he relies on for most demos and videos while performing in his Hollywood hideaway. Top left, he has a Source Audio ZIO, MXR Echoplex, Suhr Riot, Maxon Apex 808, J Rockett Archer, Ryra Tri-Pi Muff, a Strymon Mobius, and a DryBell Unit67. Elevated above them rests a Strymon TimeLine, a pair of Eventide H9s, an MXR Phase 95, a Suhr Woodshed Comp, a Boss FV-500L Foot Volume Pedal, a Dunlop CBM95 Cry Baby Mini Wah, and a DigiTech FreqOut. Everything is controlled by MusicomLab EFX-LE II Audio Controller and MIDI Pedal, and a TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Noir Mini keeps his guitars emotionally and sonically stable.
With a collection that's comfortably in the three digits, he has literally seen and played them all. When talking about his most underrated amps, the excitement in his voice was palpable. A genuine curiosity and interest came across, and when he touched on each amp it was as if he was reconnecting with an old friend. Set aside the Dumbles and Silver Jubilee Marshalls—these choices are not only quirky and interesting, but in most cases, they're affordable.
Lab Series L5
Everyone knows it as the "B.B. King" amp, but it's also the Ronnie Montrose amp—and the Ty Tabor amp. They can readily be had for less than $200 because people just want to get rid of them. It's simply a kick-ass, solid-state amp. I like the immediacy of the older solid-state amps—they're so punchy. The new digital solid-state junk is another story, but the old stuff is killin'. B.B.'s tone is great with the Lab Series. It's warm and creamy and much more consistent than a Twin.
Sovtek MIG-50
You can generally get one of these for between $350 and $500. It's a really cheap, Russian amp made of military parts with poor solder joints that's basically a hot-rodded Bassman. They were made in the early '90s and are definitely road-worthy. Mike Matthews from Electro-Harmonix came up with the design. My amp tech, Bob Dixon, loves them. He even likes the MIG-60. They also made a MIG-100, but the MIG-50 is great.
1963 Fender Deluxe
Everybody gets all hot and bothered about the Deluxe Reverb, but not many people get worked up about a "brownface" '63 Deluxe. But you put a mic in front of it and there's just something about that circuit—it just explodes with tone. It's one of the biggest-sounding, small Fender combo amps ever made. But, they're pricey—usually between $2,500 and $3,000. You can hear it on "Trouble Town" and "Living On the Moon" from the new album.
Seymour Duncan Convertible
Seymour made them in the '80s and it was the first amp to feature power scaling. It could go from 100 watts to one watt. It had different modules, like cards, that would go into the amp and they had tubes in them with different gain stages and preamps. Mine is set up with low gain and it sounds like a cross between a Deluxe Reverb and an early Mesa/Boogie. It's pretty fun. I talked to Seymour about why they stopped making them and it was just way ahead of its time. They were expensive to make and it almost bankrupted the company, plus they had problems with the cards breaking. You can find them for under $500.
Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb Reissue
They are arguably some of the greatest Fender amps built in the last 40 years. I took notice because other cats had been commenting on them saying that they sound better than the original ones! They just came out, but I think they're one of the most underrated modern amps around. Plus, they're very affordable—you can get one for under a grand, which is a third of the price of an original one. I don't trust new amps. Well, I certainly don't trust boutique amps because they blow up. I've always had bad luck with them. You just can't lose with a good, old Fender amp. The wacky thing is that the silverface reissues sound nothing like the blackface reissues, which I didn't think sounded good at all. But these sound unbelievably good. I don't know who is building their amps over there now, but they are doing a good job.
I have an original Twin and Super in mint condition and they are good amps. I do have a Fender amp in my live rig—they're just called Dumbles. They sound like Fender amps. For an upcoming gig at Red Rocks with the blues band I'm using two high-powered Twins (one from 1958 and one from 1959) along with two '58 Bassman amps.
Honorable Mention: Jim Kelley Amps
I have nine of these amps—two of the very first of the Suhr reissues, which sound exactly like the old ones, and seven original ones. They're essentially 60-watt Deluxe Reverbs with just a huge amount of headroom. Everyone calls them the "poor man's Dumble" and they truly are. They have such a great, open sound.
[Updated 8/24/21]