Since joining alt-rock duo Cairo Knife Fight in 2015, George Pajon Jr. has applied his meticulous gear-tinkering toward creating layered, complex guitar and bass parts for the duo.
That obsession is also a big part of his writing process with Cairo Knife Fight, his duo with New Zealand-based drummer, vocalist, keyboardist, and kindred-tonal-spirit Nick Gaffaney. “When Nick and I decided we were going to start writing, I started stockpiling sounds,” Pajon says. “I am lucky enough to own my own studio, so I hired an engineer to mic my whole rig and then literally nailed down those mics into the floor so they wouldn’t be touched.” As he experiments with pedals, he runs Pro Tools. “If I stumble on something I like, I scream in the mics, ‘This sounds like a chorus,’ or ‘This sounds like a bridge.’ I mark the session, put it into a notepad on my phone, write the number, and then describe what the sound says to me. There are 72 hours of that.”
Once he has ideas and the skeleton of a Cairo Knife Fight song, he goes back to the cave and starts programming, which takes about one week per tune. He also does everything—each nuance, layer, or quirk—with the understanding that he has to be able to duplicate it onstage, and that also informs the design of his ever-evolving and ever-growing rig.
Cairo Knife Fight has been around since 2004, with two full-length albums and a handful of singles to their name. Since Pajon joined in 2015, they’ve released “Churn,” a single which came out earlier this year. “The first songs we wrote, we will release in the coming years,” he says. “We have 22 finished songs.” On “Churn,” Pajon’s guitar burns with intermittent bursts of djent, thrashing rhythm parts, and incisive melodic lines, while decorated with impressively exact, pop-infused vocals by Gaffaney. His playing, at its most torqued, sounds like sonic flashcards quickly overturned in series—disparate tones tail one another, and yet each somehow seems to fit the tune at hand with surprising logic.
Pajon joined the Black Eyed Peas in 1998. It’s his Dick Dale-style riffing and tone sculpting you hear on the pop outfit’s hit, “Pump It.”
Photo by Sterling Hampton
With Cairo Knife Fight, Pajon approaches arranging like a classical composer. His songs do often have verses and choruses that repeat themselves, but he always makes some kind of variation—be that a tonal shift, an additional riff, a harmony, or taking something out—in order to challenge the listener and keep the song moving. “When you listen to ‘Churn’ from beginning to end, the parts never repeat themselves,” he says. “If you really listen to what the guitars are doing, there’s no cut-and-paste on that song. When I record the guitar parts, it’s a full take. When I double the parts, it’s a full take. I believe that when you listen to a song it should be a ride. The beginning should take you to a different place by the time you get to the end. There’s constant movement in the way I approach writing. That’s why I have all those tools.”
Given Pajon’s passion and dedication to those tools, it’s fortunate that he’s also close with amp legend and tonal wizard Dave Friedman. “I sit with Dave and brainstorm,” Pajon says. “I am really a tech nerd, so I create a PowerPoint spreadsheet with the pedals laid out and how I want the signal flow to be. Dave then tells me, ‘There’s no way we can do this, so we’re going to have to invent something to create what you’re trying to do.’”
Pajon’s rig—the one he uses with Cairo Knife Fight—is already in its 17th iteration, and that doesn’t include the refrigerator-sized unit he has that’s loaded with more than 60 pedals (Friedman wired that up, too). For his work with the Black Eyed Peas, he uses a Fractal Axe-Fx amp modeler and effects processor, which he never stops tinkering with. Pajon is the son of Cuban immigrants and came of age as a guitarist in late-’80s Los Angeles. He hung out on the Sunset Strip when hair metal was the rage, and made the shift in the early ’90s when hair abruptly became grunge. His first loves were Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, but he discovered a broad range of artists and styles thanks to an open-minded uncle who turned him onto the great guitar-centric acts from the ’60s and ’70s, as well as artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and many others.
With Kiwi drummer Nick Gaffaney, Pajon writes guitar and bass parts that he can perform live, loop, and trigger. The duo doesn’t play to backing tracks—everything is done in the moment.
Photo by Michell Shiers
That deep listening exploration came in handy when he first met the Black Eyed Peas. He was with them in the studio for a one-off session, but that quickly morphed into what’s now a 25-years-and-counting relationship.
“I first joined the Black Eyed Peas in October 1998,” Pajon says. “Will [William James Adams, Jr., better known as will.i.am] asked me to come in and play guitar on a song. He was sampling a rock record, and I said ‘Why are you sampling that?’ He said, ‘It’s cool, why not?’ I said, ‘But you’re going to give away all the publishing to that other band. Let me come up with a part that’s similar to that.’ He said, ‘You can play stuff like this?’ I essentially mimicked that style, and he threw away the sample. Then he was like, ‘Do that again,’ and he would give me directions, ‘Change it here, change that chord there.’ That was our relationship.”
That versatility, as not just a player but a master of feels and tones, played a big part in creating “Pump It,” one of the band’s biggest hits. “We were in Japan on tour,” Pajon says. “Will bought a bunch of CDs and he was listening to Dick Dale’s ‘Misirlou.’ I was one of the first guys in the band who had a mobile recording studio—I had the first [Avid] MBOX. At the time I was signed to EMI as a writer, and I would write with different people all over the world. Will knew I had the studio with me, and we were on the bullet train, and he said, ‘George! I need to use the Pro Tools.’ I gave it to him. He samples that Dick Dale song and creates the song ‘Pump It.’
“Fast forward, and we’re finishing that record, Monkey Business, and during that time, it was common for the label to sync one of the songs with a movie or a TV show or a commercial as promotion for the new album. One of the songs they picked was ‘Pump It.’ They had to get clearance from Dick Dale, and he said ‘no.’ Will calls me and says, ‘We have to rerecord Dick Dale’s part.’ I was like, ‘You want me to recreate that?’ I told him, ‘Call Lon Cohen [of Lon Cohen Backline in L.A.], get the same guitar Dick played and the same amp from that time. I’ll do the research.’ We rented those amps and that guitar and I replayed the whole thing. It’s not a sample. It came out so good. Will’s ears are really fine-tuned and he got the EQ just right. But when you listen to that, it’s me. It’s not Dick Dale. We redid those parts for that commercial. In the end, what got released has all the parts that I created for the commercial.”
Cairo Knife Fight sounds nothing like the Black Eyed Peas. It’s heavy and layered, and sits somewhere between progressive metal and grunge. For Pajon, who tells tales of watching the Mars Volta every night with Fergie and members of Metallica while touring with them in Australia in the early 2000s, it’s the perfect sound.
George Pajon Jr's Gear
Pajon has developed a sophisticated system for testing and cataloging new tones and sounds. He spends his days off playing his pedals on every setting possible, then makes a note of how each setting could be used in the future.
Photo by Michell Shiers
Guitars
- Grosh Retro Classic with Evertune Bridge
- Grosh Retro Classic Vintage TKnaggs Severn X with Floyd Rose
- Fender Custom Shop Lush Closet Classic Telecaster with Evertune Bridge
- PRS SC245 with Evertune Bridge
Amps
- Friedman Dirty Shirley Mini
- Friedman BE-100 Deluxe
- Two Rock Custom Reverb Signature V3
- 3 Monkeys Orangutan
- Custom Morgan GP 70R
- Ronin Audio Research K7 GT4-P88
- Form Factor Audio Bi 1000Di
- Form Factor Audio 1B15L-8 cabinet
Pedalboard 1
- Pigtronix Infinity 3
- Devi Ever FX Ruiner
- HexeFX reVOLVER DX
- RJM Mastermind PBC/10 loop switcher
- HexeFX VarioFree The Tone PA-1QB
- Strymon TimeLine
- G-Lab PB-1 power supply
- Midiman Thru 1x4
Pedalboard 2
- Strymon BigSky
- Strymon Mobius
- Pigtronix Infinity 3
- Friedman Buxom Boost
- Friedman Buffer Bay
- Dirty Boy Pedals Fuzzy Boy
- Red Panda Tensor
- HexeFX reVOLVER IV
- EarthQuaker Devices Arpanoid
- ZVEX Fuzz Factory Vexter
- Beetronics Swarm
- Friedman Fuzz Fiend
- CostaLab Booster Plus
- Malekko Downer
- Fortin Mini Zuul
- EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander
- RJM Music Mini Effect Gizmo X
- Strymon Zuma
- Strymon Ojai
Bass Amps Pedalboard
- JHS Little Black Amp Box
- Voodoo Lab Control Switcher
- Boss BB-1X Bass Driver
- Electro-Harmonix B9
- Disaster Area Designs DMC.micro
- Chase Bliss Blooper
- Darkglass Alpha Omega Ultra
- Source Audio C4 Synth
- RJM Music Mini Effect Gizmo X
- Strymon Zuma
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario, various gauges
- V-Picks Nexus
Since the band is just a duo, loopers are essential when playing live. “On my current pedalboard, I have 10 loopers, if you count all the pedals that actually have a looping function. But I am only looping with three of them,” he says.
Pajon also has a wall of amps, and a guitar tuned to A–D–G–C–E–A to cover the bass parts, which are run through a separate bass amp and pedalboard. “When I am writing a part, it has to be a layer that I can trigger later,” explains Pajon. “It can’t be a 10-bar layer or a long layer that plays through the whole song. It has to be something that only happens for a bar because I need to be able to trigger it live. We don’t do anything to playback. Everything is done live. When we record, I do minimal overdubs to create more of a sonic landscape, but when I do those overdubs I am very conscious that I have to recreate that sound live, whether it’s putting it in a looper or me actually playing it.”
Pajon’s attention to detail, dedication to finding the correct sound, and innate compositional sense—regardless of the genre or project he’s working on—help explain his longevity in the industry and his ongoing working relationships with a variety of artists. His Grammy wins and other awards testify to those qualities.
“I am not a side guy with the band,” he says about his longtime association with the Black Eyed Peas. “Those are my parts. The reason I’ve been in the band so long is I’ve been playing my parts this whole time, that I wrote, that I played on those records. I was in the studio with them creating this music. And that all started from my knowledge, from my uncle turning me on to a whole new flavor of styles.”The Violence of Action Live at Kingsize Soundlabs
At this live studio session with Cairo Knife Fight, watch Pajon’s right foot as he almost constantly loops and triggers parts.
Juan Alderete really wants to get off the computer. Not in an internet-surfing kind of way, but for live performances with his new band, Halo Orbit. “I know it will always be there,” he says, “but I don’t want it to be the mainstay. I want the band to be a band, so we’ll see how it evolves.”
Evolution has been the hallmark of Alderete’s career ever since he gained recognition in the ’80s as a member of Racer X, the Los Angeles-based shred metal band notorious for its Musicians Institute-honed chops. After Racer X, and a brief attempt at appealing to the mainstream via rock bands like the Scream, he ditched convention, went back to school—at California State University, Los Angeles, where he earned a B.A. in English—and started reinventing himself in avant-garde musical projects that were more about personal growth than chasing the almighty dollar.
He abandoned the hair metal scene via the punk-pop of Distortion Felix, forged a singular voice on fretless bass and as a songwriter, and ultimately expanded his sonic horizons with Vato Negro by diving deeply into effects pedals. Such versatility is the backbone of the style that’s made Alderete a much-sought player in rock and hip-hop. And 10 years in prog-punk-psych outfit the Mars Volta, which won a Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy in 2009 for the song “Wax Simulacra,” enabled him to reach a wider audience while further developing his effects-driven approach. In 2012, he launched his own website on the topic of gear-based sonic exploration and whatever’s on his mind: pedalsandeffects.com. And though he may decry the use of computers in a live setting, his ability to lock in with backing tracks has been garnering him touring and recording work with cutting edge rap/hip-hop artists Deltron 3030, Jonwayne, and Dr. Octagon, among others.
But his songwriting comes to the fore in Halo Orbit, the band he formed with drummer Mark Guiliana (David Bowie, John Scofield), and guitarist/synth player suGar Yoshinaga (Buffalo Daughter). The group plays a unique brand of futuristic rock that draws comparisons as disparate as Battles and Portishead. Their eponymous debut is a 21st century burst of fusion, incorporating elements of electronic music, rock, jazz, funk, hip-hop, and soul. It also features appearances by guest artists Del the Funky Homosapien, Lisa Papineau of Big Sir (another Alderete project), Money Mark Ramos-Nishita, and his Mars Volta bandmate Marcel Rodríguez-López.
As Halo Orbit morphs from studio project to live act, Alderete is contemplating his desire to move away from the computer and a reliance on backing tracks. “I was on tour with Juliette Lewis last year, playing live the whole time, and every set is different, so you get a little more emotionally out of it,” he admits. “I love electronic stuff and we did tons of it in Big Sir, but after so many years of playing to backing tracks, I just feel stifled. So, with Halo Orbit, we’re doing our very first show with no computer.”
Although it was released just recently, Halo Orbit was actually recorded in 2012. Its four-year gestation period was due to circumstances that reflect the challenges of navigating a music career in the modern era. “Really this record could’ve come out at the end of 2013,” explains Alderete. “But because we didn’t have any money to mix it, we had to wait for Robert [Carranza]. He could only mix it when he had free time, which is almost never because he’s an in-demand engineer.”
Given the project’s zero budget, Carranza (Beck, Jack Johnson) mixed it as a favor. Digital recording technologies and the ability to share files via e-mail make cutting records easier and more affordable, but robust budgets from labels have suffered as a result. “Labels don’t give you any money to make records anymore, so you have to do it this way,” Alderete stresses. “You’re working on favors.”
Although Halo Orbit was recorded in 2012, it was delayed for lack of a budget. Engineer Rob Carranza mixed the tracks as a favor. “Labels don’t give you any money to make records anymore, so you have to do it this way,” Alderete says.
PG caught up with Alderete, who was at home in L.A. prepping for a pedalsandeffects.com clinic tour of the EU with guitarist Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos), to discuss his preference for short-scale instruments, the sonic underpinnings of Halo Orbit, and the challenges of being a pioneer of modern electric bass.
Halo Orbit opens with a cool bass sound on “Subump.” What are you using?
The “ba, ba” bass part on “Subump” is a sample of the DOD Meatbox. I was messing around with it one day and posted it on Instagram like, “Check out the Meatbox when you really distort it. It sounds crazy.” After I posted it, I was like, “I have to use that.” I tried to recreate that sound in the studio, but I couldn’t, so we basically took my Instagram video and sampled it—that’s that sound.
What about the other bass riff that opens that tune?
I wrote that entire song, but that riff is Paul Gilbert’s Jerry Jones Longhorn Bass6. I think he wrote the first Mr. Big single on it. That’s suGar playing that riff. I wrote it, she played it.
There’s a pretty wicked fretless solo in “Subump,” too.
I realized there was no real statement from my instrument, on a shock level, so to speak, so I was like, “Fuck it, I’ll throw a riff right here just to be like, “Oh, there’s the riffer who played in Racer X [laughs].”
In a former life, Juan Alderete was an ’80s shredder in the heavy metal band Racer X. Here he is in 1987 with fellow Musicians Institute-trained masters Paul Gilbert (left) and Bruce Bouillet (right). Photo by Neil Zlozower
What about “Warped Descent?”
That song was written after Mark cut his drum tracks, so it’s a drum loop. I was in my studio messing around with two pedals, the Chase Bliss Audio Warped Vinyl into the Descent Reverb by Walrus Audio, and I was like, “Whoa, that’s dope.” I threw up a mic and recorded it. No click—I just trusted my time. I threw it on my SoundCloud at first, like, “Check out these two pedals.” I kept listening to it thinking I should make something out of it, so I sent it to suGar, who dug it and added to it.
The bass tone on “Angels Flight” is huge. What went into it?
We recorded “Angels Flight” live, and suGar really liked that version, but I envisioned it being heavier, so I overdubbed my bass on it and made it a little tighter. Robert came to my studio and miked me up and put me through the DI and I overdubbed myself. I still don’t know if I did the better thing. There are still some characteristics of the live version, like my wah envelopes were tighter and cooler sounding, but the overall heaviness of it is bigger now.
What sounds like bass, but isn’t, is Marcel [Rodríguez-López] from Mars Volta—that’s his Moog Voyager. I already had the bass lines written. I just said, “I want you to play the synth like that.” He’s a genius when it comes to sound making.
“Love or Lost” reminds me of something Joni Mitchell and Jaco Pastorius would’ve recorded together.
The inspiration for that tune was a band I love: Deerhoof. Sometimes I sit around and say, “I’m going to try to write something that sounds like my version of Deerhoof,” or whatever. On the first Big Sir record, I was trying to write songs that were like my versions of Tortoise songs.
What basses did you use for tracking?
On “Love or Lost,” I used [Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitarist] Josh Klinghoffer’s Hofner. It’s the guitar-shaped one, not the Beatles shape, with Diamond pickups and tapewound strings. That thing is dope. I overdubbed a Kala U-Bass on it, too.
Juan Alderete’s Gear
BassesGoya Panther
Warwick Jonas Hellborg Signature 31” scale
Kala U-Bass (fretless)
Jerry Jones Longhorn Bass6
Landscape Archtop ABP-1 Hollowbody (fretless)
1962 reissue 32” Fender Jazz Bass (only available in Japan) modified with Hipshot Bass Xtender and Hipshot bridge
1971 Fender Fretless P bass modified with an added Bartolini J-Bass pickup, Starz Guitarz bronze bridge, and Hipshot Bass Xtender
Fender Custom Shop “Raider” P bass
Amps
Ampeg SVT-VR 300-watt head
Ampeg SVT-810AV cabinet
Ampeg Heritage B-15N combo
Current Effects
Amptweaker TightFuzz
Boss CS-2 Compressor/Sustainer
Boss OC-2 Octave
Boss TU-2
Boss VB-2 Vibrato
Chase Bliss Audio Warped Vinyl
DigiTech PDS 20/20 Multi-Play
DOD Meatbox Sub Synth
Dunlop CBM105Q Cry Baby Bass Mini Wah
EarthQuaker Devices Hummingbird
EarthQuaker Devices Grand Orbiter
EarthQuaker Devices Rainbow Machine
EarthQuaker Devices Terminal Fuzz
EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath
EarthQuaker Devices Organizer
EarthQuaker Devices Hoof Reaper
Endangered Audio Research AD4096 delay
Fairfield Circuitry Randy’s Revenge Ring Modulator
Guyatone BR2 Bottom Wah Rocker
Idiot Box Effects Death Ray Frequency Mangler
Line 6 DL4
Mantic Vitriol
Maxon PAC-9 Pure Analog Chorus
MXR M83 Bass Chorus Deluxe
MXR Sub Machine Fuzz
A/DA Flanger (first generation)
Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer (first generation)
Red Panda Context
Red Panda Bitmap
Red Panda Particle
SolidGoldFX Beta DLX
Sovtek Fuzz (second generation)
TWA Great Divide
Walrus Audio Descent Reverb/Octave Machine
Strings and Picks
Ernie Ball 2806 Flatwound (.045–.105)
Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky Nickel Wound (.045–.105)
La Bella 750N Black Nylon Tapewound (.050–.105)
How do you like the U-Bass?
I use the shit out of those on hip-hop. You pull that out on dudes bumping 808s [Roland drum machines] and they go, “What the fuck is that little dude?” They love it. I’ve used it on Jonwayne stuff—this rapper I work with out of the Low End Theory crew. I used it with Domo Genesis. He’s one of the guys from Odd Future, but he’s solo now and I used that on his record.
What do they like about it? That it sounds like an upright?
The U-Bass has way more thud and low end than an upright. It really goes back to the shorter-scale instruments. I always give props to Owen Biddle [formerly of the Roots], because he was the first dude I ever read talk about it. He had that CallowHill 30"-scale 5-string with tapewounds, and he talked about the low-end fundamental of a short-scale as opposed to 34" or 35" scale. The longer you go, the more taut the string, the more it sounds like a piano. You go the other way, and you can see it in the waveform in Pro Tools—it’s different. Maybe it’s not as defined, with the same articulation as a 34" or 35", but it’s huge sounding.
The Landscape bass I use with Jonwayne sounds like an upright. That’s the bass I have that sounds most like an upright. Everybody knows I don’t really play upright, so I fake it [laughs].
I’ve seen you play Goya basses, too.
Those are 30”-scale basses. I use them in Dr. Octagon and with Deltron 3030. They are great for sounding vintage. They sound even more vintage than a P bass with flats. A P bass with flats, the way I play, makes me sound kind of like a cross between [Motown’s] James Jamerson and [Iron Maiden’s} Steve Harris [laughs]. I hit too hard and Jamerson only played with one finger [Alderete uses two]. I always try to sound like Jamerson when I have flats on a P bass, but I don’t. I know I don’t. I know I probably sound like Steve Harris.
When you play a Goya with flats, it just sounds way more vintage-’60s Motown, because you can’t hit it as hard. You’ll put it out of tune. So you play softer and lighter, and it has more of that authentic vibe to it. And the pickups are kind of janky, so it sounds more ’60s. I still rock those on the hip-hop gigs.
What’s your objective at pedalsandeffects.com?
I’m trying to keep bass players in the game through effects use. That’s how you stay in the game. That’s why I play with a pick, fretless bass, fretted bass, Kala bass, short-scale bass, long scale, flatwound, tapewound, roundwound. You know what I mean? You give them tons of different options. That’s why these hip-hop gigs keep coming to me. Domo from Odd Future, Jonwayne, Deltron, Octagon. I played on their new records. I use weird bass sounds because they’re sounds they can’t get with synths. You have to have this, otherwise you’re limiting your opportunities to make a living. It’s transcending the fucker. You can hate what I do. That’s cool. But really, I’m here trying to keep everybody in the game.
So, it has to do with staying relevant?
I was in a band for 10 years [Mars Volta] that was going crazy with this stuff. We were trying to make something new happen. I’m still that dude from the ’80s who was trying to play fast because that was what was happening at the time. I was trying to evolve somehow and keep things interesting. But I got bored of that, so I got into fretless because I’d never done it and I wanted to see what my take would be. Then I got into effects. It’s constantly reinventing, because I’m just not the dude who’s going to stay there and play straight bass. There are a million dudes who can do that.
I guess ultimately you must weigh calls to the history of the instrument with where it can potentially go?
Jamerson might’ve hated the way I play. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Hendrix was playing blues-rock guitar licks and then he got on the Octavia and started playing solos with that. He would’ve constantly bought pedals. Guitarists have the Edge, Van Halen, but no bass player ever threw pedals out there where I was like, “Whoa!” There were guys doing things, but it was always just like an occasional chorus pedal, so I was like, “Fuck man, I’m going to try it.” That first Vato Negro record I did—there’s shit on there I don’t even remember what the pedal combination is. I could guess at it. It’s just gnarly, what I was trying to do, because I was literally going, “I want this shit to sound bananas. I want to be the Hendrix of the instrument.” I don’t consider myself that, but I wanted the same pioneering spirit. I wanted to do something that I hadn’t really heard before, but I thought would light people up. I am not one of those dudes who listens to his own music, but when Vato Negro pops up on shuffle or whatever, I’m like, “Man that is some out there shit [laughs].” And that’s my goal.
YouTube It
And now for something really rad: Halo Orbit onstage at the Airliner in Los Angeles earlier this year. Get an earful of the way Juan Alderete makes his bass speak in alien tongues, and how seamlessly the band integrates electronics and live performance.
Yoshinaga’s musical menu is based on Fenders and Gibsons, but she adds lots of effects-based spice. “I wanted to play weirdly like Devo and entertainingly and fun like Rick Nielsen,” she says. Photo by Yoshika Horita
suGar Yoshinaga’s Widescreen Strategy
suGar Yoshinaga’s Gear
GuitarsFender Road Worn ’50s Stratocaster
Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Gibson SG
Amps
Marshall JTM45 (mid-’60s)
Supro 1624T Dual-Tone
Effects
DigiTech Whammy WH-1
Line 6 DL4 Delay Stompbox Modeling Pedal
Dunlop CBM95 Cry Baby Mini Wah
EarthQuaker Devices Hoof Reaper dual fuzz
EarthQuaker Devices Night Wire harmonic tremolo
EarthQuaker Devices Spatial Delivery envelope filter
EarthQuaker Devices Hummingbird V3 Repeat Percussions Tremolo
EarthQuaker Devices Speaker Cranker drive
EarthQuaker Devices Avalanche Run stereo delay and reverb
Keeley Compressor
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff (Russian)
Klon KTR overdrive/boost
Xotic RC Booster V2
Moog MF ring modulator
Strymon TimeLine Delay
Strymon El Capistan dTape Echo
Strymon Mobius modulator
Eventide H9 Harmonizer
TC-Helicon VoiceLive 2 vocal processor
Boss RC-3 Loop Station
Boss FV-30L volume pedal
Moog EP-3 Expression Pedal
Yamaha Reface CS synthesizer
Mission Engineering MEXP-MINI Expressionator
Strings, Picks, Accessories
GHS Boomers GB10 1/2 (.0105–.048)
Fender Triangle medium picks
Mono Vertigo bass cases
suGar Yoshinaga may not be a household name yet, but she’s well on her way to establishing herself, with a broad skill set that also includes composing and mixing. Her work in those fields is an important component of the sonic tapestry that is Halo Orbit.
Yoshinaga grew up taking classical piano lessons from the time she was 4 years old, but gravitated to the guitar simply because she loved rock music and wanted to play in a band. She started playing acoustic when she was 10, and bought an electric by the time she was 12. Devo and Cheap Trick were her biggest influences at that time.
“I wanted to play weirdly like Devo and entertainingly and fun like Rick Nielsen,” she confides. “Jean-Jacques Burnel of the Stranglers was a big influence, too, even though he was a bass player.” She cites the late ’70s to early ’80s post-punk/no wave scene as her biggest overall influence. “I listened to all those bands on the radio, recorded them on cassette tapes, and listened over and over again.”
Since the early stages of her career, suGar’s interest in multi-track recording evolved alongside her development as a guitarist. In the beginning, she used a 4-track cassette recorder. In the ’80s it was an ADAT. In the ’90s, she gravitated towards Macintosh with Logic, which is the configuration she still uses today (albeit updated). “My first paid job as a professional musician was to make computer game music,” she recalls. “There were only three melody mono tracks plus one noise track at that time. That’s where I learned to compose.” Today, she composes soundtracks for TV, films, and commercials when not playing in the band. “I do mixing sometimes, too. We used my mix of ‘Warped Descent’ on this record.”
Halo Orbit features Lisa Papineau (Big Sir) on a few tunes, and since she’s not performing with them, suGar handles these vocal parts live, using a vocoder-like approach through TC-Helicon’s VoiceLive 2. “It was a new challenge, but it also created some interesting sounds and opportunities. I think it went very well. I'd like to explore more of it on the next album.”
Signal Chain: Dunlop Cry Baby Rackmount > Keeley-modded Ibanez
TS-9 > Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter > MXR EVH Flanger > Carl Martin Compressor/
Limiter. Powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 with an Axess
GRX4 loop system. Photo by Luke Viertel
Petrucci’s satellite pedalboard may seem the least stacked on the surface, but that’s because most of his firepower is packed in the Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II that resides in the effects loop of his Mesa/Boogie Mark V amps. His guitar signal is split at a Framptone A/B box into either a Fishman Aura 16 into a DI (for acoustic) or into a Dunlop Cry Baby Rackmount wah before hitting the pictured satellite pedalboard on top of his rack.
“When we first built this rig, we did everything in the Axe-Fx, and he missed having pedals he could mess around with,” explained tech Matt “Maddi” Schieferstein.
The board is ever changing— particularly in the overdrive spot that was inhabited by a Keeley-modded Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer when we caught up with Dream Theater. “He’ll actually have me change it during the show sometimes,” Schieferstein told us. The Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter earned a place on Petrucci’s board after a big compressor shootout prior to the band’s “A Dramatic Tour of Events” fall 2011 tour. Schieferstein explained that in the end, the Carl Martin was chosen because Petrucci liked its compression and attack, without it being overpowering.
From the board, the signal goes into an interface that connects to Petrucci’s floor controller (an Axess Electronics FX-1), which controls the satellite board and the Axe-Fx II. Petrucci’s Axe- FX II is set with one preset that has a chorus, three delays, and a harmonizer set to his preferences. Also on the floor are a wah pedal, which controls the rackmount Cry Baby, an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, and a Boss TU-2 tuner.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Maroon 5's James Valentine
Signal Chain: Keeley Looper (sent to Providence Anadime Chorus > Electro-Harmonix Micro POG 2 > Keeley
Katana Clean Boost) > Fulltone Octafuzz > Z.Vex Octane 3 > Dunlop Zakk Wylde signature wah > Fulltone Fulldrive
2 > Fulltone OCD > Menatone Blue Collar Overdrive > Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor > Axess BS-2 Buffer/Splitter
(split out to Korg Pitchblack tuner) > Dunlop Rotovibe > Boss FV-500H volume pedal > Keeley-modded Line 6 DL4.
Photo by Chris Kies
Though his board has perhaps
the most effects of
any that we saw on the road this
year, Maroon 5 lead guitarist
James Valentine uses many of
them for single songs—or even
just parts of a song. When we
caught up with Valentine during
Maroon 5’s summer 2011
Hands All Over tour, his more
heavily used effects include a
Fulltone OCD for leads and
the Line 6 DL4 set with a slight
delay and a more dramatic delay
that he taps into the tempo of
the songs, “for that Police-y sort
of thing we do a lot.”
Valentine has three flavors of overdrive on his board—a Menatone Blue Collar, Fulltone OCD, and Fulltone Full- Drive—but usually gravitates back to the OCD. However, his pedal usage is not set in stone. “I kind of change it up because we play so many shows that sometimes I’ll solo on the [Fulltone] Octave Fuzz because you’ll find that that will inspire different sort of ideas. My sound guy would probably prefer if I played the same thing every night, [laughs] but it’s a little more fun to experiment.”
The Dunlop Rotovibe, which he calls his “favorite swirly-type of effect,” is his go-to for chorus tones, and after trying out a number of wahs, Valentine settled on the seemingly uncharacteristic Zakk Wylde wah. “I love Zakk Wylde’s playing, but I don’t really play anything like him,” he told us. “Every wah has a different sort of range it sweeps from, and this one had a particularly good range and just works for the type of stuff I use it for.” The wah can be heard heavily on the band’s hit, “Sunday Morning.”
Some of his less used pedals include the Z.Vex Octane 3, which is only used for about four bars on “Never See Your Face Again,” which he says “really breaks up,” and the Electro-Harmonix Micro POG which made its way to Valentine’s board for the single, “Give a Little More.” He uses the pedal in conjunction with the Providence Anadime Chorus for the intro section of the song, but has been inspired to find more ways to use it since adding it to the board. The POG and Chorus are run through the Keeley Looper to keep the chain clean. “As soon as you add anything else to your signal chain, you start to see your signal degrading,” he explains. Valentine and his tech, Mike Buffa, took great care to make sure the chain has as little signal degradation as possible.
Valentine controls volume with his Boss FV-500H, smoothes things out with a Keeley Katana, tunes with a Korg Pitchblack tuner, and powers the board with a trio of Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus units. One of his secret weapons is the Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor. “We have a lot of dramatic pauses,” he explains, “so if there’s that extra in between that, it’s annoying.”
Valentine also uses his pedalboard to control his two-amp setup. His Divided by 13 Switchazel and Matchless footswitch sit side-by-side so he can switch both amps from clean to dirty at the same time or set one clean and one dirty. Valentine told us, “If you see me during the show, I’m kind of tap dancing a lot—I probably should switch to some sort of MIDI system [laughs].”
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Wilco's Nels Cline
Top Signal Chain: Boss TU-2 tuner > Z.Vex Fuzz Factory> Fulltone DejáVibe> DigiTech Whammy > Boss CS-3
Compression Sustainer > Boss VB-2 Vibrato > Bigfoot FX Magnavibe > Klon Centaur > Crazy Tube Circuits
Starlight Overdrive > Crowther Hotcake > Fulltone ‘69 > Electro-Harmonix Pulsar > Crazy Tube Circuits Viagra
Boost > Boss FV-500H volume pedal > Boss DD-3 delay > MXR Phase 45 > Boss DD-7 delay
“Sadly, happily, strangely, I seem to be known for using a lot of effects pedals,” Nels Cline told us. “For me, they’re like colors on a palette, and they’re not a gimmick.” Though the talented guitarist plays in a number of projects, we checked out his expansive setup for his most high-profile gig—lead guitarist for alt-rock band Wilco.
The keys to Cline’s sound are overdrive, compression, volume, and delay: “This is the exploded version of those parameters,” he explains. The volume pedal is particularly important for Cline, who was introduced to its usefulness in the ’70s through guys like Steve Howe and Robert Fripp. In addition to using it for violin sounds and bringing volume up and down, Cline—always the single-coil lover—also employs the volume pedal to defeat 60-cycle hum. “I just always have my foot on it,” he says. He uses a Boss FV-500H because it doesn’t break easily and is transparent.
The other key to his tone is the elusive Klon Centaur, which he relies on for lead work like the solos on “Impossible Germany” and “Ashes of American Flags.” The latter also employs his Boss VB-2 Vibrato and Electro- Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb.
Other favorites of Cline include the Fuzz Factory, which he describes as, “really strange and intense and uncontrollable,” and the Magnavibe, which he says is the only pedal that replicates the tone of an old Magnatone amp he records with. He pairs the Fuzz Factory with his DigiTech Whammy (set to two octaves down) and punishes the strings with a spring for end-of-the-world tones. Setting the Whammy between settings, resting his battered Jazzmaster on his amp, and working his Korg Kaoss Pad 2—generally used for tape delay effects—unlocks out-of-tune clusters and further wackiness.
Bottom Signal Chain: Signal Chain: Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man > Electro-Harmonix 16 Second
Delay > Electro-Harmonix Ring Thing > Korg Kaoss Pad 2 > Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Plus.
Photos by Rebecca Dirks
Cline pairs his Fulltone DejáVibe and Boss DD-7 for Band of Gypsies-style Hendrix tones (“Doesn’t come in that handy with Wilco,” he jokes), employs the Fulltone ’69 for germanium fuzz tones, and calls the Crazy Tube Starlight into action when old-school RAT tones are in order. His vintage Electro-Harmonix 16-Second Delay has been part of his sound for more than 25 years after Bill Frisell turned him onto it, and it’s always recording, used for looping on the fly.
Cline’s guitar tech, Eric Baecht, calls Cline’s second board—the collection of noisemakers situated on a table—the “science project,” and the description is apt for Cline’s approach to effects. He’s constantly playing and experimenting. “I have fun everywhere I go,” Cline told us.
The pedals are straight in line, no loops. When we asked Cline about it he explained, “It does degrade my sound … degradation is my sound. I’m not a purist about anything, so why would I be a purist about guitar tone?”
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Mastodon's Brent Hinds
Signal Chain: Boss TU-3 Tuner (split off), Ernie Ball volume pedal > Morley Bad Horsie wah > Boss GE-7 Graphic EQ > Morpheus DropTune > VMan Overdrive
(custom) > Ibanez TS-808 > Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor > Boss DD-6 Digital Delay > Stereo Split Left (Boss RE-20 > Line 6 DL4 > Lee Jackson 4-Way
Split > EbTech Hum Eliminator > Amps) OR Stereo Split Right (Boss RE-20 > Line 6 DL4 > Amp). Photo by Ken Settle
Hinds’ setup has been fairly
constant, with the Line 6
DL4, Boss GE-7 Graphic EQ,
Ibanez Tube Screamer, Boss
DD-6 Digital Delay, and Boss
RE-20 Space Echo comprising
the band’s live tone for years.
In 2009, Hinds added the
Morpheus DropTune.
Hinds favors a TS-808 Tube Screamer with a JRC4558 chip for overdrive. He has a signature Monster Effects Mastortion pedal based on this version of the TS-808, but with more volume and low end. When we caught up with Hinds during the band’s tour in support of The Hunter, however, it was the trusty TS-808 on the board.
Photo by Chris Kies
Hinds described his approach to effects as simple: “Anything other than those effects or something with a lot of knobs and switches [laughs], I don’t know how to work! I want to be like Omar Rodr’guez-L—pez [guitarist of The Mars Volta and At the Drive-In] with tons of effects and pedals, but I don’t have the most patience in the world and I only have one foot to control my pedalboard.”
But he’s on his way. One newer addition to this board is the Morley Bad Horsie wah, used on the song “Dry Bone Valley.” Hinds joked, “Essentially, to be considered a bonafide guitarist you need to record one wah wah song … ‘Dry Bone Valley’ has this perfect swaggering, galloping vibe to the chorus and verses that leads right up the wah-solo perfectly.”
Of course, despite adding a pedal here and there, Hinds will likely never dive into a more complex setup and still prefers to get his chorus sounds a bit more naturally: with his 9- and 12-string guitars. He explains, “The octave strings create this ringing, atonal chorus effect unmatched by any chorus pedal. A 6-string and a pedal sounds stale in comparison.”
Primus' Ler Lalonde
Signal Chain: Maxon PH-350
Rotary Phaser, Strymon Ola dBucket Chorus
and Vibrato, MXR Carbon Copy Analog
Delay, Fulltone Ultimate Octave, Dunlop
UV1 Uni-Vibe, and Custom Dunlop Wah (half
Slash signature, half Dimebag signature).
Primus guitarist Ler LaLonde’s creative use of effects has helped define the band’s unconventional sound since the beginning. And while the effects are called into action to recreate album tones, a big part of their duty is to aid the spacey jams that happen live.
Two of the keys to Primus’ sound include the Maxon Phaser and EBS OctaBass—both have been staples of his board for decades. “Basically, it’s whenever you want to sound like Gilmour, that’s the pedal,” says LaLonde of the Phaser, which is used on open jams, while the OctaBass is geared more toward old-school, Jimmy Page octave tones. Why a bass pedal? “I didn’t know any better,” he admits.
Top Board: Empress Tap Tremolo, TC Electronic Nova Delay, Haz Mu-Tron III+ (replica), and EBS OctaBass. Bottom Board: Electro-Harmonix Ring Thing and Radial Bones Twin-City ABY switcher. Photos by Jeremy Hauskins
LaLonde’s board has three delays—two MXR Carbon Copy pedals and a TC Electronic Nova Delay—each set for different uses. The first Carbon Copy is set for short delays like those in “Jilly’s on Smack,” and the second is set for soloing and tweaking out into wild, spacey jams. The Nova Delay is set for longer, swell-type delays suited to a cleaner digital sound.
Other song-specific pedals include the Strymon Ola Chorus used throughout “Moron TV” and a custom Dunlop Cry Baby used for the intro to “Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers.” LaLonde had chased that tone live for some time. “I don’t know what I was using at the time,” he explained, “so we went through and tried all these pedals [at Dunlop] and they put together a custom one.” The wah is half Dunlop’s Slash signature model and half the company’s Dimebag signature model, and can be switched between the two.
This board also marks LaLonde’s first foray into distortion boxes with the Fulltone Ultimate Octave, used on “Hoinfodaman” for Neil Young-style breakup. The Mu-Tron III+ is a reproduction—“Sounds just like Garcia!” he enthused —and the Electro-Harmonix Ring Thing is on the board because, “Everybody has to have robot sounds.”
It’s not just tone he’s after, however. Quite the abusive stomper, LaLonde is always swapping pedals for more durable ones. The Ultimate Octave replaced an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, while the Nova Delay and Electro-Harmonix Ring Thing are routinely rotated with a Strymon Brigadier and Way Huge Ring Worm, respectively. Another crucial feature for LaLonde is tap tempo in time-based effects, due to the band’s jamming tendencies. “So many songs where we’re opening up, we’re jamming, tempos are changing,” he explains, “so it’s great to just tap it in and sort of get The Smiths sort of tremolo sound but in time.”
But what’s with the arrows? LaLonde’s approach to marking his settings is idiot-proof: set the knobs, then mark with an arrow that should always point straight up. However, he adds with a laugh, “As you can see, everything is usually pretty much maxed out and drastic, we’re not very subtle with the effects.”
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Signal Chain: MXR CAE wah > Boss TU-3 > Switcher Loop 1: Dunlop Uni-Vibe > Switcher Loop 2: MXR CAE wah
circuit mounted inside board > Switcher Loop 3: Chicago Iron Tycobrahe Octavia (modern) > Switcher Loop 4: MXR
Blue Box Fuzz > Switcher Loop 5: Analog Man King of Tone (newest version) > Switcher Loop 6: Ibanez Hand-Wired
TS808 Tube Screamer > Switcher Loop 7: Analog Man Bi-Chorus > Switcher Loop 8: BK Butler Tube Driver (new
model with Bias knob) > JAM Pedals Delay Llama. Photo by Michael Helweg
Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s
board—recently rebuilt by
custom builder Helweg Custom
Pedalboards—is packed with all
the bluesy goodness any Stevieand
Jimi-inspired player could ask
for. But the heart of his tone lies
in the combination of a recentissue
Analog Man King of Tone
and stock Ibanez TS-808HW
Tube Screamer. “It’s basically
the sound of the amps and this
King of Tone pedal and the Tube
Screamer,” explains Shepherd.
“Everything else is just for one or
two songs here or there.”
Photo by Chris Kies
The King of Tone—which he called “one of the greatest overdrive pedals ever built”— has its low (red) and high (yellow) gain sides set similarly, but the real magic happens when you combine the two. “It’s over-the-top awesome,” he enthused. Shepherd adds in the TS-808HW for even thicker tones. “When you use the two together, it’s got everything to it,” he told us. “It’s got the fat low end, and the nice, sparkly, high ends, and it’s got a really nice midrange capability. I don’t really know of a better combination to be honest with you.”
Beyond this combination, which he says comprises 90 percent of his tone, Shepherd uses the Dunlop Uni-Vibe for the rhythm tone on “Blue On Black” and Hendrix songs, Electro- Harmonix POG 2 (with the King of Tone) for “Your Blues,” and the Analog Man Bi-Chorus (one side set slow for Leslie tones, the other slightly faster) for the band’s slow version of “Voodoo Chile Blues.” Shepherd, who has an original Tycobrahe Octavia for studio use, uses the Chicago Iron Octavia reissue for Hendrix songs as well, and calls it, “as accurate of a reissue as anything I’ve ever seen.” He gets his favorite tones by rolling off the tone slightly, stacking on a Tube Screamer, and hitting his Strat’s neck pickup.
Shepherd’s board actually contains two of his preferred Dunlop CAE Cry Baby wahs— one on the board, and one circuit set to a specific pot setting and mounted under the board for the song “Show Me the Way Back Home.” Shepherd prefers the CAE wah for its sweep and vocal qualities, and tends to stay on the yellow setting without the built-in overdrive.
The board is rounded out with a recent issue BK Butler Tube Driver, a JAM Pedals Delay Llama+ modified with an on/off instead of hold switch and tap tempo, and a Boss TU-3, which he also uses as a mute switch when switching guitars. Michael Helweg wired Shepherd’s board with two Voodoo Lab switchers and a Voodoo Lab Commander set with loop presets for controlling his pedal combinations.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
The Mars Volta's Juan Alderete
TC Electronic
PolyTune > Boss CS-2 Compression
Sustainer > Boss VB-2 Vibrato
> Boss OC-2 Octave > DOD
FX32 Meatbox SubOctave > Wren
And Cuff Pickle Pie B > Earth-
Quaker Devices Ghost Disaster
Delay and Reverb > DigiTech PDS
20/20 > Boss PN-2 Tremolo/Pan
> Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phaser
> (not pictured) Dwarfcraft Eau
Claire Thunder > WMD Geiger
Counter. Photo by Chris Kies
The Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodr’guez-L—pez and bassist Juan Alderete have long been known for having expansive pedalboard setups that border on extreme. Alderete admits that he once had a multi-station setup with one “standard” board, one dedicated to ring modulators and whammy effects, one stocked with micro-synths, and one with an array of delay pedals and flangers for tweaking on the fly. Alderete had slimmed down to this “economy version”— as had Rodr’guez- L—pez who had replaced many of his effects with a Line 6 M9—for their summer tour with Soundgarden.
Part of the reason for slimming down, he explained, was because the band was playing shorter sets and weren’t employing lengthy soundscape breaks between songs, during which he would tweak away at his effects. In fact, he says, “All these are pretty stationary.” His Earthquaker Devices Ghost Disaster Delay and Reverb is one of the few pedals that still gets hefty tweaking during a set. Alderete appreciates the two-in- one quality when it comes to pedalboard space, but also praises the effect for its tone. “It’s a great sounding delay, but the reverb is really cool, too,” he says. “I love a dub bass line with the flatwounds.”
Alderete’s vast pedal collection came in handy when he surrounded himself with three pedalboards. Photo by Juan Alderete
Because he’s using flatwounds, he’s also more selective about which effects he employs—not all effects come through the same. The Pigtronix Envelope Phaser is one of his preferred effects with flatwounds, and he often pairs it with the discontinued Boss VB-2 Vibrato.
Always in use on the board is Alderete’s trusty Boss CS-2 Compression Sustainer. This pedal has been a staple since his days with Racer X in 1986 and is almost always on. Alderete says that it’s the most musical compressor he’s tried and he uses it for adding high end and harmonics. Musicality is high on Alderete’s list of demands when it comes to choosing pedals for his board—he also lauded the Envelope Phaser and Boss OC-2 Octaver for that same quality.
Of course, some pedals are just plain fun as well. Alderete achieves literal earth-shaking levels with his DOD FX32 Meat Box. “It’s just a speaker popper! When it hits those subs out there, it vibrates everything onstage,” he told us.
Though he’s simplified his rig already, Alderete still may go the route of Rodr’guez- L—pez. He told us, “I have an M9 with all of this stuff in it, but I haven’t gotten my learning curve in there yet. I should discipline myself and I probably will.”
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Joe Satriani
Signal Chain: Vox Big Bad Wah > Voodoo Lab Proctavia > Roger Mayer Voodoo-Vibe Jr > Boss CH-1 Super Chorus > Vox Satchurator > Vox Ice 9
Overdrive > DigiTech Whammy > Radial JDI > Amp (Effects Loop) > Custom True Bypass Switch > DigiTech 33B (rackmount, not pictured) > Vox Time
Machine > Vox Time Machine. Photo by Jason Shadrick
Joe Satriani pulls double
duty with Chickenfoot
and solo work these days, but
when we caught up with him
he was touring solo in support
of Black Swans and Wormhole
Wizards. “Besides the wah wah
pedal and the delays, pretty
much everything is used maybe
for one song,” Satriani told
us. “They take up a lot of real
estate, but they’re little ear-candy
pedals.”
Though his board is packed with signature pedals, he leans most heavily on the Vox Big Bad Wah and dual Vox Time Machine delays, which are always on. He gets his dirt from his prototype Marshall JVM410 heads—which he was tweaking nightly at the time, hence the handwritten, taped notes on the amp footswitch—but keeps his signature Vox Satchurator and Vox Ice 9 Overdrive on the board, “in case I change my mind on how I want to work with my gain levels.”
Photo by David Izquierdo
The specific-use pedals include a Voodoo Lab Proctavia, which is used for a solo in “Crystal Planet,” a Boss CE-5 Chorus used on “Crystal Planet” and on the outro for “Wind in the Trees,” a Roger Mayer Voodoo-Vibe used for the solo in “Pyrrhic Victoria,” and the DigiTech Whammy used for the outro on “Revelation.”
The black unmarked box is a true-bypass box built by Ben Fargen, which places Satriani’s secret weapon in the chain: a DigiTech 33B Super Harmony Machine. The rack effect (not pictured) is only used for the song “Why.” “It’s one of those rack effects you don’t really want to be sending your guitar through unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Satriani explained. “For the song ‘Why’ it gives me this unusual E minor harmony.”
The board is powered by three Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus units and is wired with cables built by Satch’s tech, Mike Manning, using Planet Waves cable kits. “I keep changing things and he’s got to react very quickly to pedals being moved around,” Satriani said.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Keith Urban
Signal Chain: Drawer 1: Demeter COMP-1 Compulator, Wampler Ego Compressor, Analog Man Juicer, Wampler Paisley Drive, and two Boss GE-7 Graphic EQ. Drawer 2: MXR Distortion III, T-Rex Alberta Overdrive, B.K. Butler Tube Driver, and two Klon Centaurs. Drawer 3: Early ’80s Pro Co Rat, MXR GT-OD, XTS Custom Pedals Precision Overdrive, and Boss CE-2 Chorus. Floor: Custom Audio Electronics RS-10 MIDI Foot Controller and RS-10 Expander Module, Boss FV-500H, Ernie Ball volume pedal, and Boss FS-5U Momentary Switch. Photo by Andy Ellis
For his ripping brand of arena-filling country, Keith Urban sets up with three rack drawers full of pedals that range from pedestrian to the stuff of legend. The heart of his effects setup—not surprisingly—is compression. Urban uses a few different compressors, which guitar tech Chris Miller likens to different flavors. “Is there a bad flavor of ice cream? No.” he says, pointing out that they often mix the compressors as well. “There’s no wrong way to do it—if it sounds cool, it’s right.”
The compression mainstay in Urban’s rack is the Wampler Ego Compressor, which Miller says is set to be a bit brighter and is occasionally run in conjunction with a Demeter COMP-1 Compulator, set warmer. When we caught up with Urban in Nashville, he rounded out his setup with an Analog Man Juicer—a replica of the old Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer.
Other permanent fixtures in Urban’s ever-changing setup include the MXR Distortion III and MXR GT-OD, which Miller says sound great at all settings, though they are some of the more affordable pedals in the setup. But Urban makes up for any savings with his duo of Klon Centaurs. “I’ve yet to hear an amp they sound bad with,” reports Miller of the venerable overdrives.
Other members of Urban’s collection of overdrives include a Wampler Paisley Drive, T-Rex Alberta Overdrive (which Miller describes as a more refined Tube Screamer tone), B.K. Butler Tube Driver, XTS Custom Pedals Precision Overdrive, and an early ‘80s Pro Co Rat— “Noisy, but boy does it sound good,” notes Miller.
The racks are rounded out by a Boss CE-2 that wasn’t in use at the time, and a duo of Boss EQ pedals that Miller says are an underrated part of the signal chain. “Nobody ever thinks about them, but they’ll do so much for you.”
The pedals are powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus in each drawer and routed through loops in an RJM Effects Gizmo, which sits in the effects loop of Urban’s Radial JX44 signal manager so they can be sent to any of his amps. The pedals are controlled on the ground by a Custom Audio Electronics RS-10 MIDI Foot Controller with RS-10 Expander Module, Boss FV-500H, and Ernie Ball Volume Pedal. Urban has this setup at his feet, but Miller has an additional RS-10 to handle effects switching since Urban spends a lot of time at mics on opposite sides of the stage.
Watch the Rig Rundown:
Steely Dan's Walter Becker
Signal Chain: Sonic Research ST-200 Turbo Tuner > Barber Electronics Tone Press > Eventide PitchFactor > Eventide Space > Boss NS-2 Noise
Suppressor > Lehle 1@3 Switcher. Photo by Joe Coffey
Walter Becker is a bonafide
pedal freak. “We have
every pedal ever made by
every manufacturer,” boasts
guitar tech Bob “Nitebob”
Czaykowski. Because of this,
Becker’s board is constantly
changing—even which pedals
are being used on a given board.
Case in point, not everything
was plugged in on this board
when we caught up with Steely
Dan in summer 2011. “We had
everything plugged in at one
time and realized he was losing
a little bit of signal,” explains
Becker’s other tech, David Rule.
Photo by Cees van de Ven
One of the pedals that never changes, however is the Sonic Research ST-200 Turbo Tuner. A stickler for intonation, Becker settled on the Sonic Research because of its clarity and speed. The Eventide PitchFactor is set with two presets, while the Eventide Space is used only on the Spring Reverb setting. The Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor is on the board to combat building-specific noise. From there, the signal heads into a Lehle switcher that splits out to Becker’s multiple-amp setup. At the time we saw the board, the Moog MF-105 Moogerfooger MuRF, Pigtronix Envelope Phaser, and MXR Carbon Copy Delay weren’t connected. Many of Becker’s pedals are connected and disconnected for soundcheck, and he has additional pedalboards in his dressing room and hotel room with completely different effects. “We have a big box [motions with his hands at about 5-feet high] with five drawers full of pedals that we didn’t even bring,” says Rule.
Watch the Rig Rundown: