“Will the next Tool album take more than 10,000 days?”
That was an ongoing (and agonizing) joke for Tool fans that awaited the band’s fifth album following the release of 2006’s 10,000 Days. (A cruel clairvoyance of a title.) For those counting, when Fear Inoculum was finally delivered on August 30, 2019, it was just 4,868 days from their previous album. All crummy jokes aside, the anticipation of the album was real for a reason: the music. And the rhythmic cog of their constant contorting of depth and darkness is bassist Justin Chancellor.
Sure, drummer Danny Carey is a living legend bashing everything his large frame can smash and crash. Adam Jones transforms his guitar into a Hans Zimmer production with varied textures, temperaments, and traits his tone expresses. During shows, singer and lyricist Maynard James Keenan prowls in the shadows adding to the band’s musical mysticism. This triumvirate core dished out the punishing EP Opiate in 1992, and their 1993 debut full-length Undertow was more complex and calculated in its rage. But in 1995, when Justin Chancellor replaced Paul D’Amour on bass, Tool immediately expanded their dimensionality. The original three continued to dazzle and dumbfound listeners, but the addition of Chancellor and his pocket-minded role unlocked a collective vocabulary previously unspoken. Simply put, if Tool was an octopus, Chancellor was the head. The others could be momentarily independent tentacles exploring the melodic murkiness of their respective reaches, but when they needed to propel forward, Chancellor was steering. His lines are the base for the band’s groove and attitude that became a focal point on subsequent releases with 1996’s Ænima, 2001’s Lateralus, 2006’s 10,000 Days, and eventually 2019’s Fear Inoculum. The former three went triple-platinum, while the latter three were No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (Ænima landed in the No. 2 spot.)
If you ever catch yourself playing air guitar to Tool, you’re probably mimicking Chancellor’s parts. “Schism,” “The Pot,” “Forty Six & 2,” “H.,” “Fear Inoculum,” “Descending,” “The Grudge,” and plenty of others feature his buoyant bass riffs.
Chancellor’s tone has had a longstanding relationship with Wal basses, Gallien-Krueger amps, and Mesa/Boogie cabs. The evolving part of his rig has been his pedalboard. At this juncture of the band’s run supporting Fear Inoculum, Chancellor’s board is larger than his guitar-playing counterparts. Yet everything has a place and purpose. Some of it is duplicity, some of it is to avoid any required knob-turning during the show, and as we find out in the Rundown, some of it is just for fun. Grab a seat and get comfortable as Chancellor and his tech Pete Lewis walk PG’s elated Chris Kies through his live setup.
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Like a Glove
While recording Ænima, Chancelor borrowed a friend’s Wal bass that was originally fretless, but his pal did the dirty work of embedding frets into it. “That original bass’ tone immediately fit in with the band and covered the right area of sound,” remembers Chancellor. He promptly ordered his own replica of that build, and this is the second edition of it. The above 4-string has been his main bass for the last 15 years. It has a mahogany core, bird’s-eye maple caps, a neck incorporating mahogany, maple and rosewood, and a rosewood fretboard. Some minor changes to improve comfort and playability include lighter hardware and Luminlay fret markers. Chancellor’s basses take a custom set of Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky Bass strings that have the standard .045-.065-.85, but because they tune down to drop-D for most songs, he swaps in a .110 from the Power Slinky pack. And when they go to drop-C for their oldest material, he’ll put on a .135 string. He hammers on the strings with a custom Dunlop (1 mm) Tortex Tri pick. All his instrument cables come from Mogami.
Full-Circle StingRay
Chancellor recalls auditioning for Tool with an Ernie Ball StingRay, but it just didn’t work with the band’s sound at the time. Fast forward two decades and the StingRay has found a cozy place in the Tool setlist. The 2018 Music Man StingRay Special is used on “Descending” from Fear Inoculum. Anyone keen on details will notice the high-tech solution of duct tape and marker that allows Justin to incrementally notch up the volume during the song’s blossoming midsection.
Pretty Practice P
Justin scooped this beautiful 1963 Fender P bass from Norm’s Rare Guitars. He does have a small collection of old instruments, but they have to meet two requirements before he makes the buy: They have to sound amazing and they have to be players so he can “bang away on them” without remorse. He doesn’t play it onstage (the vintage P’s output doesn’t have enough horsepower for Tool), but he does bring it on tour because he finds it inspirational to play, so it’s often with him backstage, on the bus, or in the hotel room.
Welcome to the Thunderdome!
This configuration of Demeter preamps and Gallien-Krueger power amps has been the nucleus of power for Justin’s studio and stage sound for years. The Gallien-Krueger 2001RB heads each hit their own cabinet. The “clean” RB runs into a Mesa/Boogie RoadReady 8x10. The middle RB head in the rack is the “dirty” amp that goes into a prototype Mesa/Boogie 4x12 that is EQ’d gnarlier and takes all of Chancellor’s pedals. He feels the 10" speakers retain the integral low-end bass tone better than the 12s, while the larger speakers are better suited for offering his distorted or effected tones an overall warmth that can disappear in the 10s. (The bottom 2001RB is on deck in case either head fails.)
Above the G-Ks are the Demeter Bass Tube Preamplifiers that give FOH a pure sound to mix in as needed. (The second Demeter unit is a backup.)
And up to the Radial JD7 Injectors are amp switchers that also help remove noise, signal loss, or hum and buzz.
Mesa Mountains
Here are the two Mesa/Boogie cabs—the 8x10 on the left and the custom prototype 4x12 on the right.
Justin Chancellor's Pedalboard
This setup is either a bass player’s dream or nightmare, but for someone as adventurous as Chancellor, this is where the party starts. At a glance, you’ll notice many of his pedals are available at your favorite guitar store, including six Boss boxes, an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, and MXR Micro Amp. Crucial foot-operated pedals are in blue with the Dunlop JCT95 Justin Chancellor Cry Baby Wah with a Tone Bender-style fuzz circuit (far left) and DigiTech Bass Whammy (middle). He really likes using the Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 for distortion and feedback when the Whammy is engaged or he’s playing up the neck. Covering delays are three pedals—he has the pink Providence DLY-4 Chrono Delay for “Pneuma” that is programmed to match Danny’s BPMs, which slightly increase during the song from 113 ms to 115 ms. The Boss DD-3s are set for different speeds with the one labeled “Faster” handling “The Grudge” and the other one doing more steady repeats. There’s a pair of vintage Guyatone pedals—the Guyatone VT-X Vintage Tremolo Pedal (Flip Series) and Guyatone BR2 Bottom Wah Rocker (a gift from Adam Jones). The Gamechanger Audio Plus pedal is used to freeze moments and allow Justin to grab onto feedback or play over something. The Boss GEB-7 Bass Equalizer and Pro Co Turbo Rat help reinforce his resounding, beefy backbone of bass tone. The MXR Micro Amp helps goose his grimy rumbles. The Boss LS-2 Line Selector is a one-kick escape hatch out of the complicated signal chain for parts of “Schism.” The Wal and Music Man stay in check with the TU-3S tuner, a pair of Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Pluses help bring things to life, and everything is wired up with EBS patch cables.
Shop Justin Chancellor's Rig
Music Man StingRay Special HH
Dunlop JCT95 Justin Chancellor Cry Baby Wah
Gamechanger Audio Plus Pedal
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
Boss BF-2 Flanger
Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble
Boss GEB-7 Bass Equalizer
ProCo Turbo Rat
Tech 21 SansAmp GT2
DigiTech Bass Whammy
MXR Micro Amp
Boss LS-2 Line Selector
Ernie Ball VP Junior 250K
Boss TU-3S Tuner
JHS Switchback A/B Effects Loop Switcher
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus
Radial JD7 Injector
If you’ve perused YouTube for videos dealing with triple rectifiers, 5150s, the cheapest guitars imaginable, or absurd gear listings on eBay and Reverb, you most certainly know Ryan “Fluff” Bruce. The mastermind behind Riffs, Beards & Gear has amassed over 400K subscribers and nearly 100 million views since starting his channel in 2006. His charm is a mixture of quality, inviting guitar-related content with high-brow information and effective, well-timed low-brow comedy. And, of course, some high-brow goofs, too. On top that, Bruce often leaves his Pacific Northwest video sanctuary to continue chasing his main passion—playing guitar in a band. His current venture is Dragged Under.
The quintet is a Negroni of rock, stirring in equal parts upbeat pop-punk (with anthemic choruses), melodic metalcore moshers, and spine-testing breakdowns. Occasional garnishes include sinister synths, acoustic guitars, and even orchestral overtones. They formed in 2019 from the ashes of Rest, Repose—with carryover members vocalist Anthony Cappocchi and fellow guitarist Josh Wildhorn. Bassist Hans Hessburg and drummer Kalen Anderson filled out the lineup for their 2020 debut, The World Is In Your Way. And since that release, guitarist Sean Rosario has replaced Wildhorn and helped bring their brand-new batch of jams, Upright Animals, together for a June 2022 release.
Ahead of Dragged Under’s headlining show at Nashville’s punk-rock lair the End, on September 1, PG’s Perry Bean jumped onstage to talk shop. “Fluff” showcased his attractive and adaptable Music Man riff cannons, detailed the development of his signature Fishman Fluence humbucker (and who’s voicing he stole for one of his own), described his transition from the Line 6 Helix to Axe-Fx III, and spearheaded a jovial chat that involves a peculiar Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Warlock.
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Mr. Sparkle
For a man who gets his hands on many, many instruments, it must be hard for Bruce to narrow down his collection to a few key axes. But he’s a pragmatic player that looks at all the requirements of a touring tone pony. This custom Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay he calls Mr. Sparkle (Simpsons season eight reference) is his “No. 1 A,” not only for its sonics, but its sensibility. It is loaded with his signature Fishman Fluence pickup in the bridge (more on that in a minute) and a Fishman Fluence Single Width pickup in the neck. The StingRay’s roasted maple neck ensures no movement when encountering extreme climate changes. Plus, even if something does change, it has a very-accessible truss rod adjuster at the end of the fretboard. The Music Man bridge rests on the mahogany body, making it very stable. It sits in the 8-pound range, so it’s not a boat anchor, allowing “Fluff” optimal movement onstage without requiring an on-call chiropractor.
Fluff the Fisherman
Bruce is the latest rocker to put his tone print on the Fishman Fluence line of pickups. His multi-voice humbucker has three settings. Position one (modern active high output) starts with a boosted active ceramic sound that has a switchable high-frequency tilt for a darker tone. Position two (modern passive attack) cops Lamb of God guitarist Willie Adler’s setting one, in his signature Fluence pickup, and offers an articulate passive, rhythm tone. And position three (slightly overwound single-coil) is muscular and maintains the high-end sting.
Just Like Jerry
Now, while Jerry Cantrell never played a baby-blue guitar or a StingRay, Bruce says this one-pickup, one-knob mosh machine is a slight nod to the simple, sawtooth G&L Rampage favored by the Alice in Chains ripper. The lone pickup is Fluff’s signature Fishman Fluence. He mentions in the Rundown this StingRay has a considerably larger neck profile than the previous bass-boat sparkle StingRay. Both guitars we’ve seen so far stay in drop C# and take Ernie Ball Paradigm Beefy Slinky strings (.011–.054).
A Buick Riviera
This particular StingRay was built for a band that dissolved before it could be delivered. It sat on the Music Man shelves for months until Fluff was offered the guitar. With no need for the extra humbucker, he had them remove the neck unit and cap off the pickup selector. It reminds him of a ’70s Buick Riviera with its malibu gold finish. This slick ride cruises in drop D, takes Ernie Ball Burly Slinkys (.011–.052), and has a lone Fishman Fluence Classic humbucker.
DSP Demands
For years, Fluff and his bandmates relied on the accessible and reliable Line 6 Helix. After releasing their second album, Upright Animals, the band realized they have a lot more tonal requirements (pitch-shifting, acoustic guitar, octave, etc.), necessitating increased digital horsepower. So, they graduated to the Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III. Bruce’s core tone starts with a Marshall JVM setting and he creates colors from that platform. The Matrix Amplification GT1000FX-1U powers the Axe-Fx III. Fluff runs a wireless setup thanks to the Sennheiser EW IEM G4 unit.
Kick Out the Scenes!
Fluff handles all the changes with this Fractal Audio FC-12 Foot Controller.
Rectifier Rock
The Axe-Fx III runs into this stereo Mesa/Boogie Horizontal Rectifier 2x12 that has a pair of Celestion Vintage 30s.
![Rig Rundown: Thrice [2021]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-thrice-2021.jpg?id=27809411&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Over the course of 11 studio albums—with the help of brothers Eddie (bass) and Riley (drums) Breckenridge—Thrice has explored odd-timing metal (Identity Crisis and The Illusion of Safety), thrashy screamo (The Artist in the Ambulance), maturing post-hardcore (Vheissu and Palms), all-encompassing prog-rock with ethereal escapes and mammoth, surly riffs (The Alchemy Index: Vols. I-IV), and an amalgamation of it all (To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere and Horizons/East). And even after all those years, all those albums, and all their discovered sounds, the Pixies and Metallica continue to be musical planets they orbit while exploring the outer realms of the sonic solar system.
Prior to headlining Nashville's Mercy Lounge in support of the just-released Horizons/East, Kensrue and Teranishi spoke with PG's Perry Bean about the changes (and reductions) in their symbiotic setups. Kensrue explains why he's shifted his live tone (and Horizons/East recordings) to be fully dependent on the Line 6 Helix, and how that impacted the design of his signature Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay. Teranishi chronicles how the pandemic-created time void sent him down the lutherie rabbit hole and resulted in a familiar-looking-but-original build.
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Stealthy Stereo StingRay
Since our last Thrice Rig Rundown in 2016, Dustin Kensrue has retired his two previous offsets (Nash and Cave and Canary models) and designed his own offset signature with Ernie Ball Music Man. On its surface, the Ernie Ball Music Man Dustin Kensrue StingRay (reviewed here) has minor tweaks from its predecessors: a single-coil in the neck, a lower-bout pickup selector, and a concentric volume/tone control. Its secret weapon is a small black button near the pickup selector. When that button is pushed down, the model is a normal passive guitar. When pushed out, it taps each pickup individually and sends the signals to a stereo output for playing through two amps or a digital modeler. (Kensrue has shifted towards an all-Line 6 Helix setup for this purpose, but more on that in a minute.) The tonewood recipe includes an African mahogany body, a maple neck, and a rosewood fretboard. And its scale length is 25 1/2". He generally opts for a custom set of Ernie Ball Slinkys (.011 –.058), and the 6-string rides in either D-standard or drop-C tuning.
A Standard StingRay … Baritone??
Last Rundown, Kensrue had the Cave and Canary baritone for any drop-A or B-standard tunings, but now he's carrying a second signature StingRay that still has the normal 25 1/2" scale length. It handles the lower-tuned songs quite well and gets strapped with a custom set of Ernie Balls (.011–.068).
Better Than a Pair of Boots
Here's a shot of both iterations of the Ernie Ball Music Man Dustin Kensrue StingRay.
Five years ago, Kensrue was dipping his toe into the digital dream pool with a trio of Strymons and a Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeler that ran alongside a few more stomps, then into a two-amp stereo setup. As you see, he's condensed everything into this digital do-all—a Line 6 Helix Floor. (He mentions in the Rundown that he recorded all his parts for Thrice's 2021 release, Horizons/East, with the Helix.) For stage monitoring purposes and feedback frenzies, he runs the Helix into a matching Line 6 Powercab 212 Plus that is stocked with a pair of Eminence Coaxial Neodymium speakers and a 1" Celestion CDX Compression driver.
The only thing Dustin doesn't trust the Helix with is tuning. (His version of the Helix shuts everything off when tuning, but now Line 6 has updated software so the tuner doesn't affect sound output.) He enlists a TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Noir Mini for keeping his StingRays in check.
I Bet You Can’t … Build a Guitar
Guitarist Teppei Teranishi has played some high-quality instruments, including vintage Les Pauls and custom, handmade Teles. Those guitars were being a bit neglected, and he thought about revitalizing them with pickup replacements. However, his mind didn't stop there. He wondered if he could wind his new pickups himself. And this is where a slippery slope dovetailed into a new passion.
"I thought if I could learn to wind my own pickups, I could find exactly what I want," admits Teranishi. "That snowballed into thinking about building a kit guitar, but then I thought it'd be more personalized if I got a Warmoth neck and made my own body. It was a slow progression into me constructing a complete guitar."
The home-build is based on a Les Paul Doublecut—although it has a 4-bolt neck to simplify the process—that is essentially cut in half, mirrored, and then slightly offset. He landed on a middle-ground PRS-based 25" scale length. Another halfway measurement on the guitar is a 10" neck radius that sits between Fender and Gibson. And he wired up the electronics so both humbuckers—Teppei's handwound PAF-style 'bucker (bridge) and a Lollar Imperial (neck)—can be split, and Teranishi added in a bass-cut control that peels off some of the neck pickup's wooliness. This one takes a custom set of Ernie Ball Slinkys (.011–.054).
Elegant Toppings
A close-up of Teranishi's handiwork that opted for a clean headstock thanks to truss-rod adjustments being handled at the base of the neck.
Roar (and Rumble) Like a Jaguar
For Thrice's lower-tuned, dropped-down songs, Teppei still goes with the Fender Baritone Custom Jaguar (which was renamed the Jaguar Bass VI Custom in 2006).
Just Like Old Times
In 2016, Teranishi was running a one-two amp punch. He's still plugging into the same Supro Dual Tone, but he's swapped a Vox AC30 for a fawn-colored, handwired Vox AC30HW2.
Mix and Match
Circa the previous Rundown, Teppei would mix analog pedals with digital modelers. Last time he used a Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeler with a half-dozen pedals from JHS and Walrus Audio. Since then, he's upgraded the Line 6 to a HX Effects pedalboard unit, which takes on more duties than the M5—thus reducing his pedal count. Two new additions are a Walrus Audio Warhorn and a Fuzzrocious Afterlife reverb. And the lone carryover is a Walrus Audio Julia. Everything is juiced up with a Walrus Audio Phoenix and the guitars are kept in line by a TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Mini.