![Tyler Childers & the Food Stamps Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-tyler-childers-the-food-stamps-cj-cain-jesse-wells-james-barker-craig-burletic.jpg?id=52418575&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
The Food Stamps have been cooking onstage behind the redheaded songwriter pretty much since he left Appalachia and began touring as a full unit. These loyal road dogs have worn the rubber off the tires touring with Mr. Childers. First, they were strictly a live band enlisted to recreate and recharge the material from his first three studio albums Bottles and Bibles (2011), Purgatory (2017), and Country Squire (2019). But with the last two studio records—the triple-album, gospel-country opus Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? and last year’s classic-meets-contemporary Rustin' in the Rain—the Food Stamps went from being his road-warrior comrades to eating big time alongside their leader onstage and in the studio.
During Childers’ headlining arena run and before his second sold-out night at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville, the Food Stamps’ CJ Cain (acoustic/electric guitar/mandolin), Jesse Wells (electric guitar/mandola/banjo/baritone/fiddle), James Barker (guitar/pedal-steel), and Craig Burletic (electric bass/double bass) invited PG’s Perry Bean inside their “living room” stage set. When we last chatted with them in 2019, the boys were burning through the small-club circuit with many of the same tone tools still in their rig today, but as venues grow and tours extend, gear needs change and the arsenal capacity increases. In this hour-long Rundown, we cover all their fresh friends, old standbys, and everything else these four buckaroos require to make music that matters.
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Like New
While CJ Cain is the newest member in the Food Stamps, he’s had a long history hanging out and making music with his bandmates in other outfits for years. His addition to the band was a smooth transition and he handles acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and mandolin on a nightly basis. In this Rundown, CJ mentions he’s most comfortable on a dreadnought, but is finding his footing with electric guitar and the accompanying gear.
These old beauts are a pair of vintage Harmony instruments. The electric on the left is a 1960 Stratotone that’s been overhauled with stainless-steel frets, Waverly tuners, and a proper setup. The big boomer on the right is a 1960s H1266 Sovereign Deluxe that also has been upgraded with stainless-steel frets and plays like a dream. The H1266 has a midrange like a Mack truck and sat in the mix really well for the Rustin’ in the Rain sessions. All of his acoustics take D’Addario XTAPB1356 XT Phosphor Bronze strings and his Stratotone uses D’Addario NYXL1149 Nickel Wound strings.
A Class
Cain’s friend Will Parsons has been hand-carving mandolins in Elizabethton, TN, since he was 14 years old. This A-style mando is barky and choppy, qualities that let it gnash through their full-band spread.
The 14-fret dreadnought on the right is a Collings D1A that has a Sitka spruce top, Honduran mahogany back, sides, and neck (modified V profile), an ebony fretboard, bone nut and saddle, nickel Waverly tuners, and pre-war scalloped X-brace pattern (with Sitka spruce).
Lucky Loaner
Here’s a 1966 Stratocaster that Cain was able to bring on the road from an encouraging friend. He notes that it’s a “magical guitar.” The owner let Cain play it as a teenager and recently let him dust it off for this year’s Mule Pull tour with Tyler Childers. This one rocks D’Addario NYXL09544 Nickel Wound strings.
CJ Cain’s (Electric) Pedalboard
His “trial-by-fire” christening into electric guitar has sparked the need for some pedals and his current stable includes a Dunlop EP103 Echoplex delay, a Keeley Mini Katana Clean Boost, a Kingsley Page Tube Boost, a Greer Lightspeed, a JHS Pulp ’N’ Peel V4 compressor, and a Peterson StroboStomp HD.
One Nation, Under Tone
The Harmony and Strat run through CJ’s electric board and then hit his Amplified Nation Overdrive Reverb that plugs into a 1x12 extension cab, which runs a JBL D120F speaker taken out of a 1970 Fender Twin Reverb.
CJ Cain’s (Acoustic) Pedalboard
CJ Cain’s (Acoustic) Pedalboard
Covering his coloring, switching, and tuning needs for flattops and mandolin are a Strymon Flint, another JHS Pulp ’N’ Peel, a Grace Design ALiX preamp, a Keeley Mini Katana, a L.R. Baggs Venue DI, a Morley ABC Pro Switcher/Combiner Pedal, and a pair of Peterson StroboStomps.
Sturdy Steeds
“This is the heartbeat of my rig,” contends Jesse Wells. The kickstart to his rig’s heart is a 1968 Fender Telecaster (top left) that once upon a time had a Bigsby vibrato on it. He bought it off Food Stamps’ tech Patrick Boyle, who still gets to see his old friend every night. The ES-style guitar is a Collings I-35 (top right) has been upgraded with ThroBak PAF humbuckers. RS Guitarworks (lower left) created this Slab Series mashup that blends a T-style with an LP Junior. The pickups are a set of growly Fralin Soapbar P90s. One of the Bluegrass State brothers built him this relic’d partscaster that has a set of Ron Ellis 64S single-coils. And on the far right is a Gretsch G6128T-GH George Harrison Signature Duo Jet that Wells wanted for mellower vibes, and into which he dropped a set of Ron Ellis Ellisonic JLs codesigned by the masterful Julian Lage.
The Oddities
As the man in the band that wears the most hats, Jesse Wells carries a lot of auxiliary instruments. Starting with the Eastwood MRG Tenor (top left), a fancy little unit with mini humbuckers. Next is the Collings 360 Baritone that has a 27.5" scale length and custom Lollar Alnico Pole P90s. Then he has the Gibson RB-250 5-string banjo and a violin handmade by Jonathan Cooper out of Portland, Maine. On the far right is Wells’ Danelectro 59X12 12-string.
Mighty Mites
Letting FOH and PA do a lot of the work, Jesse utilizes a pair of puny punchers—a Muleskinner Tweed based on the 5E3 circuit with a couple 6V6s, and a 1974 Fender Princeton Reverb.
Jesse Wells’ Pedalboards
Up top is the board for Jesse’s fiddles and banjo, which both go to a Grace Design FELiX2 preamp, a duet of L.R. Baggs pedals—an Align Reverb and Para DI Acoustic Guitar Preamp—a Universal Audio Golden Reverberator, and two tuners (TC Electronic PolyTune3 and Peterson StroboStomp HD). A Strymon Zuma powers everything.
The electric board that handles everything else includes a Strymon Flint, MXR Phase 90 (script logo), Origin Effects SlideRIG Compact Deluxe, FX Engineering RAF Mirage Compressor, Wampler Germanium Tumnus, Nocturne Brain Mystery Brain BS-301 tape echo, and Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp. Utility boxes include a Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner, a Radial Headlight Amp Selector, and Truetone 1 SPOT PRO CS12 power supply.
James’ Barkers
For this arena run, James Barker took out a handful of electrics. The candy-apple red Fender Eric Johnson Strat is the lone instrument that he had during the last Rundown. Barker mentions, “It’s all stock. I’ve never done anything to it, and it’s one of my favorite guitars in existence.” Next is a USA-made Epiphone Casino that has a laminated maple-poplar-maple body, a rounded-C mahogany neck, bound rosewood fretboard, and a pair of gnarly Gibson dogear P90s. Then we have a glowing Rickenbacker 1993Plus 12-string that gets busted out for “Universal Sound.” A Gretsch G6122T-62GE Vintage Select Country Gentleman hollowbody gives Barker some traditional country-western twang. And finally on the right side we have a CME Exclusive Gibson Les Paul Standard ’50s that boasts a dazzling “Dirty Lemon Burst” finish that was inspired by the organically fading cherry bursts from the holy-grail period.
Lonesome Whippoorwill
Our 2018 tour visit with the Food Stamps saw Barker using a Sho-Bud pedal-steel guitar. All of his repairs on that 10-string beast were done by Nashville luthier Jeff Surratt who owns and operates Show Pro Steel Guitars. Just before COVID shut down tours, Barker received his custom 10-string Show Pro model seen above, and has been enjoying bending notes and sliding all over it ever since.
Get Amped!
James plays through a pair of amps all night. The pedal-steel Show Pro hits an old Fender Bassman that powers a CavAmp passive rotary speaker cabinet. For the steel’s main tone, Barker relies on a Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb. When he’s playing electric guitar, he drives with the custom-voiced Hall combo (seen in the last Rundown) and a 1970s Fender Super Reverb that’s been modded by removing the first channel’s tone stack (when he hits the bright switch), giving the amp a lot of volume and gain. The Hall is a two-channel design with the right channel (his prime choice) modeled after a Trainwreck Rocket, while the left channel is similar to a Gibson GA-40. The Super Reverb is used for clean parts, and the Hall is for rockin’.
James Barker’s Pedalboards
To accommodate his dual duties, he’s got a pair of pedalboards. Up top is his steel board that uses a Keeley Omni Reverb, Keeley D&M Drive/Boost, Strymon Mobius, and Strymon TimeLine. A Fulltone True-Path ABY Soft Touch switcher controls the amps, while a CavAmp box handles the rotary speaker speeds and stops. His steel is kept in check with a Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner.
Down below is his electric-guitar stomp station that has some duplicates from the steel board (Strymon TimeLine & Mobius, Fulltone True-Path ABY Soft Touch switcher, and Peterson StroboStomp). The fresh faces include a Universal Audio Golden Reverberator, an Analog Man Bi-CompROSSor, a JHS Double Barrel, a JHS AT Drive V2, a Kogoy Musical Devices Rainbowsound, an Analog Man King of Tone, and a Dunlop 535Q Cry Baby.
All About That Bass
Bassist Craig Burletic hasn’t met a 4-string he couldn’t thump. Back in 2018 he was boogying down on a sunburst 2011 Fender P, but he’s since acquired a similar-looking P from 1965 that actually is decked out in pre-CBS specs. He purchased this special instrument off fellow bassist J.T. Cure, who’s in Chris Stapleton’s band. Burletic was floored with the vintage Precision and pinches himself each night because as he puts it, “I didn’t know basses could sound so good.” If you look closely at the D string off the bridge, you’ll notice a bulky burl hanging near the saddle. It’s actually the end of a double-bass string that he slapped on when his standard electric-bass string snapped during a “middle-aged” jam out. He didn’t have any extra electric-bass strings so he put on the double-bass D gut string and hasn’t looked back.
While studying at Marshall University, Burletic fell in love with a 1974 fretless Fender P bass. He learned how to play upright bass on that instrument and wanted to buy it from Marshall, but found the bureaucratic hoops a bit much. However, a few years later he found this fretless 1972 P with a rare maple neck and fingerboard. His double bass is an old American Standard that he scooped off Facebook Marketplace.
10 Outta 10!
Burletic brings the low-end rumble with a pair of thunder buddies—an Orange AD200B MK3 200-watt bass head and an old Fender Bassman. The Orange goes into a Ampeg Heritage SVT 610AV cabinet while the Fender runs through an Aguilar DB 410 cab. And you gotta love the looks of his full setup glowing under the EBT (Eatin’ Big Time) logo.
Craig Burletic’s Pedalboard
No pedals were on the floor for Burletic last time, but he’s since fleeced out a proper pedalboard for the arena tour (even if most of the boxes are utilitarian units). The actual tone twisters are a Boss OC-2 Octaver and an Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Bass Compressor. An A Designs REDDI DI box helps give FOH a crystal bass signal, while the Radial BigShot ABY wrangles the amps. Then he has a pair of Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuners and double Strymon Ojai power supplies.
Childers’ Children
Tyler Childers has long been loyal to Collings. He used them exclusively during our last Rig Rundown, and he’s still plucking those Collings like they owe him money. For a while, his No. 1 was the DS1A (right), but just a few days before we interviewed the gang, the Collings OM1 Julian Lage showed up and since then it’s been used 99 percent of the time. It has many traditional orchestra-model specs (Sitka spruce top, Honduran mahogany back, sides and neck, medium nickel frets, and bone nut and saddle), but what makes this small-bodied acoustic special are the intricate requests from Lage, like recreating the neck profile of his 1939 Martin 000-18 and using a custom satin lacquer that makes the new guitar feel and sound old. FOH has noted that the smaller acoustic with less bass sits much better in the full-band mix. Both acoustics take D’Addario Medium Phosphor Bronze strings (.013–.056).
Tyler Childers’ Pedalboard
For a picker that mainly plays acoustics, his board is expectedly tame with a pair of Grace Design ALiX preamps (one for the Collings and another for fiddle) and a Boss TU-3w Waza Craft Tuner.
TV Time!
When Childers does grab an electric and throw down (usually during instrumental “Two Coats” from Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?), he’ll get loud with this old TV that was actually his grandfather’s RCA set. On the backside rests a custom Square Amps head that Matt Richards built upon Tyler’s request. (Head here to read its quick backstory.) It has a single 12" Weber Vintage Series Ferromax speaker.
Shop the Food Stamps' Rig
Fender Stories Collection Eric Johnson 1954 "Virginia" Stratocaster
Fender Vintera II '60s Stratocaster
Amplified Nation Overdrive Reverb 50-watt Tube Head
Dunlop EP103 Echoplex Delay Pedal
Keeley Katana Mini Clean Boost Pedal
JHS Pulp 'N' Peel V4 Compressor Pedal
Peterson Strobostomp
Strymon El Capistan
LR Baggs Venue DI
Grace Design ALiX Acoustic Instrument Preamp / EQ / DI / Boost Pedal
Morley ABC Pro 3-button Switcher/Combiner Pedal
Fender Custom Shop Time Machine '68 Thinline Telecaster Journeyman Relic
Gretsch G6128T-GH George Harrison Duo Jet
Danelectro 59X12 12-string Electric Guitar
Fender '64 Princeton Reverb 1x10"
Grace Designs Felix Preamp
LR Baggs Acoustic Series Reverb
LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI
Universal Audio UAFX Golden Reverberator Pedal
TC Electronic PolyTune
MXR Phase 90 Script
Strymon Flint
Wampler Tumnus
Radial Engineering Headlight
Gibson Custom 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue Electric Guitar - Murphy Lab Light Aged Dirty Lemon
Epiphone USA Casino Hollowbody Electric Guitar
Rickenbacker 360/12C63 12-String Electric Semi-Hollow
Gretsch G6122T-62GE Vintage Select Country Gentleman
Fender Tone Master Twin
Fender Super Reverb
JHS Double Barrel V4
JHS AT (Andy Timmons) Drive V2 Pedal
Dunlop CBM95 Cry Baby Mini Wah Pedal
Strymon Mobius
Strymon Timeline
Keeley Omni Reverb
Keeley D&M Drive
Fender Tony Franklin Fretless Precision Bass
Orange AD200B MK 3 200-watt Bass Head - Black
Ampeg Heritage SVT-810AV 8x10"
Aguilar DB 410
Origin Effects Cali76
Boss OC-2 Octaver
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Radial Bigshot ABY
A Designs Reddi Tube Direct Box
Boss Waza Craft Tuner TU-3w
Dunlop 511P100 Primetone Standard Smooth Guitar Picks 1.0mm 3-pack
D’Addario XTAPB1356 XT Phosphor Bronze Strings
D'Addario NYXL1149 NYXL Nickel Wound Strings
D’Addario NYXL09544 NYXL Nickel Wound Strings
The ’90s was a very peculiar musical decade. It entered with L.A.’s party-time hair metal and concluded with the rise of Nu metal, boy bands, and the real Slim Shady. In between those bookends saw the maturation of Metallica, a cold front moved in from the Pacific Northwest with dark clouds of morose and menace, gangsta rap from the coasts flooded the heartland and suburbs, and punk went pop with big hitters from Green Day, Offspring, and Blink 182. But Pantera proudly flew the flag of metal. Those Cowboys from Hell were Phil Anselmo (vocals), Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott (guitar), Rex Brown (bass), and Vinnie Paul Abbott (drums). They took chances and took no prisoners all while having the time of their lives.
They were originally a glam metal band fronted by Terry Glaze. That lineup put out three albums and tirelessly worked the Texas club circuit from 1981 to 1986. They replaced Glaze with New Orleans cat Phil Anselmo who continued the falsetto tradition but made the band more Priest than Stryper. They released Power Metal in 1988 with latex-laced riffs before trading the Sunset Strip for the mosh pit when they released 1990’s breakthrough marauding Cowboys from Hell. And things completely clicked for them when they chiseled out their core sound with 1992’s Vulgar Display of Power that unleashed power-groove, annihilation anthems “Mouth for War,” “Walk,” “This Love,” and “Fucking Hostile.” That set the tone for the rest of the decade and everyone else in metal was playing catch up.
When Metallica went Load and Reload, they went fiercer and forceful with 1994’s Far Beyond Driven (earning them a No. 1 record on Billboard 200). While Reznor and Manson explored techno, dissonance, and industrial sounds, the four metalheads went darker and harder with down-tuned guitars and even faster tempos creating 1996’s The Great Southern Trendkill. And as Slayer tried Nu metal with Diabolus in Musica, Pantera said hold my Crown Royal and doubled down on their demolition with 2000’s Reinventing the Steel.
Bands can burn out and friendships can become more grating than gratifying. Anselmo and Brown continued exploring their side gig with Down (started in the mid-’90s in between Pantera albums and tours) and the idle Abbott Brothers started Damageplan. A war of words filled magazine covers and airwaves making the divide wider. Then, on December 8th, 2004, while performing with Damageplan at Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, the unthinkable, agonizing, and gut-wrenching onstage murder of Dimebag occurred. (This horrific date was exactly 24 years after the shocking loss of John Lennon.) And in 2018 his brother Vinnie Paul succumbed to coronary artery disease. The idea of Pantera ever seeing the stage, in any form, seemed impossible.
But remaining members Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo tossed around the idea of finding friends to fill in for the Abbott brothers. There are indications they had a list, but anyone who knew anything about Pantera, and especially Dime, would bet their last dollar that Zakk Wylde was the only right option. And Charlie Benante of Anthrax made so many cameos in Pantera’s collection of Vulgar Videos home movies that he was the prime candidate for Vinnie Paul’s throne.
Brown has gone through so much gear. He’s lost amps and donated basses to charity. He’s fostered many fruitful friendships with companies that’s resulted in signature wares for war. His latest partnership has him riding high on a pair of namesake Thunderbirds dressed in black and gold. He still tours with old Spectors who feel like home (if home was a thunderstorm). He’s got a proper pedalboard and rack gear that’s been routed through a RJM switcher (first time ever). And he and tech Bobby Landgraf (also guitar player in Honky and Down for Down IV – Part II) detail the whole chain of tonal command. Then we have a blast chatting with Zakk Wylde who covers his toolbox of Warhammers and Master 100 heads. He ponders what it must’ve been like to have been Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads who toured with their iconic instruments and not having any backups! And then his longtime tech Stephen Murillo goes over his rack gear that includes three pieces from Dimebag Darrell’s original Pantera rig.
Rattle and Shake
In recent years Rex Brown has partnered up with Gibson and two years ago saw his first signature Thunderbird take flight. It has a mahogany body, a mahogany neck (with set construction), rosewood fretboard, Hipshot Mini-clovers with Drop D Xtender, Graph Tech nut, and Gibson’s Rexbucker Thunderbird humbuckers. His touring models feature a set of EMG X active pickups for more output and attack. This one (and other 4-strings) ride with Ernie Ball 2733 Hybrid Slinky Cobalt Electric Bass strings.
Thunder Buddy
Here’s a thriftier way to rumble like Rex with his Epiphone signature Thunderbird. It has a mahogany body, 9-piece maple-and-walnut neck, Indian laurel fretboard, brass nut, Babicz FCH 3-Point bridge, and a set of Epiphone ProBucker 760 Bass humbuckers that Rex said remind him of the Bicentennial Thunderbird thumpers.
Spector Twins
This pair of ebony and ivory Spectors—one of which has been clobbering concertgoers for over 15 years. The one on the left is a 2008 Euro 4 what Rex calls “Mother Glory,” and it’s the one he always goes back to. It was originally painted white, but he darkened its exterior and brandished it in gold.
The other Spector is 2023 USA NS-5 in black-and-white gloss finish that is his “baby” and he “loves it because he just can’t beat the fucking sound of it. It just won’t go away no matter what.”
Both have EMG X pickups—the Euro 4 has the PJX Ceramic PJ Bass set and the USA NS-5 has the EMG 40DCX.
And the 5-string Spector takes Ernie Ball 5-String Slinky Cobalt Bass Strings (.45–.130).
Slugger ‘n’ Chugger
Brown has plugged into as many heads as you can think, but he’s never been happier than when he’s got a Ampeg SVT-4 Pro supporting him.
The Eich T1000 gives life to the Eich Bass Board. Their primary use was when supporting Metallica and Pantera was forced to have a clean stage, but Rex still wanted to feel the earth shake under his legs. He enjoyed the quake enough to implement on their headline run.
These boxes are tucked into the rack and are always on—an Origin Effects BassRig Super Vintage Bass Preamp, an Origin Effects Cali76 Stacked Edition Dual-stage Compressor, a Darkglass NSG Noise Gate Bass, and a Noble Preamp DI.
Lastly, his rack holds utilitarian items like the Shure AD4D Two-channel Digital Wireless Receiver, Radial JX44 V2 Concert Touring Guitar & Amp Signal Manager, and the RJM Effects Gizmo.
Moving Mesas
Rex has been on the lookout for anybody able to recast the Ampeg “fridge” 8x10. He claims Mesa/Boogie cracked the code with these custom Mesa Boogie 8x10 Traditional Powerhouse Cabinets that have custom-voiced Eminence speakers.
Rex Brown's Pedalboard
This clean configuration is the first time Rex Brown has utilized a switching system. His stage board has a Dunlop JCT95 Justin Chancellor Cry Baby Wah, a 2000s Morley Pro Series II Bass Wah, Origin Effects DCX Bass Tone Shaper & Drive, a MXR M287 Sub Octave Bass Fuzz, and a Peterson StroboStomp HD.
The brain of everything in the rack and onstage is the RJM Mastermind GT.
And to help “move mountains,” Rex has a Moog Taurus III.
Thor's Four
Zakk travels with familiar company when touring with Pantera, Zakk Sabbath or Black Label Society. It’s Wylde Audio all the time. This winter 2024 run saw him exclusively run with his Warhammer models. They’re built with a mahogany body, maple tops, 3-piece maple neck, ebony fretboard, a Floyd Rose locking tremolo, and his signature EMG 81/85 pickups. All these beasts have Dunlop DHCN1048 Heavy Core NPS strings (.010–.048).
St. Dime
Here’s a special Warhammer that approximates the iconic lightning-strike, blue-burst “Dean from Hell” that old pal Dimebag Darrell used through Pantera’s heyday. To nail the paint job, he enlisted Matt “Chewy” Dezynski, who painted Dime’s Washburn guitars in the 1990s.
Wylde and Free
Just like in our 2016 Rig Rundown with Zakk, he’s still plugging into his Wylde Audio Master 100 heads with a stereo configuration. He has another Master 100 and an old Marshall JCM800 on deck. All the heads are routed into his Wylde Audio 4x12s that are all loaded with Z-Dub’s Electro-Voice EVM12L Black Label Zakk Wylde 300W speakers.
Dime's Delights
Dimebag Darrell’s right-hand man and tonal technician Grady Champion was on the tour and brought some of his old friend’s secret sauce. Here you’ll see fixtures in Dime’s live and studio sound that include an Aphex Aural Exciter Type C2 Model 104 with Big Bottom, MXR M126 Flanger/Doubler, and a Rocktron Hush Guitar Silencer.
Zakk Wylde's Pedalboard
Out front Zakk sees nothing but Dunlop bullseyes. His signature arsenal of effects seen here include a MXR Wylde Audio Overdrive, a MXR Wylde Audio Phase, a Wylde Audio Cry Baby wah, and a Dunlop ZW357 Zakk Wylde Signature Rotovibe. The lone box that isn’t branded Wylde is a standard fare MXR Carbon Copy.
His offstage rack is home to a MXR Smart Gate and a MXR Wylde Audio Chorus (that’s always on). Both are powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 3 Plus. Another drawer holds Radial BigShot I/O True-bypass Instrument Selector, Lehle Little Dual II Amp Switcher, and a Radial BigShot EFX Effects Loop Switcher.
Gibson Rex Brown Thunderbird Signature Bass Ebony
Epiphone Rex Brown Thunderbird Bass
Spector Bantam 5 Bass
Spector Euro 4
EMG PJX Set Active Ceramic PJ Bass Pickup Set Black
Ampeg SVT 4-Pro
Dunlop JCT95 Justin Chancellor Cry Baby Wah Pedal
Origin Effects BassRig Super Vintage Bass Preamp Pedal
Origin Effects Cali76 Stacked Edition Dual-stage Compressor Pedal
Darkglass NSG Noise Gate Bass Pedal
Origin Effects DCX Bass Tone Shaper & Drive Pedal
MXR M287 Sub Octave Bass Fuzz Pedal
MXR Carbon Copy
Electro-Voice EVM12L Black Label Zakk Wylde Signature 12-inch 300-watt Guitar Speaker - 8 Ohms
EMG ZW Zakk Wylde Active Signature Humbucker 2-piece Pickup Set - Black
MXR Wylde Audio Overdrive Pedal
MXR Wylde Audio Phase Pedal
MXR Wylde Audio Chorus Pedal
Dunlop DHCN1048 Heavy Core NPS Electric Guitar Strings - .010-.048 Heavy
Lehle Little Dual II Amp Switcher
Radial BigShot I/O True-bypass Instrument Selector
Radial BigShot EFX Effects Loop Switcher
Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus 2 x 12-inch 120-watt Stereo Combo Amp
MXR M135 Smart Gate Pedal
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 3 High Current 8-output Isolated Power Supply
Shure AD4D Two-channel Digital Wireless Receiver
Radial JX44 V2 Concert Touring Guitar & Amp Signal Manager
Ernie Ball 2733 Hybrid Slinky Cobalt Electric Bass Guitar Strings - .045-.105
Ernie Ball 5 String Slinky Cobalt Bass Strings
![Rig Rundown: Emily Wolfe [2023]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-emily-wolfe.jpg?id=41738020&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Emily Wolfe doesn’t play guitar. She bends it to her will. Like a bronco buster taming a stallion, she saddles up on her signature Sheratons and lets it rip. Much of the magic felt and heard on her self-titled debut was pure adrenaline hitting your speaker. Her second album, 2021’s Outlier, incorporated Wolfe’s love of Motown grooves and modern-pop stickiness, both of which refreshed her songwriting with backdrops of more polished, waxy tones, but tumbleweed oscillation, helicopter, square-wave chops, and barbed-wire fuzz are still howls welcomed in this Wolfe pack.
“When I go up there, something could hit me at any point—an emotion that I felt 10 years ago could come out in a bend on the low E. There’s so much rawness [to classic rock]; the edges are not perfect, but there’s a magic in that,” Wolfe told PG in 2021.
But how do you marry earworm poppiness with a gunslinger’s approach to guitar?
“Some of my rock friends say, ‘Pop isn’t relevant,’ and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about—it’s everywhere!’ It’s so sticky for people, and that’s really fascinating to me. I want my music to have that quality … but also the realness of a raw guitar tone. [With Outlier] I wanted to make something that would be classic 10, 20, 30 years from now,” she explained in our profile. “That was the goal, and I think we achieved it.”
Before Wolfe’s headlining show at Nashville’s Blue Room (located inside the Third Man Records compound), PG’s Chris Kies joined the shredding songwriter onstage to talk shop. The resulting conversation covers the development behind her Epiphone Sheraton, how a boring night in Cleveland spent with her “Chex-mix-crushing, brother-in-tone” bass player Evan Nicholson convinced her to play a doubleneck guitar, and we discover what three pedals work together to make what she describes as “the sound that belongs to me.”Brought to you by D'Addario XPND.
Signature Steed
Emily Wolfe’s first “real” guitar was an Epiphone Sheraton. (She really wanted a Gibson ES-355 like blues hero B.B. King, but Wolfe was just a strapped college student.) That first experience with a semi-hollowbody guitar had a seminal influence on her guitar-playing journey, contributing to her singular sound. “Every decision I made with my gear was as a result of building my tone around that first Sheraton.” Now honored with a signature Epiphone Sheraton of her own, the Stealth is a modern take on John Lee Hooker’s longtime favored ride. It has a layered maple body with a mahogany neck, signature bolt inlays, a Tune-o-matic bridge, CTS pots, two volume controls and one tone control, and Epiphone’s Alnico Classic PRO pickups. She discreetly put her John Hancock on the back of the headstock. She uses Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt strings (.010–.046) and strikes them with Dunlop Tortex Jazz III .88 mm picks. This one stays in either standard or drop-D tunings.
The White Wolfe
The “White Walker” edition of Emily’s signature Stealth features all the same specs of the black model aside from the aged bone white finish. This one does take a custom set of Slinkys (.012–.060) and holds a Wolfe-tweaked open-C tuning (C–G–C–E–A–D).
You could win your own if you enter this giveaway before October 20, 2023. Click here to enter
Double Trouble
How does a boring night in a Cleveland hotel lead to Wolfe owning a doubleneck Epiphone? Well, her bass player (and best friend) Evan Nicholson wondered if Wolfe had ever tried a doubleneck guitar. She said ‘no,’ and so started the quest to prove that women can rock a pair of necks, too! She acquired this Epiphone G-1275 and uses it mainly for her cover of T. Rex’s “The Slider” by using the lower 6-string (in drop-C) for the rhythm parts and the 12-string for the song’s solo. The two necks tuned separately allow her to put both guitar parts under her hands with one guitar.
Dancing with the DeVille
Saying an amp has “no character” might be seen as negative by some, but Wolfe prefers the “middle-of-the-road” base tone in this Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410 III. It packs plenty of volume, and Wolfe adds, “I get to pick what character I want with my pedals.”
Emily Wolfe's Pedalboard
“If I get a new piece of gear, I have to figure out every single part of it before I can really use it,” Wolfe confessed to PG while talking about Outlier. That sensible curiosity has led her to dialing in precise parameters on the pedals and creating colossal combos with singular Wolfe gain staging. Her silver bullet is the EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle analog octave-up pedal, running into a Fulltone OCD, and an MXR Six Band EQ. She claimed to PG, “That’s the sound that belongs to me.” The sequence creates a “crazy fuzztone” from the overdrive. Then she uses the EQ to reduce some of the lows and boost the mids for a sound she says will get her guitar to cut through any mix.
Other spices in the rack include an Analogman King of Tone, an EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter fuzz, an Ibanez Analog Delay Mini, an Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe, a Walrus Audio Julia chorus/vibrato, and a Strymon Flint. The Empress Buffer puts the Delay Mini and Flint outside the RJM Mastermind PBC’s control.
But Wait... There's More!
Underneath the hood, Wolfe has tucked in a pair of MXR M109S Six Band EQ pedals (one hitting the King of Tone and the other hitting the OCD), an Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork, an EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle analog octave up, and a couple of Strymon power supplies (Ojai and Zuma).
Shop Emily's Rig
Epiphone Emily Wolfe "White Wolfe" Sheraton
Ibanez Analog Delay Mini Pedal
Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe
Empress Buffer
Strymon Flint
Walrus Audio Julia Analog Chorus/Vibrato V2
Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork
MXR M109S Six Band EQ Pedal
EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle
Strymon Zuma
Strymon Ojai