Back in March 2022, we caught up with Cory Wong in the middle of an international tour to film a Rig Rundown. This time around, we found Wong with his Fearless Flyers pals sticking in one spot, at Cory Wong’s Syncopated Summer Camp. The four-day, four-night summit, held in Nashville, brought together ace players like Ariel Posen, Larry Carlton, and Sonny T to offer clinics on all things rhythm. Aside from the camp, Wong and his fellow guitar Flyer, Mark Lettieri, both had new releases to celebrate: Lettieri’s recent solo record, Can I Tell You Something?, dropped in July, and Wong’s Live in London and Starship Syncopation came out in May and July, respectively—plus, the Flyers’ new EP was released in February.
Both Lettieri and Wong toured us through the guitar gear they brought along for the camp.
Brought to you by D’Addario.The Wong Way
Wong’s starter is, unsurprisingly, his Fender Cory Wong Signature Stratocaster. This is an off-the-rack model, and the sapphire blue transparent satin lacquer finish demonstrates the beautiful alder beneath it: “Sometimes a guitar is made out of the right piece of a tree,” says Wong. Other features on the model include deluxe locking tuners, a 6-screw tremolo system, Seymour Duncan Cory Wong Clean Machine pickups, and an American Ultra Modern “D” neck profile.
Founder's Keepers
At John Mayer’s suggestion, Wong had Fender create him a “founder’s model” of his signature guitar, with some just-so appointments that can’t be had on the standard production instruments. Those include a bound fretboard and a unique, one-off finish.
But Wong doesn’t get too attached to his guitars. He often auctions them off to benefit a non-profit that gets free guitars into the hands of kids who need them.
Another Wong novelty: his fingers don’t sweat much, so he only changes his strings about once every three months, despite plenty of playing time. When the time comes, he uses Ernie Ball .010s from either the Slinkys or Paradigm series.
Neural Network
Through a Shure GLXD16 wireless system, Wong runs his guitar into his Neural DSP Quad Cortex, which runs a beta version of his Archetype: Cory Wong plugin, based off of a melding of a Dumble and a Fender Twin. The signal hits an onboard envelope filter and rarely used pitch shifter, then exits out the effects loop into a Wampler Cory Wong Compressor, Jackson Audio The Optimist, and a Hotone Wong Press. The signal goes back into the Quad Cortex, where there’s a preset phaser, stereo tape delay, and modulated reverb, plus a freeze effect. Two XLR outs run to front of house, while two run to Wong’s Mission Engineering Gemini 2 stereo cabinet.
Fiore di Latte
Lettieri flies with his signature PRS Fiore (and wears a matching shirt to boot). The model, which he began designing with PRS in 2019, has a swamp ash body, maple neck, 25 1/2" fretboard, nickel frets, and a pickup system that allows for 11 different combinations—the ultimate studio weapon. He runs it to his board with Revelation Cable Company cables. Lettieri strings it with Dunlop .010s, and strikes them with Dunlop celluloid picks.
Lettieri Goes Low
Lettieri also calls on this PRS SE 277 baritone guitar. He’s swapped the pickups for a Lollar P-90 in the neck position and a gold-foil in the bridge. He tunes it to A standard and runs .014–.072 strings on it.
Little Wing
Lettieri sticks with tubes, running into a PRS HDRX 20—a 20-watt combo intended to capture the roar and power of Hendrix’s Marshalls in a more practical package.
Chopping Block
Guitar pedals weren’t the intended application for Lettieri’s pedalboard—it was meant for chopping veggies, but that didn’t stop him from slapping his stomp tools on the cutting board.
His signal first hits a Keeley Monterey Custom Shop Edition, followed by an MXR Deep Phase, J. Rockett HRM, J. Rockett Melody OD (Lettieri’s signature), Pigtronix Octava, and a Dunlop DVP4, all powered by a Strymon Ojai. A TC Electronic TonePrint Plethora X5 pedalboard handles coordination and switching between the devices.
Shop the Fearless Flyers Rig
TC Electronic TonePrint Plethora X5 Pedalboard
Keeley Monterey Custom Shop Edition
![Knocked Loose Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-knocked-loose-2024.jpg?id=52195176&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
If hell had a guitar tone, it’d be what Knocked Loose’s Isaac Hale and Nicko Calderon conjure up from their Ibanez 7-string beasts. The band’s mission since day one has been to pummel listeners with the most extreme form of hardcore music. Over the past decade they’ve throttled through all limits, making each breakdown, each riff, each scream, and each performance outdone by the next. A more recent (and seemingly) conflicting goal has been to infect the mainstream with their brutality. Their brand-new third album, You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To, paired them with pop producer Drew Fulk (Kevin Gates, NLE Choppa, Disturbed, Lil Wayne), and over the last two years, they’ve played Coachella and Bonnaroo, partnered with hip-hop duo $uicideboy$ for a sold-out tour, and were announced as direct support for Slipknot’s 25th anniversary tour. Both of the band’s goals are being accomplished, as their sound has never been more punishing orpopular.
Before Knocked Loose’s sold-out show at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, guitarists Isaac Hale and Nick Calderon invited PG’s Perry Bean onstage for a fresh conversation about their updated mercenary squad. During our time with the Hale and Calderon, we learn about their custom 7-string Ibanez doom brooms, Hale explains moving on from tube amps and pedalboards to Quad Cortex units and MIDI switching, and Calderon details finding his place in the band and adjusting to an extra low-B string.
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Isaac's Iceman
When we spoke with the Oldham County, Kentucky, crew five years ago, cofounding guitarist Isaac Hale was using an Ibanez RGDIX7MPB. He’s still in the Ibanez family and strictly uses 7-string instruments, but he’s gravitated to the iconic Iceman shape for his pit-provoking duties. This white custom configuration features a lighter nyatoh body, DiMarzio Fusion Edge 7 ceramic humbuckers, a single master volume knob, and a smaller neck profile. If all goes well, he uses this guitar onstage all night. He uses a custom set of D’Addario NYXL strings with the current low-B string a thick .070 gauge.
Nicko's No.1
Before joining Knocked Loose in 2020, guitarist Nicko Calderon had never played a 7-string guitar. (“It was a huge learning curve for me,” he says.) Like Isaac, if all goes as planned, Nicko will only play the above Ibanez Prestige AZ24047 all set. One of the requests Nicko had for Ibanez was to keep it simple with a single Seymour Duncan Nazgul Bridge 7-string humbucker and a lone volume knob. He goes with a D’Addario NYXL (.011–.064) 7-string set.
Beautiful Backups
If things go sideways, both Isaac and Nicko have safety nets: Hale has a custom-painted Ibanez Iron Label Iceman ICTB721, and Calderon goes with another single-pickup Ibanez Prestige AZ24047.
Less Is More
Both guitarists have downsized to the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, and they have a pair of mirrored setups for both on and offstage. Hale and Calderon are both modeling 5150 III heads, but Calderon is going with the EL34 flavoring for a slightly different sonic distinction. Core sounds are built off the 5150 IIIs and other ingredients sprinkled in throughout the set include some slight chorus, heavily modulated “evil chorus” with an added semitone above the base sound, and an Electro-Harmonix (in the rack) that provides a layered octave sound for pure chaos. The EHX Freeze pedal onstage is put in place so they can hold a note and tune underneath it. They roam the stage untethered thanks to the Shure GLXD16+ digital wireless guitar pedal system.
Bring the Pain
The two Quad Cortex units work with Seymour Duncan PowerStage 200 amps to hit Orange PPC412-C cabs onstage that are loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.
Shop Knocked Loose's Rig
Ibanez Iron Label Iceman ICTB721
Ibanez Prestige AZ24047 Electric Guitar
Seymour Duncan Nazgul High Output Bridge 7-string Humbucker Pickup
Neural DSP Quad Cortex
Electro-Harmonix Freeze
Seymour Duncan PowerStage 200
Orange PPC412-C - 240-watt 4x12" Straight Cabinet
Celestion Vintage 30 Speakers
Shure GLXD16+ Digital Wireless Guitar Pedal System
Radial ProDI 1-Channel Passive Instrument Direct Box
D'Addario NYXL1164 NYXL Nickel Wound Electric Guitar Strings -.011-.064 Regular Light, 7-String