10. Red Fang's David Sullivan
Premier GuitarThe sludge-metal aficionado takes the mic on Teles, "Holy Grails," and how he stays chill in the spotlight.
9. Megadeth’s David Ellefson
Premier GuitarMetal's bass icon on his Jackson's P-pickup mod, Kiss' 'Destroyer,' and the owner of his lonely '80s heart.
8. Blackberry Smoke's Charlie Starr
Premier GuitarThe Southern-rock ringleader opens up about his vintage-refin No. 1 and not letting trolls get him down.
7. John 5 on How He Gets Old-School Tones from His Metal-Friendly Tele
Premier GuitarPlus, find out which guitar hero the Rob Zombie sideman “begs and pleads” with you to listen to.
6. Steve Stevens
Premier GuitarBilly Idol’s trusted sideman digs deep on classic prog and even gets a little zen as he takes on our questions.
5. Yngwie Malmsteen
Premier GuitarHow does the same answer apply to three of our five questions? Everyone's favorite sweep-picking Swede loves going against the grain—that's how!
4. Billy F. Gibbons
Premier GuitarThe ZZ Top legend on what makes his "Pearly Gates" Les Paul so special, why he recently had his hands x-rayed, and the "slithering" slide guitarist whose work still inspires him.
3. John Petrucci
Premier GuitarThe Dream Theater legend shares surprising desert-island-album and guitar-hero picks, and remembers finally saying "screw it " to self-consciousness about his "super nerdy" secret weapon.
2. Warren Haynes Reveals His Secret Studio Weapon
Premier Guitar…And it's not his vintage Les Paul. Plus, the Gov't Mule mainstay "cheats" on his desert-island album pick.1. Styx’s Tommy Shaw on What Irks Him About the Guitar Industry
Premier GuitarPlus, how he cried the day Wes Montgomery died, and the surprise family connection with his prized '54 Tele.
Warren Haynes—Gov't Mule
Guitars
Sonny Landreth
Guitars
When we caught up with Sonny, he was doing fly-in dates, so he was working with his "survival" rig. For this rig, he uses two very similar '57 reissue Strats from the late '80s. They have soft V necks, Lindy Fralin Hot Vintage Pickups, and a Suhr Silent Single Coil system installed in the back to reduce the hum.
Though he's known for his Dumble amps, Landreth doesn't generally travel with them on tours that involve a lot of flying. His go-to setup is a Demeter TGA3 with 6L6 tubes run into the speakers of a Fender Twin '65 reissue backline. He uses the TGA3 exclusively on the yellow (clean) channel live, and has used the amp extensively on recordings as well.
Landreth calls his pedalboard "the runway." It's set up so it can be folded and put into a suitcase for easy traveling. He has a larger pedalboard for other tour with a Voodoo Lab switching system. This pedalboard has a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner, Demeter Fuzzulator, Hermida Audio Zendrive modded for higher gain (his go-to pedal), Hermida Audio Mosferatu, Keeley Compressor, TC Electronic Chorus+, and T-Rex Replica Delay. It's powered by the Sanyo Pedal Juice rechargeable power supply.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
GuitarsShepherd is known for using Strats, and brings a number of them on the road. He relies heavily on his Fender signature models, but employs different variations on the Strat for different songs. Shepherd uses Ernie Ball strings and varies between .10s to .12s, depending upon how much he's been playing.
Left to Right: stock Fender Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Strat, Fender Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Strat prototype, Fender Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Strat with GraphTech Ghost pickup system (used for the "Blue on Black"), Fender Jimi Hendrix Monterrey Pop Limited Edition.
Left to Right: Martin Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Acoustic prototype, Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Strat with GraphTech saddles and a custom neck (used heavily on his first album), National Resophonic Dobro Electric (used for "Aberdeen"), Guy Guitars Strat-style with lipstick pickups, built-in Roger Mayer overdrive boost, and Drop D lever.
Amps
When we caught up with Shepherd, he was experimenting with different amp setups and trying to use lower wattage amps to lower the stage volume. That night, he was using a 1964 Fender Blackface Vibroverb Reissue, a new Fender Super-Sonic Twin set on the Bassman setting, and a Fender Deluxe Reissue that's been rebuilt by Alexander Dumble called the Tweedledee Deluxe. He runs all three amps and brings the Deluxe into the mix as "icing on the cake."
Effects
Shepherd was using an in-between pedalboard while a custom board was being built when we caught up with him. The signal chain was a Dunlop Uni-Vibe, Electro-Harmonix POG 2, MXR CAE wah, Chicago Iron Tycobrahe Octavia (modern), Analog Man King of Tone (newest version), Ibanez Hand-Wired TS808 Tube Screamer, Analog Man Bi-Chorus, JAM Pedals Delay Llama, and Boss TU-3.His main tone comes from the combination of the King of Tone and Tube Screamer. His new board adds an additional MXRCAE Wah circuit mounted in the board and a BK Butler Tube Driver. The board is powered by Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus and his new board uses a Voodoo Lab Ground Control System.
Eric Johnson
PG's Jason Shadrick is On Location at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with guitarist Eric Johnson.