![Baroness Rig Rundown with John Baizley, Gina Gleason & Nick Jost [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=53559996&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
The rockin’ riff lords take Fender’s squeaky-clean sound palettes and blast them with dirt on their latest tour.
Hard rockers Baroness were busy writing during the early days of the pandemic, sharing ideas and bits of songs over weekly video calls until they had enough for a new record. Then, after scouting for potential recording locations, they rented an Airbnb in a tiny town in New York and got to work.
The band brought all their gear along with them: They literally loaded up a U-Haul truck and left no pedal behind—a bit unnecessary in retrospect. At the end of their stay, they’d all but finished their sixth studio album, Stone, which was released in September 2023. On their recent summer tour supporting the record, the quartet played Nashville’s Basement East, where PG’s Chris Kies met up with vocalist/guitarist John Baizley, guitarist Gina Gleason, and bassist Nick Jost to get an in-depth look at their current road rigs.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Franken-backer
Baizley received this custom-built Rickenbacker during the band’s sessions for Stone. It’s got the body and electronics of a Rick 620 but the neck of a 660 model. The Rick and Gleason’s Tele fill in the sonic gaps for each other.
I Think I Smell a Strat
Baizley’s other two primary guitars are these Fender Stratocasters. The first is an American Pro II with a tortoiseshell pickguard and HSS pickup configuration; the second is an original American Pro. The AmPro II lives in heavier tunings and takes a set of .012–.052s, but Baizley prefers both in the fourth position of the 5-way selector switch to build space around Gleason’s leads.
Tele Twins
Gleason rocks two Fender Telecasters, again from both the American Pro I and II series. She actually prefers the first iteration of the V-Mod pickups for their aggression and grit in live contexts, while the V-Mod IIs make for a smoother recording weapon. One stays in D-standard tuning while the other is in C standard with a dropped A#. Gleason strings them with .009–.046s and .010–.046s, respectively, and the whole band loves D’Addario NYXL sets.
So Bass-ic
Bassist Nick Jost is a Fender man, too, with a Precision Bass and American Professional Jazz Bass that both run through his mini-but-mighty rig: A diminutive Gallien-Krueger Legacy series head powers a classic Ampeg 8x10 cabinet. He usually plays with his fingers, but when he loses a game of dice on the road, he’ll sometimes be forced into playing with a pick.
Dual Stereo
Baizley and Gleason both run stereo amp setups. Baizley changes his amp backline often; he used to run twin Roland JC-120s but just recently switched in this Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb.
Gleason keeps the Fender train rolling with a ’59 Bassman reissue and a ’68 Custom Princeton Reverb.
John Baizley’s Pedalboard
Baizley’s board is packed with staged dirt boxes and tasteful mod stomps, all held in check with a GigRig G2, Peterson StroboStomp, and Ernie Ball Volume Pedal. The crown drive jewels are a heavily modded EHX Big Muff and Crowther Double Hot Cake, but a Beetronix FX Overhive and Pro Co RAT add some sizzle, too. A Boss DD-3, DM-2W, and TR-2, EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master and Tentacle, MXR Phase 90 and Dyna Comp, and EHX Deluxe Memory Man handle the rest, while a DigiTech Whammy lurks for its moment to blast off.
Gina Gleason’s Pedalboard
Gleason’s favorite drive these days is the EQD Zoar, their instant-classic 2023 release. Piling on top of that are a MXR Super Badass Distortion, MXR Timmy, modded EHX Big Muff, and a touchy Philly Fuzz Infidel prototype; an Xotic SP Compressor and UAFX 1176 Studio Compressor tighten things up when needed. Three time machines—the Strymon TimeLine, EQD Space Spiral, and Boss DD-3—handle delay, and a Walrus Slo dishes out reverb. The MXR EVH Phase 90 adds some color along with another DigiTech Whammy. The Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, Peterson StroboStomp, and GigRig G2 keep Gleason’s board in line, too.
Nick Jost’s Pedalboard
Jost’s bass board, powered by an MXR Iso-Brick, is a touch more simple, with an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal and Boss TU-3 for utility duties before an Xotic Bass BB Preamp, Boss ODB-3, DOD FX69B Grunge, MXR Stereo Chorus, and Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI.
Roland Jazz Chorus-120
Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb
Fender Bassman
Fender '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Fender American Professional Telecaster
Fender American Professional Stratocaster
Fender Precision Bass
Fender American Professional Jazz Bass
Gallien-Krueger Legacy 800 Bass Amp Head
Ampeg 8x10 Cab
Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Drive DI
MXR Iso-Brick
Boss TU-3
Xotic Effects Bass BB Preamp
Boss ODB-3
MXR Stereo Chorus
Modded EHX Big Muff
Boss DD-3
MXR Dyna Comp
Pro Co RAT
MXR Phase 90
Boss TR-2
EHX Deluxe Memory Man
EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master
DigiTech Whammy
Walrus Audio SLO
Boss DM-2w
EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle
Peterson StroboStomp
Beetronics Overhive
EarthQuaker Devices Zoar
MXR Timmy
MXR Super Badass Distortion
Xotic SP Compressor
MXR EVH Phase 90
UAFX 1176 Compressor
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
D'Addario NYXL .110 Strings
Strymon TimeLine
![Jerry Cantrell Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=53714787&width=600&height=600&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C560%2C0)
Peterson StroboStomp Mini Pedal Tuner
| The StroboStomp Mini delivers the unmatched 0.1 cent tuning accuracy of all authentic Peterson Strobe Tuners in a mini pedal tuner format. We designed StroboStomp Mini around the most requested features from our customers: a mini form factor, and top mounted jacks. |
Blackstar Amplification introduces the next iteration of the Jared James Nichols Signature Amp, the JJN 50 and JJN 212 VOC. Building on the decades-long relationship with Jared James Nichols, the much-revered blues rock powerhouse, the JJN 50 amplifier and JJN 212 VOC speaker enclosure are designed to capture and deliver all of Nichols blues-powered tones. Road-tested across stages in the U.K. and Europe, this amplifier packs a wallop, all in a lightweight package. In fact, this is the lightest 50-watt valve amp in the world.
The JJN 50 amplifier is based on Blackstar’s St. James 50 EL34 and takes it one giant step further by opening the top end and allowing a wide array of frequencies in to suit Nichols’ renowned playing style. It starts with our proprietary CabRig IR-based speaker simulator technology. The JJN 50 comes pre-loaded with 3 custom CabRig patches specifically developed with Nichols to create his most used tones: the ‘JJN Classic Muscle’, the ‘JJN Modern Grit’, and the ‘JJN Nashville Basement’. CabRig is better than earlier IR-based technology as it simulates a speaker cabinet and room with no latency reproducing the sound of a mic’d up guitar cab with incredible detail. Over 250 mic and cab combinations can be saved into one of three onboard slots. Each cab has a choice of room type, mic type and axis, and master EQ. For deeper options, connect to the free Architect software. The JJN 50 also includes a low-to-mid gain pedal platform with a Blues Power boost circuit kicking the amp into overdrive to release Nichols’ signature sound. The amp features built-in reactive load, and a power reduction switch with 50-Watt, SAG and 2-Watt options. Connectivity options include low latency USB for recording and an XLR D.I. for live settings.
The JJN 212 VOC enclosure features Nichols’ speakers of choice, the Celestion G12T-75 in the top position, and the exclusive Celestion Zephyr lightweight speaker on the bottom. Blackstar worked closely with Celestion to create a speaker based on the Vintage 30 that packs a sonic punch at a fraction of a traditional speaker weight. Speaking of lightweight, the JJN 50 & JJN 212 VOC is constructed out of Candlenut plywood. Known for its strength, lightness, and sound, it perfectly suits this signature amp. The amp is then wrapped in Nichols iconic British Racing Green livery and is adorned with our classic St. James illuminated Blackstar logo. Each Jared James Nichols Signature Amp comes with a hand-signed certificate of authenticity and a collectible postcard.
As Nichols himself says, “…Packing all the power, tone, versatility, and inspiration I could ever ask for, this one can truly do it all. I proudly worked closely with the engineers on every single facet of this amp; we put our heart and soul into it. I am absolutely blown away by the final product and I think you will be, too.” High praise coming from one of the modern-day greats. Blackstar continues to work tirelessly with artists to create amplifiers worthy of gracing the world stages night after night.
STJ50ELHJJN (head) $1,399.99
STJ212VOCJJN (Cabinet) $899.99
For more information, please visit blackstaramps.com.
Blackstar St. James JJN 212 VOC Jared James Nichols Signature Vertical 145-watt 2 x 12-inch Cabinet - Racing Green Tolex
Thurston Moore is back with some new ideas on his ninth solo release, saying that he feels like a perennial apprentice in the world of music.
“There’s something very elegant to it—the fact that the helmet sort of denotes a sense of military perfection, but that it has tuning forks on it as opposed to any sort of emblem of aggression,” he tells me, Zooming in from his flat in London. “If music is, as Albert Ayler would say, the healing force of the universe, then so is the tuning fork. I thought it was just a thing of beauty.”
It also dovetails with a theme that runs through Flow Critical Lucidity, an album that Moore describes as “an expression of hope.” But characteristic of the Sonic Youth guitar icon, there are additional layers at work here. One would be that Nares is, like Moore, an alumnus of the downtown Manhattan no-wave scene, having played guitar in an early iteration of James Chance and the Contortions. “It felt right to use one of Jamie’s pieces, because we kind of came up together through this musical micro-community in New York City,” Moore says.
Another layer, I suggest, might be that the many tuning forks are a self-referential poke at Moore himself, who has made something of a career out of deploying myriad out-there tunings in the service of some of the most innovative and influential music of the past 40 years. “So, they’re ‘alternative-tuning tuning forks,’” Moore reasons, then smiles. “Maybe I could have written C–G–D–G–C–D on it.” Which is, in fact, the actual primary tuning he employed for his guitar parts throughout Flow Critical Lucidity.
Why this tuning? “I like it,” Moore says, simply. “I find it to be a good one to write in, and I’ve gotten used to it. So it’s been a mainstay for the last six years or so, and on the last couple of albums. I actually feel like I need to put it to rest a bit, because that low string tends to create this kind of droning low C on almost every song now. Maybe I’m getting a little too comfortable.”
You wouldn’t know it from Flow Critical Lucidity. Moore’s ninth solo album overall, the collection is an enchanting, transportive, and deeply creative work: There’s cadenced spoken word over clanging, chiming soundscapes on “New in Town”; gorgeous guitar and piano commingling in “Sans Limites” (with Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier dueting on vocals); feral, percussion-heavy rhythms pulsing through “Rewilding”; a no-wave callback in the jagged four-note guitar stab of “Shadow”; hypnotic, liquid guitar lines punctuating “The Diver.” There are electronics courtesy of Negativland’s Jon Leidecker, lyrics penned largely by Moore’s wife and collaborator, Eva Prinz (working under the pseudonym Radieux Radio), and, on several tracks, extensive use of prepared instruments, such as guitars with objects placed under or on the strings to modulate their tone. It is an album that is varied and vibrant, imaginative and idiosyncratic. It is, Moore has said, one of his “favorite” records in his solo catalog.
On Flow Critical Lucidity, Moore recorded with guitarist James Sedwards, bassist Deb Googe, keyboardist Jon Leidecker, and percussionist Jem Doulton. The record was mixed by Margo Broom.
“If music is the healing force of the universe, then so is the tuning fork. I thought it was just a thing of beauty.”
Though somewhat sprawling in execution, Flow Critical Lucidity came together in a uniquely focused manner, with Moore and Prinz settled at an artist residency near Lake Geneva. “They allow people to stay there for six weeks to six months to sometimes a couple years,” Moore says. “So I asked if I could lock myself away there and write—and specifically to write a new record. I had a couple guitars, a couple small amps, and a little Zoom digital recorder. Eva would throw lyrics in front of me and I would construct pieces around them.”
When it came time to record, Moore assembled his current band—Leidecker, former My Bloody Valentine bassist Deb Googe, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist James Sedwards, and percussionist Jem Doulton—at Total Refreshment Centre (“a funky little studio”) in his adopted home city of London. A key architect at this stage was Margo Broom, who mixed the material. “She was really able to put it in a place that I don’t think anybody else could have so successfully,” Moore says. “For instance, while she was mixing, I was talking to her about how to treat my vocals a bit, because I never liked my vocals so much—I’m kind of key-challenged when I sing. But Margo was able to finesse that. She said to me, ‘I’ve been listening to your vocals since I was 16 years old, so I know what I’m doing here!’ I was impressed by that.”
Moore, now 66, often records with his tried-and-true alternate tuning, C–G–D–G–C–D.
Guitar-wise, Moore continues, “Margo was able to create a lot of space, which is something that I’ve never really felt has happened so successfully, even all through Sonic Youth, because of the desire to always have a lot of guitar layers happening in the songs. But she was able to find definition there, even where there was a lot of mass information going on.”
To be sure, there’s plenty of characteristic Moore guitar work on Flow Critical Lucidity, particularly in the extended instrumental sections of songs like “The Diver” and the gently chugging “Hypnogram.” But as far as the actual gear he used in the studio, Moore kept things streamlined—one guitar, one amp.
“It was all Fender,” he says. “I used an early, pre-CBS Jazzmaster, a ’62, I think, and a Hot Rod DeVille.” Moore is, of course, a longtime Jazzmaster aficionado—in the early days of Sonic Youth, he says, “We started acquiring Jazzmasters before they became so collectible. You could go to the guitar stores in midtown New York and find one for a few hundred dollars. We had been using Harmonys and Kents and Hagstroms—whatever we could get our hands on—and the Jazzmasters and Jaguars were a step up. I gravitated more towards the Jazzmaster because the neck was slightly longer than a Jaguar’s, and for my height it worked nicely. I also liked other aspects of it, like being able to investigate behind the bridge more readily than with just about any other guitar.”
“I had a couple guitars, a couple small amps, and a little Zoom digital recorder. Eva would throw lyrics in front of me and I would construct pieces around them.”
Moore has many Jazzmasters, including one that he says is “one of the first ’58 production models,” and that Sedwards has been using extensively. But the Jazzmaster that Moore is playing now “has been my go-to for the last couple of albums. And a lot of that was defined by the one I played previously getting stolen. And then one previous to that getting stolen, too. So the record is all this guitar, and it’s all, I believe, in that same [C–G–D–G–C–D] tuning.”
Thurston Moore's Gear
Moore became famous as co-guitarist and one of three vocalists in Sonic Youth, seen here performing in 1991.
Photo by Ken Settle
Guitars
- Circa 1962 Fender Jazzmaster, tuned to C–G–D–G–C–D
- Circa 1958 Fender Jazzmaster (used by James Sedwards)
Amps
- Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410 III
Effects
- Pro Co Turbo RAT
- Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz
- Xotic EP Booster
- Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff
- Electro-Harmonix Cathedral Stereo Reverb
- TC Electronic Hall of Fame
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL (.012–.054)
- Dunlop .60 mm
Except for one song, that is. “‘New in Town’—I couldn’t even tell you what the tuning is,” Moore admits. “That song will not be played live, because it just can’t be.” The reason why, he explains, is that he performed it on prepared guitar, altering the Jazzmaster’s sound by placing objects under or between the strings and retuning the instrument in real time.
“The idea of using guitars that are extended with different implements is something that obviously I’ve been working with since the early ’80s,” he says. “But ‘New in Town’ was probably the most expansive effort of it in terms of creating a song where the preparation of the guitar was in a place of improvisation while we were recording. On that song, I’m actually moving the strings around with the tuning pegs to a point where I’m not really notating what I’m doing, and I’m furthering that by putting different implements between the strings—not just under the strings and in front of the fretboard, but actually sort of woven within the strings. Like, maybe sort of midway on the neck and then over the pickup area, and then playing in the middle between the two.”
“I never liked my vocals so much—I’m kind of key-challenged when I sing. But Margo [Broom] was able to finesse that.”
Some of the types of objects he used were “a small, cylindrical antenna; a drumstick,” Moore continues. “And then I’m picking between those two, or on either side of them, and finding a rhythm or a motif. And I’m doing this while James is playing piano and Jon is processing it and moving it around through his electronics. We recorded that, and then I took it and I cut it up and edited it to create the composition. So the actual performance—I don’t think I’d be able to reenact it again.”
For Moore, the structuring of the track was as much a creatively fulfilling endeavor as the actual performance of it. “I find that, for me, a lot of the experimentation that has rigor is in that part of it, rather than in the expanded technique on the guitar,” he says. “I feel like that’s something anybody can do, and that a lot of people do do. I mean, when I was younger and I brought the drumstick out, and I was swiping it across the strings, and it’s going through a distortion box, it sounded really cool, but it also looked really cool. I knew that there was something very performative about it. But the composition has to have value beyond the oddity of what you’re doing.”
“That song will not be played live, because it just can’t be.”
He laughs. “You know, I’ve seen comments on social media, like, ‘Playing guitar with drumsticks is stupid!’ Which I thought was a really great comment. Somebody was just not down with the program on that one. I was like, ‘Right on!’”
Which brings up a question: Does Moore immerse himself at all in the online guitar world? Is he, like the rest of us, endlessly scrolling through 30-second clips of bedroom guitarists performing jaw-dropping feats of 6-string technical facility?
The answer is, sort of.
After producing several albums with Sonic Youth, Moore began releasing solo works in 1995 with Psychic Hearts. This photo was taken in 2010.
Photo by Mike White
“I’m in that algorithm, so I will get these interesting tutorials from, like, hyper-tapping kinds of players,” he says. “And I will sometimes watch them, because I’m actually very enamored with high-technique guitar players. Even though I don’t really consider myself a high-technique guitar player—I find myself to be a very personalized-technique guitar player. And I’m okay with that.
“But I do like it,” he continues. “Whether it’s Hendrix or some guy sitting on his bed and shredding. Or someone in front of their laptop decoding a Zeppelin thing, like, ‘This is how you play “Misty Mountain Hop” correctly.’ To me that’s really interesting to see, because I love Jimmy Page. I’m never going to play like Jimmy Page, but to have someone decode it and then share that with the world, it’s like, ‘Thank you.’ If I had more time on my hands, I would tune a guitar to traditional tuning and sit down and learn it.”
“I knew that there was something very performative about it. But the composition has to have value beyond the oddity of what you’re doing.”
Most people, of course, don’t usually have to first tune their guitar to standard before they play. But then, Moore is not most people. “I don’t think I have a single guitar in that tuning,” he admits. “And it’s funny, because [Dinosaur Jr. singer and guitarist] J Mascis used to come over, and he’d tune all my guitars to traditional tuning. And it was like, ‘Stop doing that!’ you know? Would drive me crazy.”
At the end of the day, Moore’s intention is to remain creatively open. Even while he is in the throes of the album cycle around Flow Critical Lucidity—“I’m still coming to terms with what we did on this record,” he says—he’s already looking forward to what might be next. “I have it in mind, but I couldn’t say what it is. Sometimes I think I want to make a brutal, harsh, noise-wall record. Or maybe something that’s a super, super-dark metal record. Because I love that kind of stuff.”
There’s still a lot of ground, and music, to explore. “It’s all live and learn,” Moore says. “Even at 66 years old, I still feel like I’m in some place of apprenticeship with a lot of this. I don’t really feel settled. But I do feel more confident, that’s for sure.”
YouTube It
Thurston Moore, with Jazzmaster and Hot Rod DeVille, performs the Flow Critical Lucidity track “Hypnogram” live in Munich in 2023 in this fan-captured DIY video.