![Idles Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=54836554&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
The Bristol bashers are back with an arsenal of new noisemakers on this updated Rundown.
Between 2016 and 2024, Bristol outfit IDLES have gone from being snarling, post-punk underdogs to being snarling, post-punk champions. Their debut LP, Brutalism, was an immediate hit, and since then they’ve turned out a string of full-length records that have expanded their creative vocabulary while increasing their popularity. It’s all come to a head this year with Tangk, their Grammy-nominated fifth album, which dropped in February.
Along the way, IDLES’ sound has mutated into experimental offshoots and outgrowths, so it’s little surprise that the rigs of guitarists Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan, along with bassist Adam Devonshire, have done the same. While they still tour with some of the gear they showed off on our 2021 Rig Rundown, each player has fun new trinkets that contribute to their run of shows this year. But even with all the new toys, they keep an element of danger in the mix, and certain variables mean the set sounds different every night: “People come to see an IDLES show ’cause it almost falls apart all the time,” grins Bowen.
Brought to you by D’Addario.Bowen's Bari
Bowen had a baritone neck matched with this Dacota red Fender Stratocaster body. It’s got stock pickups, which split the difference between the twang of a Strat and the bassy tones of the bari. This one is tuned to either B standard or drop A#.
Triples Make It Safe
Bowen’s signal is blasted out via a trio of amplifiers: a Vox AC30, Orange AD200B MKIII, and a Hiwatt Custom 100. A Hiwatt and Orange cabinet duo lend different textures to the soundwaves.
Mark's Mothership
Bowen’s board setup is largely the same as he had in the 2021 Rig Rundown, but there are a few tweaks.
His primary guitar pedalboard remains mostly the same, with Death By Audio Reverberation Machine and Echo Dream 2, Adventure Audio Dream Reaper, Moog MF Delay and MF Ring, Death By Audio Waveformer Destroyer, Electro-Harmonix POG2, 4ms Pedals Mini Swash Full, Red Panda Particle and Raster, and a JHS Haunting Mids. His new tuner, though, is a Walrus Audio Canvas. It all still runs through a GigRig 3 switcher. Under the hood resides three signal sweeteners including an EQD Acapulco Gold and a pair of ZVEX boxes—a Lo-Fi Junky & Super Duper 2-in-1.
Next comes his modulation station, equipped with Moog’s Moogerfooger MF-107 FreqBox, MF-102 Ring Modulator, MF-108M Cluster Flux, and CP-251 Control Processor, in addition to another no-name glitch/synth device. The Electro-Harmonix 95000, Old Blood Noise Endeavors Minim, and EHX POG2 are still in the mix, but the Strymon TimeLine has been swapped for a Vongon Paragraphs. An Akai MPC One+ helps with sampling, and a Sequential Prophet-5 synth ties it all together. A pair of Strymon Iridiums are hidden under the Moog units, which handle all the signals from this electric jungle—as well as signal from Jon Beavis’ drums! “It’s the tension between the space-age mad stuff and the AC/DC guitar,” says Bowen. “I want both”
A third board, beneath the modular materials, is loaded up to with three Mission Engineering EP-1 expression pedals, a Walrus Canvas Re-Amp, a Moose Electronics Dobsky Fuzz, a GigRig Three2One, and another GigRig G3.
Tape Measures
Lee Kiernan’s Fender 70th Anniversary Esquire has become his go-to, a very versatile guitar which he’s left unmodified—save for the gaffer tape, of course. Despite the presence of strap locks under the tape, Kiernan’s learned you can’t be too careful.
Jackson Shredder
Kiernan calls this Jackson Soloist “one of the best-playing guitars he’s ever felt.” Enough said.
Triples is Best
This time around, like Bowen, Kiernan is running a trio of amps: a Hiwatt DR88, Marshall 1987x, and Peavey Deuce, which still has the original, square-magnet Peavey speakers. (A backup 2x12, loaded with Eminence Swamp Thangs, is on-hand in case things go wonky.) At this point, shouldn’t he just get a Kemper? “Nope,” he responds shortly.
Have You Met Gary?
Kiernan’s board has many of the same stomps as last time, but it’s been configured into a double-decker layout rather than a sprawling, side-by-side affair, and the newest addition is the EarthQuaker Devices Gary, a distortion/fuzz combo he made with the Ohio effects company from the green side of their now-discontinued Gray Channel. Aside from his new buddy Gary, Kiernan runs a Boss TU-3S, EQD Tone Job, Red Panda Raster, Death By Audio Micro Dream and Reverberation Machine, Eventide H9 Harmonizer, Warm Audio Ringer Bringer, Boss DM-2w, EQD Organizer, Montreal Assembly Count to Five, Drolo Twin Peaks and Stamme[n], Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver Deluxe, Boss PS-5, Moog MF Chorus, Xotic EP Booster, Intensive Care Audio Vena Cava Filter, EQD Data Corrupter, and GigRig Remote Loopy 2. A smaller separate board is home to a DigiTech Whammy, two Mission Engineering expression pedals, a third expression pedal for the Drolo Twin Peaks, and a Mission Engineering Expressionator.
Out of sight, Kiernan also has a EQD Acapulco Gold, and ZVEX Effects Instant Lo-Fi Junky and Super Duper 2-in-1.
(American) Ultra Mono
This Fender American Ultra Jazz bass was made specially for Adam Devonshire. He was stoked about this unique colorway, but wanted it paired with a thin C-profile neck. Fender made it happen, bolting it onto the body. Devonshire strings it with Rotosounds.
Lollapalooza Lincoln
When IDLES was in Chicago to play Lollapalooza, bass builders Serek invited him to check out their shop. After a few minutes with this Lincoln bass, Devonshire had put in an order.
Fane Versus Fullerton
Taking a 33-percent-less approach than his bandmates on 6-string guitar, Devonshire runs just two amps: a Hiwatt DR201 and a Fender Super Bassman.
Sweaty Stomps
Devonshire has a problem: He sweats a lot. That’s not a big problem if your job doesn’t involve standing over rare, expensive electronics while dripping liquid onto them. So, he’s got a big fear that he’ll flood his favorite effects.
That said, these are the ones he feels are worth the risk: a Boss TU-3W, GigRig QuarterMaster, Darkglass Electronics NSG and Microtubes B7K Ultra, EHX Pico POG, Death By Audio Fuzz War, Baltimore Sonic Research Institute FZZ, Moog MF Chorus, Source Audio Spectrum, two Strymon Flints, Tronographic Rusty Box, and Tech 21 SansAmp Programmable Bass Driver DI.
Shop Idles' Rig
Electro-Harmonix POG2 Polyphonic Octave Generator Pedal
Moog Moogerfooger MF-104M Analog Delay
Moog Moogerfooger MF-108M Cluster Flux
Electro-Harmonix 95000 Performance Loop Laboratory 6-Track Looper
Mission Engineering Expressionator
EarthQuaker Devices Acapulco Gold
Darkglass Microtubes B7K Ultra
Tech 21 SansAmp Programmable Bass Driver DI
Fender American Ultra Jazz Bass
EarthQuaker Devices Gary Automatic Pulse Width Modulation Fuzz/Overdrive Pedal
EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job V2 EQ and Boost Pedal
EarthQuaker Devices Organizer V2 Polyphonic Organ Emulator Pedal
EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter Harmonizing PLL Pedal
Along with contemporaries like MGMT and Passion Pit, Greenwich, New York, duo Phantogram’s experiments crosspollinating hip-hop, indie, and punk rock helped cement and elevate a new era of electronic-influenced alt-rock and indie music. At the start of the 2010s, you’d be hard-pressed to find a college radio station or dorm-room playlist that didn’t include a Phantogram hit.
Sixteen years after the release of their debut record, band leaders Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, who started Phantogram in a town of just a few thousand people, are touring behind their latest full-length, 2024’s Memory of a Day. The tour included a sold-out stop at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium—a different sort of barn than the kind they used to perform in back in Greenwich—where PG’s John Bohlinger caught up with Carter and Barthel. Courtesy of some help from their tech, the duo showed us how they’re pulling off their theatrical live experience.
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Music Mantogram
Carter is endorsed by Ernie Ball Music Man guitars, so all three of his road axes are variations on his current favorite Cutlass model. This one, first among the trio, is finished in black with a gold pickguard, and like its stablemates, it bears the Phantogram logo inlaid on the first fret. Carter removes the vibrato bar and uses his hand to pull the bridge up to nail the warbles. Aside from that, this one is all stock, and strung with Ernie Ball Paradigm .010s. While he sometimes grabs a pick, Carter plays most of the set with an acrylic nail on his index finger.
Brown Sound
This first backup Cutlass is finished in brown with the woodgrain peeking through and a burgundy tortoiseshell pickguard. It has a Seymour Duncan single-coil-sized humbucker in the bridge position for a hotter output than its black counterpart.
Step It Up
This natural finish Cutlass has had the same pickup mod as the brown one, but this one stays tuned a half-step up for special deployment.
Clean Business
Carter uses a wireless system to run to this Neural DSP Quad Cortex at his feet. His tech has set it up to emulate many of the pedals Carter uses in the studio. Carter appreciates the tactile and flexible nature of the system; it can take MIDI programming so Carter can focus on performing, or it can be rigged up to function like a traditional pedalboard. He uses a mix of amp emulations, including AC30-, 5150-, Fender tweed-, and Jazz Chorus-style patches.
A Boss volume and expression pedal alongside the Quad Cortex give Carter some extra control over the setup.
Josh Carter's Pedalboard Playground
While Carter carried a compact stomp station for tour, he’s addicted to stompboxes and uses them for inspiration when writing and sound building during studio sessions. Here’s what a small selection shared from his collection:
“The most prominent pedals I used for years onstage before switching to the Quad Cortex were the Line 6 DL4, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, Boss
DD-6 Digital Delay, Boss OC-3 Super Octave OC-3, Fulltone OCD, Wampler Ego Compressor, and Route 66 American Overdrive.
My go-to studio pedals are the MXR Joshua Ambient Echo, Line 6 DL4, Death By Audio Reverberation Machine, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, Chase Bliss Generation Loss MkII, Chase Bliss Mood MkII, Boss DD-500 Digital Delay, Chase Bliss Audio Automatone CXM 1978, Old Blood Noise Mondegreen Delay and Reflector Chorus.
And some honorable mentions for pedals I’ve been really digging as of late would be the Neon Egg Planetarium, Roland Space Echo, and various vintage & new spring reverbs.
Silver Stunner
Sarah Barthel initially played keys in Phantogram, but she learned bass and mimicked her synth parts on the instrument so she could move about freely and interact more with Carter. This custom-made sparkle-finish Fender Mustang is the perfect size for her, and she just recently started playing it with a pick. She runs into a Quad Cortex, too, but the Fender Bassman stack lurking behind the bass serves as an onstage monitor.
Jazzmaster
Barthel isn’t confined to the bass, either. At some points in the set she jumps onto this prized Jazzmaster, which she’s had for 15 years.
Gary is not exclusively a destruction machine. Its distortion/overdrive section is a very streamlined take on EarthQuaker’s Gray Channel, a versatile DOD 250-derived double distortion. Like any good circuit of the 250 ilk, Gary’s hard clipping OD/distortion section bites viciously in the high- and high-mid frequencies, supported by a tight, punchy low-mid output. You can play anything from balanced M.O.R. studio crunch to unhinged feedback leads with this side of Gary. But it’s the envelope-triggered pulse-width fuzz—which most of us will hear as a gated fuzz, in many instances—that gives the Gary its werewolf duality. Though practice yields performance patterns that change depending on the instrument and effects you use around the Gary, its fuzz ultimately sputters and collapses into nothingness—especially when you throw a few pitch bends its way. The cut to silence can be jarring, but also compels a player to explore more rhythmic leads and choppy riffs that would sound like sludge with a Big Muff. The Gary’s unpredictable side means it won’t be for everybody, but its ability to span delicioso distortion and riotous splatter fuzz in a single unit is impressive.
EarthQuaker Devices Gary Automatic Pulse Width Modulation Fuzz/Overdrive Pedal
While digital audio workstations (DAWs) have revolutionized music production, offering unparalleled editing and flexibility, many producers, including me, still mix back into an analog console for the sonic character and three-dimensionality that it imparts. But buying a professional console isn’t cheap! This is where console summing boxes come into play, offering a unique way to enhance your mixes and elevate them to a professional level.
How Does It Work?
Very simply put, recording consoles have two basic sections: an input section (all the channels of mic pres, and EQ) and a center section (that sums all of the channels together and routes those signals to various configurable outputs such as inserts and aux buses). A console summing mixer is essentially the center section of a console and is designed to sum the individual audio channels, aux buses, stems, and submixes from your DAW in an analog domain.
In a DAW, digital summing—the process of combining multiple tracks and buses into a stereo mix—is handled through complex binary algorithms that, while precise, can sometimes lead to a mix that feels lifeless and one-dimensional, lacking the warmth, depth, and cohesion that analog consoles impart.
One of the most significant advantages of using a summing box is the introduction of harmonic distortion, a natural byproduct of analog circuitry. This isn’t like amp or pedal distortion, but rather a subtle harmonic saturation that adds richness and character to the sound. Low-end frequencies gain girth and definition, while high frequencies have a smooth, silky quality. You can achieve natural compression through subtle variations in phase and amplitude, but that depends on how hard you push the summing mixer box.
But the best benefit, in my opinion, is its ability to produce an undeniably open stereo image. Digital summing, while accurate, often lacks dimension or a sense of space. Analog summing introduces subtle variations in phase and amplitude, creating a sense of width and depth that makes each instrument feel like it occupies its own space in a more 3-D stereo field, which results in a more engaging and polished mix. I’ve also found summing boxes encourage a more deliberate and thoughtful approach to mixing, as it requires submixing certain elements.
API’s ASM164 ($3,195 street) is wildly flexible, offering VU meters, multiple inserts, two separate stereo mix options, and more.
For those who work “in-the-box” and aren’t in the market for a summing box, let alone a console, incorporating a summing box can also serve as a valuable learning tool. By running stems through a summing box and comparing the results to an entirely digital mix, you can train your ear to recognize the subtle qualities that make a mix feel warm, cohesive, spatial, and dynamic. This heightened awareness can then inform your in-the-box mixing decisions, even when you’re not using a summing box.
“Whether you want to add depth and dimension to your tracks, enhance your stereo image, or bring a touch of analog magic to your mixes, a summing box can be a gamechanger."
It’s important to choose the right summing box for your needs and budget, as different models offer varying sonic characteristics. Good summing mixers typically start around $2,000, such as Rupert Neve Design’s 5057 Orbit Summing Mixer. While more expensive, API’s ASM164 ($3,195 street) is wildly flexible, offering VU meters, multiple inserts, two separate stereo mix options, and more. The key here is to understand your needs.
Pairing a summing box with high-quality outboard processors, such as compressors or EQs, will allow you to shape your mix in ways that are impossible within a purely digital setup.
Whether you want to add depth and dimension to your tracks, enhance your stereo image, or bring a touch of analog magic to your mixes, a summing box can be a gamechanger. For anyone serious about mixing, it’s a tool worth considering—one that can make the difference between a mix that’s good and one that’s truly exceptional. Until next month, namaste
