A backwards Strat, a radical Jetsons-y guitar, Def Leppard's secret weapon, and more pedals than currently listed on Reverb fill this YouTuber's tone lounge.
He's played with Santana, Stevie Wonder, and a host of other greats, and his lessons and demos on YouTube have garnered more than 15-million viewsāso there's a good chance you already know this Nashville-based guitarist.
Now, take a look inside his studio and eyeball an impressive armada of guitars, amps, and effects with PG's John Bohlinger.
[Brought to you by D'Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://www.daddario.com/XPNDRR]
Guitars
(Ronquillo has a lot of 6-strings, but we narrowed down this Rundown to a few favorites that do most of the heavy lifting.)
Pretty in Pink
This Nash S-81 features an EMG SL20 Pro Series Steve Lukather signature set of pickups, and it's strung with a D'Addario NYXL .010ā.046 set.
Original Senn
This is one of Nashville builder Jeff Senn's Fullerton S-styles, with Lollar pickups, a Vega-Trem tremolo, and a set of D'Addario NYXL .010ā.046s.
In for the Pun
Yes, Senn thinks this is funny, too.
Bet on the Knaggs
Here's a Doug Rappaport signature Knaggs Kenai DR, featuring a Seymour Duncan Slash neck pickup and a Duncan Custom Shop '78 in the bridge. Ronquillo added a String Butler tuning stabilizer. Once again: D'Addario NYXLs, .010ā.046.
Photo Finish
This Novo Custom Serus J features a one-of-a-kind "Ron-Tealio" finish with Brandonwound P-90s. Same D'Addario NYXLs. Cool speed dials and whammy bar tip, yes?
S-Style with a Twist
And now for something completely different, here's an RS Guitarworks Twisted. The guitar has an alder body and a rosewood neck, with Fralin Woodstock pickups. RJ uses a Stringjoy Hendrix set: .010, .013, .015, .026, .032, and .038. The lighter G string supposedly provides a more balanced tone.
Make Way for Junior
Here's another axe with history in its genes: a Grez Mendocino Junior. In classic Junior form, it has a 1-piece body, but it is made from reclaimed old-growth redwood. The neck is solid Honduran mahogany with a Macassar ebony fretboard. The pickup is a dog ear Wolftone MeanerP90. This one sports RJ's usual D'Addario NYXLs.
A BarneyāNot the Purple One
This cherry sunburst 1964 Gibson Barney Kessel Custom is all stock, replete with bow-tie inlays and elegant binding. For a bit more beef, it's strung with Thomastik-Infeld George Benson strings: .012, .016, .020w, .028, .039, and .053. Note the cool badge at the bottom of the tailpiece.
AmpsāLoud City
RJ has a lot of amps, so we narrowed it down to those in "Tonehenge," the part of his studio that houses his amplifiers that are in current heavy rotation.
Morgan Horsepower
Want classic American amp tone? Here's your pony. This 35W head uses two 5881 power tubes, two 12AV7s, and a GZ34 rectifier.
Yes, Suhr
This Pete Thorn signature has three channels, an effects loop, four EL-34 power tubes, six 12AX7 preamp tubes, and is set up for MIDI control.
Sibling Revelry
This Friedman Twin Sister uses 40 watts to go for classic British tone. It's inspired by the Marshall JTM 45. Each channel has a bright switch and a 3-position gain switch, and there are two 5881s and five 12AX7s lurking inside.
Sultan of String
With a nod to Howard Dumble, here's Amplified Nation's Steel String Sultanāa 25 watt version of this custom build. As you'd expect, the Boston-area company has packed it chock full of top-of-the-line components, including orange drop and NTE caps, and Classic Tone and Heyboer transformers.
White Box of Rock
Helping Ronquillo have even more options when it comes to recording and routing, he employs this Two Notes Torpedo Captor X Stereo Reactive Load Box.
The Chains We Forge in Tone
RJ is a pedal guy. His rig flows through a series of boards, but the signal from his guitar firsts lands here, at a JAM Pedals Wahcko wah and a Sabbadius Funky-Vibe Fillmore East edition.
Like a Peach
From there, the signal hits his "Fuzz Board," which includes a One Control Iguana Tail Loop 2 switcher feeding a King Tone MiniFuzz germanium, a Wes Jeans Texas Fuzz silicon fuzz face clone, an Expresso FX Fuzz Bender Mk 1, a Wren and Cuff Small Foot Box of War muff-style, a J.Rockett .45 Caliber overdrive, and an MXR CAE buffer.
Switch It Up
Since there are three more pedalboards in RJ's setup, this Boss ES-5 Switcher is sensible
The Main Vein
A lot goes down here. When that Boss switcher sends the guitar signal this way, it encounters a Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner, a DigiTech Drop, a DryBell Unit 67 EQ/boost/comp, a King Tone Octaland mini octave pedal, an AnalogMan Sun Face, a Pogo Pedals Zen Ray overdrive, a Nobels ODR-1, his signature Mythos Susmaryosep! boost/overdrive/echo, an LPD Eighty 7 distortion, a Vertex Boost, a Roland EV-5 expression pedal, a GFI Synesthesia multi-modulator, JAM's Harmonius Monk tremolo, and a Boss FRV-1 '63 Fender Reverb.
Enter to win pedals from RJ's main board seen above!
Next!
Currently to the right of the main board, these: a Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe, Fulltone's Ultimate Octave, a King Tone Duellist dual overdrive, MXR's FET Driver, and a LPD Seventy4 overdrive.
But Wait, There's More
You ain't seen nuthin' yet. Okay, you've seen a lot. But there's also, to the left of the main board: a Mythos High Road mini fuzz, a Beetronics Vezzpa Octave Stinger Fuzz, a Cornerstone Gladio dual overdrive. a Vertex Ultra Phonix Overdrive, and a Vertex Ultra Phonix HRM overdrive. He uses Truetone, Cioks, and T-Rex power supplies.
And Even More!!
Another board is home to four filthy boxesāa Metropoulos Supa Boost, Hudson Electronics Broadcast-AP preamp (Ariel Posen signature), Lovepedal Tchula Boost, and an Analogman Beano Boost.
- Eastwood Airline H78 Review - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Eastwood Guitars Releases the California Rebel - Premier Guitar āŗ
- On Bass: Advice for Guitarists ā¦ from a Bassist - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Do you want to WIN gear from RJ Ronquillo's Pedalboard? āŗ
- Rig Rundown: Dragged Under's Ryan "Fluff" Bruce - Premier Guitar āŗ
- YouTube Guitar Sensation RJ Ronquillo on The Ventures' Influence - Premier Guitar āŗ
- VegaTrem VT2 ND Teletrem Demo | NAMM 2023 - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Sabbadius Tiny-Vibe 69 Review - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Thomastik-Infeld Launches Infeld Bronze Acoustic Strings āŗ
The Texan rocker tells us how the Lonestar State shaped his guitar sounds and how he managed to hit it big in Music City.
Huge shocker incoming: Zach Broyles made a Tube Screamer. The Mythos Envy Pro Overdrive is Zachās take on the green apple of his eye, with some special tweaks including increased output, more drive sounds, and a low-end boost option. Does this mean he can clear out his collection of TS-9s? Of course not.
This time on Dipped in Tone, Rhett and Zach welcome Tyler Bryant, the Texas-bred and Nashville-based rocker who has made waves with his band the Shakedown, who Rhett credits as one of his favorite groups. Bryant, it turns out, is a TS-head himself, having learned to love the pedal thanks to its being found everywhere in Texas guitar circles.Bryant shares how he scraped together a band after dropping out of high school and moving to Nashville, including the rigors of 15-hour drives for 30-minute sets in a trusty Ford Expedition. Heās lived the dream (or nightmare, depending on the day) and has the wisdom to show it.
Throughout the chat, the gang covers modeling amps and why modern rock bands still need amps on stage; the ins and outs of recording-gear rabbit holes and getting great sounds; and the differences between American and European audiences. Tune in to hear it all.
Get 10% off your order at stewmac.com/dippedintone
Guest picker Carmen Vandenberg of Bones UK joins reader Samuel Cosmo Schiff and PG staff in divulging their favorite ways to learn music.
Question: What is your favorite method of teaching or learning how to play the guitar?
Guest Picker - Carmen Vandenberg, Bones UK
The cover of Soft, Bones UKās new album, due in mid-September.
A: My favorite method these days (and to be honest, from when I started playing) is to put on my favorite blues records, listen with my eyes closed, and, at the end, see what my brain compartmentalizes and keeps stored away. Then, I try and play back what I heard and what my fingers or brain decided they liked!
Bone UKās labelmade, Des Rocks.
Obsession: Right now, I am into anyone trying to create sounds that havenāt been made beforeābands like Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White, and our labelmate, Des Rocs! Thereās a Colombian band called DiamantĆ© Electrico who Iāve been really into recently. Really anyone whoās trying to create innovative and inspiring sounds.
Reader of the Month - Sam C. Schiff.
Sam spent endless hours trying to learn the solo Leslie West played on āLong Red,ā off of The Road Goes Ever On.
A: The best way to learn guitar is to listen to some good guitar playing! Put on a record, hear something tasty, and play on repeat until it comes out of your fingers. For me, it was Leslie West playing āLong Redā on the Mountain album, The Road Goes Ever On. I stayed up all night listening to that track until I could match Leslieās phrasing. I still canāt, no one can, but I learned a lot!
Smithās own low-wattage amp build.
Obsession: My latest musical obsession is low-wattage tube amps like the 5-watt Fender Champ heard on the Laylaalbum. Crank it up all the way for great tube distortion and sustain, and itās still not loud enough to wake up the neighbors!
Gear Editor - Charles Saufley
Charles Saufley takes to gear like a duck to water!
A: Learning by ear and feel is most fun for me. I write and free-form jam more than I learn other peopleās licks. When I do want to learn something specific, Iāll poke around on YouTube for a demo or a lesson or watch films of a player I like, and then typically mangle that in my own āspecialā way that yields something else. But I rarely have patience for tabs or notation.
The Grateful Deadās 1967 debut album.
Obsession: Distorted and overdriven sounds with very little sustaināKeith Richardsā Between the Buttons tones, for example. Jerry Garciaās plonky tones on the first Grateful Dead LP are another cool, less-fuzzy version of that texture.
Publisher - Jon Levy
A: Iām a primitive beast: The only way I can learn new music is by ear, so itās a good thing I find that method enjoyable. Iām entirely illiterate with staff notation. Put sheet music in front of me and Iāll stare at it with twitchy, fearful incomprehension like an ape gaping at the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Iām almost as clueless with tab, but I can follow along with chord charts if Iām under duress.
The two-hit wonders behind the early ā70s soft-rock hits, āFallinā in Loveā and āDon't Pull Your Love.ā
Obsession: Revisiting and learning AM-radio pop hits circa 1966ā1972. The Grass Roots, Edison Lighthouse, the Association, the Archies, and Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynoldsānothing is too cheesy for me to dissect and savor. Yes, I admit I have a serious problem.
Diamond Pedals introduces the Dark Cloud delay pedal, featuring innovative hybrid analog-digital design.
At the heart of the Dark Cloud is Diamondās Digital Bucket Brigade Delay (dBBD) technology, which seamlessly blends the organic warmth of analog companding with the precise control of an embedded digital system. This unique architecture allows the Dark Cloud to deliver three distinct and creative delay modesāTape, Harmonic, and Reverseāeach meticulously crafted to provide a wide range of sonic possibilities.
Three Distinct Delay Modes:
- Tape Delay: Inspired by Diamondās Counter Point, this mode offers warm, saturated delays with tape-like modulation and up to 1000ms of delay time.
- Harmonic Delay: Borrowed from the Quantum Leap, this mode introduces delayedoctaves or fifths, creating rich, harmonic textures that swirl through the mix.
- Reverse Delay: A brand-new feature, this mode plays delays backward, producing asmooth, LoFi effect with alternating forward and reverse playbackāa truly innovativeaddition to the Diamond lineup.
In addition to these versatile modes, the Dark Cloud includes tap tempo functionality with three distinct divisionsāquarter note, eighth note, and dotted eighthāensuring perfect synchronization with any performance.
The Dark Cloud holds special significance as the final project conceived by the original Diamondteam before their closure. What began as a modest attempt to repurpose older designs evolved into a masterful blend of the company's most beloved delay algorithms, combined with an entirely new Reverse Delay setting.
The result is a āgreatest hitsā of Diamond's delay technology, refined into one powerful pedal that pushes the boundaries of what delay effects can achieve.
Pricing: $249
For more information, please visit diamondpedals.com.
Main Features:
- dBBDās hybrid architectureļ· Analog dry signalļ· New reverse delay setting
- Three distinct, creative delay modes: Tape, Harmonic, Reverse
- Combines the sound and feel of analog Companding and Anti-Aliasing with an embedded system delay line
- Offering 3 distinct tap divisions with quarter note, eighth note and dotted eighth settings for each of the delay modes
- Pedalboard-friendly enclosure with top jacks
- Buffered bypass switching with trails
- Standardized negative-center 9VDC input with polarity protection
Dark Cloud Multi-Mode Delay Pedal - YouTube
Curious about building your own pedal? Join PG's Nick Millevoi as he walks us through the StewMac Two Kings Boost kit, shares his experience, and demos its sound.