Back in February, PG’s Perry Bean headed over to Nashville’s Cannery Hall to catch up with his longtime friends in the Tennessee mathcore outfit the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza. Before their gig, guitarists Layne Meylain, Josh Travis, and Eric Berngruber, along with bassist Mike Butler, took Bean through the Kiesel-and-Quad-Cortex-powered guts of their audio acrobatics. Check out some highlights below, and watch the full Rig Rundown for more.
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Hamburglar
Layne Meylain asked Kiesel to ship him this wicked 7-string Kira model, which is loaded with Kiesel pickups—a Lithium and Nail Bomb. He uses a custom set of Stringjoys, .010-.074 gauge.
Purple Pain
This 8-string Kiesel, with a walnut neck and swamp ash body, was initially a loaner, but Meylain found a way to hang onto the guitar. If the company ever comes to retrieve the instrument, he’s willing to pay for it.
Green Giant
This 8-string was custom-built by Jeff Kiesel, and features a multi-scale, green-stained fretboard, and neck-through-body construction.
Layne Meylain’s Amp and Effects Rig
Meylain and his bandmates run Neural Quad Cortex units onstage, but the main sounds are from an amp and cab he captured with his Fractal Axe-Fx unit. He relies on the Quad Cortex's in-house effects, though, and prefers its interface. A Laney LFR-212 cabinet moves some air onstage.
A Real Looker
Josh Travis never had a guitar this gorgeous before. He runs this 8-string Kiesel with Dunlop 72-8 gauge string set, and most of his axes are loaded with either Kiesel Lithium or Thorium pickups.
Woody
Travis also brought this darker-finish Kiesel, with plenty of natural wood grain showing through, along for this run.
High-5-String
Butler primarily plays this Kiesel A2 5-string bass, which features fanned frets, active pickups, and .065–.105 gauge strings.
Mike Butler’s Bass Rig
While Butler is getting used to the Quad Cortex, he runs a Darkglass Micro Tubes X900 preamp and matching 410 cabinet.
Berngruber’s Balaguer
Newest member Eric Berngruber is endorsed by Balaguer Guitars, and the red 7-string in the middle here, loaded with Fishman active pickups, is his primary weapon. The Kiesel and Ibanez flanking it are on hand for certain tunes, and Berngruber, too, runs a Quad Cortex.
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