Whiskey Myers Rig Rundown with John Jeffers & Cody Tate

From couchsurfing to playing the Ryman, rockers Whiskey Myers of Palestine, Texas, have had one hell of a Cinderella story. We caught up with guitarist John Jeffers back in 2021 for a virtual Rig Rundown, but this time around, ahead of the September release of their seventh LP, Whomp Whack Thunder, PG’s Chris Kies met up with Jeffers and rhythm guitarist Cody Tate before their July 19 gig at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater to get a tour of their latest and loudest noisemakers.

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Parting Gift

This ’90s Gibson Les Paul is Jeffers’ most treasured guitar, gifted to him by Tate’s uncle—an avid collector—before he passed away. It’s loaded with a DiMarzio Super Distortion and a “Jeff Beck” pickup, which is how it came to Jeffers. He strings it with .0105s.

Murphy Magic

This 1960 Les Paul reissue was hand-painted by Gibson’s custom-shop whiz, Tom Murphy.

Flavor of the Night

Jeffers has long been a Vox AC30 Hand-Wired player, but recently he’s been throwing Oranges into the mix, including a Custom Shop 50. He’ll decide night-to-night which amp he wants to go with. The Voxes have Weber Silver Bell and Blue Dog speakers, and the Orange has Celestion Vintage 30s.

John Jeffers’ Pedalboard

After a Lehle volume pedal, Jeffers stomp station has a Boss TU-3w, a Dunlop wah, PCE-FX Aluminum Falcon, Union Tube and Transistor More, Empress Compress Mk II, Interstellar Octonaut Hyperdrive, Boss BF-2, EarthQuaker Devices The Depths, two Skreddy Echos, and a Hermida Audio reverb. Jeffers jumps around them all with a Voodoo Lab PX-8 PLUS True Bypass Programmable Pedal Switcher.

Guitar Center Special

Tate calls this Fender Stratocaster a “Guitar Center special,” which he’s had for 15 years now. It’s mostly stock, save for some custom wiring. He plays it with Ernie Ball Slinkies, mostly in the middle position for rhythm playing.

Brown Beauty

Tate fell in love with this heavily modded Strat when he saw it on Reverb, and he had to pull the trigger. He’s not sure what the pickups are—especially the Gretsch Filter’Tron-style bridge unit—but it’s got the signature Strat bounce with a bit of extra grease.

Marshall Law

Tate runs two Marshall JCM800s, one 50-watt and one 100-watt, through four custom cabs loaded with Weber 12" speakers.

Cody Tate’s Pedalboard

Cody’s board is slightly more restrained than Jeffers’. It includes some of the same units, including a Boss TU-3w, Dunlop wah, and Empress Compressor Mk II, plus a JHS Unicorn, Prestige, and Morning Glory. A Boss ES-5 handles the switching.

Boss TU-3w

Empress Compressor Mk II

EarthQuaker Devices The Depths

Orange Custom Shop 50

AmpRx Backline 1200

Voodoo Labs Switcher

Boss ES-5

JHS Morning Glory

JHS Unicorn

JHS Prestige

Dunlop Wah

Boss TU-3w

Marshall JCM 800

Fender Stratocaster

Gibson Les Paul

Gibson SG

Gibson Firebird