this post is for the tech heads out there. i've been promising a gear blog and here it is:
GUITARS
------------
PRS Baritone - Mike Mushok signature
about half of our songs are played in drop B tuning and the best way to accomplish this is wish a baritone guitar. what makes it different you ask? not much. it's just a longer neck to properly account for thicker strings. ya know how a bass neck is way longer than a guitar? this thing is about halfway in between. 27 1/2 inches to be exact.
PRS SC-245
this guitar is in standard drop D tuning for the other half of our songs. i'm a big Les Paul fan so when we hooked up with PRS they suggested this single cut. unlike most PRS guitars, this guy is pretty heavy, just like a Les Paul. it sounds pretty good, but i think i'm going to swap out the bridge pickup for a Tremonti soon.
PRS Mira-X
This is the newest guitar i've gotten from PRS and i absolutely LOVE it. the body is made of solid african basswood which makes it extremely light. i had them put a tremonti in the bridge and it sounds ridiculous. that's kinda why i wanna replace the pickup in the SC-245. anyway, the neck pickup is wired up to be a single coil tap so the clean sound on this guy is really clear. LOVE IT. for this tour i'm only playing this guitar for the FM Static set.
Gibson Explorer
this is the money guitar right here. the old classic. i'm only playing it for one song in the set - Falls Apart because that song is in drop C, not not drop B. why don't we play it in drop B to make it easier on everybody? well, trev's vocal sounds better in that key and really, it's all about the vocals. anyway, i love this guitar and it looks pretty sweet too.
Fender GA-45SCE
This isn't an extremely high end acoustic, but it plays really well considering that fact. i'm only using it for two songs on the FM Static set.
PEDALBOARD
------------------
Most people are surprised at the simplicity of my pedalboard. most songs are pretty straightforward rock so there's not much need for crazy effects. First off, a year ago i switched to a pedaltrain pedalboard and it's completely solved one of my biggest headaches. all previous pedalboards of mine were constantly breaking and causing shorts in cables as they worked their way through airports and in bus trailers. the new pedaltrains also come with little rails so that you can mount a voodoo labs power supply underneath the board which save a good deal of space. i've had this thing over a year now and i haven't had any problems with it.
ok, so here's the pedals:
Boss TU-2 tuner pedal
Fulltone Fat Boost
Morley ABY pedal
MXR Super Comp
Line 6 DL-4
Shure PGX wireless system
Voodoo Labs power supply
AMPS
-------
i use a two amp setup where one amp is dedicated to distorted guitar and the second amp is dedicated to clean.
The distorted setup consists of a Diezel Einstein head and an Orange 4 x 12 cab with vintage 30's in it.
Diezel Einstein 50W head
it took me a while to figure out why there are dog paw prints all over the head. can't figure it out? it's a veiled back to the future reference which kinda makes it even more awesome...and also kinda gives an insight into how the designer of the amp views himself. haha
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Fender always has a great clean tone. you kinda can't go wrong.
On the Orange cab we use two Audix i-5 dynamic mics. they're basically just like a shure 57 but they're better on the top end which makes the distortion sound like it's got more gain without actually adding more gain. on the deluxe we just use a single 57.
STRINGS
-----------
i use GHS strings exclusively. they're a great company and they've been really good to us.
For the Explorer, i use the heavyweights because i'm tuned so low on a regular scale neck. they're .11 on the high end and .70 on the low end. for the Mira-X i use regular GHS Boomers (.11 to .50) because we tune in standard E tuning. For the SC-245 i use a custom set that's .11 on the high end and .58 on the low end. the heavier string puts more tension which helps you stay in tune when really digging in to a riff. and for the PRS Baritone i use the GHS Low Tune set which is .14 on the high end and .70 on the low end. for both the single cut and baritone i also specify a wound G-string (insert obscene joke here) to help with tuning issues.
TRANSPORTATION
---------------------------
Set Carts
for those of you who have seen us in concert, you have seen our set carts with the giant TFK logo on the front. these serve another purpose beyond shameless self promotion. our tour manager, clay, had these made up and it's pretty ingenious. it's a rolling cart that has our gear strapped in and locked down. the mics and cables stay with the cart and all the guitar and pedalboard cases stay locked down. all of the sound and lights on this tour goes into a semi tractor trailer. the cart makes it easy to roll on and off stage rather than having dozens of individual road cases. it also allows for us to clear the stage quickly to get ready for the next act. a couple years ago we toured with TobyMac and we had a 3 minute change over from us to Toby. our fastest time to clear all of our gear was 2:57. that's pretty amazing.
Anyway, i think that's all. if you've got any questions, just leave a comment and i'll try to answer as best i can.
GUITARS
------------
PRS Baritone - Mike Mushok signature
about half of our songs are played in drop B tuning and the best way to accomplish this is wish a baritone guitar. what makes it different you ask? not much. it's just a longer neck to properly account for thicker strings. ya know how a bass neck is way longer than a guitar? this thing is about halfway in between. 27 1/2 inches to be exact.
PRS SC-245
this guitar is in standard drop D tuning for the other half of our songs. i'm a big Les Paul fan so when we hooked up with PRS they suggested this single cut. unlike most PRS guitars, this guy is pretty heavy, just like a Les Paul. it sounds pretty good, but i think i'm going to swap out the bridge pickup for a Tremonti soon.
PRS Mira-X
This is the newest guitar i've gotten from PRS and i absolutely LOVE it. the body is made of solid african basswood which makes it extremely light. i had them put a tremonti in the bridge and it sounds ridiculous. that's kinda why i wanna replace the pickup in the SC-245. anyway, the neck pickup is wired up to be a single coil tap so the clean sound on this guy is really clear. LOVE IT. for this tour i'm only playing this guitar for the FM Static set.
Gibson Explorer
this is the money guitar right here. the old classic. i'm only playing it for one song in the set - Falls Apart because that song is in drop C, not not drop B. why don't we play it in drop B to make it easier on everybody? well, trev's vocal sounds better in that key and really, it's all about the vocals. anyway, i love this guitar and it looks pretty sweet too.
Fender GA-45SCE
This isn't an extremely high end acoustic, but it plays really well considering that fact. i'm only using it for two songs on the FM Static set.
PEDALBOARD
------------------
Most people are surprised at the simplicity of my pedalboard. most songs are pretty straightforward rock so there's not much need for crazy effects. First off, a year ago i switched to a pedaltrain pedalboard and it's completely solved one of my biggest headaches. all previous pedalboards of mine were constantly breaking and causing shorts in cables as they worked their way through airports and in bus trailers. the new pedaltrains also come with little rails so that you can mount a voodoo labs power supply underneath the board which save a good deal of space. i've had this thing over a year now and i haven't had any problems with it.
ok, so here's the pedals:
Boss TU-2 tuner pedal
Fulltone Fat Boost
Morley ABY pedal
MXR Super Comp
Line 6 DL-4
Shure PGX wireless system
Voodoo Labs power supply
AMPS
-------
i use a two amp setup where one amp is dedicated to distorted guitar and the second amp is dedicated to clean.
The distorted setup consists of a Diezel Einstein head and an Orange 4 x 12 cab with vintage 30's in it.
Diezel Einstein 50W head
it took me a while to figure out why there are dog paw prints all over the head. can't figure it out? it's a veiled back to the future reference which kinda makes it even more awesome...and also kinda gives an insight into how the designer of the amp views himself. haha
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Fender always has a great clean tone. you kinda can't go wrong.
On the Orange cab we use two Audix i-5 dynamic mics. they're basically just like a shure 57 but they're better on the top end which makes the distortion sound like it's got more gain without actually adding more gain. on the deluxe we just use a single 57.
STRINGS
-----------
i use GHS strings exclusively. they're a great company and they've been really good to us.
For the Explorer, i use the heavyweights because i'm tuned so low on a regular scale neck. they're .11 on the high end and .70 on the low end. for the Mira-X i use regular GHS Boomers (.11 to .50) because we tune in standard E tuning. For the SC-245 i use a custom set that's .11 on the high end and .58 on the low end. the heavier string puts more tension which helps you stay in tune when really digging in to a riff. and for the PRS Baritone i use the GHS Low Tune set which is .14 on the high end and .70 on the low end. for both the single cut and baritone i also specify a wound G-string (insert obscene joke here) to help with tuning issues.
TRANSPORTATION
---------------------------
Set Carts
for those of you who have seen us in concert, you have seen our set carts with the giant TFK logo on the front. these serve another purpose beyond shameless self promotion. our tour manager, clay, had these made up and it's pretty ingenious. it's a rolling cart that has our gear strapped in and locked down. the mics and cables stay with the cart and all the guitar and pedalboard cases stay locked down. all of the sound and lights on this tour goes into a semi tractor trailer. the cart makes it easy to roll on and off stage rather than having dozens of individual road cases. it also allows for us to clear the stage quickly to get ready for the next act. a couple years ago we toured with TobyMac and we had a 3 minute change over from us to Toby. our fastest time to clear all of our gear was 2:57. that's pretty amazing.
Anyway, i think that's all. if you've got any questions, just leave a comment and i'll try to answer as best i can.
