Gear
The gear I rely on to be creative and to make and play music.
Suhr Modern
My main guitar is my beautiful Suhr Modern in blue whale burst finish. This is a fairly unique model as it has a few differences from the regular production models. My action is super super low, measuring at about 2/64” from the 12th fret, with very minimal relief in the neck. I surprisingly don’t deal with buzzing or dead frets, as it plays and sustains perfectly with my touch. This is one the most comfortable guitars I have played. Despite trying other instruments, I seem to always come back to this one as my main (so far anyways haha).
The specs include:
- Flamed maple top (blue whale burst finish)
- Basswood body
- Roasted maple neck and fingerboard
- Suhr Thornbuckers pickups
- Volume + Tone (550k VIP pots)
- 5 way blade switch
- Suhr locking tuners
- Gotoh 510 trem
Mesa Boogie JP-2C & 2x12 Vertical
My main amp is my Mesa Boogie JP-2C. This amp has a clean channel that extremely clean, and has dirty channels that can do anywhere from low gain to high gain. This head covers all my bases and I’m extremely happy with its sound and versatility. While this is John Petrucci’s signature amp, many demos and reviews unfortunately do not cover the amps versatility.
For my cabinet, I am using a Mesa Boogie 2x12 Vertical Rectifier. This cab comes stock with two Celestion V30 speakers, however I replaced the top speaker with a Celestion Creamback.
For recording I commonly use my Suhr Reactive IR loadbox. This allows me to record my JP-2C silently, and offers the perfect hybrid setup of using a real tube amp, along with the benefits of impulse response technology. I frequently use the Scott Henderson pack from York Audio, which are snapshots of Scott's 4x12 Kerry Wright cab with Celestion Greenbacks. For dirty rhythm guitar tracks, I also sometimes use the Rectifier pack from Ownhammer, often using an IR of a Mesa Boogie 2x12 or 4x12 with Celestion V30's.
Pedals
Sonic Research Turbo Tuner (ST-300)
The first pedal on my board. Extremely accurate and responsive strobe tuner.
Electro-Harmonix Attack Decay
I use this pedal as a way to eliminate pick attack, cutting off the initial transient spike apparent when you pick a note. I don't have it on all the time, but I love the effect. Inspired by Kurt Rosenwinkel, Tim Miller, and Allan Holdsworth.
Bogner Harlow
This is a clean boost and compressor pedal that I commonly use with single or split coils when using a clean sound. It has a Neve transformer in it which adds some nice character.
Xotic BB Preamp
This is my current boost pedal of choice. Sometimes I also alternate between my Xotic RC Booster and Wampler Dual Fusion.
Strymon El Capistan v1
First pedal in my FX loop. Nice sounding delay pedal, although I'm not too picky with FX.
Strymon Ojai
My power supply. I deliberately chose a power supply to power a limited number of pedals to limit how many pedals I end up purchasing.