Brad Paisley 5th Gear Torrent File
Darnell Rempe
Issue 332 of Guitarist features an extensive cover interview with country sensation Brad Paisley. During our time with Brad, we were also lucky enough to get some time with his tech Chad Weaver, who kindly showed us through Paisley's rig. Here's the full version of our interview with Chad.
"No, most of it is pedals. The only thing I've got that's programmable like that is a Line 6 M13. We used to use the three rack-mounted ones, the Mod Pro and so on, but they were ruined in the flood [Nashville floods of May 2010]. And I'd already been using an M13 anyway.
"I've also got a compressor here if we decide we want to use one. His favourite overdrive is the [Ibanez TS-] 808 Tube Screamer, and this is the Keeley-modded one. Oddly enough, to be as much of a gear guy as he is, he does not own an original Tube Screamer. His producer Frank Rogers has one and sometimes we use that, but more times than not we just use one of the Keeley ones, on record and out here.
"Down here, we've switched to the Effect Gizmo by RJM. We used to use the [Voodoo Lab] GCX; they do the Ground Control Pro [MIDI foot controller], but this seems to be the new thing, y'know, quieter switching and it sounds pretty cool so we've given that a shot and I'm really happy with it so far."
"The cool thing about the Gizmo is that all of the inputs are in series, so I don't have to jump anything. I can turn on the last four loops, which I've got assigned as amp outputs - though as you can see, I'm only using two amps here tonight. We can run four amps at once, where with the GCX I had to go internally and jump all the inputs in series so that I could get the four outputs on at the same time. Then there's send and return for the wah, and an input for the Ground Control Pro which is the footpedal.
"Normally there's [a foot controller] out on stage for him too, actually for two reasons. First for piece of mind - he can change something if he wants to. But second, for me because on our normal gigs in the States there's a lot more distance between me and him. So if I take a guitar out to him, nine times out of 10, he's going to start playing before I get back, or he hasn't stopped playing before I get to him. So I'll use it out there too - pass the guitar to him and doing a tapdance at the same time!"
"The AC30 you can see on stage is from John Henry's along with the rest of the backline, and the guys from Korg [Vox UK distributor] offered to send over a couple of new AC30s. He just wanted to hear them, but he's not using them tonight.
"The Z Wreck, a few years ago, Dr Z and Ken Fischer from Trainwreck had collaborated on an amp for Brad and they went through a couple of prototypes and Brad recorded with it. The first one that Z made, he sent to Ken and he completed it; moved a couple things around, those mysterious things that amp builders do y'know. We don't know for sure, but it might be the very last amp Ken worked on, because he passed away just a few weeks after that. Z made a couple copies to take on the road, and we left that one at home.
"Then just recently, within the last six months or so, Z brought out the rest of the notes that Ken gave him and came up with this and it's amazing. There are four in existence, and there is talk that it could go into production. Z was afraid that it might sound like he was cashing in on Ken Fischer, I mean they were good friends and he didn't want that. But now they're thinking about it, maybe as a tribute to Ken, well, for lots of reasons."
"So the Underground 30 is his flagship amp. He's very much into the idea of, Okay, this is my base model amp, where do you want to go with it? Voxy? Marshall? Clean or dirty, bright or dark - let's tailor it to you."
1968 Fender Paisley Telecaster
"They turn gold over time. They have a silver finish on the edges and of course the wallpaper underneath, and you can see where that's wearing here on the back. Every now and then you need to take a needle and some superglue and inject it to stop any more of that paisley coming off."
1952 Fender Telecaster
"We have a '52 Tele. We had one that he'd bought in California - it's the one in the Alcohol video - and it was used in all the shows. It was almost as important as the pink one. Unfortunately it took a swim in the guitar vault in Nashville. There's actually a video of me with a spray bottle of bleach spraying the thing down and rinsing it off which is such an unnatural act, I can't begin to tell you. All of that nasty water got in the wood and the bacteria would have rotted it from the inside out. So when it dried it split, and depending on the humidity of the day it opens, and some days it closes. It'll be a while before it dries out, and it may end up as a paperweight - right now it's a just chunk of wood.
Blue Sparkle Crook Custom
"He had one made, used it in a bunch of shows, and then he decided he wanted to use it as the Water guitar [the video for the single, Water, ironically, involves submerged guitars and amps and a soaking Brad. Steady girls - Ed]. So he had Bill Crook build him a replica, not a working guitar, so it could go in the pool. So that got ruined in the shoot - not that it was a working guitar in the first place - but the real one got ruined too because it was in the locker. So this is the third one. He's getting' good at it!"
Gibson Brad Paisley J-45
"The last prototypes that we got from Gibson came with vintage-style fretwire and the other had larger fretwire to see which Brad preferred. The one with the vintage wire was lost in the flood, and I'd pulled the other one out to go to the repair shop to have some nut work done to it and it's still there. So they pulled this one off the line and it's better than the prototypes - it sounds great!