Rig Rundowns
413 episodes - English - Latest episode: 18 days ago - ★★★★★ - 70 ratingsPremier Guitar’s world-famous Rig Rundowns take you backstage to explore the live gear used by your favorite guitar and bass players. Whether you’re into shred, country, indie, or classic rock, Rig Rundowns give you the lowdown on the instruments, pedals, and amps powering the biggest acts on the road today—and often we even coax them into demoing their favorite settings. Listen now and pick up new tricks for how to set up your rig!
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Episodes
Tetrarch
April 13, 2022 20:30 - 21 minutes - 29.8 MBTo most people, WWJD spells out “What Would Jesus Do?” But in the case of sworn shred disciple Diamond Rowe of Tetrarch, it stands for “What Would James (Hetfield) Do?” “The longer you talk to me, you’re going to find out that I’m super old school with my rig,” admits Rowe. “We’ll go on tours and play festivals and people will approach us and ask, ‘why aren’t you doing this’ or ‘why aren’t you doing that’ and I’m just like, I don’t know … because Metallica did it this way [laughs].” Tetrar...
END
April 06, 2022 19:02 - 34 minutes - 47 MBThere’s heavy music … and then there’s End. Formed in 2017, the band is vocalist Brendan Murphy (Counterparts), guitarist Will Putney (Fit for an Autopsy), guitarist Gregory Thomas (formerly of Shai Hulud and Misery Signals), bassist Jay Pepito (Reign Supreme), and drummer Billy Rymer (the Dillinger Escape Plan). The supergroup was created to push the extremes of hardcore music. And, as you’ll soon find out in this Rig Rundown, mission accomplished. From day one, guitarists (and producers) ...
Hannah Wicklund
March 30, 2022 18:46 - 27 minutes - 38.1 MBWe thought a grizzly bear had entered Nashville’s 3rd & Lindsley when Hannah Wicklund fired up her rig at soundcheck on March 20, when she headlined the club with her band the Steppin' Stones. Luckily, it was just the rude tone of her Tom Anderson Guitarworks Guardian Angel model pumping through the sneer of her Orange head and cab, so … no carnage, but some echoes of classic Peter Green. Although Wicklund—who was the subject of a PG profile in 2018—has U.S. and Canadian tour dates schedule...
Shiner
March 24, 2022 17:35 - 31 minutes - 43.5 MBShiner sprouted from the fertile, black-dirt underground rock scene of the Midwest. Cofounded by guitarist/vocalist Allen Epley in 1992, the band toured with contemporaries Sunny Day Real Estate, Chore, Jawbox, Season to Risk, the Jesus Lizard, and Girls Against Boys, recorded with Shellac’s Steve Albini, and released four albums between 1996 and 2001. Injections of new blood for 1997’s Lula Divina (bassist Paul Malinowski) and 2000’s Starless (Josh Newton on keyboards/guitars and Jason Gerk...
Goose
March 16, 2022 19:09 - 48 minutes - 67 MB“Are you guys with the band?” A pleasant passerby asked while we were loading out camera gear near the Goose tour bus parked outside Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl. “No, we’re just here to do an interview.” I responded. “Oh man, tell the band that last night’s concert was uh-mazing,” exclaimed the joyous fan. “We’ll be talking about it for years to come.” And with that sort of impassioned, infectious positivity, Goose is following the freeform footsteps of the Grateful Dead, Phish, Dave Matthe...
Tinsley Ellis
March 09, 2022 19:04 - 25 minutes - 34.5 MBTinsley Ellis broke onto the national blues scene with his early ’80s band, the Heartfixers. By late in the decade, when the Atlanta-based guitarist and singer began releasing albums under his own name, he also became a fixture in the genre’s international club and festival circuit. Over the years he's earned a reputation for full-throttle live shows and well-crafted albums that hinge on his powerful singing and on his playing, which is based in tradition but packed with signature moves like...
Cory Wong
March 02, 2022 20:30 - 41 minutes - 57.4 MBThe Grammy-nominated high minister of funk guitar and host of PG’s Wong Notes podcast take us through his spare but carefully tailored setup. Hey, what’s happenin’ people?!!! For Cory Wong, who kicks off episodes of his Wong Notes podcast with that question, the answer is he’s currently deep into an international tour—while still recording new episodes, writing music, and producing. But that didn’t stop the prodigious, prolific picker from taking the time during a recent stop at Nashville’s...
JD Simo [2022]
February 23, 2022 16:33 - 1 hour - 117 MBThe Nashville-based power player uses classic-style guitars and amps to create big tones that echo from the past to the future. Our last Rundown with J.D. Simo was eight years ago. Since then, the songwriter, guitarist, and producer has worked with Jack White, Tommy Emmanuel, Luther Dickinson, Dave Cobb, Blackberry Smoke, and even been a friend in Grateful Dead founder Phil Lesh’s band Phil and Friends. Currently, Simo is promoting his most unique, original, and raw album yet, called Mind C...
Yungblud's Adam Warrington
February 16, 2022 21:24 - 27 minutes - 37.4 MBBehind the moody makeup, angsty energy, arena-level production, rebellious revelry, and 20 empty Marshall cabs blasting flood lights is a legit modern rock band. And behind the band’s charismatic leader Yungblud (aka Dominic Richard Harrison) is its producer, songwriter, and bona fide riff assassin Adam Warrington. Armed with a handful of Gibsons, a Gretsch, and an MIM Jazzmaster, he is a mortar of might. Before Yungblud’s redlining, headlining show at Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium...
El Ten Eleven
February 09, 2022 18:31 - 34 minutes - 47 MBPedals can be a source of inspiration. But can they be the catalyst to start a band? The argument could be made that without a looper bassist Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty would’ve never taken flight as El Ten Eleven. (The band is named after the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar airplane.) “I knew I wanted to start a band—in my mind it was probably going to sound like El Ten Eleven—but I didn’t know exactly how I’d do it. I got Tim [Fogarty] to play drums and I thought I’d get a third person...
Intervals’ Aaron Marshall [2022]
February 02, 2022 20:48 - 30 minutes - 41.8 MBAaron Marshall loves guitar. “I make a living every day playing the electric guitar. My identity is built around this thing. I’ve been my own boss since 2015,” he declared in a 2021 PG interview. Aaron Marshall believes in guitar: “Anyone who thinks the death of the electric guitar is upon us is very out of touch. You can’t hold its head underwater. The electric guitar is iconic. It’s not going anywhere.” And Aaron Marshall is never satisfied with guitar: “Everything’s perfect. Let’s chang...
Adam Shoenfeld
January 26, 2022 21:05 - 38 minutes - 53.4 MBAdam Shoenfeld has helped shape the tone of modern country guitar. How? Well, the Nashville-based session star, producer, and frontman has played on hundreds of albums and 45 No. 1 country hits, starting with Jason Aldean’s “Hicktown,” since 2005. Plus, he’s found time for several bands of his own as well as the first studio album under his own name, All the Birds Sing, which drops January 28. Shoenfeld recently let PG’s John Bohlinger in on some of his sonic secrets, running through his se...
Wolf Alice
January 19, 2022 20:20 - 38 minutes - 52.9 MBListening to the tidal wave in “Giant Peach,” the riotous “Moaning Lisa Smile,” or the punked-up “Play the Greatest Hits,” it’s hard to imagine Wolf Alice as an acoustic duo. Then talk to Joff Oddie about his integral use of effects—“These pedals can do such crazy things; to not do crazy things with things that can do crazy things seems odd”—and the band’s origin story becomes even more improbable. But it’s true: Wolf Alice started with guitarist/singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Oddie play...
Deer Tick
January 13, 2022 13:52 - 25 minutes - 34.6 MBDeer Tick was started by self-taught multi-instrumentalist John McCauley as a solo songwriting endeavor in 2004. The band’s instant, ear-perk appeal is McCauley’s wiry, craggy voice narrating personal hardship and loss. When you hear Deer Tick albums, the honesty that pours out of the speakers punches your gut and tears your heart. Originally touring with a revolving cast of supporting musicians, McCauley solidified his rhythm section with half-brothers Dennis Michael Ryan (drums) and Chris...
Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis [2022]
January 10, 2022 20:47 - 24 minutes - 33.6 MBDinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis is rock ’n’ roll’s loudest low talker. Onstage, the reserved frontman is overshadowed by his three full stacks, summoning up President Teddy Roosevelt’s quote: “speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” Fellow volume-dealing stalwarts Emmett Jefferson Murphy III (drums)—better known as “Murph”—and Lou Barlow (bass/vocals) helped J form the band in 1984 after their first group, Deep Wound, dissolved. Both left Dinosaur Jr., and then rejoined in 2005. This ...
Circles Around the Sun
December 30, 2021 14:32 - 33 minutes - 45.8 MBFounded by the late Neal Casal, this instrumental band of sonic explorers was born out of a request for set-break music during the Grateful Dead’s final run of shows in San Francisco and Chicago during 2015. Originally, CATS was going to be a one-off project, but fan feedback pushed Casal and company to release it as Interludes for the Dead. This wasn’t simply wordless Dead covers, but new creations formed in essence and spirt of the Dead. In 2018, the group released their second double alb...
All Them Witches [2021]
December 22, 2021 19:02 - 41 minutes - 57.4 MBExpanding, evolving, exploring, and enchanting are all applicable when describing the orbit of All Them Witches. Since their 2016 Rig Rundown, the quartet have continued pursuing their sonic mission, unbound by anything but regeneration. Their never-ending musical mutation has yielded three more individualistic, intrepid releases since our last check-in. Sleeping Through the War, in 2017, explored more purposeful, mystical songcraft cloaked in hypnotic, rambunctious rock. For 2018’s ATW, th...
The Hives [2021]
December 15, 2021 19:14 - 25 minutes - 35.4 MBThe Hives are a ripping quintet that formed in Fagersta, Sweden, during the early ’90s. They exploded into American pop-culture consciousness during the garage-rock revival with a pair of chart-splashing, straight-forward stingers (2000’s Veni Vidi Vicious and 2004’s Tyrannosaurus Hives). And while they did take a hiatus in the mid-2010s, they’ve continued rocking the thin line between ragged and refined for nearly 30 years with a total of five albums, four EPs, and a 2020 live set recorded ...
Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson & Cindy Cashdollar
December 08, 2021 20:45 - 52 minutes - 72.4 MBRay Benson founded Asleep at the Wheel over a half a century ago in 1970. Over the course of his career, he’s won 9 Grammys while turning several generations onto Western Swing. PG’s John Bohlinger hung with Benson and his longtime lap-steel player Cindy Cashdollar before a recent Grand Ole Opry performance in Nashville. [Brought to you by D’Addario XS Strings: http://ddar.io/xs.rr]
Idles
December 02, 2021 14:15 - 1 hour - 89.5 MBDo you hear that thunder? That’s the sound of strength in four 100-watt stacks. (Actually, one is a 200-watt bass tube head.) IDLES’ guitarists Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan finally have the firepower to match their fury. (Original members singer/lyricist Joe Talbot, drummer Jon Beavis, and bassist Adam Devonshire fill out the band. Kiernan took over for guitarist Andy Stewart after 2015 EP Meat was released.) For much of the 2010s, the bashers from Bristol played on anything and plugged into ...
Mannequin Pussy
December 01, 2021 19:25 - 32 minutes - 44 MBAbout 10 years ago Mannequin Pussy bubbled up from the percolating Philly rock scene. Formed by guitarist/singer Marisa “Missy” Dabice and drummer Athanasios Paul, their primary calling card was a stinging combination of snippy and sizzling ragers. The lineup was eventually filled out with Drew Adler (drums) and Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass). (Paul moved to lead guitar in 2013 and Kaleen Reading took over for drums in 2015. Ultimately, Paul left earlier this year after recording Perfect.)...
Microwave
November 17, 2021 19:27 - 23 minutes - 32.3 MBMusic—and guitar—are therapeutic. The songs we write and riffs we play help reduce the pain, alleviate the stress, and produce some positivity in our lives. Microwave's singer/guitarist/lyricist Nathan Hardy has been using the studio and stage as his leather couch for nearly 10 years. Stovall, in 2014, saw him question his Mormon missionary upbringing. Two years later, Much Love focused on realities versus the romance of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. And 2019's Death Is a Warm Blanket is a d...
Torres
November 10, 2021 18:38 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MBMackenzie Scott (aka Torres) likes a good juxtaposition. Her music is a tightrope act between vulnerability and violence. Scott's lyrics often reflect introspection over a backdrop of angular, explosive guitar sounds, and those lyrics and her imagery combat the standard gender tropes by deconstructing their longstanding definitions and re-empowering them for all people. (Look no further than the cover of Torres' latest album, Thirstier, to see her take on the "classic" guitar pose.) Even he...
Dance Gavin Dance's Will Swan
November 03, 2021 20:05 - 24 minutes - 33.5 MBWill Swan has celebrated and elevated radical guitar music through the course of nine frenetic, volatile Dance Gavin Dance albums, a pair of releases with his psychedelic post-hardcore side project Sianvar, and the creation of his Blue Swan Records label. The common thread is his hue of beautiful dysfunction and his ethos of pushing the instrument (and its sounds) forward. Make no mistake, Swan can play the guitar. His style is equal parts violence and grace, with pit stops at all points be...
Thrice [2021]
October 27, 2021 19:42 - 29 minutes - 40.8 MBRecently Thrice's Dustin Kensrue (vocals/guitar) and Teppei Teranishi (guitar) participated in PG's Hooked. (The video series features musicians talking about a moment, riff, or song that turned their world upside down and sideswiped them into playing.) Kensrue raved about the Pixies' dissonant melodies, while Teranishi highlighted Metallica's heavy impact. And at the conclusion of the video, they both admit the band has a lot of "Pixies" parts and "Metallica" moments throughout its catalog....
White Reaper
October 20, 2021 19:21 - 24 minutes - 33.3 MBTired of pretentious music? Are you looking to just have fun and rock out? The good-time, make-you-move-and-groove medicine you're after is what White Reaper dispenses. The band's core was formed in 2012 when Louisville high schoolers Tony Esposito (guitar/vocals) and Nick Wilkerson (drums) started jamming as a duo. Then Nick recruited his twin brother Sam (bass) and Esposito added friend Ryan Hater (keys). And the fearsome foursome released their rowdy, ripping 2015 debut, White Reaper Doe...
Eric Clapton
October 14, 2021 14:46 - 12 minutes - 17.4 MBAt age 76, Eric Clapton remains a major presence in guitar. He's touring again rather than simply resting on nearly six decades of laurels, and with Slowhand's blessing, Dan Dearnley—the legend's tech for a dozen years—showed us his boss' setup before a September 21 concert at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. Three Signature Strats, Martins, and not much else. Dig in! [Brought to you by D'Addario XS Strings: https://ddar.io/xs.rr]
The Sword [2021]
October 07, 2021 15:32 - 33 minutes - 45.8 MBThere's no doubt ZZ Top trademarked Texas boogie. And over 30 years later, the Sword furthered the Lonestar shuffle's legacy by darkening it. The Austin outfit's 2006 debut Age of Winters combined the rhythmic bounce of Tres Hombres with the power and might of Master of Reality. The cross-pollination of Gibbons and Iommi continued in 2008's Gods of the Earth, with heavier right-hand picking and tempos shading towards thrash-y Priest and Thin Lizzy's "Emerald." Traces of proggy psychedelia, ...
Descedents' Stephen Egerton
September 22, 2021 18:33 - 11 minutes - 20.5 MBOne guitar (with no knobs), one amp, and one pedal is all this punk-rock papa needs to command the stage. It's pretty astonishing that a sophomoric band of misfits and outcasts have chiseled a 40-plus-year legacy of punk rock, but that's what the improbable Descendents have been doing since 1977. Their brand of snotty, snarling, snarky, succinct songs have endeared them to rock titans like Dave Grohl. "[They have] this shameless, love-song aesthetic—none of the other bands had the balls t...
Rise Against [2021]
September 15, 2021 19:13 - 27 minutes - 50.1 MBGuitarists Tim McIlrath and Zach Blair enjoy tenacious tones with rock's mightiest tag team—Gibsons into Marshalls—aided by a few everyman effects and one mythical stomp. Rise Against rose out of Chicago around Y2k on the back of roaring Gatling-gun guitars, blast-beat rhythms, and defiant, sharp-tongued social commentary. The band's first pair of albums—2001's The Unraveling and 2003's Revolutions Per Minute—are blistering bangers rooted in traditional hardcore chaos, spiced up with fist-...
Greta Van Fleet [2021]
September 09, 2021 11:38 - 40 minutes - 55 MBBig tones for big rooms takes big gear. The Grammy-winning guitar-and-bass team of Jake and Sam Kiszka give us a tour of their on- and offstage rigs. [Brought to you by D'Addario XPND Pedalboard: http://ddar.io/xpnd.rr]
RJ Ronquillo
September 01, 2021 18:46 - 59 minutes - 82.1 MBA backwards Strat, a radical Jetsons-y guitar, Def Leppard's secret weapon, and more pedals than currently listed on Reverb fill this YouTuber's tone lounge. [Brought to you by D'Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr]
Brent Mason [2021]
August 25, 2021 19:49 - 37 minutes - 51.2 MBHe's played on more than a thousand albums. Now, here's a close-up look at this Nashville session legend's live rig. [Brought to you by D'Addario XS Strings: https://ddar.io/xs.rr]
Rig Rundown: Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger [2021]
August 18, 2021 19:10 - 1 hour - 85.4 MBTake a cruise through the Gibson- and Marshall-heavy world of this Grammy-winning, hard-rocking duo. [Brought to you by D'Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr]
Striking Matches
August 11, 2021 20:42 - 40 minutes - 55.3 MBGrinding guitars + soaring vocals = stripped-down rock bliss. The spark for Striking Matches flared in 2007, on the first day Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis met in a guitar class at Belmont University. They've been playing as a duo and leading other musicians under the band's banner, with an album and a handful of EPs to their credit, ever since. Recently, Premier Guitar's John Bohlinger met with Zimmermann and Davis in their East Nashville studio while they took a break from recording ...
Whores
August 04, 2021 19:11 - 56 minutes - 77.1 MBSnap! Crackle! Pop! You've never heard T-styles deliciously deformed like this pair of steamrollers piloted by noise rocker Christian Lembach. [Brought to you by D'Addario Auto-Lock Straps: https://ddar.io/AutoLockRR]
The Dead Daisies [2021]
July 28, 2021 20:11 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MBClassic-rock warriors Doug Aldrich and Glenn Hughes show us their latest touring set ups.
Teenage Bottlerocket
July 22, 2021 20:53 - 12 minutes - 17.5 MBThese Fat Wreck-label punkers keep it stupid simple with single-humbucker, classic-custom recreations for their ripping Ramones downstrokes and pogo-ready choruses. [Brought to you by D'Addario's XPND Pedalboards: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr]
Carolyn Wonderland
July 14, 2021 18:52 - 16 minutes - 22.3 MBAn Austin guitar legend in the making shares her rare Gibson, a custom-built amp, ferocious fingerpicking style, and passion for bringing fire to the blues. [Brought to you by D'Addario Auto-Lock Straps: https://ddar.io/AutoLockRR]
Spotlights
July 08, 2021 21:36 - 1 hour - 90.8 MBBludgeoning, beautiful, jarring, and serene are just a few of the cinematic moods conjured by this doomy, fuzz-loving husband-and-wife duo of Mario and Sarah Quintero. [Brought to you by D'Addario Backline Gear Transport Pack: https://ddar.io/GigBackpack-RR]
Justin Johnson
June 30, 2021 20:57 - 1 hour - 100 MBSmooth blues slide? Check. Mellow, soulful tones with an edge? Check. Epic gear? Check and double-check. Brought to you by D'Addario XL Strings: http://ddar.io/XL.RR
Quicksand's Walter Schreifels
June 23, 2021 19:33 - 1 hour - 94.9 MBThe post-hardcore heavyweight lays out the tonal road map for the new Distant Populations—including a shocking secret-weapon practice combo. Plus, he explains his pedal evolution from abstinence to indulgence. [Brought to you by D'Addario XL Strings: http://ddar.io/XL.RR]
Moon Tooth's Nick Lee
June 02, 2021 21:39 - 1 hour - 87.3 MBThe "aggressive progressive" guitarist chases "peanut-butter tone" with a pair of Vigiers, some fine-tuned drives, drifting delays, and ping-ponging pitch shifters.
Gilad Hekselman
May 19, 2021 19:48 - 1 hour - 96.2 MBThe jazz-trio chameleon uses handcrafted guitars and a self-restricted, condensed pedal playground to cover bass, keys, and a disintegrating computer.
Oliver Wood
May 12, 2021 18:19 - 38 minutes - 52.8 MBA Guild hollowbody stuffed with undies? A wooden slide? Dinky, about-to-burst, plywood combos? All these "left" turns fuel this Wood Brothers' solo journey.
Aaron Lee Tasjan
May 05, 2021 19:29 - 44 minutes - 60.9 MBThe Nashvillian's interstellar pop rock soars on the backs of a futuristic 12-string, a Gibson-Fender hybrid, and a "new" pedal that makes "old" sounds.
Starcrawler's Henri Cash
April 28, 2021 18:45 - 1 hour - 83.4 MBA sonic mashup of Iggy, Petty, and White (both Clarence and Jack) ring and rage thanks to a 3-string Parsons (and more) slathered in fuzz and octave.
Whiskey Myer's John Jeffers
April 21, 2021 19:55 - 26 minutes - 36.5 MBSee how a handful of Gibsons and AC30 stacks add up to a Texas-sized tone.
Yasmin Williams
April 14, 2021 20:22 - 42 minutes - 57.7 MBAfter conquering Guitar Hero II, she's reimagining acoustic guitar with two-hand lap tapping, percussive flourishes, and washing it all through reverb and modulation.
Zane Carney
April 07, 2021 19:58 - 1 hour - 84.6 MBSee how the jazz-minded guitarist and ace sideman twisted his bastardized Tele with a flush board of analog gems and freaky filth for his latest album, Alter Ego.