Not sure if I've seen one of these threads on this site. What guitar/bass rig are we all running at present? What kind of tone do we get?

Personally I run:

Gibson SG 2016 Special w. two mini-humbuckers
Kustom Double Barrell 30 Watt
Pro-Co Rat 2/EH Metal Muff with Top Boost
Jim Dunlop Cry Baby

My band play a sort of heavy rock with a doom and psychedelia focus, think Black Sabbath meets Tool meets Enslaved. As I'm the only guitar player in the band I need to ensure that I have plenty of beef in my sound so I usually raise the mids to a medium/high sort of position, whilst keeping the bass at about 11 o' clock and the treble at 1 o' clock. I whack my distortion up to a bout 12 o' clock and when I use the Rat I put the filter up to about 9 o' clock'. Gives me a heavy tone but its really clear too. If a strum a chord mid-riff you can hear all the strings chime etc. I would go higher on the bass EQ but we have the bass really high in the mix so I don't wanna clash with that!

I'm lucky to have been able to afford some fairly nice equipment and tailor my tone, but I'm increasingly convinced that important parts of tone come from your playing technique.

Anyway, here's my main setup:

Gibson Les Paul Studio (D'Addario 13-62 Nickel Wound strings, tuned down 5 half steps to B-standard)
Ibanez TS-9 overdrive
Marshall JVM 410h
Engl Pro 2x12 loaded with Celestion V30

I play in a two-guitar band, and our style is predominantly black metal and death metal. Our take on the genres isn't at all the most extreme one, and there's a good amount of influence from other genres like melodic death metal and post-metal. Finding the right tone for my tastes is a balance between clarity, mids and enough punch and distortion for heavy palm mutes. The Tube Screamer is absolutely essential for that, and the Marshall head seems to take the pedal quite well. The result is a focused, middle-heavy tone, a bit on the bright end, with enough fatness for heavy chugs in a two-guitar setup.

When we recorded our first album in early 2014, I was completely clueless about guitar equipment and how certain things affected tone. I wasn't very satisfied with the guitar sound I managed to get, and that inspired me to do a little more research. When I bought the Gibson, it felt like I had finally discovered a missing piece, both in terms of playability (the shorter scale length feels amazing) and tone.

The next chapter in my quest for the Grail is probably trying out some of those big Blackstar heads, just to see if they can nail the Marshally tone with a little less disposition towards fizziness. I have a HT-5 Metal combo as a practice amp, and it sounds absolutely fantastic with the Gibson and the Tube Screamer. Unfortunately it seems that Blackstar may not be the best brand when it comes to amp reliability...

I totally agree that your pick attack and play style makes a huge difference to your sound. Recently i've found that I very rarely switch channels on my guitar when playing clean sections and instead alter my picking style whilst turning down volume/tone knobs on the guitar. It's made for a more natural sound with a little more sonic variety.

But gear definitely helps haha, I noticed such a big difference when I first took the plunge and shelled out for a Gibson. So easy to dial in a nice sound with that thing!

It's a great idea to use the guitar volume pot to clean up your tone for quieter passages, because it seems that most amps have completely different voicings for their clean and drive channels - especially so for 4-channel high-gain monsters - which, I think, can sound awkward or even jarring if the player switches between them frequently.

What I like about the JVM is that if I play my normal lead-channel stuff on channel 4 orange mode, I can clean it up for a similar tone by switching to green mode. Tuning the guitar low and running the Tube Screamer pretty hard, I can use a fairly low amount of gain and still melt faces with palm-mutes, so the green mode will actually be more of a crunch channel, rather than a lead one.

Gear certainly does help, and I suppose my realisation only really matters given a certain level of gear and skill. If you can spend 3300€ on gear, and you're already a good enough player to have developer your own playing style, changing your Marshall head to a Peavey, or Mesa cab to an Engl won't make a massive difference.

ESP DV8-R w/ Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz or Ibanez Prestige RG3550MZ with DiMarzio pickups

Pedalboard: Audio Technica System 8 wireless, ModTone Tuner, Donner Noise Killer, Rocktron Tri-Wah

ENGL Thunder 50 (soon to be an ENGL Savage 60)

Mesa Traditional 4x12 w/ V30's

My bands are both basically power/thrash, my tone is going for that very tight and crunchy Exodus-style sound, and the modern power metal tone like Primal Fear's past few releases. In terms of EQ, I keep the bass and mids slightly rolled off, and treble slightly up, I don't deviate much from straight 12 o'clock. Gain is relatively high, around 3 o'clock, the Thunder is a slightly low-gain amp, but it can handle the tones I'm going for. Picking up a Savage 60 here in a day or two.

Had a bit of a tone hunt last night actually with the rest of the band. I found that more or less I could find a nice tone with most reasonable EQ combinations e.g. scooped, high mids, treble boost, bass boost. The high mids and treble boosted sounds were great with a bit of a roll back on the tone knob.

Ironically though, I found that I got the nicest tone on my rig by having everything at pretty noon! As I played I boosted the mids and bass to about 1 o' clock but even so. Sounded great. Heavy but clear which I usually find difficult to achieve in D Standard tuning!

I have two rigs that I use regularly.

First, main rig:
1986 Charvel Model 6 (25.5 scale>C Standard currently>Elixir lights>Seymour Duncan Nazgul>EMG Afterburner)
Peavey 5150 Mk I.
Peavey 5150 slant cab.

Sometimes I use reverb (EHX Cathedral) and eq (Dunlop MXR-10) in the loop, sometimes I don't.

Second rig:
Washburn Idol 64DL (24.7 scale>B standard currently>Elixir lights>stock configuration)
Lee Jackson Perfect Connection GP1000 preamp
Marshall JCM800 2204
Peavey 5150 straight cab

Sometimes I use my Ibanez TS10 in place of the Lee Jackson, sometimes I don't.


Musically I am all over the place, but black metal and blackened melodic death metal is more a mainstay than other genres usually. I have several several other guitars, amps, & gear and I tend to swap out electronics and pickups often. I have been considering a nice Charvel So Cal or Ibanez RG550/750/whatever fifty because of the ease of simply presetting multiple pickguards and swapping them when I want something different. I am a huge Charvel fanboy, but I used to have a nice RG570 and sometimes pine for another Ibanez.

Thrash metal bass player. My rig is as follows:

Fender 60th Anniversary P-Bass usually.
Hartke HA5500 500 watt bass head
twin 4X10 Hartke XL cabs

Also have a Behringer bass v-amp preamp for when I want to use a delay or a flanger or something cool like that.
Occasionally use a Morley power wah pedal too. (Thinks Cliff Burton on For Whom the Bell Tolls - that pedal)

When I'm not using that setup, I'm going through a Genz Benz Contour 500 watt combo amp.

Some of my bandmates tell me I have too many pedals but I actually have a simple setup compared to most guitarists I know who gig regularly. For most gigs I will have:

Guitars:
Gibson Les Paul Studio
Gibson ES-335 (a B.B. King model from the 1980s, used for cleaner sounds).

Amps:
Engl Screamer 50 Head
Engl Vintage Cab

Pedals:
ENGL Z-V Footswitch
Boosta Grande Clean Boost
TC Electronic Mojo Mojo Overdrive
Boss D1-Distortion
Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulator
Xvive v8 Analog Chorus Vibrato
Mooer Vintage Phaser
Fender AB pedal (switches the signal between the amp and guitar pod)
Pod HD500X running into the mixing desk for weirder sounds.

I've been meaning to buy a decent delay pedal and a reverb pedal (the reverb on the amp is too dark and murky sounding for me, so I was thinking about either the Boss Reverb or the Digitech Polara), but I haven't go round to it yet....

Damn, everyone on this thread has amazing gear. I'm currently running a criminally simple and cheap rig.

Guitars:
LTD Viper-100 (Eb standard)
Rocket Special Stratocaster (E standard/Drop D)

Amp/FX:
Randall RG100SC 2x12 Combo (2 Celestion Seventy 80's)
Behringer UM300 Ultra Metal (Boss MT-2 Metal Zone copycat)

I play in a death metal band and for that I used to use the Strat but then I bought the Viper and that became my main guitar for that purpose, with the being Strat relegated to playing at home, usually jamming on Metallica riffs, indie and straight rock songs.
My tone is pretty solid and chunky most of the time for the death metal/industrial stuff. The EQ is usually Bass to 12 or 11 o'clock, Mids to 10 o'clock, Treble to 12:30 or 1 o'clock and Contour to about 3 o'clock with the Gain (usually on the 2nd gain channel) to 10 o'clock. Gives a rather chunky and full sounding tone that isn't too unbalanced and mushy yet it's still dirty and mean sounding and when I'm playing with the full band it cuts through rather well. Sometimes I turn the Reverb to like 7:30 just to get a bit of ambience and tail going. The only thing I use the UM300 for is boosting. I crank the Level to max, leave the Distortion to 0, Bass and High to 1 o'clock, Mids to 0 or 9 o'clock and Mid Frequency to about 3:30. Gives a nasty midrange and makes it chunk and cut through even more, though it can get a bit noisy if there's too much gain on the amp. I also use it to get the HM-2, swedish buzzsaw tone by scooping the mids out of it and leaving everything as previously mentioned.

I got a few things at my disposal. Also outdated by like 10 more amps.

For my main project I'm running:

Edwards Flying V

Korg Pitchblack
EHX Soul Food
Boss NS-2
EHX Cathedral

Randall V2
Marshall MF400

I'm playing what you could call ''modern'' black metal and have a really agressive low-mid focussed tone with as clear as possible highs. Weirdly for having such an complex amp, I'm running it almost like a single chanel head. Always on the valve chanel, as little gain as possible, and getting all my different sounds from pedal switching, tweaking the guitar and changing my attack. All my tonestack on my amp is at full blast and I'm EQing with the graphic EQ. I'm quite happy of my tone but I'm thinking of changing my bridge pickup for less high-mids straight out of the guitar and glassier top end, but I may just be a little OCD.





The Valve Dynamic RG100 are killer for the price that they can be got for. I used to have one and those with the reverb tank have one of the best on board reverbs I tried, and weirdly there cleans are pretty good.

In other news I've just took out a 24 month finance agreement in order to get a Marshall DSL100H and 1960B 412 cab.

Excited, doesn't quite cover it. First valve amp I've ever owned and I can't believe that within the space of a year I've managed to get myself a Gibson guitar and a Marshall half stack.

Life is good.

I have like nothing lmao

Amp: Behringer Blue Devil GX112
Pedal: MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion
Guitar: Epiphone Les Paul Jr.

Its just crazy good rig central in this thread haha. Tbf, this time last year I was rocking on an Epiphone Les Paul Midnight Custom with little more than my 212 combo and Metal Muff pedal. I just decided to focus finances on my band for a year to see where we can go with it

What amp is the one on the floor that's exactly in the middle of the pic? Is it an Ampeg VH/SS series?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've got a really bad case of "if it aint broke, dont fix it", so I haven't acquired much gear over the past 21 years. I've been using this setup for a while:

Jackson guitar (tuned to E-standard since 2009)
D.O.D. FX7 processor (since 1999)
Marshall G100R CD amp (since 2002)
Marshall MG412 speaker (since 2002)

Until 2009 I used 7-string guitar tuning on my 6-string: my first two albums were tuned BEADGB, the next two were tuned to C. Then in 2009 I switched to E-standard (but still playing the same style of music). Sometimes I use the fx pedal, sometimes I don't. If I want a more dynamic sound where the guitar will be clean when I play quiet and distorted when I play hard, I'll just plug directly into my amp with the gain up high on the "normal" channel. For constant death/black stuff I prefer the distortion from my fx pedal.

I love these kinds of threads! I play guitar in a heavy rock/trad. metal/noise rock band, and bass in a hardcore/powerviolence band. I also play in Spawning Vats with SLK here, but for that I just use whatever guitar straight into whatever combo of his amps/cabs I feel like using that day.

Guitars
Agile AL-3010 (Les Paul copy) that I fitted with Lace Alumitone humbuckers
Ampeg Dan Armstrong AMG100 w/ aftermarket high output humbucker
B.C. Rich Gunslinger Retro that I fitted with a DiMarzio Super Distortion
Marshall DSL100H
guitar > Boss TU-2 tuner > EQD Acapulco Gold -or- black Russian Big Muff > Boss Blues Driver > amp > cab(s)
fx send > EQD Sea Machine > MXR Phase 90 > MXR 10-band EQ > fx return
Mauler 2x15 (Eminence Legend 15's)
Mauler 2x12 (Celestion v30's, British-made)
Avatar 4x12 (Eminence Swamp Thangs)
Laney 4x12 (borrowed cab, sounds great paired with the Avatar)

Bass
Sterling SUB Ray4
Squier Matt Freeman Signature P-Bass
-Currently using a bandmates Ampeg 2x15 combo hooked into a Kustom 8x10, though in the past I just used my DSL100H as a bass head (works great, recommended if used with proper cab). For bass fx I usually just run a DOD Meatbox reissue and that black Russian Big Muff into the front of the amp.

At the moment I play bad thrash, bad doom and bad post-rock/shoegaze

Main guitars:
Gibson les paul standard
Ormsby 7 string hypegtr set to either standard 7 string tuning or drop a

Going through:
a big muff pi russian clone made by a local dude
a behringer hm2 clone,
TC hall of fame reverb
boss space echo,
boss loop station

ending up in:
an orange dual terror going through a 1x12

I want a fairly tight and focused modern-ish metal tone but nothing in the rig comes close to that. It does fuzzy doom and shoegaze stuff beautifully, though, just this huge, crumbling tone. The main things I really want are that aforementioned metal distortion pedal, and probably a cab upgrade so it's a 2x12, or maybe even a 2x15. The big muff pedal is quite the amp destroyer and it tends to overpower the cab fairly easily when cranked. Aside from that I feel rather fortunate in my setup, it's simple and does everything I need from it. Fantastic clean tone particularly from the gibson.

I find that the easiest and cheapest way to tighten, focus and slightly modernise a metal tone is a TS-9 style overdrive. Dime the volume, add just a little bit of drive (it's optional) and tone to taste. Higher tone setting = more cut and apparently more drive as well, you start to get that almost cocked wah pedal tone if you put too much of it. What pickups does that Les Paul have? My Studio has 498T, and while it's not modern, it can definitely do tight, focused metal. I've been thinking about buying a 500T and trying it out, since it's a bit hotter, but I love the tone the stock one has so much that I don't think I want to risk it.

If you're going to buy a 2x12'', I can definitely attest to the modernness and tightness of the Engl 2x12'' Pro.

Can I ask how you find your Marshall DSL100H? I've literally just ordered one with a 1960B 412 cab and can't wait to try it!

Ilwhyan, yeah I'm sure it could do tight and focused stuff, but putting it through a fuzz pedal and then through an orange head doesn't really strike me as the best way to go about it, haha. I'm surprised at how out of control the hm2 clone is, I can't rein it in at all. Think I have the same pickup configuration- it is pretty fantastic sounding, I'm quite keen on dicking around with my old epiphone explorer's pickup config but I'll leave the LP as it is. I will take your ds9 advice, though.

LPs may have a few quality control issues but jeez they sound good. Would recommend the ormsby too. Extremely versatile guitar, and I love the aesthetics. Here's a six string version of my seven string one, for some eye candy:



Finally, dragunov- how does the 2x15 treat you? I kinda like the idea of getting that instead of a 2x12, particularly for my seven string needs.

I have a pretty inexpensive rig geared towards recording at the moment:

Guitar:
-Custom neck thru SG-style guitar with a Carvin neck:

Amp(s):
-Orange Dark Terror
-Panama Fuego X
Cab:
-An Orange 1x12 cab
Pedals:
-MXR carbon copy delay
-Cusack Music tube screamer
-TC Electronics Ditto Looper

I tend to switch between my two amps depending on what kind of voicing I want, generally the Fuego has a more modern sound and the Dark Terror has a heavy british crunch.

Hey all, I love seeing all the setups on here! I'm weird and kind of enjoy seeing the cheaper ones to kind of get ideas of solid backup stuff. I found I'm learning quite a bit which is nice.

Currently I am playing black thrash type of stuff with a band I just joined this year, and it is going pretty well, I decided to go with a rack setup this time.

Guitars

Ibanez Xiphos 300-fx
[Dimarzio Titans pickup set, volume knob only]

Esp LTD V-50
[Dimarzio crunchlab bridge pickup, Dean hands without shadows neck pickup, volume knob only]

Amplifier Rig

4-Space Gator rack
[Furman Power conditioner, guitar signal > Korg Pitchblack tuner > Rocktron Voodu valve preamp > Rocktron Velocity 100 poweramp]

Laney 2x12
[Celestion Seventy 80, Eminence Man O War, wired to have individual inputs allowing for stereo output]

Pedals

Rocktron Midimate footswitch


So far I am enjoying this setup because of the flexibility it allows. I can easily select different tones if I'm in the mood for a different sound or eq. It has also allowed me to do away with my pedalboard pretty much, but still have all my crazy over the top effects when and if I want them. The ability to have a low & high end contour at the power amp going to each speaker individually makes it so easy to tweak in a good sound that is balanced as well that doesn't over power anybody, plus if I want more natural speaker driven low mids I turn up my man o war, if I want a more scooped natural speaker sound I turn up my seventy 80.

So far I'm loving the rig, and the guitars are two amazing ones for cheap I must say. Just had to get some better pickups in them & a setup. I look forward to hearing what you all think, and seeing more awesome setups!

My main guitar is a n ESP LTD MH-401NT (matte silver), with EMG active pickups and 12 guage strings, tuned one whole step down. I use Jazz III picks.

My main pedal setup is a Korg Pitchblack, Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini TC Vortex and TC Sentry.

My amp is a Blackstar HT Club 40 (40 watt tube amp), I mainly use overdrive, with the bass very low but the mid and treble high, my rhythm guitarist used distortion.

I just started a band and our style is black/death metal with some folk and gothic influences, I play lead guitar.

I have a simple setup considering I play some really technical stuff:

An LTD M-207 in B standard/drop A
A Carvin SX200 with a V212 extension cabinet
A Behringer V-Amp for my tone and effects (my third actually since they have a 5 year lifespan on average) with a half broken FCB1010 footswitch

I see no reason to upgrade my rig despite how cheap it is because it's versatile and it can sound deceptively good if you know how to work with a v-amp. My guitar on the other hand I'd love to replace eventually because I don't like the flat radius or dealing with the licensed floyd rose (which I've blocked so it stays in tune better). At least it has low action and sounds decent. I use Kalium strings and heavy tortex sharp picks. I used to use Jazz III's but I find the sharps have a way better pick attack without sacrificing the speed.

For bass I have an Ibanez SR506 rewired to be fully passive going through the same V-amp. No amp for it, but the only band I played it in I was able to go through a PA. I play fingerstyle and use the same brand strings as my guitar. I also have a fretless 7-string guitar that I mess around with on occasion but it needs some work done to it so it's out of commission right now. It was a conversion of a cheap Washburn X-17 that I somehow managed to make playable.

playing techincal music doesn't mean your setup has to be some idiot swarm of wires and blinking rack mount shit. tons of techincal music is played on a simple guitar + amp + cab

Absolutely. It's mostly those modern heavy progressive players - like djent and other 7+ string stuff like that - who need fifteen different amp models for every song. If anything, having to use your guitar's controls and your own hands to adjust the tone response and shape your tone as appropriate is more technical than pressing buttons on a footswitch.

exactly. If you feel the need you need 30 different amp settings to play a set doesn't make you a great musician or guitarist... it makes you an asshole.

I had to mention it because I've met a few people in real life that assumed I have a complicated rig just because I play technical music. It probably is because of djent becoming so popular. I've been playing 7-strings since before that was a thing but I usually get lumped in with that scene anyway. It doesn't bother me though as long as people are listening.

But yeah, I prefer a simple setup all the way.

I didn't know there was such a bias against rack setups, so far I am loving mine but I typically just use 3 or 4 different types of clean / overdrive / distortion settings & then use the other patches to program one with a little boost in volume for a solo, or add an effect like I would with a stompbox.

Is there any general reason most people don't like rack setups? I know they can get out of hand at times, but I don't think mine is too over-board.

Not against rack setups as such - just completely overboard setups. I don't really recognise the gear you use, but it doesn't look very overboard to me at all.

Honestly, I don't mind if a guitarist has to spend $25k on their setup to be inspired, as long as they can happily make music with it. The only setups I regret are those that aren't good enough. It's just amusing when people have these massive systems with a million switches, stages, modes and channels, and they go through a slew of them in every song, because that passage just doesn't sound right without the Engl Powerball V1 with EL34 mod through a 4x12 oversized Mesa Boogie Rectifier cab loaded with Celestion Greenbacks model, because nobody in the audience can tell, and at best someone will be confused why the guitar tone changes a bit all the time.

Some people may also associate rack setups with moving on to lame, digital-sounding tones, which notably happened with some bands like Judas Priest, apparently.

Ahh, that makes sense. I mean it is pretty easy for some people to go overboard I would imagine, but I just wanted to switch to a rack so that I could eliminate my pedalboard but still have all the different effects there if / when I need them.

Like for some clean atmospheric passages I could goto clean with reverb & a bit of delay, or like the solo boost example I gave. I mean if I really wanted to I could have a patch for a ton of different parts in songs but like you said it would just be confusing & get in the way of the music.

So I totally understand what you mean now I was just confused because so far I have been enjoying the quick setup / breakdown and being able to have my tuner basically built into my setup.

Largely I'm the exact same as Ilwhyan why I hate them. but also I am one of the few that can tell something is missing or lacking from the tone. But that's me and my personal taste and owning a ton of gear. Hell I belong to the First Church of Amplifer Worship for a reason. All amp modling shit is immediately shit on and users are hated. it's in the bylaws. lol

I hear ya there, I was just curious but between all my gear I have found it gets the results I am looking for in live performances: good tube tone from my preamp, (did use to use a mesa boogie 2:50 so I would have a tube power section, had to swap it as it didn't mix well with the other guitarist's solid state combo amp) I have all the effects I need which I mostly just use reverb & delay (I prefer a spring reverb tank, but for size / weight reduction it is okay for me to just tweak the high frequency damp to make it sound less digital, and I use a digital delay anyhow for cleaner repeats) and if I don't like the sound of this setup I can swap other parts in and out as needed.

Don't get me wrong I would love to take my 4x12 cabinet, my mesa triple rectifier, and my pedal board to every gig, but after a couple years of doing that it got kind of old. So this is why I made the switch, just for live performances where as long as I can get a good representation of what I'm going for after it goes through the PA (which is solid state, thus clipping some natural frequencies even when using an all tube head on stage) to the audience.

Sure these aren't the top of the top, but I am sacrificing a bit to make things quicker & easier for me to get onto & off a stage. Now when it comes to studio / recording the only peice of rack kit I would use might be a tuner lol beyond that I'll most likely be plugged straight from guitar to the amp with nothing in between me & pure tone.

Hah nice! I never knew about such a group, I'm totally down to join and I agree that modeler still need a lot of work before they will ever sound like an amp.

I normally set up with a 612 a 415, 2 412s and a 212115 with 3 heads. I can set up in 5-8 mins. basically the same time my drummer can set up his 5 piece kit. I can break down and off stage in 5mins. But whatever works for you. Most venues over the 15years i've played are usually vocal only or only vocal and kick. You have to look for the group on facebook it's secrets so a direct search. might have to be invited to get in. I don't remember how I got in.

That's quite the amount of awesome wattage there! Not to mention bring able to set it up so quick, it would take a while to do that. Sounds like you have had a lot of practice at it too. So sounds like maybe I need to spend more time practicing breaking down & setting up / tuning to get my speeds more up to snuff.

I see, yeah here the gigs I have played they are always 'behind on time' it seems or make it seem that way & pressure you to get up & off quick. Also that's interesting, I haven't played a gig yet where they only mic vocals or vocals & kick. The gigs I have played around here they typically direct in the bass, put a sm57 or e609 in front of the guitar cabinets, mic the kick, snare, toms, and then finally the vocal mic gets set up.

Ahh I see, well I will be sure to do a direct search & see what I can come up with thanks! Also sounds like you have a killer rig, I will have to look through this thread to find it.

Yea you must play at far fancier venues than I normally frequent. Plus I do a lot of DIY shows/house shows and such.

And yea I've been playing live for 15 years. So it's a skillful art and knowing how to prep what you can offstage. So usually hitting the stage with two or three guitars already tuned and ready to go. having all my cables pre sorted so when I grab my speaker cables that's all I grab and can easily unroll and plug up turning on any tube heads I brought so they can warm up. I have a 5 way signal splitter so all just plug directly into it and it's controlled like a regular foot switch so I can turn everything on and have them on mute. getting off stage is just as quick. turn off everything, unplug everything. haul off every head, haul off every cab, and then take my pile of cables and footswitch off. it's well rehearsed. I had to do the same when I was playing drums mainly in bands live. I'd use a 11piece kit, I'd have everything assembled pre-time slot. can load it all up like a puzzel and help set up the bassist's gear. break down was basically move all the cymbals/stands to the side, pick up all the toms and kicks at once, get the floor toms, and then all the cymbals. Then I'd go haul everyone else's shit off stage cause they were all slow too.

I'll link up one of my rigs some time tonight. I change up heads all the time. right now I've been using dual 5150's and usually some random solid state.

My rig is pretty simple:

- Jackson DKMG with a single BC Rich BDSM humbucker in the bridge. Needs to be repaired...
- Korean Classical Guitar from the 80s. Totally messed up but has a really nice and fat neck. Very comfortable to play. I will probably repair it in the near future.
- Line 6 UX2 interface.
- Philips microphone for recording my amp (about 10 USD)
- JJ Labs Amp w/ 412 cab (Celestion GT12T-75). It is a Marshall VS100 clone.