GEAR: Brad Paisley Part II Drummer Ben Sesar went to great lengths fit in with the rest of the Drama Kings. His gold and red paisley sparkle Spaun kit was designed and painted on with the aid of Adobe Illustrator . The Illustrator Toolbox was used to layout the spacing and size of the paisley stenciling.
I think I’ve just found my new desktop background.
Ben uses a vintage 1971 Ludwig 402 snare also known as the “Bonham Snare”, made famous by John Bonham throughout his career with Led Zeppelin.
Adding to the paisley motif is Randle Currie on steel guitar.
Randle plugs his MSA pedal steel into the rig below then into a pair of Evans speakers. His tunings are E9 and C6.
Kendal Marcy and Justin Williamson are the only two Drama Kings to have escaped the Mark Of The Paisley.
Kendal
is playing a Epiphone banjo and Gibson mandolin. His two keyboards are
both Yamaha synths. You’d think they could fit some kind of paisley
motif on the resonator. At least for the sake of continuity.
I didn’t get a chance to talk to Justin about his instruments. I’ll have to follow up on him the next time he’s on the show.
And
finally, on to the Paisley collection. With the exception of his trusty
“Ole’ Pink” and a blonde Fender Custom Shop telecaster, Brad plays Crook telecasters.
KLRU and Austin City Limits does not endorse stuffed animal cruelty.
Chad
Weaver has been Brad’s guitar tech for 2 ? years. Brad invited some of
his fans backstage so that Chad could walk them through Brad’s rig.
Brad’s guitars are stocked with a wide array of pickups, including Kinman , Alan Hamel, Voodoo , and Lindy Fralin
. Also, Brad has no specifically favored neck profiles on his
telecasters. They range from “hard” to “soft” V’s, to U shaped necks of
various profiles. What they do have in common is that they are all
strung with Ernie Ball .010 ’s and have McVay “G” Stringbenders
. When asked if Brad could only have one guitar, Chad remarked that it
would be “Ole Pink”, Brad’s main guitar for years and years. Look at
the wear on the finish of the back of the guitar body.
Brad’s amp rig is as exotic as it is top notch. On top of the two Dr.Z 2×12 cabinets sits a Vox AC30 head on the left and a Bruno Underground 30
head on the right. In the middle of the Z cabs is “Hattie Mae”, a hand
built Trainwreck Liverpool 30 watt head. The Trainwreck was built by
Ken Fischer a few months before his untimely death. The Trainwreck is
sitting on top of two other custom Dr.Z heads. Not seen in this
picture, to the right, is a Fender 3×10 Vibro King .
Here are a few shots of Brad’s effects rack.
Brad controls his rack effects from a programmable Voodoo Labs Ground Control .
Guitar Player magazine has done an amazingly thorough article on Brad and his rig. For a more in depth look, check out that link or the gear link on Brad’s website .
I have to share one more picture. After his ACL taping, Brad was invited to sit in with a local Austin institution, Heybale! Heybale! is a collective of incredible country musicians most notably the legendary sidemen Earle Poole Ball and Redd Volkaert . But someone else also sat in that night as well:
Two
Billy Gibbons sightings in one month. Billy started off the second set
of the night by singing one of the best versions of “Waltz Across
Texas” I’ve heard in a long, long time.
Thanks again to Brad
Paisley’s band and crew for taking the time to talk with me and letting
me snap pictures of some of their most prized possessions.
Stay Weird,
Kevin Cochran
Austin, TX
Tags: amps, Brad Paisley, Gear, guitars