Jason Fryer's Guitar Rig

I get asked a lot about my guitar rig, so I decided that I’d dedicate a small space to it on our site to anyone who’s interested. My rig is pretty old school. There are no rack units, no multi effects units, & no complex switching systems. I like to keep my tone as sonically pure as possible & as a result have experimented with hundreds of different amps, guitars & effects over the years. Currently I use 2 different amplifiers: A hand wired Fender '57 Tweed Twin Reissue & a Marshal hand wired 1974x. Both amps are stock with the exception of Weber Beam Blockers being added to help disperse the tone more evenly. My main guitar is an Epiphone Sheraton II that I modded out with Sheptone Pickups, new wiring harness & caps, a Gibson TP-6 Tailpiece & a Graph-Tech ResoMax bridge. My other 2 guitars are a Fender American Strat Deluxe & a Gibson Les Paul Custom. (Both stock )For pedals I have a Diago Pedalboard & power supply & my pedals are all wired with George L cables. For any of you who may be wondering, they do make a HUGE difference & are very much worth the extra cash.

My signal chain runs like this:

• Fulltone Standard Clyde Wah
• Fulltone MDV II
• Korg Pitch Black Tuner
• Diamond Compressor
• Xotic BB Pre
• Xotic AC Boost
• Xotic RC Boost
• Boss/Fender ’63 Reverb

So basically, people see my board & freak out thinking that I have a ton of effects, but for the most part, they are more tone shaping tools than effects. I use my pedals in different combinations to create a wide range of tonal palettes that make for better presentation of the songs we play. So instead of having a 2 or 3 channel amp, I use the comp, overdrives, fuzz & boost pedals to create different combinations of "amp channels" allowing for a greater degree of flexibility & expressiveness in my playing.

Another big advantage to using pedals like this is that my stage volume is quite low compared to a lot of other players & this is beneficial in so many ways. For starters, not being a loud band opens up more opportunities to play. We can have the full band playing in a small Jazz Bistro & people can still talk & have a good time. So controlled levels allow you to get into smaller places & when you’re trying to make a living at music, you need ALL the gigs you can get. Also, when the night ends, everyone is thinking about what a good time they had that night & how they weren’t overpowered by the band & guess what? Spin-off gigs. Almost every place we play results in more gigs whether in the form of weddings, parties, corporate functions or other club gigs. More gigs = more $$$ = no day job. This I like! The second benefit is that when you’re playing larger venues, festivals etc, the sound technicians have way more control over the mix & they love you for that. If the sound guy loves you, he’ll recommend you to other contacts of his & this also results in more work for you. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE to unplug my pedals & crank my amp up & run straight in, it’s great! But I like more gigs better. I also like not going deaf. So now onto the breakdown of the signal chain:

We’ll start with the amps - I usually only bring one amp out with me & in most cases it’s the Marshall just because it’s so much lighter to carry. Both amps sound amazing, both sound very different & I could never decide what to keep if I had to pick one over the other. For recording having both is ideal because you’ve got pretty much all your bases covered in 2 amps. Regardless as to which amp I use, I always use the pedals in the same manner although with slightly different settings depending on which amp I’m running & what the room I’m playing in sounds like. The Marshall is a much more aggressive sounding amp, so I automatically dial the gain down right away on all three Xotic pedals when using it. I never run a lot of gain anyhow, the RC & AC usually run between 9 & 10 o’clock & the BB sits between 10 & 12. Before each show I listen to the room acoustics & try each pedal to check the bass response. If the room’s real boomy, I’ll use the active EQ’s on the Xotic pedals to cut some low end. then I set each one to have just a slight bit of a boost over the clean tone getting a little louder with each pedal. The RC is used to get just a little bit of a Bluesy bite, the AC is just a bit more leaning towards overdrive & the BB is fully overdriven to a nice Classic Rock sound. Once they’re set, I check the comp & adjust it so that it goes as loud as the amp does clean if I’m hammering the strings. For most gigs I leave the reverb on unless I’m playing a really reverberant room in which case I’ll leave it off. The comp I’ll use in conjunction with the wah pedal & a clean tone to prevent any frequencies from jumping out of the mix, I’ll also use it sometimes to get a bit of a funkier tone & I also use it as a boost for leads. I’ll also use the guitar’s volume & tone knobs to set the tone. For quieter Jazzy tunes I run the amp clean & dry & use the volume knob as rhythm & lead boost, or sometimes I’ll leave the guitar volume at about 70% & just hit the comp for a lead. Every situation, song & room is different & using what you have at your disposal widely is critical if you want to work a lot. You have to keep listening & re-evaluating what it is you’re hearing & make the necessary adjustments. Just like everything else, it’s a matter of practice. After a while, you’ll walk into a room & just hearing the tone of the room you’ll have it in your head how you’re going to set up your tone. Remember also that as a room fills up, it’s acoustic qualities change drastically, so you may have to make small adjustments as the night goes on. Just remember one thing though, if the room fills up a lot & it’s a rowdy crowd, tell the sound tech that you’re turning up before you actually do so he’ll know to pull you down in the mix. Better to just ask for more in the monitors & leave the amp alone! If any of you reading this have any questions or need help with your rig, I volunteer on Allexperts.com & I’m also on Liveperson.com, or you can just shoot me an email or catch me on Facebook. Thanks for checkin’ out my gear page, hope you enjoyed your stay!

Peace - J