My Evolution of Tone

Guitarist Mark Mason of the band Seven Car Pileup explains how he developed his current guitar rig. Hopefully this will be insightful of the process of being a guitarist for those who perform, or who simply enjoy it.

Guitarist spend retarded amounts of time in a feeble attempt to develop a sound all their own. Some stop once they reach something passable, and others keep at it in a quest to archetype a sound which exists in their wildest dreams. I fall into the last group. Some may think it insanity, but I feel that the tone of my instrument is almost as important than the way I perform it.

We'll start with my first "complete" Seven Car Pileup rig.

Epiphone LesPaul Deluxe with 57 Classic Pick-ups -> EHX Big Muff -> Boss TU-2 (tuner) -> Boss Volume Pedal -> Digitech Whammy -> Boss CS-3 -> DOD FX-25 -> MXR Phaser -> Morley Bad Horsie Wah -> Line 6 Delay -> Ibanez TS-9 -> Marshall JCM900 -> LopoLine 4x12 slant cab (with Eminence Red White & Blue & Man O Wars in XY)

It's amazing think about it, but this rig was from 2007. Quite a few of the pedals were used very sparingly and served little purpose. This was back in the day when I would do what I like to call pedal dancing. In fact, the rig was so large that my pedal board case was keyboard case size. It was first rig after Lucky and I believe I was trying very hard to do a better job at lead guitar than the lead guitarist for Lucky. This also back in the day when I would do a "pedal board" solo. I would use the guitar's feedback as oscillator and control it's pitch with the Whammy pedal and use the other pedals to modify the tone. I do miss it at moments, and it had a very unique vibe. However, it was a monstrous beast to deal with and the sound would often vear into 90s rock.

The first thought I had when I went to change my rig was that I needed a new amp first. Something very clean and pure, to go along with a new simple and small feel. I bought a Vox AC30, and it was right away a much nicer clean amp than anything I've ever owned. I alos bought a guitar to replace my Epiphone Les Paul, a 70s Ibanez Les Paul which I love. However, all the gear shuffling I did was really not that necessary as when we went into the studio we used Flying Blanket's gear and so my next live rig was based upon the gear we used on the EP as well as the ability to emulate tones on previous recordings with my previous rig.




Eventually I came to the following rig.


I used this rig for about a year. It served me well, and I probably wouldn't have changed anything until the rectifier tube blew out on the AC30 right before a show. I was forced to use a little Silvertone amp I had with an old Gibson amp Jess (bassist) was borrowing from a friend. I have never had more compliments on my gear than I did after that show. I have made a few adjustments to it since then, tweaking the tone a bit and removing some of the pedals here and there, but the rig I'm at now does some very cool things. I might change some things out here and there, and I'm also considering putting together a B-Rig. However, at this moment this is my sound.