Brian Setzer Rig Rundown Guitar Gear Tour [2023]
Full Rig Details: https://bit.ly/BrianSetzerRig
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Two-time Grammy Award-winning rockabilly hero Brian Setzer recently played a sold-out show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in support of his new solo album, The Devil Always Collects. Tyler Sweet, who has teched for Setzer for 17 years, took PG’s John Bohlinger through the rig that rocked this town, and just about every other town in the world over Setzer’s 40 years of twanging and sanging.
With his recognizable arsenal of plucky semi-hollows, Setzer has probably done more for the Gretsch brand than any other player in the last half-century. On this tour, Setzer brought out some old friends, like this 1959 Gretsch G6120 with gold hardware, rebuilt and restored by TV Jones. Jones treated it to a total overhaul, including a neck reset, a refret with a new radius, new inlays in the upper register, fresh binding side dots on the bass side and lacquer on the neck, a new bridge, reversed toggle switches, and an upgraded Wilkinson Delrin nut—plus, he removed the zero and fret-fill behind the nut. Like all of Setzer’s guitars, this supercharged swing machine stays strung with D’Addario EXL 110s (.010-.046), which Setzer strikes with medium celluloid picks.
In a 2014 interview with Setzer, PG featured had a sidebar with guitar guru TV Jones who detailed what he did to Brian’s guitars and how he created his signature pickup: “TV Jones mastermind Tom Jones—who’s been rehabilitating old pickups and winding new ones for Brian Setzer for 20+ years—explains the process behind the Stray Cat’s new signature pickups.
“It’s my job to ensure that all of Brian’s guitars play and sound the absolute best they can possibly be,” says Jones, who debuted the pickups at the March 2014 Musikmesse gear show in Frankfurt, Germany. “A few years back, I found that a few of Brian’s new Hot Rod signature guitars—which were sent to me by Gretsch to set up for his upcoming tours—sounded slightly brighter acoustically. So I decided to design a new pickup to bring out the best in these guitars—higher fidelity on top, with a slight punch in the bottom end—by using sonically unmatched coils and custom steel-alloy pole screws. The results were beyond my expectations.”
Jones also reworked this 1960 Gretsch G6120, which bears nickel hardware. He scraped a new shape in the neck, then refinished the lacquered neck and face cap. Like his work on the ’59, Jones also removed the zero fret and filled behind the nut (another Wilkoloid Delrin), manipulated the pickups, replaced the fingerboard binding and inlays with side dots, fit a new bridge, turned around the toggle switches, and gave it a refret and new conical fingerboard radius.
For a more modern accent, Setzer plays his 2004 Gretsch G6120T-HR Brian Setzer Signature Hot Rod in magenta sparkle. This guitar is all stock.
Setzer tours with two blonde Bassmans—one from 1962 and the other from ’63, but both with a 6G6-B circuit. They run into matching Bassman 2×12 cabs, which run 12″ Oxford speakers. Setzer usually uses one amp and has the other as a backup, but has been known to run both when it makes sense for the venue.
Setzer has a Boss TR-2 Tremolo in his line for the occasional tremolo, and brings as many as six of the stompboxes on the road with him, just in case. Ditto his Roland 301 Chorus-Echos, which range between 1983 and 1986 manufacture dates—the units are old and fragile, so in case one taps out, there’s another to take its place. Setzer wires his set up with Mogami cables, with Amphenol silent ends.
Full Rig Details: https://bit.ly/BrianSetzerRig
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[Brought to you by D’Addario XS Strings: https://www.daddario.com/XSRR]
00:00 – D’Addario XS Strings
00:15 – “Rock This Town” Intro
00:44 – Tyler Sweet & John Bohlinger Intro
01:32 – 1960 Gretsch G6120
05:16 – 1959 Gretsch G6120 “Smoke”
08:05 – 2004 Gretsch G6120T-HR Brian Setzer Signature Hot Rod
10:22 – 1980s Roland 301 Chorus-Echo
12:42 – Boss TR-2 Tremolo
14:17 – 1960s Fender Blonde Bassmans with the 6G6-B Circuit
*© Copyright Gearhead Communications LLC, 2023*
#guitar #rigrundown #briansetzer #gretsch #rockabilly #guitarist #guitarplayer
#Brian #Setzer #Rig #Rundown #Guitar #Gear #Tour
Originally posted by UC5J-hZ4wNf7OlkzIn49LHoQ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sReGdSrvAmM
Full Rig Details: https://bit.ly/BrianSetzerRig
Subscribe to PG's Channel: http://bit.ly/SubscribePGYouTube
Win Guitar Gear: https://bit.ly/GiveawaysPG
Don't Miss a Rundown: http://bit.ly/RIgRundownENL
Merch & Magazines: https://shop.premierguitar.com
GET JOHN OFF THIS CHANNELL !!!!
jesus he knows so Little about anything.
He asked "did TV Jones change the pickups" ?????? WTF
Get that bonehead interviewer a sleeping pill.
17 years…never listened to a song. Superfan that guy.
Interviewer is brain dead idiot "this a 59 no jackass 60 F!!!"
Great video, but absolutely zero discussion on how they avoid feedback issues with a fully hollow Gretsch and a Bassman cranked way up!
Montreal jazz festival was a awesome show please find it
Love Brian ❤
Stand By You = I won't stand In Your Way …?
Please come and tour the uk Brian ????
Incrivel o set de Brian Setzer! The Master of Rockabilly Rocker !
micing the amp cab with SM7 SM7b and …something else. i wish they talked about that too haha
Brian Setzer The Dirty Boogie was one of my First CDs….along with Sky Is Crying The Best of Stevie Ray Vaughan. my older cousin think gave them to my dad but I took them since my dad wasn't big into CDs in 1998 haha its been ages since i listened to it…but i will now.
love this video and Brian Setzer
Thank God the tech is on point. Or this would have gone nowhere.
Why wasn't Brian doing this?
You should get Brian Setzer to try out a Nocturne Mystery Brain.
John would be such a cool dude to drink a beer with probably smoke a joint…and just shoot the shit talk about life and gear for hours
Thanks John for the email about this Rig Run Down!
Wait…is that a ‘59?
I saw Brian and the Rockabilly Riot this last October. Two songs into the show the 301 went down. Tyler had it swapped out with the one in back in minutes. It took Brian a few minutes into the next song to get it dialed in (really just a few tweaks to the settings) and he didn't touch it for the rest of the night. Awesome show.
What strings does Brian play?
I'd have bet dollars to donuts there is an overdrive in his signal chain somewhere.
Was it overlooked or does he just push those Blondes?