Full Rig Info: https://www.premierguitar.com/videos/rig-rundown/helmet-2024

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“I could not exist without guitar,” admits Helmet founding lead guitarist and singer Page Hamilton. “I know this to be true because I’m a miserable asshole if I don’t play guitar. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is play guitar. It’s an incredible instrument and I just love it.”

But what does one do with that creative codependency? Page Hamilton’s impactful contributions to rock music were cemented when Helmet wrote and recorded a pair of back-to-back blisters with 1992’s Meantime and 1994’s Betty. Those pillars of ’90s alternative metal and guitar granite forever chiseled out his place in hard-rock history.

Since 1989, Hamilton and Helmet have dished out a total of nine studio albums (plus a live set) that balance punishing, fastened-down ferocity with mercurial moments of melody that make their sledgehammer fall harder.

Beyond that legacy, Page was a part of David Bowie’s band for the 1999 Hours tour, playing Saturday Night Live and being included on two live albums from the Starman. Further diversifying his guitar vocabulary, he’s contributed to several film scores for Heat, Titus, In Dreams, Catwoman, and Chicago Cab. He’s explored the instrument’s outer realms with German avant-garde guitarist Caspar Brötzmann on a live improv album (1996’s Zulutime), and expanded his vocabulary by diving into jazz guitar, noting in our Rundown he’ll release an album next year. Hamilton has even put out a guitar instruction DVD, Sonic Shapes: Expanding Rock Guitar Vocabulary for Hal Leonard. All of this (and more) accomplished because guitar is his lifeblood.

And we found out during our Rig Rundown—filmed May 7, 2024 at Nashville’s Exit/In—that most of this material was spawned from three key ingredients, all still in his rig: ESP Horizon guitars, Fryette amps, and DiMarzio humbuckers. These partnerships with each company are not gratuitous or grifting. He’s been aligned with ESP since 1989. He started working with DiMarzio in the early ’90s, and he and Steven Fryette have sharpened his sound since 1996. These three friendships have fostered an integral strand in Page’s tonal DNA, and Hamilton covers each at length with us. Plus, he breaks down the simplifying move from a complicated Bradshaw rack-switching system to something more modern and efficient, with five Boss boxes and a duo of H9s.

Shop Page Hamilton's Gear:

ESP LTD Horizon 87 Solidbody Electric Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/9gKdg4

DiMarzio Air Norton - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/k0x2O0

D'Addario EXL140 XL Strings - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/anEGON

Eventide H9 - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/baQr0x

Boss MT-2W Metal Zone Waza Craft - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/AW4MPK

Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/1r4d9D

Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/JzDdK2

Boss ES-5 Effects Switching System - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/ZQgj6K

Pedaltrain Nano+ - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/XYJ9mG

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0:00 - D'Addario Strings

0:15 - Chris Kies Intro

1:43 - Page Hamilton Intro

3:09 - ESP LTD PH-600

4:23 - ESP LTD...

Full Rig Info: https://www.premierguitar.com/videos/rig-rundown/in-flames

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If In Flames didn’t invent melodic death metal, they cemented the genre’s arrival with Lunar Strain and Subterranean, and if those were early blueprints to the burgeoning style, the Swedes’ The Jester Race and Whoracle were the impeccable benchmarks that made the aggressive artform matter. They’ve continued to push the genre forward with ten subsequent releases—including 2023’s raw, visceral Foregone—further strengthening their core sound that, at its heart, is a modernized blend of intensified Iron Maiden and accelerated Black Sabbath.

Before the band’s headlining show at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, In Flames’ Björn Gelotte, Chris Broderick, and Liam Wilson welcomed PG’s Perry Bean for a conversation about their powerful setups. Gelotte detailed his workingman’s signature Epiphone Les Paul Custom before his tech Greg Winn showcased a pair of unknown Marshall prototype amps never featured on a Rundown. Shredmeister general Chris Broderick discussed hands-on approach to designing his signature sound that includes a beveled Jackson Diabolic CB2, modified DiMarzio humbuckers, and a thumbpick he invented. Lastly, Wilson compared the requirements and difficulties between playing bass with Dillinger Escape and In Flames before dissecting his morphing setup that’s trying to feel like home but honor Peter Iwers and Bryce Paul thunderous footsteps.

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[Brought to you by D’Addario: http://ddar.io/wykyk-rr]

0:00 - D'Addario & Nita Strauss

0:15 - Perry Bean Intro

1:52 - Björn Gelotte Intro

2:20 - Epiphone Björn Gelotte Les Paul Custom

4:36 - Using EMG 81/85 Pickups

6:30 - In Flames Tunings

8:32 - Tech Greg Winn & Marshall MD61 Amps

14:24 - Björn Gelotte's Effects

17:41 - Björn Gelotte's Strings & Picks

18:55 - D'Addario & Yvette Young

19:10 - Chris Broderick Joining In Flames

20:48 - Jackson Chris Broderick Diabolic CB2 (Black)

22:06 - Jackson USA Signature Chris Broderick Soloist 7

23:57 - Custom DiMarzio Humbuckers

25:02 - Jackson Chris Broderick Diabolic CB2 (White)

26:52 - Jackson Pro Series Chris Broderick Signature HT7 Soloist

27:13 - Chris Broderick's Custom Thumbpick

29:30 - Chris Broderick Engl Savage 100

34:27 - Chris Broderick's Effects

36:43 - Chris Broderick's Strings & Tunings

38:21 - Liam Wilson Playing in Dillinger Escape Plan & In Flames

40:55 - Liam Wilson's Zon Sonus Special 4 Basses

46:54 - Liam Wilson's Amps & Effects

54:40 - D'Addario Strings

#guitar #rigrundown #inflames #guitarist #guitarplayer #deathmetal #heavymetal

Full Rig Details: https://www.premierguitar.com/videos/rig-rundown/donny-benet

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There’s comical bands (Gwar), there’s parody bands (Steel Panther), and there’s clever combinations of both (Mac Sabbath). The Italian-Australian Donny Benét is none of those and all of those at the same time. His polished compositions, breezy rhythms, and funky fretwork are no laughing matter. Instead, Donny is the joke … or is he?

“I thought, “What would I think if I saw some bald, chubby dude shredding on bass and fretless?’ I’d be like ‘hell yeah,’ so I might as well be the guy that’ll do it,” explains Benét.

Donny (born Ben Waples) is from a musical family in Sydney, Australia. He grew up performing on several instruments, became classically trained on piano, and earned a master’s degree in double bass. The fluent musician started a career as a jazz bassist for various artists in Sydney, and eventually shifted to an experimental jazz/electronica band, Triosk. While both endeavors were challenging and rewarding, Ben wasn’t having fun. After Triosk disbanded, Waples continued writing and recording on his own. It started with Cubase and a Line 6 DL4 that gave him 48-second loops. He started making “Donny Benét” joke songs. His friends and family continued encouraging him to make more, and before he knew it he had enough material to create Don’t Hold Back. (To this day he still records all the parts except saxophone, played by his brother Daniel Waples.) And through his passion for creating music combined with his love for ’70s funk and R&B—he mentions his introduction to electric bass was via a VHS tape featuring Larry Graham, Bernard Edwards, and Nile Rodgers—infused with the aesthetic and aura of Itala-disco performers, Donny Benét was born.

“I’m a seriously trained jazz musician in a prior life, and I try not to take myself too seriously now, but I’m deadly serious about taking the piss out of myself. I like humor, but I definitely don’t make joke music,” states Benét.

Since 2011, he’s released six albums, all showing an evolution and refinement of the Don. Each release has revealed a new part of Benet’s infinite swagger, blending influences of Prince, Alan Vega, Lou Reed, Tom Jones, and, of course, James Jamerson, “Duck” Dunn, and the funk forefathers. Yes, Donny B can sweep you off your feet, but that’s because one thing reigns supreme—the music.

“With Donny I’ve always taken the approach of ‘what would I listen to?’ I started there and I continue to follow it. If no one likes it, that’s fine, so long as I like it. If someone else likes it, even better,” says Benét.

Before his headlining gig at Nashville’s Basement East, Donny B welcomed PG’s Chris Kies onstage to chat about his minimal-but-musical setup. Benét explains the origins of “Donny,” covers his custom Furlanetto 4-string and why he calls it “probably the best live instrument I got,” and discusses scoring tons of gear when the exchange rate presents deals.

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0:00 - D'Addario Pedalboard Essentials

0:15 - Chris Kies Intro

0:49 - Donny Benét Intro

1:42 - Donny Benét Origins

8:55 - Custom Furlanetto "F Bass" VF4

13:39 - D'Addario & Rig Rundown

14:11 -...