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Rigged

RIGGED: UNEARTH’S KEN SUSI TAKES YOU THROUGH HIS ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL GEAR SETUP

 Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 4:00pm by

RiggedKen Susi

As part of our coverage of this year’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival – currently winding its way through North America — we’re bringing you a series of “Rigged” columns in which several of the tour’s musicians take you on piece-by-piece guides of their current live rig setups. Check out the rigs of Machine Head’s Phil Demmel, Unearth’s Buz McGrath, Hatebreed’s Wayne Lozinak, In Flames’ Peter Iwers and Dethklok’s Brendon Small (they played one Mayhem show in CA). Here’s the other half Unearth’s twin guitar attack, Ken Susi: 

Guitars:

  • two custom Ken Susi model Ibanez S series 7-string guitars
  • Ibanez S7420 Eddie Van Halen spoof guitar
  • Ibanez J Custom RGA 7-string.

Pedals:

Rack:

  • 16-space Shockmount Kriz Kraft rack
  • Samson Wireless UR-50
  • Samson Wireless Airline Synth (backup)
  • Korg Tuner
  • Samson power unit
  • VHT Valvulator: A great power unit that runs my Maxon and Boss pedals at the proper voltage and gives is a smoother sound. The Valuator also has one input and two outputs so I can split my signal to two different amps.
Amps:
  • EVH fender 5150 III: A solid amp that is the core of my tone! It’s the amp that’s plays through my cabs on stage.
  • Soldano X88R preamp: Like the 5150, it’s the first of it’s kind. Basically most amps are built to sound like a Slo or rack version X88R. I have this in my arsenal just because. It’s a staple and sounds unreal!
  • Marshall JMP1 preamp (backup)
  • VHT 2150 poweramp: I power my heads and preamp with this unit. 100 watts, side loaded with KT88′s, it’s bound to rip your face off. It’ good for a clean bubble in the lows and a sweet bell on the top. Unmatchable.
  • Fractal Audio Axe-FX (di tone/effects): This is the heart and sole of my rigg. My Fractal basically contains eveything. I mentioned I had the Valvulator splitting into two amps… Well, even though I’m splitting between amps, the Axe-FX is used for two different things. 1) I have an unreal tone that was built in my Axe-FX going out to the front of house but at the same time I also have it going through my live amp. I put a parametric EQ on the amp side of my rig to smooth out some imperfections Not only is my Axe-FX my effects unit but it’s also my amp. I have this rigged up to push effects from the amp inside of the unit to a live amp all with the click of one button. Fractal Audio will be releasing my patches very soon. Keep a look out!

Cabs:

  • two 4×12 Mesa Boogie cabs: Best cabs around. Focused and heavy. No cab will ever match the sound that these badboys give you.

- Ken Susi / Unearth

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  • neilah

    too bad unearth sucks ass now =(
    and their latest album is the worst piece of shit they’ve put out,
    can we go back to the In the eyes of fire sound?
    until then fuck you unearth!

  • Vic Vaughn Loves Meat

    Fuck off Susi ya fuckin ball bag

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandon-Black/100000083959317 Brandon Black

    i think hes just plain great

  • Ben

    “Maxon OD808: Best pedal ever! Never to be matched! A classic overdrive pedal that’s very transparent. Doesn’t color my sound at all.”

    Wait… doesn’t color… what? That makes no sense. Overdrive, by it’s very nature colors amp tone and the 808 most certainly is known for having its own eq qualities.

    • Johnny

      he uses it more-so as a ‘boost’ then an Overdrive.

      • Ben

        Even used as a boost, it’s still widely known that it alters the eq.

  • Nigggerkillin Texan

    Fuck this genericore hack

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Austin-Pearl-Nutter/1418565949 Austin Pearl Nutter

    I was reading though it, and was like “oh, well this is different” but then he slipped the Axe-FX in at the end.

  • Slaughterhouse

    Im not sure why everyone continues to bash the AxeFx. That thing is amazing. Anything and everything at your finger tips, or toes with a midi pedal

  • David

    You know, the more I hear about the Axe, the more useful it sounds especially for gigging/touring bands.

    When the price comes down about 50-75% (as most computer based technology eventually does),maybe I’ll take a closer look.

  • jim

    What the fuck did i just read? ‘Hi, I’m Kevin, I like Sushi and I carry around a zillion fucking amps that i don’t even use because i have a fractal”

    • 4tas

      +1

    • Caligula

      This.

      • grossj

        hahahahah loved this

  • John

    Ken Susi is the fucking man. Watch Alive From The Apocalypse and you’ll understand. Dude rules.

    • Zane

      Wow, finally an article I can geek over… but yeah, wasn’t surprised to see the fractal, and I for one am not bashing it, i just think it makes for boring articles. As for the OD808, It’s gonna color your tone regardless of whether or not you use it as a boost, also what’s up with the trolls? If you don’t like a particular artist/guitarist/band/article, just don’t fucking read it. Put on your big boy pants and move along.

      • Ben

        Agreed all around (and I just posted my reply about the 808 before seeing your post).

        As for the trolls… you realized that this is metalsucks, right? The land of “we manage to post articles that are just interesting enough to lure you into dealing with the trollish nature of ourselves and our commenters”

  • 0contaminated

    this dude is in a badass band what the hell unearth is pure win. the more i read about the axe-fx the more i’d want to try it out but i hate digital. i get the idea that if it “mocks” other amps why not stick with amps seems like its either a lazy way of doing things or it helps with shitty playing.

    • grossj

      How the fuck would it help with shitty playing? And by “lazy way of doing things” do you mean “not requiring the purchase of a zillion amps” ?

  • Mike

    So guitar –> vavulator –> Maxon 808 –> Axe FX (split) –> 1. 5150III –> Mesa Cab 2. Soldano –> VHT poweramp –> Mesa Cab 3. House PA?

    Tone shouldn’t be that complicated.