RIGGED: THY WILL BE DONE GUITARIST KURT FRAUNFELTER

Hey, I’m Kurt, and I play guitar for Thy Will Be Done. Today I’ll be giving you a walkthrough of my current live rig. I’m a pretty avid gear nerd and pedal collector so my rig tends to change fairly often depending on my mood. Mostly I just like to make sure it’s loud and powerful at all times.

This current incarnation of my rig is what I’ll be using on the upcoming MetalSucks-sponsored “Party To The Apocalypse 2012” tour featuring Shadow Fall, God Forbid and Trumpet The Harlot this coming October and November.

GUITARS:

Everything starts with my Dean Z, which is my main stage guitar. It’s a ’96 USA that I picked up dirt cheap a while ago when I was still working at a guitar shop. I love it! The thing is a BEAST. It weighs more than my old Les Paul, the neck is like a baseball bat, and it’s by far my best sounding guitar. I’ve modified it with a single EMG 81 pickup in the bridge with a single volume leaving the neck pickup, 3-way toggle, and other controls disconnected. It has Sperzel locking tuners and a TonePros tune-o-matic bridge.

My current backup guitar for tour is an ESP LTD DV8R, the Dave Mustaine signature guitar. Its name is “Blackie Lawless.” It was my main guitar for years until I found the Dean. She’s got a lot of miles and battle scars on her but I still love it. Same setup as the Dean except the neck pickup is an EMG 89.

All my guitars are strung with LaBella Strings exclusively, (52-42-32-24w-16-12). We play in B standard and LaBella makes custom sets for me to help compensate for the low tuning on a normal 6 string. I use InTune guitar picks exclusively.

AMPS:

I carry two heads all the time: my main head is a Peavey 6505+ and my backup and/or secondary head is an old Peavey 5150 (block letter). I only use both heads when running two cabinets, at which time the 6505+ is my “wet” head with my delays and reverbs, and the 5150 is the “dry” head. I’ve been using Peavey amps for a long time; they’re just built like tanks and they have become an integral part of my sound and, again, I use them exclusively.

CABS:

My cabinets of choice for around six years now have been the Vader standard 4×12‘s. They’re loaded with Eminence Legends and they’re crushingly loud. Unfortunately Eminence just went out of business, but if you

have a chance to play through one or buy one I highly suggest it. They’re some of the best sounding cabinets I’ve ever played through.

RACK:

The rack is fairly simple: aside from the tuner, everything in the rack stays on at all times. The Monster Pro 2500 powers everything in the rig. It provides “clean” power for all of those venues that may have “dirty” power; it essentially keeps everything in the rig safe from voltage spikes and abnormalities in the power. My wireless system is a Line6 G50 that goes straight into a Korg DTR100 tuner. From the tuner, my signal goes into a TC Electronics Nova Dynamics, a dual engine compressor/noise gate.

From the TC, the signal goes into either a Maxon OD-9 Pro+ or a Maxon OOD-9, depending on my mood. Sammy Duet from Goatwhore really turned me on to the OD-9 Pro+ when we were last out with them; it’s truly an amazing overdrive pedal. On the other hand, the OOD-9 adds real, vintage-style dirt in a durable box. I use either of the Maxons to really push the front end of the Peaveys. From there the signal goes to the Boss NS-2, out to the pedal board, then back to the rack where a Whirlwind A/B box splits the signal to both of the heads.

Each of my two Rocktron Hush Noise Reduction processors are in the Peavey effects loops to gate out any extra amp noise. I have one hidden gem in the 6505+ effects loop, which is a Boss PQ-4 that I use it to fine-tune certain frequencies that I want the amp to produce.

PEDALBOARD:

I am an avid pedal user, abuser, and collector so this board has something new on it all the time:

(From Right to Left)

First on the board is an old Budda Budwah; it’s just awesome. It’s got a great sweep and it’s very vocal sounding.

Next is a Guyatone MD3 delay. It sounds great AND it takes up zero board space.

Third on the board is yet another Maxon OOD09. I basically use this one for a clean boost for solos or long harmony parts.

The next three pedals are just there for a little extra flavor if I feel like it: first is the Maxon PT-999 Phase Tone I use for a slow phase sweep.

Next is a custom overdrive pedal made by my good friend Brad over at Nerd Knuckle Effects. This thing is loud as hell and I mainly use it to cut through the gates and punish the front end of the amp. And lastly is the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail reverb pedal.

The other miscellaneous stuff on the board is a Dunlop Power Brick, an MXR Line Driver/Boost used for a buffer, and a Loopmaster Pedal Board Patcher.

That’s pretty much the long and the short of it. The new Thy Will Be Done EP Temple is out now worldwide. See you on the road soon.

-Kurt / Thy Will Be Done