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Dream Theater - John Petrucci's Guitar Gear Rig and Equipment
Who Plays What - Who Plays What
Tuesday, 08 January 2008 07:02
Article Index
Dream Theater - John Petrucci's Guitar Gear Rig and Equipment
John Petrucci Guitar Rig Pictures

John Petrucci is a guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He has produced (along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy) all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. He is also one of the band's main lyricists.

If you haven't heard John's work, go out and support him! He is an awesome guitar player.

Let's see what this guitar god uses for gear. Keep in mind his gear changes often. The following is a look at what gear and equipment has been seen in Dream Theater's John Petrucci's Guitar Rig.

John on guitar

CoolClick the gear images for more info & specs at Musician's FriendCool

 

Guitars

- Ernie Ball Musicman JP-11 guitars

- 1 Ernie Ball Musicman JP BFR Rubyburst Baritone
- 1 Musicman JP BFR Walnutburst Baritone
- 1 Musicman JP BFR Walnutburst 7 String
- 1 Musicman JP BFR Blackburst 7 String

Music Man John Petrucci BFR 7 Electric Guitar Black Burst Flame Maple


- 1 Musicman JP BFR Tobaccoburst
- 1 Musicman JP BFR 2006 Ltd. Edition Black w/Gold Hardware
- 2 Musicman JP BFR Blackburst

Music Man Ball Family Reserve John Petrucci 6 Electric Guitar Black Burst Flame Maple


- 1 Musicman JP BFR Walnutburst

- 1 Musicman JP BFR Rubyburst

- 1 Musicman JP Blue Sparkle Doubleneck

- Taylor 30th anniversary 712CE Acoustic guitar

Taylor 712ce Grand Concert Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural

note: In the past he endorsed Ibanez guitars

- Music Man John Petrucci JPXI-6

Music Man John Petrucci JPXI-6 Electric Guitar Onyx

Below is one of the slightly lower cost JP models:


Music Man John Petrucci 6-String Electric Guitar Mystic Dream

 

Pickups

- Dimarzio Petrucci Crunch Lab and Liquifire pickups

DiMarzio DP708 Crunch Lab 7-String - Bridge Pickup BlackDiMarzio DP707 LiquiFire 7-String - Neck Pickup Black

 

 

 


Amps and Cabinets
- 2 Mesa Boogie Mark IV Amplifiers

-1 Mesa Boogie Lonestar Amplifier

- Mesa Boogie 4x12 and 2x12 cabinets, all loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers

- Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ head (solos on Black Clouds album)

- Mesa Boogie Mark V (Count of Tuscany outro solo. He uses it more often now too.)

Notes: Rack Designed, Built and Programmed by Mark Snyder

 

Effects

- Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx II

- 1 Korg DTR-1 Tuner

Korg DTR-1000 Rackmount Digital Tuner

- 1 Dunlop DCR-2SR rack Wah

Dunlop Crybaby Rack Wah

- 1 DBX 166XL Compressor/Noise Gate

dbx 166XL Dual Compressor Limiter

- 1 Mesa Boogie Amp Switcher
- 1 Boss Keeley mod TR-2 Tremolo Pedal

Boss TR-2 Tremolo Pedal

- 1 MXR EVH Flanger

MXR EVH-117 Eddie Van Halen Flanger

- 1 Ibanez Keeley mod Tube Screamer TS9DX Flexi

Ibanez TS9DX Turbo Tube Screamer Effects Pedal

- 1 MXR EVH Phase 90

MXR EVH Eddie Van Halen Phase 90

- 1 Hermida Tech Zendrive
- 1 Dunlop MXR Wylde Overdrive

MXR ZW-44 Wylde Overdrive Pedal

- 1 MXR Stereo Chorus

MXR M-134 Stereo Chorus Pedal

- 1 Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal

Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal

- 1 Eventide Timefactor Delay

Eventide TimeFactor Twin Delay Guitar Effects Pedal

- 1 T.C. Electronics 2290

- TC Electronic 1210 Spatial Expander/ Stereo Chorus/ Flanger

- 1 T.C. Electronics M3000

TC Electronic M3000 Studio Reverb Processor

- 1 Eventide DSP7000 Harmonizer

Eventide H8000FW 8-Channel Ultra-Harmonizer Effects Processor

- 1 DMC Stereo Line Mixer
- 1 Mesa Boogie Rectifier Power Amp
- 1 Furman AC Line Regulator AR-Pro

Furman AR-1215 AC Line Regulator

- 3 Axess Electronics CFX-4 Loop Switcher

- 2 Axess Electronics GRX-4 Loop Switcher

- Axess Electronics FX-1 midi foot controller pedalboard


- Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD421 microphones placed directly on the grill cloth about 1.5 inches off the center of a speaker. Also more recently use Shure KSM313 ribbon mics along with the 57's.

Shure SM57 Instrument/Vocal Mic Sennheiser MD421 MKII U4 Microphone Shure KSM313 Ribbon Microphone

- Framptone Amp Switcher box

Framptone The Amp Switcher Footswitch White

- Carl Martin compressor/Limiter

Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter Pedal

- Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter

Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter Pedal

- Voodoo Lab Pedal Power

Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+ Power Supply

- Boss Tuner pedal

Boss TU-3 Chromatic Pedal Tuner

- TC Electronic TonePrints Chorus (used on "A Dramatic Turn of Events" album

TC Electronic Corona Chorus TonePrint Series Guitar Effects Pedal

 

 

 

Strings Picks and more

- John's tech said in 2011 interview they are using a custom gauge lately: 10,12,16,24,36,46 gauge string set

- Ernie Ball Earthwood Light Acoustic guitar strings

Ernie Ball 2004 Earthwood 80/20 Bronze Light Acoustic Guitar Strings

The Ernie Ball site shows that John uses these strings:
- Ernie Ball RPS 9 - gauges 9,11,16,24,32,42

Ernie Ball 2239 Super Slinky RPS 9 Electric Guitar Strings

- Ernie Ball RPS 10 - gauges 10,15,17,26,36,46

Ernie Ball 2240 Regular Slinky RPS 10 Electric Guitar Strings

- Ernie Ball Super Slinky Acoustic strings

Ernie Ball 2148 Super Slinky Phosper Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings

- Mogami cables

Mogami Platinum Guitar Cable 20 Foot 20 Foot

- Dunlop Jazz III picks

Dunlop Nylon Jazz III Guitar Pick Black 6-Pack

 

Go to the next page for pictures of John's guitar rig.

 

 



Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 November 2011 12:37
 

Comments 

 
0 #14 Ibanez tube screamerAndrés Felipe Correa 2011-11-01 14:48
Does anyone knows in which passages or solos does Petrucci uses his Ibanez Tube screamer stompbox..? (He actually has excelent distortion sounds from his Mesa Boogie..)
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0 #13 RE: Dream Theater - John Petrucci's Guitar Gear Rig and EquipmentBruno 123 mko 2011-10-28 08:24
www.youtube.com/.../
Take all the things from here!!
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+1 #12 RE: Dream Theater - John Petrucci's Guitar Gear Rig and EquipmentcrunkSVEN 2010-12-22 17:18
He is also on the list for using the Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx.
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+1 #11 JP is the manHeadlessAxeman 2010-06-16 09:00
:evil:

He uses a Mesa Boogie Mark V on Channel 3 Extreme Setting. Seperate heads for rythm, and solo.

Equalizer : Classic Mesa Boogie V
Gain: 7-10
Presence: 6 for rythm, 3 for lead
Treble: 6
Mid: 4
Bass: 3

Putting a tube screamer TS 9 or the Boss OD1 in front of the Mark V is not going to help much. If you use a compressor + overdrive, it will tighten up the sound, but also make it sound grainy, so you'll have to roll the presence off...am guessing he uses mild compression and distrotion on light drive settings.

Ask me: ..i have the above mentioned gear and have tuned into his tone.
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0 #10 rod 2010-06-11 14:54
he made a clinic for BOSS and if i can remember he was using a dd6
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0 #9 amora1mike giuffre 2010-04-07 05:04
John is using a new amp set up these days. he uses two separate racks, one for clean and one for dirty, both in stereo. For the dirty he is using 3 Mesa Road Kings. as for clean he is using 2 Mesa Loan stars. He runs this through 3 3/4 stacks consisting of 3 Mesa 4 12 loan star cabs with vintage 30's and 3 2 12, same make and model as the 4 12
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-1 #8 Mr.Steff 2010-03-17 19:06
John: Did you ever try a Mesa Rectifier? I agree 100% with Jay - Petrucci's sound is mostly amp!
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-2 #7 john 2010-02-02 03:18
theres no way he could get that rythm sounds just with the amp..
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0 #6 Mark 2009-12-11 07:34
He is using a ground control rackmount switcher, a tc electronics 1210 currently.

www.johnpetrucci.com/gear.htm
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0 #5 ACoolDude 2009-11-12 06:56
On the Keeley website they actually say he's using one of their modded TS9DX's, not a regular TS9.

He's using 3 Mesa Boogie Mark V's in his rig now, which are quite possibly the great amps ever (I bought one myself).
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0 #4 John\'s distortion..Jay 2009-11-08 18:03
Nothing could be farther from the truth in terms of John's distortion. His main distortion absolutely 100% comes from the drive channel's of his amp. Ask any player experienced with Mesa Boogie equipment and they will agree 100%. John doesnt have a heavily distorted tone it just sounds extremely heavy and tight due to the delay he uses when the tracks are panned. Now it is also a well known fact that for the leads the Keeley modded TS-9 as well as the ZK OD are used as a boost/extra EQ. Hope this gives some insight but JP's tone is most certaintly 98% Mesa made! Along with his unique phrasing and immense playing ability! A caveat to all that...the 5 band EQ on the Mark series amps does wonders ;-)
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+2 #3 drummer/ singer/songwriterdonald andrews 2009-08-10 14:56
i have been in many bands during my active career, and john is by far ,the best at what he does. i have to agree, a boss ds-1 is the crunch that gives him that shred w/ as fast as he is. great guitar john, keep it up!
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+1 #2 re:petrucci dstDean 2009-07-25 00:25
He probably uses the Boss and others distortions for the extra crunch in the solos. I am guessing he is using the amps drive channel mostly, but engages the distortion (low drive setting) for the solos.
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0 #1 petrucci dstamin_rock_lobster 2009-07-16 00:21
around the petrucci gear i can just say im sure that the distortion sound that we hear from john it's impossible that to be ds-1 or metal zone?
any one tell me what brand of dst he use?
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