dream theater
John Petrucci welcomes TG onstage at Hammersmith Apollo for the Images And Words 25th anniversary tour
“There are no nicks on any of my guitars!” notes John Petrucci before tonight’s sell-out show. And, yes, under close inspection, we can confirm these instruments are as immaculate as the technique of the man playing them.
On the current run, the band are performing their 1992 album in its entirety – sandwiched in between two other sets – and, as one would expect, the guitarist is in total control of every aspect of his signal flow. Welcome to the precision-led world of Dream Theater…
ER NIE BALL MUSIC MA N MA JESTY
1“
This pink/purple sparkly guitar is used for pretty much the entire Images And Words set. Though, occasionally, I might use the blue Majesty, which is the backup, for a couple of songs. I have a backup guitar for each one I need, which is why there are so many. For example, there’s the main standard tuning, plus a back up, same for the main seven-string in standard, then E-flat six and seven-strings. I also drop tune for another song... so you can see how they build!”
ER NIE BALL MUSIC MA N NOMA C MA JESTY
2 “For our last album, The Astonishing, we had this guitar specially made – just a small run of 20 were made for NAMM. It was modelled from the album cover, there’s a creature called the NOMAC, which has black diamonds surrounded by white gold, three rubies and LEDs behind them that shine through. There’s stainless steel, a two-piece abalone inlay for the symbol… it’s unbelievable and a very special guitar to me. I’ll use it for Our New World and as it’s a $20,000 guitar, I have to be pretty careful with it!”
ER NIE BALL MUSIC MA N JP-15
3 “The JP-15 is a bolt-on, seven-string version with a beautiful teal quilt finish and a roasted maple neck… it’s really beautiful. All my guitars are fitted with signature pickups, these have the Illuminators and piezo system.”
ER NIE BALL MUSIC MA N MA JESTY
4 “We’ve come out with all sorts of different series for the Majesties. If we did a precious metal series, there’d be gold, copper, silver... this white colour one was the first and the exact colour combination is modelled off a BMW M6! That car had a carbon fibre top, frozen white paint, black chrome rims... These are all neck-through and super, super light.”
ER NIE BALL MUSIC MA N MONARCHY MAJESTY
5 “This is the latest series for 2017. Instead of the flat paint, we did a high gloss finish on the front and instead of carbon fibre in the middle, we used figured maple top. They laser-etch the maple, then stain it… you can really see it under a magnifying glass. That’s how talented the luthiers are!”
ME SA/BOOGIE JP-2C
6 “The Mk IIC+ is one of those holy grail amps revered in the highest regard by collectors. This was the first time they’d made a reissue, so I took it a step further by modernising it with all the features I wanted. The original Mk IIC+ had one row of controls. There were basically two channels sharing controls and one EQ. I wanted three channels of sound – a
clean and two lead channels. Unique to this amp is the two graphic EQs. You have the flexibility of shaping each channel exactly the way you want it to be. The originals couldn’t really do that, you’d need two or three of them with an amp switcher. It’s the first Boogie to have MIDI built into it, which was actually my tech Matt ‘Maddi’ Schieferstein’s idea.”
ME SA/BOOGIE 1X12 CABINET S
7 “The main cabinets and heads onstage are not on. They are there just to show people what I’m using because everything is mic’d in a corner at the back. Actually, sometimes we have MIDI controlling these heads as well, so you’d see the amps change channels even though they’re not being fed! So as I have no sound coming offstage and I use in-ear monitors, it doesn’t really feel like I’m playing guitar, unless there’s some thump. These little 1X12s resonate with the floor and give me feedback when I need it. Plus, I get to put my foot on it, that’s the number one thing ha ha!”
JIM DUNLOP JP JAZZ III PICKS
8 “This is my signature Jazz III made of ultex, which is a harder material. It doesn’t bend at all, but it has the same shape and thickness as the regular ones. The material is a little smoother on the string and it actually has a bevel built in… it’s pre-worn in. That actually came from me using a Jazz III for two weeks straight and wearing it in! They modelled it after that. It comes in Oxblood and Black. It takes getting used to because it feels faster.”
JIM DUNLOP JP95 CRY BABY WAH
9 “I’m not being a salesman… my wah is fuckin’ badass! The sound comes from the rack wah, which we had made into a pedal. When I went to develop it, they had sent me all the other signature ones… I tried them all and took notes about the things I’d liked about each one. In the end, I realised the rack wah sound was my favourite. It’s a throaty, aggressive wah that sounds like a monster!”
TC ELECTR ONIC DREAM SCAPE
11 “My pedals tend to change a bit over the years. Right now, it’s primarily TC stuff – and this is signature Dreamscape modulation pedal, which does chorus, flanger and vibrato… If I ever need to switch, we go old school and do it all by hand on the fly.”
TC ELECTR ONIC HE LIX PHA SER
12 “I love the Phase 90 too, I like the Boss phaser and the MXR one… but I’m a big fan of TC Electronic stuff. They’re really consistent, true bypass. The Helix