Vintage Modern

Lee Malia goes back to the future with a touring rig of old Marshalls and MIDI switching

GUITARS

“I’ve got one of each so I’ll play them pretty much all the set in varied tunings. All we have done is put an .080 [bottom string] on so we’ve widened the nut so it sits a bit better, and then you’ve got to adjust the intonation because it’s such a different string than what’s usually there.”

1EPIPHONE

LEE MALIA RD CUSTOM ARTISAN OUTFIT

“I just really liked the shape and I noticed that a lot of bands that used them were doomier sounding – that’s always a sound I’ve quite liked in a guitar. I like how it’s got the Les Paul headstock. It’s just a nice-playing guitar. It sits really well.”

2EPIPHONE

LEE MALIA LES PAUL CUSTOM ARTISAN OUTFIT

“The first ever prototype of my Les Paul had an even thicker neck. I said, ‘I want the thickest neck you can do.’ [Laughs] We went back and forth, and scaled it down a little bit because it might have been too much. They’ve obviously got to think about selling it.”

3EPIPHONE

LEE MALIA EXPLORER CUSTOM ARTISAN OUTFIT

“That [finish] comes from the old Gibson Les Paul Artisan. I actually have an old ’76 at home and I just love how that guitar looks. Whenever I am in a guitar shop I am instantly drawn to the natural finish guitars, the dark mahogany.”

PEDALBOARD

4RADIAL

JX44 GUITAR MIDI SWITCHER AND RJM GT/16 MIDI FLOOR CONTROLLER

“We’ve gone to rack-mounting all my pedals and a MIDI controller. It was getting a bit ridiculous because every album I am in the studio messing about with weirder and weirder sounds and then it just means I have to add more pedals to my pedalboard to make those sounds live.”

5MADE

BY MIKE KLON CENTAUR CLONE

“I took it to the studio when we were recording and A/B’D it with a real Klon and it is that close. It sounds awesome.”

6MARSHALL JCM800

“The JCM 800 is full [gain]. The master volume is just above four. We found a sweet spot. That’s what I always listen for, finding that sweet spot. If you go too far it gets a bit too spongy and then you lose the sharpness of the attack, which is what I really like.”

7MARSHALL

JTM45 AND STRYMON

BIG SKY REVERB AND STRYMON Timeline DELAY

“Cleans go to the JTM45, which will just be the JTM45 on its own. Then I’ve got two Strymons pedals that I use for all my delay and reverb, and they go in the front of the JTM45 amp because it hasn’t got an effects loop.”

8ELECTRO-

HARMONIX POG

“Actually, I recently had the Electro-harmonix modded so it has a MIDI input. You can preprogram it so the MIDI switches it and then you don’t have to turn the knobs.”

9KEMPER PROFILING

AMP

“We are basically using the Kemper as an extra effects channel in the rig. I have a spare JCM800 and the Kemper runs into the effects loop so it’s using the valves of the 800 as the power amp.”