Rig Rundown - Third Eye Blind

Article and Photos: http://bit.ly/ThirdEyeBlindRR

Premier Guitar caught up with Kryz Reid, the Dubliner who holds the coveted lead guitar slot for American Alt Rock giants Third Eye Blind. 3eb was hunkered in at Soundcheck rehearsal hall in Nashville, tuning up for an upcoming tour. During a break, Reid showed us nine very seductive guitars, (each, strangely enough, named after a Star Wars character) and revealed a bit of gear-break-down paranoia when he described his backups for his backup pedalboard.
Ried names all of his guitars after Star Wars characters from the Dark Side. His #1 is "The Emperor", a Gibson '59 Les Paul, custom made and reliced with aged wood, hardware etc. Next is "Vadar", a 1979 Gibson The Paul, which was the first good guitar Reid bought. "Vadar" sports a Seymour Duncan Antiquity in the neck position and an Alnico II for the bridge. Reid uses "Vadar" for "Graduate", "The Background", "Can you Take Me"-anything using an open D tuning (D A D F# A D). Next is "TK-421", an stock 1966 Telecaster Custom. Another vintage gem is his stock 1966 Jazzmaster named "Sidious" currently tuned to F# A C# F# G# E. On the modern side, Reid plays a 2011 Fano JM-6 named "Fett", based on a Jazzmaster with a Lindy Fralin P-90's in the neck and bridge positions and a Bigsby Vibrato. Other guitars in the boat currently are three new Les Paul Traditionals used as back ups, a 2013 Fano TC-6 ('Maul') and a '68 Reissue Custom Shop Stratocaster ('Death Star'). All are strung with D'Addario 11 gauge except the Les Paul, DADf#AD tuning backup, which is strung with 12 Gauge.

Reid travels with a main rig and a redundant rig that mirror the other. The main rig consists of a '93 Custom Shop Fender Tone-Master and matching cabinet for clean tones. The cab houses Celestion Vintage 30's, the head has four 5881's and three 12AX7A's. The main rig's dirty sound comes from a 1965 Marshall Plexi with 6L6's and 12AX7A's running through a Mesa 4X12 cabinet with Vintage 30's in her. (Reid mistakenly calls it a '67 in the video, but who can keep track of this much vintage gear.)

The redundant rig consists of another Fender Custom Shop Tone-Master for clean and a 1969 50 watt Marshall JMP for dirty, which reportedly was the main amp used on Bad Company's first record, most notably "Feel like making love.".

Dave Phillips at LA Sound Design built both Reid's "A" and "B" effects rigs. Everything is custom wired by Phillips with Mogami 2524 cable except the Divine Noise 50/50 (half curly, half straight) cable that runs from Reid's guitar to the board. The "A" rig consists of an RJM Effect Gizmo being run by an RJM Mastermind GT. The Effect Gizmo sits in a rack unit with all the effects beside his amps and cabs. The Mastermind GT lives in Reid's pedalboard with a custom A/B Box interface for the rack, two custom-made Mission Engineering expression pedals, an Ernie Ball 25k Ohm volume pedal, Boss TU-2 Tuner, and a TC Electronics Ditto Looper. Reid's guitar runs into a Dave Phillip's made A/B Box Interface. "A" signal runs to the rack, "B" signal runs to the redundant pedalboard and amps. The signal then runs into Jim Dunlop Rack Wah which is controlled by a custom Mission Engineering expression pedal. Next the signal hits the RJM Effect Gizmo to route to different pedals. Loop 1: Digitech Whammy DT (Controlled by a Mission Engineering RJM-1 custom expression pedal which runs the Whammy via the Mastermind GT for ON/OFF and Treadle) Loop 2: Keeley Modded DS-1 Loop 3: Way Huge Swollen Pickle Loop 4: Keeley Compressor (four knob) Loop 5: Dunlop Rack Volume (controlled by the Ernie Ball Volume Pedal on pedalboard acting as an expression pedal) Loop 6: Strymon Mobius Loop 7: Roger Linn Adrenalinn III Loop 8: Strymon Timeline Loop 9: TC Electronics Ditto Loop 10: Strymon Blue Sky Loop 11: Marshall Plexi Loop 12: Fender Tone-Master The "B" rig basically mirrors the rack with an all-in-one pedalboard that is used on fly dates or as a redundant system on other dates. The B Rig signal chain runs from the guitar to a Boss TU-2 Tuner, then a Radial Bones A/B Switch ("A" signal stays on this board, "B" signal goes to a "C" Rig for a backup on fly dates). From there, the signal runs into a Custom Audio Electronics Wah, a Digitech Whammy V then a RJM Mini Effect Gizmo. Loop 1: Keeley Compressor (four knob) Loop 2: Way Huge Swollen Pickle Loop 3: Keeley Modded DS-1 Loop 4: Strymon Mobius Loop 5: Roger Linn Adrenalinn III Ernie Ball Volume Pedal A Keeley Looper sends the signal to a Strymon Timeline and a TC Electronics Ditto then a Strymon Blue Sky. A RJM Y-NOT Midi controlled A/B Box switches between the Fender Tone-Master and the Marshall JMP 45.

D'Addario Micro Tuner: https://www.daddario.com/MicroTunerRR