My stage gear
Cory Wilkins
Alright, so you want to know what I’m using on stage at gigs? First, let me establish that I am the least technical guitar guy ever. I barely know what all my stuff does, I just know I can push a button on this one and it sounds cool, or I can push a button on the next one and it’s louder… all the way up to eleven or something. So, I had Eric help me put a list of all the gear I’m currently using on stage together so you guys could try it out, or just have fun gear geeking out over it on ways I can’t.
Guitars: 2007 VG Roland Strat. Black with white pick guard, maple fingerboard.
This strat has the Roland pick up which can simulate a strat, a tele, a humbucker strat, and five acoustics and also can give different tuning options, drop D, open G, DADGAD, baritone guitar or 12 string. So I can select a tele sound and play a song in open G without having to retune. I also use the second acoustic sound on it quite often, most notably in, “Justice for Sale,” where I have the second acoustic selected tuned to drop D and during the choruses and guitar solo, I turn the knob for an electric humbucker strat sound, still in drop D.
Fender Squire Telecaster. Black with mirror pickguard, rosewood fingerboard.
This is a no frills guitar that I got for 99 bucks. Even though is just a lowly little squire, the neck feels great and if I’m going to just pick up a guitar to jam on for a little while, it’ll probably be the Tele. This guitar sounds great on tunes like, “If You Can Run Along With Me,” and, “Won’t You Come My Way.”
1959 reissue Strat. Black with white pick guard, maple fingerboard.
I got this guitar back in 2003 because I had played my old cheaper guitar in to the ground. Literally, there were pieces falling off of it. I also upgraded, since it’s a 59 reissue the tuners weren’t as good, so I put some locking tuners on there and also put a standard strat bridge on. The neck on this guitar is one of the C necks and I have tiny hands, but for one reason or another this guitar feels pretty comfortable for me, though it’s probably the one I use least frequently.
Amplifiers:
The amp I’m using right now is on loan from my good friend Frank Facio. It’s a Fender Pro Junior and it’s by far one of the best amps I’ve ever used. It’s 15 watt with a single 10 inch speaker, but you can turn it up to about 6 without it being too loud for most venues and you get that classic Fender tube saturation that almost every rock guitarist goes after. The controls on the amp are very simple, I have a volume and a tone, which works for me, the simpler the better.
My bigger amp is the Fender Hotrod Deluxe. I like this amp as well, but I can never get it to it’s sweet spot in most of the clubs we play. This amp also has more controls and has 3 channels. I’ve learned that I prefer controlling my overdrives from stomp boxes instead. If I go back to that amp one day, I’ll probably just use the clean channel and my boxes rather than the channel selector switch.
Effects:
Volume peddle.
Especially not using an amp selector I use the volume peddle a lot for a little extra when I take a lead then can pull it back in to the mix nicely for rhythm.
Delta Lab Tube Overdrive.
This pedal is a great warm overdrive that I just bought. I’ve rehearsed with it a couple of times and found it was very easy to dial in with the rest of my rig and is the perfect, slightly dirty, but not completely distorted guitar sound perfect for rock and blues.
Digitech hotrod rock distortion.
I’ve had this pedal for a long time and it gives me a dirtier heavier tone. I use this pedal in songs like, “Let Me Down,” to give it a more contemporary hard rock kind of sound rather than classic rock. I’ve also started using this pedal in tandem with the Delta Lab to get some great harmonics on some of the heavier guitar solos.
Boss C-E5 Chorus.
This chorus pedal is very versatile, though I pretty much set it up and leave it there. I don’t use a ton of chorus and most times when I use it at all, I want it to be more subtle rather than the defining tone for my guitar in that particular song.
Cry Baby Waa.
I use this waa peddle about 2 times a night. At the end of, “If you can run along with me,” and for the solo in, “Sorry,” which was originally done by my former guitarist Brian Levine and I just copied it.
Keyboard:
Nord Electro 2-61
This keyboard’s primary function is as a Hammond simulator. It really sounds great and also has one of the best Lesley sims on the market. It’s really a no frills keyboard as well without 700 sounds I’ll never use. I’ve got the Hammond with standard B3 features, drawbars, percussion etcetera, I have a piano sound, a Fender Roads sound and a couple other electric pianos and that’s it. It’s 61 keys, so I’m missing an octave from the standard B3, but it’s also a lot easier to carry to gigs than a B3.
Monitor:
Shure PSM 200 personal monitor system.
For the clubs we play at this point I’m just running vocals and the click from Laura’s Dr. Beat through my in ears. I have the click pretty low as I just reference it at the beginning of songs so I can do the cool rock and roll, “1, 2, 3, 4,” count and be on tempo. I don’t really hear the click during the song as I want to make sure I’m playing with Laura. I like to hear a lot of my vocal because being a pretty intense singer it doesn’t take much for me to push just a little too hard and if I have bad monitors I can blow a whole show in 1 song if I’m not careful. Also it helps me to not push out of tune. Finally the ear pieces cut out about 20 DB of sound so they help my hearing stay much better than if I played loud shows without them.
Microphone:
Shure PGX 14 head worn wireless system.
I got this mic about a year ago and I love it! It allows me to seamlessly go from my guitar station to my keyboard station without taking extra time to move and re-adjust a mic stand, but most importantly, it allows me to run around the stage like a maniac and not losing my mic. One thing that was always difficult for me previously was having to find my exact place before I started singing again. It really made being a good front man as well as guitarist pretty difficult. Now look out, because I might be in mid song and decide to come stand on your table.
