Here is a video going around that shows Joe Satriani playing “Surfing with the Alien” on a cheap Strat copy, a Peavey Backstage 30 practice amp and a Digitech RP200 multi-effect unit.

This will obviously re-ignite the “tone is in the fingers” debate, it definitely sounds like Satch and apart for the lack of whammy bar action, it sounds spot on:

First seen on Guitar World!

Premier Guitar’s rig rundowns are usually highly enjoyable but I must say Jennifer Batten’s really caught my attention. She is an amazing guitarist but also her rig is very efficient and versatile.

Her amp is a new marvel from Germany, the Amp 1 by Bluguitar, weighing only 1 kilo and delivering 100 Watts of Tube Amp like tone. For effects, she uses a Digitech RP 1000 and the video below shows some of the tones she gets. Kudos to John Bohlinger for hosting those.

Hired Gun – Music’s Unsung Heroes is an upcoming music documentary about session and touring musicians. I find these guys fascinating, they are the most amazing musicians you might have never heard of. The directors are looing for funding through an indiegogo campaign with some pretty cool perks, help them out if you can.

Premier guitar has recently published a video showing Jeff Beck’s most recent rig (see below).

 It’s not the first video on the subject but Jeff’s guitar tech gives a lot of info which might (or not) put to rest a lot of heated arguments.

The most interesting thing is the main Strat: it is not new information but the main Strat is indeed equipped with pickups made by John Suhr while he was working at Fender. They are not noiseless but there is a fourth “silent” pickup which bucks the hum. You can actually buy the system (no trace of it on the official Suhr website anymore but it is on sale here for instance).

The Fender Jeff Beck signature model is not equipped with this system but sports Fender Hot Noiseless pickups instead and this is probably the biggest difference. Wether those sound completely different from the Suhr pickups is up for debate.

For the rest, the Strat is fairly standard: 250K pots, LSR roller nuts, etc.

As to pedals and amps, a genuine Klon Centaur seems to be the most used pedal. There is also a Hugues and Kettner Rotosphere for Leslie type sounds, a Snarling Dog Wah and two analog delay pedals.

At the end of the chain, there is a Marshall DSL 100H, a JMP and a Fender Vibroking. The latter seems to be favoured by the Maestro. Finally, let’s mention a lexicon reverb similar to the one used on the Ronnie Scott gig (although not exactly the same).

As the tech puts it: “he plays rather dry most of the time”.

 Bottom line, yes guys, it’s in the fingers.