Near-legendary Machine Head guitarist, Phil Demmel, talks TG through his gear list, featuring his signature Jackson Demmelition King V guitar, his Peavey 5150 amp and a rather unusual wah pedal...
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Guitar and amplifier
Jackson Demmelition King V (£1,229)
"There are no tone controls. It's a metal guitar, and I don't know how many metal guitarists use their tone controls! There are a couple of volume controls, one for each pickup and the toggle."
Peavey 5150 (£400 - 600)
"The 5150 head is the centrepiece of my setup and everything kind of builds around that. It's really close to the original sound of the 5150 but we do a couple of special little tweaks to them and it really translates live."
Effects pedals
Boss DD-5 Digital Delay (£75 £100)
"Through the effects loop I run chorus and a Boss DD-5 delay together, kind of a Satriani lead tone which goes out to the channel switch that I have on my [pedal]board. I just use the FX button on the Peavey footswitch to control the effects loop for leads."
MXR Wylde Overdrive (£169)
"I don't change any channels - my distortion is coming from the Zakk OD. The 5150 clean channel is kind of funny so I just take my Overdrive off and choke down on the guitar volume a bit, which brings out a good clean tone."
Dunlop Crybaby Zakk Wylde Wah (£169)
"I'm running through a Dunlop Zakk Wylde Wah, but I use it with the Buddy Guy housing, so it looks like Randy Rhoads with the polka dots, but I've got the Zakk guts inside of it!"
Prices correct at time of original publication (TG186).
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