Guthrie Govan - using an FX8 with Aristocrats

strat714 said:
Yes, I saw The Aristocrats last night in Omaha. He was using Victory amp and cab and the FX-8 with 2 Fractal EV-1 controllers. Woot! Absolutely AMAZING tones!
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Greetings from Omaha!

I just got my FX8 last week, and didn't intend for my first post to be as a Guthrie Govan fanboy, but if the shoe fits...

Anyway, I was at the Omaha show as well, probably 5 feet away from GG all night. I didn't know that he'd switched to the FX8 until I checked out his rig, so that was pretty cool to watch. Here are a couple of my observations...

- the "browner" Charvel was used for drop-tuning. He mostly had the Tremel-No tightened down, but he did let the bridge float one or twice during the set. The stage was not lit up very brightly, so I have no idea what sort of top that guitar had (despite being only a few feet away from it).

- he played a Victory head/cabinet. I imagine his primary overdrive came from the amp, but in several of his FX8 scenes, there were as many as 3 (possibly 4) 'drive' blocks loaded.

- once or twice he seemed to struggle with the FX8, either trying to recall a patch or make a chance. Brian Beller is great at stalling & distracting!

Apologies for the terrible pics. It doesn't really matter what camera you give me, a $10,000 ultra-mega-high-end-SLR or a disposable piece of junk - my pictures will always look terrible. Sorry...
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Whoa! That's a new addition for him. I saw them in Seattle two weeks ago and he was using the same (analog) pedal board I'd seen in the past. Interestingly he was using a Freidman BE-100, but I've seen some photos from the past week showing his Victory head. Crazy to make a switch like that (to the FX8) mid-tour, but I suspect he's spent some time dialing in the FX8 to replicate his old board. He did use some not-so-common pedals though.
 
tfodor said:
crazy..Went to see him 2 weeks ago and he was using all pedals and a Friedman!
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Yep, same here (in Seattle). I didn't expect to see the BE-100. More recent Aristocrats dates seem to show the Victory head back though. So I don't know.
 
jdosher said:
Yep, same here (in Seattle). I didn't expect to see the BE-100. More recent Aristocrats dates seem to show the Victory head back though. So I don't know.
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He used the Friedman head because there was a problem with the output valve in the V50 and since in a while they didn't have a day off they could neither arrange a replacement from Victory (as they couldn't be sure they'd get it on time) or a repair. He likes the Friedman, though, but he still continues to endorse the Victory amps.

I wonder what's this with the Fx8, however. Anyone talked to him about that? I know he's used Axe Fx2 for a while now, but said that he'd use it if he "needed to record a solo for someone at 4 a.m." rather than for a live gig. He was very much into analog pedals, too. I wonder whether the greater use of presets with the Tres Caballeros material could be the reason? Feel free to fill me up on the details, as this is really interesting.
 
Good god.... I've just seen this.... it's not the soloing, it's that first riff....... I'm feeling emotional. :)

 
bluesyboy1 said:
I wonder what's this with the Fx8, however. Anyone talked to him about that? I know he's used Axe Fx2 for a while now, but said that he'd use it if he "needed to record a solo for someone at 4 a.m." rather than for a live gig. He was very much into analog pedals, too. I wonder whether the greater use of presets with the Tres Caballeros material could be the reason? Feel free to fill me up on the details, as this is really interesting.
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At the G4 Experience he talked numerous times about the "economy" of his pedalboard: his requirements are based on getting what needs in terms of tone in a small enough space and weight to make sense for touring, and the associated costs that go along with that.

In that regard, i think the amount of flexibility and quality of effects from the FX8 makes a lot of sense for him.


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WoodyCoRPus said:
Yeah, but he still had to lug that pedalboard around somehow. A multi FX = convenience I guess. Along with all the sonic possibilities.
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That's plausible, although he did bring that pedalboard to the US—it's already there. Maybe testing for future purposes?
 
Here's a shot from last night in cinci at the Mad Frog (should be called the Mad Sweaty Frog).

Tone... meh.. didn't do anything for me, I was directly in front of his amp and could hear the PA over it, so it was very low. Camera Nazi was in full effect (was a giant buzz kill personally) so pics were limited. Walked past him in his van walking in and I waved and he kind of gave me this weirded out look and pushed back into his seat.

Funny thing about the pix, I posted a before gig pic of his rig on instagram and the band liked it ;)
 

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He used it tonight. The effects sounded great. Reverbs, delay, chorus, pitch effects that were pretty awesome (I think he got it figured out), wah, whatever else. Used the amp for gain.
 
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