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Friday, February 24, 2017

MAX'S STAGE GEAR 101


Max is pretty solid on his set up on stage. He doesn't diva-out and need every new item that is born each day. When he gets his set up sounding good, he stays with it! He has had an endorsement with several guitar companies through the years, but settled long ago, with ESP Guitars. He is also blessed with a Peavey endorsement, and actually, he is the longest running endorsement of any artist, with Peavey! Of course there are many endorsements for things like cords, cases, strings and picks, but his guitars and cabs are the spine. But, let's talk berimbau!!


When Max informed us he was going to play a berimbau, he really caught a lot of crap. "Only black people can play that!" Max would just chuckle and look at me...our eyes would connect and we would both know.... The berimbau is traditionally an instrument played by African musicians, in Brazil. It looks a bit like a bow and arrow, with a gourd connected in the middle. The wire is similar to a piano wire, and it is played by hitting the wire with a slim stick. The open end of the gourd goes against your body. You also need a round, flat stone (or metal fitting) to hold between the string and the wood, to keep it seperate. It sounds confusing, but Max handles it like a pro. He is the only Metal artist known to use this.




Peavey has supplied Soulfly and Max's other bands with gear in every country we play! In Europe and the UK, they sent him camo colored cabinets and amps, which we store in our location in Germany. When we fly across the Atlantic, our gear is there waiting for us! Max's amps are always updated with Peavey's newest line. Currently, Max uses the 6505's.



Max's World is always on the side of the stage Kenny chooses. Kenny has been Max's tech over 15 years now. He is much more than a tech; he is a friend, a family and occasionally, when I ask, he is a bulldozer. I am pretty sure he would take a bullet for any one of us and therefore he needs to be included in any mention of Max's gear...Kenny comes with it! He is always surrounded by cases, pedals and guitars but if you look hard enough, you will see bit of Pokemon hunting going on and the Kings playing hockey on a mini TV!!




One pedal Max uses is a D tuning pedal. This enables the guitar to down tune and not switch the guitar. Another is a mild distortion pedal, and the other pedal is a noise compressor. They all stay in his rack and slide out on a small tray. On top of the rack cabinet is Kenny's guitar tuner and another noise suppressor. The amps are stored at the bottom in the rack and there usually is a spare in case of a blowout in one.




On stage, Max has a pedal board with 2 pedals on it. Max uses these when he chooses to. One is an Auto-Wah and the other is a Super Flanger. They both make various noises and Max uses them parallel to his whims! One of these whims is throwing water all over the place, so Kenny keeps these tightly covered with plastic sheeting. You can see this above, as the pedalboard sits in the guitar boat, waiting to go on stage. The guitar boat is also a necessity, holding the guitars upright during the shows!



That is the bulk of the gear, other than the Shure mics, guitar straps, cords, SIT Strings, cases, and oh, yeah.....these little pieces of plastic everyone goes crazy for......



Class dismissed........