Hell yeah, we don't actually have many or any videos showing Brad's playing in depth, it would be really interesting as well.

+Seth LeCoq Thank you! We are glad you enjoyed it.

+MEAN TV™ jeeez-us the minutia

Is Barry's old SZ (shown around the 8:20 mark in the video) still stock or has he modded it to suit the music he plays with Three Days Grace?

Andyuf2 Sure, there’s a lot more to this rig that we covered in the video. If there’s enough interest we could cover more details. Thanks for your comment Andy.

Awesome! Yeah man, whatever you guys have time for.

gregory pinkowski Hello Gregory, Thank you for the excellent information, I’m aware of all the points you made. The number one problems with noise in the guitar gear industry are ignorance (lack of knowledge) and willingness to invest in the solutions. Both problems are more rampant in this industry than people realize, far far more. Its so engrained in this industry I’m not so sure we will ever overcome it for the benefit of everyone. An example: just because say Fender or Gibson “invented” a classic guitar design does not mean they had the slightest clue regarding the proper way to wire and shield it nor interface it with other equipment. They didn’t have a clue day one and they still do not today. And since the corporate mindset has long creeped into a company like Fender/Gibson they simply do not care because their stuff will sell either way. The exact same problem exists with just about the entire backline industry. Hard reality. - Lonnie

Well…. if there’s demand and time to do it there’s A LOT more we can go into with Barry’s rig. Thanks for your interest. - Lonnie

+THE ALL SEEN Thank you, this is really cool to know that you got a lot out of this for school. Congratulations on your graduation. We'll pass your intern request on to Lonnie.

Wicked! I am around! tomiisonic@yahoo.com

+THE ALL SEEN THANK YOU ! The All Seen. Really appreciate the kind words and happy to hear someone is getting something from my ramblings ! I certainly could use an assistant while building rigs or while on tours but the powers that be make those decisions. If it were up to me would be a different story ! Always something to learn. I'm continually learning from others as well. Often pick up a tip in the most unexpected situations and glad to pass them along. Thanks again. - Lonnie

Haha thanks Lonnie- FYI if you ever need a guy in TO or surrounding area- I'll work for free =D

Hello Tom, Correct me if I'm wrong but you might be the gentleman I met at the arena in Kelowna BC recently while on tour? If so, enjoyed chatting with you. I use 3M dual lock instead of velcro but in a different way than typical. Use 1 inch square in each corner of a Boss sized pedal. Larger pedals require more squares. Do not use longer strips. Works better with more separate squares. The 2 keys however are , #1 use the clear 250 head per sq. inch on the pedalboard side, and the black 400 head per square inch on the device side , #2 mate the two squares by turning one 90 degrees to the other. This is the best combination of holding power yet still allowing removal of the pedal when you need to. Virtually eliminates side to side movement (at least enough to survive road life). Thanks for your interest and comments! - Lonnie

IKR!?! I thought Barry's rig would remain a secret forever. Big thank to MEAN TV.

+Rock Of Salvation Rock of Salvation - Very welcome. Glad you picked up some information from the video. Budget always dictates the approach. If I'm supplied with the usual moulded IEC cables I always replace the end plugged into Furman (or other brand). This allows better friction fit to hold plug as well as cut cable to length for neatness. The end I mostly use is the most expensive one from Home Depot. (tried finding a link for you but no luck on their site). It's black and heavy duty. About $7-8 usd, about 9-10 cdn. Obvious which one it is since the other two they carry are clearly cheap junk. It's not just about the plug however. Can't see in video but if you could look UP inside the rack you will observe after I run the high voltage power lines vertically on left side of rack they must be run horizontally across the rack top to the appropriate outlet on the Furman. I run that "AC bundle" about 3" from rear of Furman. Zip tie anchors about every 4" across are screwed in. Than zip tie bundle to anchors. I do it in a way that places a bit of forward pressure on the cable, yet still allows plug to be removed easily if need be. Kinda hard to describe, picture would tell the story much better. This combined with the plug upgrade does the job with little to no concern of falling out. Part of the professional tech routine is to check every show however, just incase. - Lonnie

Yes, there is only one “paddle” antenna. However there is also a “whip” antenna attached to the receivers in the rack. Reason for this is often a 1/4 wave whip will actually pick up the guitar transmission better. From experience I find that a combination of the two can often work better. Sometimes when you're in a venue that's really rough for open and clean frequencies the whip is something that can often get you through it (combined with proper knowledge on setting up wireless programming and antenna placement of course). Thanks, Lonnie

MEAN TV™ Cheers Lonnie, thanks for the reply! Would that be because of the smaller frequency band the 'whip' antenna is picking up? I'm relatively new to the whole wireless thing, short of the standard 1/4 wave antennas that are usually attached to 'budget' gear. I'm just trying to figure out what works.

Ross Louden It's actually very similar to how certain shortwave radio antennas work. Basically, the guitar transmitter signal is a huge invisible waveform. A large sloping half circle above the “zero line” and a large sloping half circle below the “zero line” A 1/4 wave whip does what it says, basically picks up only 1/4 of the waveform. In a way it defies logic but it works very well since there is a lot of frequency traffic. Sometimes only grabbing a faction of the waveform picks up your freq(s).easier out of all the traffic. I’ve witnessed very frustrated monitor engineers not being able to find anything clean say for a lead singers vocal mic. There was just nothing working well in the allotted range. When all else fails one of the tools in the tool box is to change out one paddle for a 1/4 whip….. totally clean and usable freq. Amazing it can work. I have a sizable selection of different whips in my workbox for the most extreme situations. There is a fair bit more to learn about guitar wireless than most realize. For example; I just did a huge live to air TV music awards show (not 3DG, different band who’s rigs I also built. (this rig uses two paddles). Those types of shows have A LOT of wireless going on so the production company has an RF coordinator sorting all the RF out. I personally knew this guy and also knew he really has it down, therefore would be giving me completely clean freqs. He would have scanned with very advanced software and of course would not put any other artists freqs. on top of mine. Well, all 3 of my freqs. were slamming, nowhere near clean. However, from experience I knew some units (like the mid-level Sennhieser 550 series) are more susceptible to picking up all kinds of unnecessary stuff. I knew the wireless was picking up signal off of the massive video wall. The solution to that is a BNC pad connector that you insert right on the antenna. Some paddle antennas are gain increasing. By inserting a 10db pad with a 20 db pad in series the receiver was 100% clean. I then tried just the 10db pad and it too was 100% clean so I went with that. So, sometimes REDUCING the guitars RF signal OFF THE ANTENNA will solve the problem. It limits what goes into the receiver. Also, most 1/4 instrument whips are not gain increasing so that is part of why that trick can work. Another useful tip to make life easier; for another band who’s rigs I'd built, I installed an ethernet router in the guitar and bass rigs connected to every receiver. Monitor world wireless had one as well. We ran 100 ft. ethernet lines to the guitar rig and a 30 ft. to the bass rig (this was in arenas hence the long lines) over to monitor world so I could run a program to find clean freqs. Even with advanced scanning (compared to scanning in receivers-not so advanced) it can be difficult to find openings in some venues. Since the bass tech and I were in the same frequency block we had to pay attention to keep each side of the stage confined to a PORTION of the freq. block. With the ethernet setup I was able to program my freqs. on opposite side of stage as well as the bass rig on stage left all from the monitor world position. Then I would radio the bass tech and tell him to re-sync transmitters/receivers on the units that had to be changed. It made the entire process more efficient for everyone. There’s a fair bit going on with wireless to keep a guy like Barry up and running reliably. Sorry for the long response and glad your interested in learning Ross. There are several more tricks to "surviving wireless” - Lonnie

Thanks Lonnie! Honestly that response is fantastic! Thank you so much for your time and effort. It's something I find so fascinating especially as it is so tactile and very much dependant on the area and even the time of day. I love learning, anything else you feel like throwing in this direction if or when you have the time or want to do so, I'm all ears. Thanks, Ross

Ross Louden another tip for getting clean guitar wireless in tough situations… Typically when using two paddle antennas they require a certain amount of space apart to work despite what any manual says. I find its usually 4-8 feet in most arena situations. If your in say a TV situation where you just do not have that kind of space separation say because the antenna on a stand shows up on the camera, the solution is usually to place the two antenna stands directly beside each other but turn the antenna closest to the player about 90 degrees (roughly shooting at his mic position). The paddle just behind it shoot roughly straight across the stage. Works most of the time in that situation. - Lonnie

Use some lightning (like The one in The phones) so You know The true color

+BJ Russell BJ Russell, I was on part of that tour but it was with A Perfect Circle, not Pumpkins. Helped Bill's tech with a few issues so knew the rig fairly well. Sorry, I have no pictures. Too long ago. 3630 is a very average compressor. If memory serves they were just on for clean channel. No doubt there are better rack compressor choices. To be honest that massive rig was not well built and unstable. Again, if memory serves he only used one VH4, other was a backup. - Lonnie

+MEAN TV™ Thanks much for the reply! Great informative video.

wake up? off the first album? there was never a video for that..there is no effect but in the beginning its acoustic

I wasn’t present for the recording for that part of the video and it’s been a long time since I’ve watched it. If memory serves, it's Barry’s clean sound which is: Diesel ch.1 with IPS33B patched into ch.1 insert with a detune program (+12/-12 cents ?) but run in mono…. in combination with the Marshall JMP-1/Engl on ch.1. That side of the rig is in stereo on an Eventide Eclipse patch with a bit of chorus but no very wobbly. If memory serves there’s a small amount of reverb & delay on that patch as well. It’s very wide and deep but clear sounding. I’m sure Barry appreciates the compliment, it is a great sound. His playing of course is a sizeable part of the equation, his pick attack is a big part of his tone. - Lonnie

Australian Surface Technologies AST, for the "main rig" we are using VooDoo Labs Pedal Power 2 Plus. One of the rack trays has a VooDoo Lab Pedal Power AC as well. The "fly rig" is exclusively using the G-Labs power supply. Two of them are stock, one I modified a fair bit to accommodate different voltages. I recommend the G-Labs over the Pedal Power units because they are quality digital switching supplies and therefore no real hum field. They also have much higher current output per tap. Bare in mind, there are a small handful of pedals out there that do not jive with switching supplies (they will hum loudly) so need to experiment. Its a small number though so don’t be turned off but the possibility. Given the choice I’d go switching supplies everytime for reduced noise. IMO Barry’s main rig could benefit greatly by upgrading to switching supplies but it was not cost effective to swap them out at this time. - Lonnie

Thanks so much for getting back to me Lonnie, your an absolute genius! I have one other question which I forgot to ask you. You said in the video that you prefer not to use velcro as the pedals can still move around in transit. How do you secure Barry's pedals to his pedal board and rack trays?

Australian Surface Technologies Thank you AST! I use 3M Dual Lock but a specific combination. On the pedalboard side the clear 250 head/square inch, on the pedal side the black 400 head/square inch. (they also make a 250 head/square inch black with a different spacing configuration, don’t bother with that one. It doesn’t hold very well). If you only use two pieces of mated clear 250 the pedals pop off when the case is dropped. If you use only two pieces of mated 400 black you have to pry it off with a crow bar, it holds too well when you need to remove pedal. This combination has the perfect balance of holding strength for hard touring but you can still easily remove the pedal from board when you need to fix something. For a Boss sized pedal I use 4x one inch squares, one per corner. Make sure you remove the rubber pad from bottom of pedal first. Larger/heavier pedals apply more squares as needed.- Lonnie

Thanks heaps for that info Lonnie, your a legend!

MEAN TV™ Interesting...I was always under the impression that Switching supplies were NOISIER than transformer based ones. Are the outputs of the G-Labs ground isolated? And how are you powering the Radial SGI send units on the pedalboard? If I recall, they have a stupid power requirement, something absurd like 15 volts at 400MA, something I don't think pedalpowers put out, no?

+Brian Norris Hi Brian, Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. We had fun making it. No, I am not aware of any professional rig builders in British Columbia. There are only a couple in Canada. US have more but only about 3 I'd recommend. Sorry I couldn't be of more help but it's just not an extensive field. - Lonnie

+MEAN TV™Thanks for the info

Hi Mark, unfortunately the Rotosphere is a very hissy pedal. There’s really not too much you can do about that problem short of trying different tubes. You can bring it down a little with a high quality tube but not a lot. It’s one of those pedals that sounds great so you kinda have to live with the noise. I NEVER use noise suppressors. The sonic and dynamic trade off is not worth what it does to tone. Often the key to making hiss livable is gain structure throughout the entire rig. You have to pay attention to what comes early in the chain and not drive things too hard. Gain structure is always a balancing act throughout the entire signal path. Unless going for a very specific effect try not to drive things really hard…. which is often not the best tone anyway. - Lonnie

Correct, most wireless receivers are balanced xlr out. Problem is there are almost no practical cost effective balanced in/out wireless audio switchers, but most importantly we were using the wireless switcher we had in the main rig to save a bit of cost at this time. Yes, the buffer before wah etc. is needed because the signal is no longer properly buffered after the balanced receive. Its also there incase we have to run on a cable, since now all balanced buffering after the wireless is negated. Thanks, Lonnie

MEAN TV™ You may have already explored these options already (and decided for one reason or another not to pursue them), but I think Coleman audio makes an instrument wireless switcher that from what I understand accepts (and outputs) balanced signals. Radial also has a newer, red-colored one (forgot the model name) that does the same thing, I think.

Andyuf2 Andyuf2, thanks for your suggestions. I’m aware of the Coleman Audio switcher. Problem with that unit is it has no LED’s. A wireless switcher MUST have LED’s or too may mistakes will happen during guitar changes. Wish Coleman would address that simple issue. Also aware of the newer red Radial switcher. Like many other Radial products that model has too unnecessary features that are not needed for this application driving up the cost. For example, I’ve used a Radial JX44 for an unbalanced wireless switcher but tis difficult to justify the 3 times cost increase of it over the Whirlwind model even though it sounds better. Their balanced switcher suffers the same issue. The Whirlwind has become industry standard by default…. its cheap and no simple reasonably priced balanced switcher to compete. Unfortunately the Whirlwind besides being unbalanced, colors the tone a fair bit because it poorly implements LDR’s for switching. - Lonnie

He had El34 in his VH4's

Yes, Mesa ClearLink send & receive. Best balanced send/receive on the market imo. - Lonnie

+Christian Swanson Hello Christian Swanson, regarding MXR CAE buffer....all buffers "buffer" (couple a high impedance source to a high impedance load" so yes it will "work". However, as I stated in the video the MESA prototype is designed SPECIFICALLY to couple a guitar to the rest of the rig. Therefore it accomplishes this job much better than the MXR/CAE or similar designed buffers. The sonics and dynamics of the Mesa blow away the MXR?CAE for this specific task. If all I had access to were the MXR/CAE I would use it in this application, however if given the choice I'd use the Mesa hands down. I lieu of the Mesa the only other buffer for this application I can recommend to the same degree is from Pete Cornish.

+MEAN TV™ something ive noticed with my set up.. no one has been able to give me a straight answer but ive got a volume pedal in my effects loop (because i want the amps distortion to swell in with the pedal) and i notice if its any where rather than open or closed i get a bit of buzz, now ive been told to use a compressor but not sure if i want a compressor in my rig. im curious if this is where id need a buffer. my current set up is as follows: guitar>tuner>wah>flanger>phaser>overdrive>chorus>evh fx loop: smart gate>volume pedal>delay i was thinking to put the buffer after the volume pedal.

+Christian Swanson Not sure why anyone would recommend a compressor to address a buzz issue, that makes no sense at all. Keeping in mind it's often difficult to address a rig issue when I don't physically have it in front of me .... Are you using a typical guitar volume pedal? They usually contain 500 k pots. (Not many realize impedance issues can induce a buzz). The signal in a guitar fx loop is almost always low impedance/line level. If it's a standard guitar volume pedal start by swapping it out for a low impedance keyboard volume pedal with a 25 k pot. With a 500 k or higher volume pedal pot in fx loop you are "lifting" the signal too high above ground. No need to add a buffer in the fx loop. It's essentially already "buffered". Buffer inputs are generally designed for a guitar level/high impedance input. You'd actually be adding an impedance mis-match with typical guitar buffers and can overload its input. Start there, let us know if solved and/or get back to me if problem persists. - Lonnie

ive checked the impedance, its a dunlop volume pedal thats at 250k

+Christian Swanson as noted earlier, start by changing out to a 25k or 10k (no lower) volume pot. You are too high above ground with a 250k pot. Go from there. - Lonnie

miles janes Hello Miles, Reason is not always about how low a guitar is tuned for a song. A baritone has a specific sound and feel due to its scale length and the string gauges it can support. A regular guitar tuned that low doesn’t always respond as well as a baritone tuned to the same pitch. - Lonnie

"Wake up"

Please message us or email us with your phone number, we'll pass it along to Lonnie. Thank you. Email: info@meanclothing.com

dannyaa123 Old Super 70's or Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck model.