NICK JOHNSTON Demos the Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive Pedal

Nick Johnston is one of my very favorite guitar players of the new millennium. Tasteful doesn’t even begin to describe his playing; his every line snakes through sexy chromatics that always land in exactly the right places and his expression never wavers.

His tone is utterly enviable to boot. He never really goes for a high-gain metal sound per se,  especially since he almost exclusively uses single-coil pickups on his various strat-style guitars (he recently signed with Schecter of all companies – who knew they made a strat?). He generally keeps it pretty simple, plugging straight into an amp with a little bit of the spring reverb and not much else.

However, he spent some time at the home studio of one Keith Merrow, who seems to be the go-to guy for shooting Seymour Duncan demos, to play some notes through their 805 overdrive (which was featured in our Ultimate Overdrive Shootout).

For more Nick, check out our 2015 NAMM interview.