Did You Know that Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman Endorses Laney Now?

As long as I’ve known Dillinger Escape Plan, I’ve associated them with Mesa/Boogie amplifiers. Technically my first Dillinger show was back in ’98 at Coney Island High with Meshuggah and Candiria (that and the West Coast show a couple days earlier were actually Meshuggah’s first two U.S. shows ever), but I didn’t catch them because I hadn’t heard of them and my girlfriend at the time wanted to get something to eat. Man, what a killer lineup that show was.

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So anyway, I don’t know what amps Dillinger played in ’98 but when I next saw them a few years later at Dimitri’s last show, both Ben and Brian had Mesa/Boogie Triaxis preamps and 2:90 power amps (or were they Strategy power amps… I’m not positive) in these big 12 or 16-space refrigerator racks. The next time I caught the band Ben had the same rig but Brian had moved on to a Rectifier. There were a couple more changes over the years, but at Dillinger concerts the Mesa name was a constant.

But now Ben has moved on to Laney. I’m kind of shocked, but change can be good, and I’ve heard some killer Laneys over the years, particularly the VH100R that Intronaut used for years before moving to (funnily enough) Mesa/Boogie.

In the video below Ben extols the virtues of the GH50L head as well as Laney’s 212 cabs.

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Chris Alfano has written about music and toured in bands since print magazines and mp3.com were popular. Once in high-school he hacked a friend's QBasic stick figure fighting game to add a chiptune metal soundtrack. Random attractive people still give him high-fives about that.

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  • Wait…what? EVERY interview I read with Ben Weinman regarding his rig for “One Of Us Is The Killer” said that he used a Mesa Mark Five in the studio, and one of the interviews I read with him said he also blended a Peavey 5150 in low gain mode on all tracks as well. He was also playing a Mesa Mark Five at Summer Slaughter last year in support of that record. I saw it. (The new guy was playing a JCM800, I believe).

    I understand guys saying any ole’ BS as “endorsees”, but it seems like he’s straight up lying when he says he used the Laney for the last record.

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