Rigged: Assassins Guitarist Dennis Tuohey

Sometimes for upfront powerful music you need a straightforward, powerful rig. The up and coming youngsters in Assassins keep it simple and hard hitting live and on their album War Of Aggression. Since the band is currently on the “Die Without Hope” tour with Carnifex, I Declare War, and more, who needs 20 pedals and a rack unit to go down on them during  a month long trek. Guitar, a couple pedals, amp, good tone, done. Here’s the band’s guitarist Dennis Tuohey.

To start there are obviously people who know a lot about every working circuit and capacitor that makes their tone what it is. Sadly I’m not one of those people. I am however that guy that asks about rigs and how everything works so I can further my own knowledge. So I’m going to give you a run through of what I use and some future purchases I plan on making also!

For my main guitar I use a Schecter Blackjack ATX C-1 with the stock Seymour Duncan Blackout Pickups at the neck and bridge. Honestly the Blackouts have been my favorite active pick up I’ve used. Overall crisp lows and clear highs, just great tone over all for Assassins music The locking tuning pegs also make life a hell of a lot easier with quick string changes and just changing strings in general every few shows. We actually tracked most of the lead lines off “War of Aggression” with this guitar and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

Following the signal chain we head to my pedalboard! As you can see its not the most flashy or full of FX pedals but for now its consistent and does everything i need to perfectly. I use the Line 6 G50 Wireless which has yet to let me down with its signal & battery display and even a cable tone control.  A lot of people i run into on the road said they have trouble with tone decay from their guitar between wireless pack and board. I’m happy to say I do not suffer from this. From there straight into a high gain guitar players best friend, a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor pedal. Cuts out the hum and keeps my tone. I’ve used a Decimator before and it works but I prefer the NS-2 hands down. Next up is the Boss DD-3. Straight forward delay that I use mostly to add a little extra on lead lines. After that i have an Ernie Ball Volume pedal for some guitar swells with the tuner out to a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuning pedal.

My head and cab are pretty basic right now. I’m looking to invest and look more into the amp modelers like Axe-FX II or more likely a Kemper Profiler Power Rack. For now I’m out on the road with my Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and 4×12 Mesa Recto Cab with the stock Celestion Vintage 30’s. I’m really searching for a cabinet right now that fits what my ear is looking for, but for now it does the job by keeping the lows from being muddy and chugs clear. I use Chinese Ruby 6L6 power tubes in my head which I highly recommend for durability, power, and tone.

Like I said before I’m not the most knowledgeable, but I hope to be there one day. I’ve been playing for about 7 years now and I can’t wait to see what other advancements in gear are coming. I always strive to try new things and test out new equipment. Finding new tones and gear is like Christmas any day of the year so don’t lose hope on finding that perfect thing that makes your sound yours! Most important is you though, your hands make more of difference than you think. Keep practicing and stay metal guys \m/

Assassins’ debut record War Of Aggression is out March 18th on Good Fight/eOne Music.