Rigged: Divider Guitarist Anthony Fusco

General rule of thumb here: if a band has 4 vintage heads plugged into 2 cabinets then I want to know what’s going on with that setup. Or when the band has an aluminum guitar and a lucite one. So goes the tale of Divider, New York City’s stalwart carriers of the sonic battering ram. After years of EPs and splits the band is set to release their first full length, All Barren, on September 23rd. Glory Kid will be putting out the LP as well as the digital download, but you can scope Invisible Oranges’ premier of Divider’s new track “Requisite” right now. Those wishing to commit further can preorder the record here.

After a few minutes of getting pummeled by that gate-crushing tone, I figured it was time to get the hows and whys from Divider guitarist Anthony Fusco.

My name is Anthony. I play guitar in a band called Divider. I feel like every guitar player goes through a process where he or she is looking for a particular kind of sound. First it is usually whatever you can get your hands on, but through the years, you inch closer and closer to your ideal sound. Through a rather expensive trial and error process, I have gotten pretty close to where I would like to be.

For Divider, I put a setup together that is more about efficiency than just being super loud for the sake of being loud. I took two Acoustic 405 cabinets and wired them to have two separate 2x12s in each for a total of four 2×12 sections. One cabinet is paired with an Ampeg V4 and a V4b, and the other cabinet has an Acoustic 450 and a Sunn Concert Bass head. The ability to blend these heads allows me to put together a very dirty/disgusting guitar tone. Since I am the only guitar player, I am able to cut out and play through just the v4s. When everything comes together, I hit a pedal and turn the 450 and the Sunn on to fill out the sound. The added bonus of using the 405 cabinets is each cabinet has a horn section. The horns add a noticeable grit to the sound. All of these amps have great low end, and the horns add an awesome treble to the overall sound that really cuts through. These cabs are the best. I was lucky enough to come across two of them.

About a year and a half ago, I was able to play a friends Electrical Guitar Company guitar. The entire guitar was made out of aluminum. It was so awesome. About a week later, I emailed the dudes at EGC and placed an order for one. This guitar has a Les Paul double cutaway style body with EGC’s custom pickups. 24 frets with a 24.75 scale. The body and neck are aluminum. The body is hollow, and the neck extends through the body. Both of the pickups are mounted to the part of the neck that is within the body, so it creates this sustain that is unreal, and the feedback it produces is so warm. It has stereo outputs on it, so I can send the bridge pickup signal to the V4s, and the neck pickup signal to the 405 and the Sunn. That gives the V4s a real strong gritty sound, and the 405 and Sunn get the thick sound of the neck pickup, which they are more suited for. I liked the feel and sound of this guitar so much that I sold most of my wooden guitars and bought another one. 22 fret neck with a Lucite body.

For pedals, I don’t really use much that augments the sound of the amps. Sometimes I will use an MXR Micro Amp pedal to boost things a little bit, depending on the venue we are playing. I have things wired for the two separate signal paths that are coming from the guitar. The bridge pickup path is Boss delay/Micro Amp/Boss noise suppressor/ Radial ab switch. This path is always on. The neck pickup path is tuner/noise suppressor/volume pedal. By setting the paths up this way, I am able to cut both the Sunn and the 405 or just one depending on the part of the song.

For this new LP, I stacked a bunch of tracks with a bunch of amps to put together the sound that I hear in my head. I used most of the amps from the live setup, but I was also able to throw my 73 OR 120 and my KT88 White amp into the mix. The orange amp, through the Hiwatt cab, was so gainy and gritty. On the flipside, the White amp through the Marshall cab was so thick and grimey. On some of the faster tracks we blended the V4s and the Orange to be a little more pronounced, and on some of the slower tracks, the White amp was brought a little more to the forefront.