RIGGED – Next To None Guitarist Ryland Holland

You may read this Rigged and think to yourself, “Man, this looks like it was written by a 16 year old!” – that’s because it was! Next To None are a progressive metal band made up of 15- and 16-year-olds, one of whom is the prodigy progeny of none other than Mike Portnoy. And I assure you – the songs they’re putting out don’t sound like they were written by kids. 

Today we get a peek inside guitarist Ryland Holland’s rig.

I play through a Mesa Dual Rectifier and a Mesa 4X12 Cab. The Dual Rectifier has three channels. I have a clean channel, a crunch channel, and my main heavy distortion channel. The amp has a beefy but clear distortion, and it really does sound brutal and amazing. I run a delay pedal through the FX loop of the amp, but other than that, all of my pedals are on my pedal board. I mainly use a Mike Orlando Signature Wah from Rocktron, an Ibanez Tube Screamer, and also a Phaser pedal.

For our heavy and progressive songs, I use an Ibanez Prestige 7-String. Its thin neck facilitates difficult passages and the low B string allows for heavy riffs and more creativity around the neck. I use a Gibson Les Paul for more of our rock-based songs, mainly in Drop-D; I also use it for our ballad. In the studio, I used a Fender Strat alongside my Les Paul to add a nice edge to my tone.