Ben Monder

Ben has played an early 80's Ibanez AS-50 for about 30 years as his main guitar. It's pretty much the only guitar you see him playing.

A quote from a Guitar Player article:

I bought it in 1983 because I liked the way it looked, and because I imagined it would produce a certain sound. When I actually got it, however, it didn’t sound anything like what I’d imagined. But I kept at it and eventually it started sounding the way I wanted. So I don’t know if there’s something going on where you kind of breathe your sound through a guitar and it starts to do what you want it to, but it is really easy to play and it has a nice jazz tone as well as being able to rock out. I can also bend the neck to change pitch, which is something I do fairly often.

Ben mentions that he sometimes used a Lexicon LXP-1.

This was also used by Kurt Rosenwinkel and Bill Frisell, as well as other NY jazzers.

When the interviewer asked him about the nice acoustic that he plays on some pieces, he said, "Yes, a 1936 Martin 018."

Ben mentions that he uses a Music Man RD-112 combo, often in stereo with a Fender Deluxe or Princeton.

In this interview he mentions that he used Walrus Audio Deep Six Compressor on David Bowie's Black Star album.

Ben mentions that he uses a Kelley modified RAT distortion.

In this interview the Blue Sky is listed as being used on David Bowie's Black Star album.

Guitarist Ben Monder is known for his distinctive sound, often characterized by lush chordal textures. A key component of his setup is the Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer, which he uses to enhance his volume pedal-controlled dynamics. This pedal is essential in shaping his signature tone, as highlighted in the "Ben Monder's Gear" feature on Jazz Apparatus.

According to this article, he uses Boss OC-2.

Ben is well known for using the volume pedal as a means of articulation (ala Bill Frisell).

Ben mentions in the article that he often uses this amp.

Ben mentions that he uses a Carbon Copy delay.

It's one of the pedals he mentioned in this interview with GuitarPlayer

In this interview he mentions that he used Walrus Audio Mayflower on David Bowie's Black Star album.

In this interview he mentions that he used Fulltone Mini Deja Vibe on David Bowie's Black Star album.

In this interview he mentions that he used Aguilar octave pedal on David Bowie's Black Star album.

At the beginning of this youtube video, you can see Ben Monder using a Fender Deluxe Reverb with a Lexicon LXP-1.

In this interview he mentions that he used Fulltone Deja Vibe on David Bowie's Black Star album.