Chad Sterenberg

Sterenberg can be seen using the Heritage H-150. The guitar can be seen in many concert photos of La Dispute. Chad talks at length about the guitar in his Six String Stories interview with Alternative Press. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeFntt-xcN0 The guitar discussion begins at 15:55.

Sterenberg uses a Les Paul Standard in tobacco sunburst. It can be see here in a picture from a show with La Dispute at The Fillmore on June 15, 2016. In an email from 2012, Chad said: "Hi Tom, I appreciate your compliments on the album. I hope this information finds you well.

Guitars: Gibson Les Paul Studio, Les Paul Standard. I've had the Studio for years and I love it, I recently picked up a Standard and I like that too, but I realized I don't like owning expensive things; I think I worry about it too much..."

You can tell he is using the standard because of the binding on the top.

The submission above was by dante_amico however, I asked Chad at a concert what guitar his gibson was and he told me it was a traditional. When you try to find a standard in tabacco burst with zebra pickups, well, you can't. Most standards say "Standard" on the truss rod cover but the tradional pro has a blank truss rod cover.

He mentions at 9:00 in this 2019 Gear Gods rundown video that this newer guitar is used for all of the songs on the Panorama album, and now (live) is used on several older songs as well.

Sterenberg discusses his amps at 11:40 in the video. He says "And on the amp, for the most part, I just have the volume knob. I have volume, and presence." Sterenberg also says that in terms of amps, what he has is "nothing really special" and that he believes you can get that kind of sound out of most amps.

Sterenberg discusses his amps at 11:40 in the video. He says "And on the amp, for the most part, I just have the volume knob. I have volume, and presence." Sterenberg also says that in terms of amps, what he has is "nothing really special" and that he believes you can get that kind of sound out of most amps.

The Vox AC30 Can be seen throughout the video. Sterenberg uses this amp at smaller venues.

Sterenberg points out his Bad Cat attenuator at 12:49 in the video. When discussing his general sound, he describes it as "a more broken up clean sound."

"For my sound, specifically, it's a more broken up clean signal, so I think that what makes the biggest difference is finding that point where it's breaking up, and how that shape is. And the amp attenuator is a big thing that makes that easy to do, especially if you're using a lot of different amps."

The CWS004 is a pedal that was handmade by Chad for use with La Dispute. It can be seen all the way to the right on the top of the pedalboard. According to his website, "This pedal was used many times in the recording of 'Wildlife,' and can be heard on guitar tracks such as 'I See Everything,' 'Edward Benz 27 Times,' 'You and I in Unison,' 'Safer in the Forest/Love Song for Poor Michigan.'"

The CWS006 is a tremolo based on the General Guitar Gadgets EA Tremolo. It can be seen on his pedalboard in the bottom row next to the tuner. According to Chad's website, this pedal can be heard on the recording of “Wildlife” on the tracks “a Departure” and “Harder Harmonies“.

The CWS008 is another pedal handmade by Chad Sterenberg for use with La Dispute. It can be seen on his pedalboard on the bottom row to the left of the CWS006 tremolo pedal.

The pedal can be seen in this shot of Sterenberg's pedalboard on the lower level all the way to the left. Sterenberg also discusses it in the Six String Stories interview with the alternative press.

One of the few pedals on Sterenberg's board that is not hand made. The pedal can be seen on the top of his board all the way to the left, and uses a physical reverb tank mounted to the underside of his board.

The ProCo Rat can be seen on Sterenberg's 2015 board on the upper level in between the Sole-Mate reverb and CWS004 boost.

Sterenberg uses the Gigrig Quartermaster to control effects that lack footswitches and upper level effects on his board. From his website:

"To remedy this, I resorted back to my old ways, using the pedals as they are for the front row (my most used pedals), and using the looper next in the signal chain for the back row. This hybrid setup gives me the spacing and feel I am after, while still reaping some of the benefits of the relay-switching system."

Sterenberg recently added this pedal to his live setup. He does not use it as a reverb, but rather more of a fuzz. From his website:

"I can now run pedals that I normally wouldn’t be able to, including the Realistic Electronic Reverb unit on the far left (it’s actually a quick analog delay that I’m using as more of a blown-out fuzz). This pedal has no footswitch on its own, so before I could only use it for recording purposes (for an example you can hear an overdub at time 1:24 on the song “All Our Bruised Bodies and the Whole Heart Shrinks“)."

The power supply unit can be seen clearly next to the MOD reverb tank for his Sole Mate Jr. From Sterenberg's website:

"Everything is contained underneath the back row of pedals where a Cioks AC-8 is powering everything, and the spring tank is mounted."

Sterenberg uses a buffer on his live rig. It is hard to see in the photo, but his website confirms: "I also decided last minute to add the buffer pedal (JHS little black buffer), which fit nicely next to the spring tank and underneath the 1/4 in jacks to the looper (it’s barely visible in the photos)."

Mentioned at 11:11 in the Gear Gods walkthrough video as a replacement for an actual tape device he used to use for samples.

Mentioned at 13:30 in the 2019 Gear Gods rundown video.

Two of these are visible at 15:00 in the 2019 Gear Gods rundown. He mentions that they are an attempt to recreate a larger, rack-mounted delay he had used in the studio but was impractical to tour with.

Visible at 15:00 in the Gear Gods rundown video, used in conjuction with two MF delays as a "single effect".