Dan Hawkins

At 10:57 minute mark, Hawkins shows the Boss DS-2 TURBO Distortion pedal, which replaced the Roger Mayer fuzz pedal.

"And there’s the practicality. I have a lovely 1964 Epiphone Casino that I used on the album, but I bash guitars very hard – I have terrible technique where I hit the guitar as much as the strings! So I wouldn’t take my Casino on the road – I’d probably punch a hole straight through it. So I’ll always be a Les Paul man, live," says Dan Hawkins, in this interview.

"This is a guitar known as Sputnik. Belonged to Neil X from Sigue Sigue Sputnik...It's an awesome sounding guitar and this guitar was actually the one that lead me on to Les Pauls many years ago," says Dan Hawkins, at 8:25.

Dan Hawkins discussed this guitar in Premier Guitar. He has Grover tuners on his 2000 Les Paul Standard. His brother, Justin Hawkins, bought him this guitar when "The Darkness" started. He has 2 guitars of the same year, same model. One of them is tuned to standard and one is tuned to Drop D (DADGBE).

"I've got the original TS808 which as you can be see is pretty much flat out," says Dan Hawkins, at 15:25 in this video.

"It's really good for feedback. It's good for everything actually," says Dan Hawkins, at 16:20 in this video, about his V-Twin.

In a photo shared from Hawkins in this September 12, 2012 Twitter post, the Boss SD-1 is visible in his pedalboard. It also featured in this September 17, 2021 promotional Guitar article.

Another exponent of the SD-1 is Dan Hawkins of platinum-selling rockers, The Darkness whose huge riffs and sinuous lead work owe much to the humble mellow yellow wonder. From the classic power chords of Permission To Land to their new album Motorheart the mighty SD-1 is front and centre.

“It was my first overdrive pedal when I was about 13 years old and that was it,” Dan tells us. “It was the ultimate overdrive sound right away for me and I will always have one on my board. It’s been on every album we’ve ever recorded – Love Is Only A Feeling was an SD-1 and a BOSS compressor a Space Echo – and it’s quite unusual for me to play lots of lead guitar on a Darkness song. I don’t know what it is about the SD-1 but it’s just got vibes. They nailed it didn’t they?”

According to pedalboard photo from Hawkins' Twitter account, he uses the Marshall Drivemaster.

"'And you have a Gibson Custom Shop “Black Beauty” Les Paul especially made for Jimmy Page – but he returned it because it was too heavy for him? And you got it?'

'Yep. I call that my “Love is More Than a Feeling” guitar. It wasn’t on that first album track, but it’s on both other albums since and live for the song. I had the Bigsby taken off, and a hardtail put on. I had a Fishman Powerbridge pickup put on so I could switch to an acoustic sound,'" reads this interview.

From MusicRadar:

“This was originally made for Jimmy Page, but it was too heavy for him, so basically I phoned Gibson in 2003 and said, ‘I want one of these, can you get me one?’ And Pat Foley, who was the head there at the time, he said, ‘Well, you’re in luck, because I’ve just had one come back in.’ So Jimmy Page had his ’57 stolen in 197-whatever. So he had one made to the exact same spec, because he wanted one of those again for when they reunited for that show. So they did it, sent this to him - but it was too heavy because they did it to the original spec. And it’s a monster, because it’s got so much hardware on it, it’s not chambered, and it’s got a big neck. So they built him a chambered one and they gave this one to me. The bridge pickup is out of one of Angus Young’s SGs, so the original Burstbucker can’t compete with the 498s or whatever they are in my [main Les Paul] ‘Dune’. It’s already a much brighter guitar because there’s so much metal on it. But one of my techs was given the pickup by them, so it ended up in here. I use it for Love Is Only A Feeling and the Christmas song, when we play that.”

Dan Hawkins can be seen demoing the SV20H ‘Plexi’ 20w head and SV212 cab in the official Marshall YouTube video. When interviewed he says he will definitely be using it for band practice as it sounds very close to a 100w plexi when turned up.

At 6:44 minute mark, Hawkins revealed he uses the Friedman to experiment on a bit, but also to get some boost during the solos.

At 12:14 in this rig rundown, Dan Hawkins talks about how he uses his Marshall Superlead and his Wizard amp in conjunction with on another.

Dan Hawkins' two Boss DM-2s can be seen at 15:34 in this video.

At 16:05 in this video, Dan Hawkins points out his Carbon Copy Delay, saying, "which is just a really posh, chorus sounding thing that I really like."

At 16:00 in this video, Dan Hawkins points out his Roger Mayer Fuzz Box, saying that it's "for ridiculously mental sounds."

Dan Hawkins' Marshall cabinets can be seen at 17:31 in this rig rundown video.

At 11:43 in this rig rundown, Dan Hawkins mentions his Marshall Superlead, saying it's the one thing in the set "that remains the same. It stays constant."

"We have a V-Twin which at the moment is being fired off to a AC30 which is in the rig too," says Dan Hawkins, at 16:30 in this video.

In this Twitter post, Hawkins showed his pedalboard, which contained the Strymon TImeLine.

According to Hawkins' pedalboard photo, he uses the Ibanez FL9 flanger pedal in his board.

In this photo, vintage Electro-Harmonix stereo Memory Man is visible at the very right of the image.

At 7:24 minute mark, Hawkins showed the THD Hot Plate (16 ohm).

At 10:35 minute mark, Hawkins showed the Devi Ever Shoe Gazer pedal, he said that this is "ridiculously over-the-top fuzz pedal".

The jangly chorus section starts with my 1964 Epiphone Casino through my 1964 AC30 and returns to the 1987x for the way out. The outro is a mix of Smallbox and 1987x.”

This track is split into three sections. I like that the dynamics are really extreme. The verses were played on my 2000 Les Paul standard through a 1987x Marshall with the heavy section at the end of the verses switching to a Friedman Smallbox fronted with a TS9. The jangly chorus section starts with my 1964 Epiphone Casino through my 1964 AC30 and returns to the 1987x for the way out. The outro is a mix of Smallbox and 1987x.

"'Amid all the power rock, there is one very ’80s power ballad, “Love Is Not the Answer.”'

'That was very layered. Electric 12-strings, Gibson J-200 acoustics played in four different capo positions, core rhythm ES-335, four Les Paul rhythm tracks, a Strat solo, an outro Les Paul solo… It was a chance just to do anything. It’s our idea of those ’80s power ballads. No-one’s telling us what to do, they never have been, so it was guitar overload. For one track, why not?'" reads this interview with Dan Hawkins.

According to the pedalboard photo on Twitter, Boss TU-3 tuner pedal is kind of tuner he uses.

In this photo, Hawkins' pedalboard is visible, which contains the Myrtle Pedals Japanese Horror Fuzz pedal.

"Right my army of Guitar Geeks! Here's purchase No.1 for the 'on the fly rig' to be used at headline shows on LG tour."

At 9:00 Dan shows the Dunlop .73 and talks about how this affects his tone.

“At the moment I’m using Marshalls, Les Paul Standards, plus a Diezel VH4 pedal, a Schaffer Replica, some Tubescreamers and other bits. For the next tour, I might get a Vox AC30 modded by the guy who did all of Brian May’s amps. Those things just roar!”