Dean Brown

I’m not a big fan of compression, but this is a good one. There is a certain “hit the wall” thing that you can only get with a compressor. Generally,they tend to reduce the subtle differences in attack that are such a big part of my playing.

I’ve used the Boss since the 70s. When I was playing the Roland 505 guitar, I used to put it first in the chain, because it loaded the signal in a way that seemed to work with my other pedals and amp. Eventually, I started using other guitars and found that it didn’t work well in the chain with them, so I would just hook it up to the tuner out on the volume control pedal.

I’ve used the Boss since the 70s. When I was playing the Roland 505 guitar, I used to put it first in the chain, because it loaded the signal in a way that seemed to work with my other pedals and amp. Eventually, I started using other guitars and found that it didn’t work well in the chain with them, so I would just hook it up to the tuner out on the volume control pedal. Then, two years ago I was playing at the NAMM show with Chris Minh Doky, David “Fingers” Haynes, and George Whitty at the TC booth and the guys at TC turned me on to the Polytune. It’s a total game changer. The deal is you can hit all the strings at the same time and it will tell you which ones are in or out of tune!

Dean Brown mentions on his official gear page that he acquired his Ibanez AD9 Analog Delay in the late 70s and has since modified it with a true bypass.

This was my main delay for years until I found…

Guitarist Dean Brown uses the TC Electronic Flashback Delay, praised for its exceptional sound quality and versatility, as listed on his official gear page.

I have three of these for use in either the U.S., Europe, or Japan. Batteries sound the best, but this is the closest thing if you don’t want to spend your rent money every gig buying them. Clean, stable power is a must. Last but not least… the first and last line of defense