Mike Sullivan

Mike’s current main squeeze is a 1985 Gibson Les Paul Custom that he bought in his hometown of Chicago at Rock N Roll Vintage. Since acquiring the guitar, he dropped in new pickups—a high-wound Lollar Imperial in the bridge and a standard Lollar Imperial in the neck. Sullivan goes with D’Addario NYXL .011–.056 strings and tunes this one to a DADGAD variant—C#-G#-D-G-C-A#. When it comes to picks, he’s been loyal to the Dunlop Max-Grip Jazz III since he found some inside a box for an Andy Timmons pedal. Sullivan’s backup is this ’81 Gibson Les Paul Custom (with the original pickups) and is reserved for songs in A-A-D-G-A-D tuning including a new song off 2016’s Guidance called “Afrika.”

Recognisable due to the sanded down look of the finish, Mike has been frequently seen with his Les Paul Custom. He said in a Rig Rundown that it was a '57 Reissue, used mainly because of pains in his hands.

Edit 5-15-2019: Previous photo showed Mike's 85 Les Paul Custom in pewter (Greenish metallic color) in the new photo listed is the correct 57 Les Paul Custom in Faded Cherry finish. Also you can see better photos of it if you go onto reverb and go to Russian Circles Reverb page where Mike Sold it a few years ago!!

Mike specifically names the Flying V he owns as a 67' Reissue.

Rig Rundown at Premier Guitar:

"Sullivan’s new love is a Fano RB6 that he recently received from the boutique guitar maker’s custom shop. “It comes down to the clarity thing,” Sullivan says. “You hit a chord and you hear every note. The Lollar P-90’s in the neck and bridge just sound incredible, and just have a pure organic tone. There’s nothing to hide behind.” In addition to its Jason Lollar P-90 pickups, Sullivan’s RB6 utilizes a Gibson-like 24 3/4" scale neck with a chunky C-shape. Sullivan’s guitars are strung up with Dean Markley custom-gauge .012-.056 strings (he occasionally uses a .058 for the lowest string), and are tuned low to high to B-F#-C-F-G-B."

Talked about around 8:04 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTkHgfS-NU

Source from the "Other Band's Stuff" Tumblr, this photograph taken at a show on August of 2012 shows a rare occasion of Mike when he had used a Jazzmaster.

This live performance of 309 by Russian Circles shows Mike using a B.B. King Lucille electric guitar from Gibson.

2007 Gibson SG Standard Silverburst

I’m kind of inbetween guitars at the moment. A car accident caused an upper-back injury and put me in search of lighter-weight guitars. I tried several different SG Customs and some just didn’t feel right and the SG neck is not my favourite profile. But I’ve tracked this one down with a rounder neck profile, ebony ’board and mahogany body. I’m always checking out guitars and this was a really good deal. It was a Robot Guitar [a model with automated self tuning] and I knew right away I’d be stripping all that mechanism out, but at the core of it I knew this was a great guitar. In the last few years I’ve become accustomed to using lower output pickups and I put a Lollar Imperial in the neck and then a higher wound one in the bridge. And I’m sold – they’re really good. Great for distortion and having articulation. I think lower output pickups refl ect the guitar more; everything is more exposed in a cool way. I’ve had SGs that are the worst things to play live but this one felt great. Sacha Dunable from Dunable Guitars helped me set it up with a new bridge and tuners. On this tour it’s usually in C# G# D G A C# and occasionally the lower G# will go up to an A . I’ll use the Drop pedal to take that a whole step down too.

1971 Gibson SG Standard

I picked this up at a cool guitar store called Rock ’N’ Roll Vintage in Chicago. It’s a guitar I’d always see but I tried to stay away from it and not touch it. But I fell in love with it and I’ve had it for years now - and for certain songs live it has its place where no other guitar feels quite as right. There are things I would change about it, like the pickup in the bridge doesn’t quite have the tonal quality. I can’t say for certain if it is the original. This is always in the same tuning: BBEABE.

Seen and named by Mike in the Riff Rundown video for the song 'Harper Lewis', produced by Premier Guitar.

Mike bought a custom Dunable Cyclops back in 2018, fitted out with a black limba body, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard and Lollar humbucking pickups.

At 1:29 in this rig rundown video Sullivan says, "Yeah the Meat Smoke is 300W...it's also a very, very, dark tone amp." For live and studio use, Sullivan’s main amplifiers of choice are 300-watt Verellen Meat Smoke and a 100-watt Verellen Loucks tube heads.

At 0:38, Sullivan says, "the main amp I've used live and in the studio is this Verellan Loucks...it's just a great clean, overall, clean, loud amp. It's very dark too." Sullivan’s main amplifiers of choice are 300-watt Verellen Meat Smoke and a 100-watt Verellen Loucks tube heads.

"Recently, I had the pleasure of watching a performance by Chicago-based instrumental post-rock/metal trio Russian Circles. On the night I took in the show, the band’s guitarist Mike Sullivan was concocting his tone cocktail with a Gibson Les Paul Custom, a slew of effects pedals, two Sunn Model T heads, and Emperor 4x12 and 1x15 cabinets."

"Recently, I had the pleasure of watching a performance by Chicago-based instrumental post-rock/metal trio Russian Circles. On the night I took in the show, the band’s guitarist Mike Sullivan was concocting his tone cocktail with a Gibson Les Paul Custom, a slew of effects pedals, two Sunn Model T heads, and Emperor 4x12 and 1x15 cabinets."

-Lyle Zaehringer, Premier Guitar

The final amplifier that Mike uses in studio for different textural sound is a Fender Twin Reverb.

Amongst the amplifiers that Mike Sullivan uses is a Fender Pro Junior. This amp was used in studio for a brighter sound.

In this Instagram photo, Mike Sullivan can be seen playing into a Fender Vibro Champ.

"Recently, I had the pleasure of watching a performance by Chicago-based instrumental post-rock/metal trio Russian Circles. On the night I took in the show, the band’s guitarist Mike Sullivan was concocting his tone cocktail with a Gibson Les Paul Custom, a slew of effects pedals, two Sunn Model T heads, and Emperor 4x12 and 1x15 cabinets."

-Lyle Zaehringer, Premier Guitar

The final amplifier that Mike uses in studio for different textural sound is a Fender Twin Reverb.

For years, Sullivan has been a user of the mighty Verellen Meatsmoke, but for the band’s most recent run of European dates he opted for a Fender Super Bassman and hasn’t looked back. He relies on stompboxes for any dirt and drive, so he really enjoys the clean headroom his all-Fender lineup provides. It rests on and powers a standard Ampeg 8x10 cab.

This Quilter amp has been a crucial player on this Australian tour. I knew I’d be dealing with different amp rentals each night so I brought this along. I’m truly impressed by how great it sounds at full stage volume.

The Tone Block 202 is part of his live rig in a wet-dry setup with 2 Fender Twin Reverbs

This photo from a Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedal board, which includes a MXR M-133 Micro Amp pedal.

This photo from a Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedal board, which includes a Strymon El Capistan dTape Echo Delay pedal.

This photo from a 2013 Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedal board, which includes a Strymon Flint Tremolo & Reverb pedal.

This photo from a 2013 Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedal board, which includes an Akai Headrush multi-effects pedal.

This photo from a 2013 Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedal board, which includes an Xotic BB Preamp pedal.

This photo from a 2013 Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedal board, which includes a Mesa Flux Drive.