Mike Sullivan

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

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

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.

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.

"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

"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."

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.

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 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.

This photo from a 2013 Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedal board, which includes an Earthquaker Devices Grand Orbiter effects pedal.

At 12:22 in this rig rundown video, guitarist Mike Sullivan says, "I'm recently using these two Mesa pedals, the Tone Burst, and Flux Drive, together at the same time...and I couldn't be happier."

This photo from a 2013 Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedalboard, which includes a custom painted ZVex Vexter Fuzz Factory guitar effect pedal.

This photo from a 2013 Premier Guitar article shows Mike Sullivan's pedal-board, which includes a Fulltone Secret Feq overdrive pedal.