Neil Fallon

“Right now I’m only using this for one or two songs that are more metal-sounding, for lack of a better word, like The Soapmakers and Behold The Colossus.

"I haven’t played any death metal on it, though, that’s a little out of my skill set. It also serves as a backup. These amps tend to have more girth and get more of an all-encompassing noise, rather than something pokey-sounding. "

"This thing is a tank. If hobgoblins made mics, this would be it, the SM7b. It's like screaming at a plasma weapon!"

"I’m a big fan of Pink Floyd’s early synth sounds, and this is the closest thing I’ve heard in making a guitar sound like that. There are others out there, but I often find them to be a bit too contemporary for me. You can switch this and make it percussive, with the gate open.

"You can make it really sizzly or really mellow, rolling off frequencies to the point where it doesn’t even sound like a guitar at all anymore, really.”

“It’s a killer compressor… I’ve used a number of them over the years, but this one seems to sound the best. We have a lot of dynamics in our set.

"I never used to appreciate compression because it was less obvious than something like a distortion pedal. As for modulation effects… that’s more Tim’s world. I won’t be doing a psychedelic solo anytime soon.

"That’s not in my future, I think.”

Neil uses the G&L Tribute ASAT Classic guitar, this is shown on this video (start watching from 52 seconds). I also found information on the official G & L website: http://glguitars.com/artists/index.asp

“I got this here in the UK when I left my Strymon Flint at home, it’s just a basic Tremolo. I think people sometimes over-think these things, maybe a Boss pedal might not sound as boutique as others, but it does the job just as good as any.”

“We keep this on just about all the time. It comes off for the more dynamic songs, like Son Of Virginia or Regulator. It also gives the Fender some more cajones, it helps with growl. It doesn’t colour the sound much.

"Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate boost from a distortion. I tend to want the same tone just more in quantity, and that’s exactly what this does.

"It’s feeding more food into it all, instead of being a glorified distortion pedal.”

The live video of Clutch performing Electric Worry shows Neil Fallon playing a Gibson Les Paul Special. The guitar was also documented in the [2017 MusicRadar rig rundown]:

This has a wider neck than the 335 does, which makes it easier for fingerpicking on songs like Regulator, Gravel Road, Electric Worry… I can get my gorilla fingers in between the strings. The wider the neck, the better it is for slide and fingers. You have more real estate, they’re a little more delicate for the right hand. It has stock P-90s and a Dungeons & Dragons modification, which doesn’t actually do anything, [the 20-sided die tone knob] I got it drilled in there for shits and giggles.”

According to [2022 guitarguitar interview], Fallon mentions Les Paul Specials as his guitars of choice for the slide parts:

The Les Paul Specials, I reserve for the slide guitar parts, just because it’s got a wider neck and I can fit my gorilla fingers in between the strings. So those are my favourite, and I have been playing a Fender of Skeletons on Mars, just because the effects pedals kinda require single coils.

In a Yahoo video search result, Neil Fallon discusses his recent interest in semi-hollowbody guitars, specifically highlighting the D'Angelico EX-175 Deluxe.

Gibson was kind enough to provide guitars, though sadly I have to give them back. I started playing these because Les Pauls, even if I don’t play much during a set, tend to mess with my neck. After a while, I feel like I’m getting corkscrewed! The 335s don’t make a huge difference, but I like how the fretboards fly like an SG.

Mentioned as his favourite guitar in the 2022 guitarguitar interview:

Yeah. In the UK, we keep a lot of gear in Manchester, so we use the same guitars every time we roll through town. My favourite guitar that I’ve ever owned is a Gibson 335. That’s my favourite

Neil Fallon uses the MXR M135 Smart Gate on his pedalboard, as shown in MusicRadar's feature on pro guitarists' setups.

Neil Fallon uses the Radial Engineering BigShot™ ABY True Bypass Switcher, as detailed in MusicRadar's feature on professional guitarists' pedalboards.

Neil Fallon uses the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano reverb pedal, as shown in a MusicRadar feature showcasing 68 professional guitarists' pedalboards.

Neil Fallon on stage with a SG Special