Stephan McBean

He plays this guitar during the fourth and final song, Space to Bakersfield. Clearly viewable.

"There was a ’50s Les Paul Special with P-90s that I used a fair bit. I have a ’77 Les Paul Standard that I used a bit. I used a Squier Jazzmaster—the J Mascis model—and I threw some of those Seymour Duncan Antiquitys in there."

"There was a ’50s Les Paul Special with P-90s that I used a fair bit. I have a ’77 Les Paul Standard that I used a bit. I used a Squier Jazzmaster—the J Mascis model—and I threw some of those Seymour Duncan Antiquitys in there."

And then I’ve got an ’87 Gibson SG that’s kind of a ’61 reissue with – I think – a Lollar P-90 in it. That one’s good. Real cool. Its neck has been broken a few times on flights and stuff, but I glued it back together [laughs].

"We had a couple of Hiwatts and either a ’69 or a ’71 plexi Super Lead in the studio. There were a couple of little Fender Champs, which are great for putting up to 10 even though they’re only 5 watts—put a mic in front of them, and they sound huge."

"I also have a really weird, broken-down ’70s Fender Twin that’s got a whole bunch of ghosts in it—like, all these weird pops and crackles, and the reverb has a really good spaghetti western, Ennio Morricone vibe."

"I’ve tried every boutique overdrive or distortion pedal that I could find, but I just settled back in on the Boss Super OverDrive. I was like, “45 bucks? Sounds great.”"

"What are your main guitars?

1978 Les Paul Standard, 1977 RD Standard, SG ’61 Reissue and a Gospel acoustic."

You can see Stephan's pedalboard in the Premier Guitar articale. Closer view here.

No. We recorded the record ourselves, so it left us a lot of time to experiment with tones. Once we recorded the bed track, when I was doing the guitars, I set up a whole lot of amps in a room. I had my ’73 Marshall Super Bass, a HiWatt Half Stack DR104 and a Fender Super Reverb from the early 70s. I also had a Supro Thunderbolt from, I think, 1966 and a bunch of other little amps: Silvertones, Fender Champs and stuff.

And then just a while ago for my birthday, I found a [NJ Series] BC Rich Mockingbird from ’84 in a cream colour. It’s great because I had a BC Rich – I think it was the Eagle – when I was much younger. I loved that [the Mockingbird] has kind of a Les Paul neck, but a little rounder. It’s just a bolt on one – the neck-thru ones are very expensive now. It’s got a Seymour Duncan Super Distortion pickup in the bridge, which is pretty cool sounding. I’ve got a few others but I don’t use them live. I’ve unfortunately had a bunch of guitars stolen, too. That was a drag.

"We had a couple of Hiwatts and either a ’69 or a ’71 plexi Super Lead in the studio. There were a couple of little Fender Champs, which are great for putting up to 10 even though they’re only 5 watts—put a mic in front of them, and they sound huge."

You can see Stephen's pedalboard in the Premier Guitar articale. Closer view here.

You can see Stephan's pedalboard in the Premier Guitar articale. Closer view here.

Stephen is seen playing 'Horns Arising' on his Custom Baxter Nomad in custom onyx black, triple mini-humbucker layout, and horseshoe tremolo in studio.

No. We recorded the record ourselves, so it left us a lot of time to experiment with tones. Once we recorded the bed track, when I was doing the guitars, I set up a whole lot of amps in a room. I had my ’73 Marshall Super Bass, a HiWatt Half Stack DR104 and a Fender Super Reverb from the early 70s. I also had a Supro Thunderbolt from, I think, 1966 and a bunch of other little amps: Silvertones, Fender Champs and stuff.

No. We recorded the record ourselves, so it left us a lot of time to experiment with tones. Once we recorded the bed track, when I was doing the guitars, I set up a whole lot of amps in a room. I had my ’73 Marshall Super Bass, a HiWatt Half Stack DR104 and a Fender Super Reverb from the early 70s. I also had a Supro Thunderbolt from, I think, 1966 and a bunch of other little amps: Silvertones, Fender Champs and stuff.

Visible in this photo of McBean from his official PureSalem Guitars artist page.