Ty Tabor

Ty is shown in this image playing his Signature Guilford guitar.

His main guitar for the early King's X albums.

According to Guitar Geek's rig diagram, Tabor uses the Yamaha AES920 electric guitar.

According to Guitar Geek's rig diagram, Tabor uses the Yamaha AES720 Electric Guitar.

According to Guitar Geek's rig diagram, Tabor uses the Yamaha AES820D6 baritone electric guitar.

According to the manufacturer's website this is Ty Tabor's signature Yamaha Drop6 guitar.

Eric helped design the Ty Tabor model guitar manufactured by Zion Guitars. " In 1993 I was approached by Ken Hoover of Zion Guitars. Ken had built a prototype for Ty some years earlier and had shown it to him...without much interest by Ty. Ken wanted to pursue building another guitar for Ty, and he knew I was a huge fan. Ken and I had been friends for years, and he asked me if I knew what amps and effects Ty was using. I told him not only did I know what he was using, but that I had seen Ty's amplifier rack and knew the settings. (I also owned Ty's backup guitar) So Ken asked if I would help figure out what guitar Ty would like. Sure. No problem.

Within a few months, I took a copy of Ty's rig up to Zion. One of the keys to us getting Ty's tone was the use of a pre-amp. that I built. The guitar That Ty was using at the time was a 1980's Fender Stratocaster Elite. That guitar has an onboard pre-amp. A few years earlier I bought a few miscellaneous Elite parts that had been in storage at a guitar parts company. I built a pre-amp. pedal that would create an EQ close to that of a Stratocaster Elite tone. When I arrived at Zion's facilities we plugged every guitar they had in, to get an idea what most closely resembled Ty's tone.

1985 Fender Stratocaster Elite. Ty got this guitar from us and used it for songs that required standard tuning.

When King’s X first started, I was playing a ’76 Les Paul Custom.

I also play a Les Paul ’50s Tribute, and it’s my favorite Les Paul. It’s a little lighter than the real ’50s, but it has the same neck, body thickness, feel, and vibe. I’ve been playing it almost exclusively.

"But it’s a bunch of Les Pauls... it’s a 60’s Tribute Les Paul with some P-90s in it."

"And believe it or not... one of my favorite guitars is a really cheap one made by Washburn. It’s called a Delta King... really inexpensive one. I got one of the older ones and set it up and it’s like the most perfect playing guitar I have."

"It is hollow body and it’s really thick wood compared to my Epiphone... and just has a super deep, rich tone. I cannot believe this thing is as inexpensive as it is because it kills! It just sounds fantastic and it plays great."

"I’ve got a Les Paul Junior double cutaway that I made myself with P-90s and an Epiphone Dot that I really love that I played on it."

"I’ve got a Les Paul Junior double cutaway that I made myself with P-90s and an Epiphone Dot that I really love that I played on it."

"I use an American Strat, a Strat Elite from ’83, several Mexican Strats from the 80’s and 90’s... just loads and loads of guitars."

"I played Orange amps in high school. Lately I'm playing them again thanks to Orange Amplifiers." Ty's Facebook photo from July 2014 shows him using this Orange Crush 120 Head (it's the topmost one).

"I played Orange amps in high school. Lately I'm playing them again thanks to Orange Amplifiers." Ty's Facebook photo from July 2014 shows him using this Orange PPC412 speaker cab.

Ty Tabor shows off his amps in this Facebook photo from July 2014. The first head on top of the cab is the Orange AD30HTC 30W Tube Guitar Amp Head. He says, "I played Orange amps in high school. Lately I'm playing them again thanks to Orange Amplifiers."

Two Egnater M4 Modular Preamps loaded with VX, SL, Gretchen and XV modules (one M4 for backup).

One side is loaded with 6L6 tubes, the other side with EL34s.

According to Guitar Geek's rig diagram, Tabor uses 3 Randall 4x12 Cabinets.

Basically everyone has those speakers in their cabs, including the Tabor. He has them in his Randall cabinets.

Ty Tabors (Then secret!) amplifier. Gibson Lab Series L5 solid state amp.

The preamp sections are tweaked for me by the people at Egnater. One of the modules I have is something that they don't sell. I have two of them. We call it the Gretchen Module because it was designed to emulate the Lab Series L5 as best as possible, and they did a really good job at getting very close on that. So, I have a couple of those and then I have a couple of Egnater EG5 preamps with a mid-boost added to them for me. Then those run into my power amp.

Recently I got something from Demeter called a VTMP-2b, which is a really classic tube microphone preamp. John Myung purchased two of those, one for me and one for him, just for working on the new Jelly Jam album. And they don't make them anymore, so he had two of them specially made for us. So, I've got a brand new one of those and it sounds amazing!

"I was running it through several different amps. I ran it through a Marshall 25th Anniversary, a Marshall 30th Anniversary, a Lab Series L5, a Vox Nighttrain, a couple of smaller amps like an old ART Rules Breaker."

"I was running it through several different amps. I ran it through a Marshall 25th Anniversary, a Marshall 30th Anniversary, a Lab Series L5, a Vox Nighttrain, a couple of smaller amps like an old ART Rules Breaker."