John mayer pedal setup

Other similar pictures show his Uni-Vibe and his Electro-Harmonix pedals though they might not have been present yet. This John Mayer pedalboard was uncovered in a feature in a Japanese guitar magazine, which dates back to at least The video below the table is the source of this John Mayer pedalboard listing.

It features a great interview with his guitar tech and is a must-watch. The Strymon also doubles as a compressor. This will help to tighten your sound up, which is great if you are playing further down the neck, or you are playing chordal melodies and really want the notes to stand out. Having said that, if you are looking for something in a lower price bracket then I would recommend the Xotic EP Booster. This is an amazing value pedal and one that will also help you to sound like John Mayer. The first and perhaps most famous of these is the Klon Centaur.

Because of the quality of its tone, the Klon is recognised as one of the best overdrive pedals ever made. Sadly, the original Klon Centaur is no longer in production. You can buy second hand models on sites like Reverb, but they tend to be quite pricy. The most authentic of these is the Klon KTR Centaur , which is manufactured by the same company that made the original. So if you do want to look at cheaper alternatives, some of the best alternatives I would recommend are:.

But if you pair them with the right amp and guitar, any of the pedals listed above will work wonders for your tone. John Mayer took inspiration from his hero Stevie Ray Vaughan, who is largely responsible for the widespread popularity of Tube Screamer.

Like the Klon Centaur, the Tube Screamer is an overdrive pedal. Their tones are tight and well defined at the bottom end and bright at sparkly at the top. The Tube Screamer puts those mids back into the mix. When you combine this with the right guitar and amp it creates a thick and warm sounding crunch. The idea here is that you can combine the two key functions of the Tube Screamer — a clean boost and an overdrive — in one unit.

If a 2 in 1 boost and drive pedal appeals to you, then another pedal to look at is the Full-Drive 2 Mosfet by Fulltone. Unlike that pedal though, Mayer has used the Full-Drive 2 on his board for a number of years. This allows you to alter the way the pedal distorts the signal chain. It changes the tone from one that is vintage in character, to one that is more modern. Again this pedal is in a slightly higher price bracket.

But you do get a lot of different tonal options for your money. So not only will it help you to sound like John Mayer, it will make a great addition to your rig as an all around pedal for the blues. One of the final pedals to add to your rig is the Way Huge Aqua Puss. This is a vintage style analog delay pedal that Mayer uses to add a soft decay to the notes he plays.

Delay is an effect that is often overlooked amongst blues players. This is because generally speaking, heavy delay is an affect that is used more in alternative styles of music. It rounds out the sound of your playing and also makes your tone thicker and warmer. Rather than each note ending abruptly once you have picked it, adding delay makes each note tail off naturally and gives your sound a greater depth. You only need to use a slight amount, and ultimately it is not an affect that is going to make a profound difference to your sound.

But it will definitely make you sound better and will help you get that bit closer to those John Mayer tones. The final effect that is very important is reverb. Many of the amps that Mayer uses and which I have also listed above have reverb built in.

If not, then you need to buy a separate reverb pedal. Not only is reverb essential if you want to sound like John Mayer, but it is a key part of a beautiful blues tone.

Generally speaking, Mayer has used the reverb in his amps. These are very expensive and also somewhat unnecessary, especially if you are just looking for a small amount of reverb to soften your tone. As a result, I would instead opt for a basic, vintage voiced reverb pedal. A lot of the unique sounds he gets can be attributed to modulation pedals.

The first few modulation pedals are classics from MXR. The Phase 90 is a classic phaser that started it all. Much of its popularity lies in its simplicity. The face of the pedal only has a single knob to control the speed of the phase effect. The EVH 90 is an Eddie Van Halen signature model of the original Phase 90 with an additional switch that allows you to select between a vintage phaser or a modern phaser tone.

The Phase is the big brother version to both of these pedals, and it provides an additional knob that allows you to switch between four phaser sounds. This pedal also provides amp models, which means you can plug your guitar straight into it then straight out into a PA system. The pedal can save up to presets, and probably the most unique feature is its ability to beat-sync your playing with a set tempo.

All you have to do is play a chord or arpeggio and allow the pedal to do its work while staying in tempo. The Mobius Modulator comes with 12 modulation machines including popular effects like a phaser, chorus, vibe, flanger, rotary, and many more. Like the previous Strymon pedals, the effects in the Mobius Modulator sound excellent.

There are many additional features that come with the pedal like the ability to save presets, an expression pedal input, assignable control knobs, and MIDI integration. This particular wah pedal is a true bypass wah pedal that features an additional equalizer circuit that will allow you to fine tune your wah sound. There is also a switch underneath the rocker that changes the sweep contour.

This pedal is a true-bypass wah pedal that features two different wah voices and a boost function. The boost function is activated via a side-mounted kickswitch, and while activated, it can help you boost your solos to cut through the band. The MC also has internal pots that adjust the Q-width of the wah effect, giving you another method of fine tuning your wah sound. The first is the Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron Plus which is an envelope filter that is commonly and also mistakenly called an auto-wah.

The MicroSynth XO is a pedal that makes your guitar sound like one of those fat vintage synthesizers, and the POG is an octaver that also makes your guitar sound like an organ.

Mayer also often uses the MXR M Ten Band Graphic Equalizer which is a dedicated equalizer pedal that can be activated when you need your guitar to sound different in certain sections of a song. One final pedal that Mayer uses that deserves mentioning is the Neunaber Slate V2. The Slate V2 is a programmable stereo pedal that can be a reverb, delay, or modulation pedal. All you have to do is plug the pedal into your computer and program it to function the way you want it to. However a cheaper option that sounds really good in its own right would be the Xotic EP Booster.

While Mayer uses a Klon Centaur for his transparent overdrive, that pedal is ridiculously overpriced. Here are Six Famous Pedalboard Setups. That means that Paisley is not stepping on them to activate or deactivate. As a result, he can move freely around the stage.

Meanwhile, his tech will effectively switch effects on and off. Not a modest pedalboard. Quite the opposite. As a result, Gilmour also employs his guitar tech to do all the switching. And there is quite a bit to be done just on the overdrive and distortion department. John Mayer is known for being meticulous with his guitar tone.

As a result, his choice of pedalboard and effects has been influenced by the use of Kempers recently. These relatively new amplifier systems give guitarists a plethora of choices in sound and effects. As a result, this can severely decrease the need for guitar pedals.

In some cases, it may even eliminate it. About 18 pedals are included in his pedalboard setups.