Rig Builder
Budget Rig Breakdown
Signal Chain
Essentials
Complete Your Rig
The accessories every serious guitarist needs — cables, strings, and the rest.
Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Strings (10-46)
Standard for most electric styles — bright, responsive, and widely used by touring professionals.
Planet Waves American Stage Guitar Cable 10ft
Solderless ends and lifetime warranty. The cable most session guitarists trust.
Dunlop Jazz III Pick (Pack of 6)
The most-used pick among serious players — precision tip improves articulation and speed.
Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner Pedal
The professional standard for live tuning. True bypass, powers other pedals, ultra-accurate.
Levy's M8 Guitar Strap
Quality leather strap used by touring guitarists. Genuine comfort for 3-hour sets.
Technique
Key Tone Tips
- Keep the amp near edge-of-breakup and let pedals build the gain in stages, rather than relying on one high-gain channel
- Run a transparent Klone-style boost for low-gain push before reaching for a dedicated distortion — it adds volume and clarity without changing the amp's character
- Use an optical compressor ahead of any drive pedals to even out pick dynamics before they hit the gain stage, not after
- A graphic EQ (Boss GE-7) is as useful as a room-correction tool as it is a boost — small notches or lifts compensate for how different stages and rooms change an amp's voicing
- A multi-effects unit like the HX Stomp is most useful for the effects you'd otherwise need several pedals for — modulation, ambience and time-based textures — while drive and dynamics stay on dedicated analog pedals
- Keep a pitch-drop pedal (Digitech Drop) on the board for down-tuned sections rather than swapping guitars mid-set
Background
About Alex Hall's Sound
Alex Hall is the guitarist and vocalist of Light for Vandals. His rig pairs Duesenberg offset guitars with British-voiced boutique amps, keeping the amp near edge-of-breakup and building gain, texture and dynamics almost entirely through the pedalboard.