The Who Rig Rundown

The Who need no introduction, so let’s get to the good stuff: PG’s John Bohlinger caught up with the band’s farewell tour at Fenway Park in Boston, where guitarist Pete Townshend’s tech Simon Law and bassist Jon Button’s tech Joel Ashton gave him a look at the gear that the infamous British rockers are trusting for their goodbye gigs celebrating 60-plus years together.Brought to you by D’Addario.Townshend’s Most TrustedThis is Townshend’s No. 1 on this end-days run. Originally an Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster (the identifying headstock stamp has been scraped off), Law says the body and neck have been changed 10 times, and bigger frets installed. Townshend’s preferred settings are marked on the guitar and knobs.Other mods include a Piezo bridge with a separate volume control, a stereo socket output, and a blend to mix Piezo signal with the pickups, which are Fender Noiseless models. It also has locking tuners and the Clapton mid-boost circuit, but perhaps most interesting of all is a small piece of emory board glued behind the bridge, utilized by Townshend to rough up the edges of his picks. Stepped-Down StratThis black Strat comes out for songs in E-flat tuning.This skinny-fret Strat is loaded with P-90s in the bridge and neck, but the neck pickup is purely cosmetic—unwired and used as a killswitch.The Quiet OneTownshend has been using Gibson J-200s forever, and this ’90s model has a Fishman Ellipse system, plus a Piezo under the bridge. It’s in standard tuning, while a signature-model backup lives in D–G–D–G–B–C. The backup has D’Addario strings (.012–.056) while the main axe has.012–.053 D’Addarios.Addition from AlessandroTownshend has been relying on Fender Vibro-Kings since the ’90s, and this one’s been treated to new filter caps, speakers, pots, and tubes. Law notes it’s fiddly to dial in, but always sounds great. Usually, Townshend runs a 2x12 cabinet beside it, but a desire for more control led them to have George Alessandro construct a Fender Bandmaster replica, with a 2x12 configuration. Pete Townshend’s PedalboardPete’s guitars run into a Pete Cornish AC Powered 3 Way Split box, then onto a very custom Cornish-built pedalboard. Inside are just three circuits, pulled from their enclosures and wired up by Cornish: a T-Rex Effects Replica, a Boss OD-1, and a Demeter Compulator. Simon Law’s predecessor, lifelong Townshend tech Alan Rogan, had Cornish build two of these; the backup stays on hand in case of emergency. The board is also outfitted with a top-notch power supply and buffer circuit, plus the nifty “Dr. Who-style” footswitch buttons. Button’s BestThis bass, says Button’s tech Joel Ashton, is perfect. Snagged by Button in the late ’90s in Hollywood, it’s a 1965 Precision that’s been beautifully aged, and is generally used for the entire show. It’s kitted out with a Hipshot system on the D string (which drops to D flat for “Eminence Front”) and Apex strings, which Button strikes with both picks and fingers. Mega-MonitorThis classic Ampeg SVT is used solely as an onstage monitor for Button.Jon Button’s PedalboardButton runs three signals to front of house: one from his Noble Preamp, and two from his Neural Quad Cortex. One of the Neural’s signals runs a stock Ampeg SVT model, and the other is an emulation of Pete Thorn’s Suhr SL68, plus four preset drive levels that Button can switch between as desired. Front of house blends the signals as they see fit.Gibson J-200Fender StratocasterFishman EllipseBoss OD-1T-Rex Effects Replica1965 Fender P-BassNeural Quad Cortex