Cradle of Filth’s Donny Burbage and Joff Bailey - GEAR MASTERS Ep. 640

And this is actually the stock amp on the Quad Cortex. I'm not doing a capture or anything like that at all. I'm a big fan of high gain amps, medium output pickups actually. I think a lot of people do the other way around. What's up? I'm Donnie Burbage from Cradle of Filth. I'm Joe. We're here on the Majestic in Death tour in the US, out with Suffocation, who are absolutely excellent homies. Love those guys, ******* awesome. They're about to sound check in a bit, but you know, no worries. Yeah, we've just been out here doing this tour, having a good time, stuff like that. We're going to do a little rig rundown for you guys, show you our gear, show you our amps, and try not to get in the way of my Guitar Tech Anthony here. All right, so basically we've got two Quad Cortexs here. What we're doing is we kind of have these like little patches that we've made here. We don't use MIDI. Our Guitar Tech Anthony actually hits these physically for us just because our playback system only has one MIDI channel out, so we don't have the option to do more than one unit at a time. So we have a little workaround. We're in gig mode right here. We're going to go to like the regular mode. I'll show you guys what we have. This is basically the cradle fill patch that I made. You can download it actually on Quad Cortex's cloud. It's up there for free. A lot of people ask me like, what are you modeling and stuff like that? Nothing. It's actually stock stuff. So what we do here is we run input one, and this is going to come out the XLR from the back of this unit right here. This is our rig right here for wireless stuff. This is for guitars and instruments. It's XLR out that goes into this, so that means that we have to change the input on this to be mic, and we have to adjust it accordingly because the signal level will be a little bit different and wonky sometimes for that. Input, I'm not using a gate here. We have a send return. This is so that way we can send two quarter inch cables to the stage, and that gives us a tuner on stage that we use. After that, it's going to hit a kind of like a little gate that's just there in case there's like a little small tiny noise where you can see the threshold's like really, really low and just basically non-existent. It's just there if in case of like there's a train track system near the venue and it causes like the one that's above us. Yeah, I actually hit a compressor next. Then I hit this overdrive right here. Sometimes I'll use a two skimmer on stage live. Sometimes I'll just do this. This is, I reckon it's kind of like the boss blues driver sort of supposed to be kind of normal overdrive setting. We have split. That's going to split the two different amp tones right here. The first one's going to hit is a 5153 pretty much. You have this one, which is the Friedman. This is actually the stock amp on the Quad Cortex. I'm not doing a capture or anything like that at all. Everyone thinks that's what we're doing. Everyone asks about the guitar tone we play. It's not that. We just do the stock stuff and same with the cabinet. It's not an IR. It's the stock thing that they have in the Quad Cortex. I'm here to tell you it's actually crazy good and everyone who's wasting their time searching for good tone, trying to find like that good capture and that good impulse response. Just get good and turn knobs, man. I was actually quite surprised because I knew coming into the band and stuff, the gear was already here waiting for me. So as it is, that's how I started playing in that and it's my first time playing with the Quad. I usually have a Kemper and stuff like that, but I was blown away by how good it is just with the stock stuff sort of thing. With my Kemper, I had to get lots of extra profile packs and stuff to get it going properly, but it's killer. They're really good. They're much more organic, I feel, than the Kemper. Nothing against Kemper. I love my Kemper, but this feels better. Yeah. So we got row three and row four on the output on those two lanes. That's going to be these two right here. They both come in right here. There's this kind of graphic EQ. This looks like the weirdest EQ curve you've ever seen in your life. I assure you it works. Just like I said, don't mix with your eyes, man. Mix with your ears. This is actually the trick to, this is the secret to actually doing like a noise gate on a Quad Cortex. You're going to want to do the sidechain one. So there's an adaptive gate that says S slash C. It stands for sidechain. What we do is we take this and it's put in after the graphic EQ here. So it's post the speaker cabinet. And then that's going to use the input one as the source. So it's a clean DI that's opening and closing the gate, but it's going to shut the gate after the amp. So it's very similar to like using a Boss NS2 and using the four cable method. It's kind of like the digital way to basically mimic that. And it's really cool when they came out with that sidechain gate. That just changed the game to me right here. Whenever we do a boost, it's going to hit this. It's a delay that turns on and then another 1k bump and cut the kind of like the trebly high 8k out a little bit because I don't like that sound whenever you're like shredding in the high strings. That's basically it. Actually, that's pretty much that this is basically, there's also a dummy one where in case of the tuner dies, we have it where it turns the actual loop off. That way we can still play and not, you know, or if I forget to hit it, which happens often, I leave myself muted all the time. Yeah, the solo boost is basically this. We have a couple versions of this. So this is like I said, it's going to turn on this mid-range bump right here. And we have a delay that turns on. There is always a room reverb that I use actually just to kind of like make it not so super dry sounding. And then we actually hit the doubler also. So it's a stereo spread left and right output for both our guitars. Setting to our ears and also front of house. And then we can choose what we want for like, we want one side or this side. James at the front of house can also mix to be like left and right or like doubles like that. You can do all sorts of stuff with it. So he has a lot more options. If you're a sound engineer, I reckon you're probably a control freak. So you don't want to take control away from them. The patches we use are basically this. It is chunk, which is my rhythm tone. Chunk with no gate, which I never use. But if I need it, it's there. Solo boost, this is wet with a delay on it. There's one with no delay, which is solo boost dry. And there's wet as ****. And I think we only use that for one song. And there's a clean channel for when we want to **** around on stage. And that's about it. Because we don't really use anything clean in a song ever, I think. This one is mine. We have these cool little power supply units for these. They use an IEC cable in the back. And it just powers this right here, which gives you a ground on the quad. It's actually a super nice thing to have. I've disabled the volume knob on this. It doesn't do ---- anymore. But you can turn it off and on by just moving the knob and then turn these off and on right here. I turn it off because it gets moved. So I don't need it. This one's Jopps right here. We also have these cool KNK shields that were made for us by KNK Shields. They're really cool. This is like magnetic and stuff. I think everybody's like rocking these now. You've probably seen these a bunch. But this guy out of Poland makes them. They're ******* really cool. This one's Jopps. It's kind of the same thing, pretty much. His pickups are a little bit hotter than mine. So I think the input's a little bit different. Yeah, we tailored it so it's a little bit less sharp. Again, like Donnie said, my pickups are a lot hotter. So it just takes the edge off that. Yeah, yours is minus 6.3. Mine's like, I don't know, probably a little hotter than that. This is actually for our wireless in-ear system. So you just see our names up here, Dougal, Jopps. This is the Q-Mix, which our mixing guy right here is going to use to basically kind of like cue up a mix and hear what we're listening to. That way, he can hear our mix and then make adjustments for us. This is just a rack-mount charger. I'm a liar. I don't know where our wireless thing is for our guitars. Probably somewhere else. This is just a bunch of cool chargers, is what it is. These cradle filth balls, they're always in my way. Always in the way. These are the picks I'm using. This is from Dan's Guitar Store. This is a 1.5 millimeter. It's tapered. It's really, really cool sounding. Has lots of attack to it. And it kind of like doesn't allow you to cheat. You have to kind of like hit the note. That's my ones. Big Boy's standard. Lock & Clutch 1.4. 1.14 millimeter. Carbon ones. Nice and hard. Nice and sharp. But we both do the sharp kind of things. Yeah, yeah. It's just essential. Keep your accuracy and all that kind of stuff. Nice sharp point. So this is my Tex. Well, our Tex, I should say. Bench, basically. So he has two tuners here. Using the Canvas tuner because it's really cool. And it has a bunch of embarrassing photos of me on it. And then also the Peterson Strobe tuner, which is what I use on stage. Joff is rocking the... Korg Pitch Black. Yeah, yeah. Another good one from back in the day, I remember. Okay, so this is my Ibanez RGR Prestige model. I think it's 5130. I could be wrong about the number. Everyone knows about how tough that is with Ibanez guitars. But yeah, this is just a Prestige model Ibanez guitar that I got. It's really, really cool because the neck is super comfortable on this one. This is a special wizard neck they make for this guitar. And I've fallen in love with it to where I always want this neck on every guitar now. Pretty much it comes with the Lowepro Edge in here. You might notice the tremolo arm's a little bit different. This is actually a Red Bishop Magic Trim Arm. So it's a bit different. But I mean, it's killer. That's just Ibanez RG. It's being restrung right now. But this is just a basic six string. We've got a Fortitude DiMarzio pickup, which is the Gojira model. And I have the Path 36 Anniversary right here. Most people are confused by that because it's actually a medium output pickup. But I'm a big fan of high gain amps, medium output pickups, actually. I think a lot of people do the other way around. I'm exactly the same. In fact, on this, this V, the Schecter Juan of the Dead, the Body Count signature thing, killer finish and stuff. But it came stock with EMGs. Nothing against EMGs. Not my personal preference. So I'm actually going to swap these out for exactly the same pickups that Donnie's using. I don't hate these, though. They actually sound... They're fine. They're absolutely fine. But it's just personal preference. Yeah. They're a little bit too hot for me. And like Donnie said, high output amp, medium output pickup sounds great. So I'm going to swap those out at some point. Because I'm going in the studio right off the back of this tour. And I like to track with those. Yeah, this is my Schecter Diamond series. Like the Body Count signature model. The Juan of the Dead thing. Completely stock. Lock and tuners. Yeah. Not much to really say about it. It just does exactly what it says. It's a big, shiny, pointy guitar. But a killer finish. I really like the finish. It surprised me when it turned up. That satin finish is almost under the stage light. It almost looks like some kind of marble stone or something like that, which is cool. On the back of this guitar, I've done a bunch of modifications myself. So basically, this right here used to come stock with active pickups in it. And it had this voice switch in it. And this is now just a coil split. I still have a volume and tone knob at work. But I changed the cap in that to be an orange drop cap. On the back here, I've actually also have a Futone brass claw, brass screws, and brass block as well. And I'm gonna change the springs out because they're getting a little bit worn. But they have the Futone, like, noiseless ones that I like a lot. And I always this thing where actually you see this, like, little white gunk on here. I put a lot of, like... It's actually for a trailer hitch is what it's for. And it adds extra lubrication. So that way, like, the knife edge on it doesn't wear out so fast. I use the trim so often that I tend to... They tend to wear it on me. It doesn't stay in tune after that. So, you know, if anyone has a problem with their trim staying in tune, probably the knife edge is worn a little bit. You can sharpen them up. I would recommend using chapstick right there. Or even just something that you can find, like, a Lowe's or a Home Depot. That's what I used to use. Lip balm. Yeah, lip balm works really well. Lip balm on it. Basically, I would say mine are coated and a lighter gauge. Because Donnie uses, like, Superman strings. Like, he's got Hulk fingers. It's ridiculous. But I use 9.5 to 46. Keep it a little bit lighter in the top sort of thing. Lots of bends, vibrato. Kind of like a less whoopie Malmsteen kind of situation. But, yeah, string jewelry. I've recently made the change to string jewelry from Elixir Strings. And they're killer. They feel great. And they sound amazing. Sold. You can't even tell that they're coated, actually. Like, I felt it. I was like, what in the world do you... That's the thing. Like, as soon as Anthony put them on my EV for the rehearsals for this tour, I was just like, it feels like a real string. Like, the Elixirs, they tend to be a bit too slick. The coating is a bit too obvious. So, yeah, much, much better. I'm pretty much rocking the same thing. String jewelry. Mine are not coated, but I'm playing a 12 with a 54, which is unusual because it's heavier on the treble side and lighter on the low string side. But this actually is 20 pounds of tension exactly on every single string, actually. So I built this one with that in mind. It's just the same tension across the board. I find that feels nice for me. I think the way that it reacts to the pickup is nicer. It's a little more even sounding. And my tremolo system tends to like it a lot also. But yeah, 12s are kind of heavy strings. But I don't know. I don't like when the string moves when I hit it. But it does suck the bend. You have to fight it. It's not too bad, though. It's not like... Everyone plays them. They're like, it's not that bad. In my defense, in my sort of girly string choice, though, I do jack my action up a tad. Just so you've got that little bit of extra fight sort of thing. If it's too easy, I don't like it. It's too... Yeah. I like to be able to really dig in the string, especially with my bends and vibrato. Get your finger really under the string and just whack the ---- out of it. Yeah, we're tuned to D standard. Whole set is D standard. We might have a song in drop C. If that's the case, I play the fixed bridge guitar and just physically drop it. That's pretty much it. The SLS Evil Twin. Same kind of deal. Roman inlay in. Light fret inlays. Fishman pickups in this one, which I actually really like. I don't think I'll swap these out for the Damasio's. But mahogany body. So it brings my enkei just about underweight because it's an absolute monster. I think it's nearly six kilos, this bloody thing. But yeah, really cool guitar. I think it plays better than this one. But this one sounds better. It's arsenic. Again, completely stock. Nothing fancy. So I think, apart from the pickup switch, I'm destroyed. You can kick it. Real switch. Good switch goes a long way, man. But yeah, that's a killer guitar. I haven't used it at all on this tour, actually. Not once. I've just been sticking with the beat because it's just been real nice. If there's a riff that's like a very string skipping, kind of like, mellow death riff or something like that, I actually do roll my volume back a touch, just to let the gate kind of catch it a little bit more. And it seems to clean up the distortion, just the air. So that way I can kind of like, like play and when I'm skipping strings, it doesn't really like get noisy or anything like that. I do the same thing on this also. This is my Fixbridge one. And that's why I use these Iron Age accessory knobs because they're bigger. A little bit easier to kind of like just like nudge it. This is alpha potentiometers in here also, which I like the taper on that. I'm very specific about everything. So if I hit like a note and I roll the volume up, it has to have like this swell to it's very specific. So I have a very specific potentiometer I use. This switch, it's a very good switch also. You know, same pickups in this also. But yeah, during, when we're playing live, it's pretty, for me, it's pretty much mostly bridge pickup. I might use the neck once in a while on something, but for the most part, bridge pickup. Yeah, same. Yeah, all bridge sort of thing. A couple of solos I might knock the neck in, but that's about it. Yeah. And again, I'm always riding the volume. Like Donnie said, like anything string skipped or particularly quick, I'll roll off a little bit and it just tends to clean it up. Yeah. It takes that harshness off the top. And it just makes it nice. You know, you can keep yourself really nice and tight. I also, in between parts, instead of like automating like a gate or something like that, like some people were doing, I'll just physically roll the volume off and on, like go fast like that. So I hit something like bah, and then I have to like roll it off real quick. It's, that's just how I do it. It's how I learned how to do it. Cause I didn't have a gate when I was a kid. You know? It's a habit, isn't it? Like, cause I grew up with the same kind of thing. Old school, noisy amps, this, that, and the other. You hear it spot. Just, just get on that. Yeah. Another RG, but this one's called an RGT 2170. I think 1221. PB poplar burst. So popular on the top right here. It's got more wood than I do in the morning and neck through kind of cool isolated bridge thing. They have like this isolated, like kind of like saddles on the bridge like that. I like that a lot. Really cool. I like this one just because of the finish and like the inlay work on it's cool. They all come with Lumilay on the sides cause I can't play without that and I'm a spoiled piece of ----. Yeah, it is a lifesaver. We tend to use a lot of strobes as well. So there's a songs where it just goes just strobing without them Lumilays. I'd be lost. Like completely lost. I'm using a Schaller right here, actually. Also strap lock systems, which is my favorite. And then Richter guitar straps. That is my in ears and a little trick that I picked up. Which is quite interesting. You have to give the dirt and all the makeup still stuck to them and all that kind of stuff. They need to clean it out. But what I did was I got a pair of in ears from Toman. Just any pair. I think they cost about 50 bucks or something like that. But what I did is these, I made out of some Ahead drummers, like earplugs stuff that you, it's like a compound. You mix it together, stuff it in your ear and you've got custom made earplugs. And I thought, well, if I take all the crap off the end of my driver and just shove it into some of that stuff and make a hole and trim it up, so that it looks nice. You've got custom made molded in ears for like 10 bucks or something. So I was like, yeah. So you pop it in. I think it's exactly right. Like it's not an intrusive color and you can hit bang and windmill and all that. Like it doesn't move at all. So completely 100% noise canceling as well, pretty much. So really good trip. If you can't trick, if you can't afford expensive molded in ears, A-head drummers putty stuff that they put in there is to make earplugs and just shove your driver in it and just make a little hole. Job done. Made perfect sense to me, but everyone goes, wow, that's so smart. Yeah, that's my ear. Basically, I'm just rocking the Shure 425. This is the SE 425, I believe. Yeah. And they're a little gunked up, but like I was using different in-ears, molded ones for a while, but these seem to seal super well. And I can, you know, if I break it, I could get another one easily. So that's why I just run with these right now. Honestly, it's kind of weird. Oh, I also have an AirTag in it. That way I don't lose them. Well, guys, thank you so much for hanging with us and nerding out on some like ridiculously techy, dumb, nerdy stuff, whatever. It's good. We're going to say bye. Bye. And you know, if you guys want to check us out, Cradle Filth. We've got, well, I've got an Instagram page, Donnie Burbage. Jop is a smart man here, doesn't have any socials, which I'm jealous of. Yeah, yeah.