- 1 hour ago
Become a member (it's FREE) at https://digtb.us/signup
Buy official DTB merch at http://digtb.us/merch
On this episode of DTB’s “Gear Masters”, Christopher Thorn, guitarist of the alternative rock band, Blind Melon, shows off the gear that he uses onstage.
PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Fender Telecaster Custom (1978) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/DyvL02
Fender American Vintage ’62 Stratocaster Reissue - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/kOrRgL
Fender Telecaster Custom (late ’70s, maple neck) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/DyvL02
Martin 000-17 (1954) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/QjMKOY
Epiphone F-style Mandolin - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/e1LR4g
Supro Lap Steel Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/aOMK1j
Supro Reissue Combo Amp - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/nX5n1x
EarthQuaker Devices Avalanche Run V2 Delay and Reverb Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/6yYGbN
MXR EVH Phase 90 Eddie Van Halen Phase Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/OeM1RA
Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/RGMRy7
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/dOMRoQ
EarthQuaker Devices Park Fuzz Sound Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/qzag4n
EarthQuaker Devices Palisades V2 Overdrive Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/APvKWR
Dunlop Cry Baby Mini - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/19vbrg
EarthQuaker Devices Swiss Things Pedalboard Reconciler - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/VxM4mR
Everly Brothers TrueTone Star Picks - https://www.cleartonestrings.com/products/starpicks
Hohner Blues Harp Harmonica - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/o4knqg
VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - July 9, 2025
Location - Des Plaines Theatre in Des Plaines, IL
KEEP UP WITH BLIND MELON:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/blindmelonband
Instagram - https://instagram.com/blindmelonband
Twitter - https://twitter.com/blindmelonband
FOLLOW US:
Website/Email List - https://www.digitaltourbus.com/#/portal/signup
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/digitaltourbus
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/digitaltourbus/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@digitaltourbus
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/digitaltourbus/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/digitaltourbus
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/digitaltourbus/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-tour-bus-llc
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/digitaltourbus
VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:35 Start of Video
00:45 Guitars
05:01 Mandolin
05:28 Lap Guitar
06:08 Acoustic Guitar
07:34 Combo Amp
08:46 Pedalboard
12:17 Guitar Picks
ABOUT DIGITAL TOUR BUS:
Digital Tour Bus is your backstage pass to your favorite touring artists! With daily video releases, we cover all genres, and have had the pleasure of featuring the likes of Matchbox Twenty, Twenty One Pilots, Megadeth, MGK, Papa Roach, AJR, Pierce The Veil, Simple Plan, A Day to Remember, and thousands of others over the past 15 years. "Bus Invaders" takes you inside an artist's home on the road, "Cooking at 65mph" showcases the culinary skills of artists on tour, "Gear Masters" unveils the equipment musicians use o
Buy official DTB merch at http://digtb.us/merch
On this episode of DTB’s “Gear Masters”, Christopher Thorn, guitarist of the alternative rock band, Blind Melon, shows off the gear that he uses onstage.
PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Fender Telecaster Custom (1978) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/DyvL02
Fender American Vintage ’62 Stratocaster Reissue - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/kOrRgL
Fender Telecaster Custom (late ’70s, maple neck) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/DyvL02
Martin 000-17 (1954) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/QjMKOY
Epiphone F-style Mandolin - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/e1LR4g
Supro Lap Steel Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/aOMK1j
Supro Reissue Combo Amp - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/nX5n1x
EarthQuaker Devices Avalanche Run V2 Delay and Reverb Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/6yYGbN
MXR EVH Phase 90 Eddie Van Halen Phase Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/OeM1RA
Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/RGMRy7
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/dOMRoQ
EarthQuaker Devices Park Fuzz Sound Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/qzag4n
EarthQuaker Devices Palisades V2 Overdrive Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/APvKWR
Dunlop Cry Baby Mini - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/19vbrg
EarthQuaker Devices Swiss Things Pedalboard Reconciler - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/VxM4mR
Everly Brothers TrueTone Star Picks - https://www.cleartonestrings.com/products/starpicks
Hohner Blues Harp Harmonica - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/o4knqg
VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - July 9, 2025
Location - Des Plaines Theatre in Des Plaines, IL
KEEP UP WITH BLIND MELON:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/blindmelonband
Instagram - https://instagram.com/blindmelonband
Twitter - https://twitter.com/blindmelonband
FOLLOW US:
Website/Email List - https://www.digitaltourbus.com/#/portal/signup
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/digitaltourbus
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/digitaltourbus/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@digitaltourbus
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/digitaltourbus/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/digitaltourbus
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/digitaltourbus/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-tour-bus-llc
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/digitaltourbus
VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:35 Start of Video
00:45 Guitars
05:01 Mandolin
05:28 Lap Guitar
06:08 Acoustic Guitar
07:34 Combo Amp
08:46 Pedalboard
12:17 Guitar Picks
ABOUT DIGITAL TOUR BUS:
Digital Tour Bus is your backstage pass to your favorite touring artists! With daily video releases, we cover all genres, and have had the pleasure of featuring the likes of Matchbox Twenty, Twenty One Pilots, Megadeth, MGK, Papa Roach, AJR, Pierce The Veil, Simple Plan, A Day to Remember, and thousands of others over the past 15 years. "Bus Invaders" takes you inside an artist's home on the road, "Cooking at 65mph" showcases the culinary skills of artists on tour, "Gear Masters" unveils the equipment musicians use o
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00If it turns on and it works and it has a couple knobs, I'm good.
00:03I don't have patience for, no offense, Gibson guitars.
00:06You know, we used to take picks and scratch them on the concrete.
00:30Oh, hey, I'm Christopher Thorne from Blind Melon.
00:37Come check out my gear.
00:39Right here is my, this has been my main guitar for many, many, many years.
00:44I think it's a 70, people would probably know more than I would, 78, I believe, Telecaster.
00:52Telecustoms always for me because I love the humbucker.
00:54In addition to the single coil, to me, it's two guitars in one.
00:58This has been my main baby for a really long time since, honestly, the early 90s.
01:02Yeah, so the reason for this guitar being two guitars in one for me is I can get a fatter solo tone on the humbucker.
01:10You know, just a thicker sort of single note guitar solo sound.
01:15And this is just great for stuff that you just want to, like, you know, split your head in two.
01:19This has a much more aggressive, high-end sort of, you know, that perfect Tele sort of.
01:24But if I want something warm and buttery, this is actually perfect.
01:28So this is the reason why these are the only Tele's I play, always with a humbucker in them.
01:33And I got a few of them.
01:34Now, you know what?
01:35I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to, I'm a purist and I'm also lazy in the sense that I just figure if I buy a perfect classic guitar,
01:43I really don't need to really swap it out.
01:45I know some people get into that and change pickups.
01:48I'm just not that guy.
01:48I buy a guitar if it feels good, I keep it.
01:51I usually rarely change out anything.
01:53We're at full blast at all times, I would say.
01:55I have a volume pedal over there if I need to back stuff off.
01:59But for the most part, these are wide open.
02:01And these are three different sounds, really.
02:03Because this is this.
02:04This is obviously the combination, which is thicker but not as fat and thick as this.
02:09This is really fat and thick.
02:10You can really feel this when you kind of switch it up to there.
02:14But yeah, it's just been a workhorse.
02:16It's great.
02:17It stays in tune.
02:17I don't have patience for, no offense, Gibson guitars, G-strings that never stay in tune.
02:22I just have no patience for them.
02:24So I play Fenders.
02:25I've jumped around a bit on strings.
02:27I have to say that I had a great company called Clear Tone, which is one of the guys from the Everly Brothers who passed away
02:35who started this company called Clear Tone.
02:37I used to use those for the longest time.
02:39Lately, I just got turned on to these Paradigm strings.
02:42Yeah, it's the Paradigm version of these, which is Ernie Ball.
02:46And the reason why I love them, I love old strings.
02:49I don't love the risk of breaking a string in the middle of a show.
02:52But I'll take that risk because I like strings that feel old.
02:54I hate the way brand new strings feel.
02:56So I just got turned on to those Paradigm strings by Ernie Ball.
03:01And they feel like when you put them on, they feel like they're already four days old.
03:05You know what I mean?
03:06And that just changes everything for me.
03:08I don't like when they're slippery.
03:09I like to be able to, like, I like them to have a little bit of skin crust on there
03:14so that when you go to grab and bend, you have something to grab onto.
03:18You know what I mean?
03:18Those are my strings.
03:19But honestly, I'm not super picky, although the Paradigm have been my new favorite strings.
03:23This is standard tuning straight up.
03:25This, on this run right now, is going to be Open E, E, B, E, G-sharp, B, E.
03:32And these are for songs like, you know, what's on our set list for these?
03:37Soup, Paper Scratcher, you know, songs like The Duke and Drive.
03:42All those songs I kind of wrote in Open E for a while.
03:45So these are all Open E.
03:46And this is just a song called Way Down and Far Below.
03:49It's the only guitar I have that has a whammy bar.
03:54And this, well, you could see the checking on this, which is crazy.
03:56I mean, this guitar is so checked from the, see that?
04:00And this guitar I bought the day or around the first couple days Bly Mellon got signed.
04:05We were lucky enough to have a gear budget.
04:07Went to the store and bought this guitar, brought it home, and it immediately fell.
04:12It immediately fell off the stand.
04:13Our bass player, Brad, accidentally kicked it off.
04:16It fell.
04:17This giant mark came into it.
04:18And that was the first day I bought it.
04:20And then I had Shannon and myself and a couple other guys.
04:23I said, well, everyone just put your teeth marks in it.
04:25Let's just go ahead and beat it up.
04:26So anyway, that's some Bly Mellon teeth marks there.
04:30But this is a great guitar that I gave to my son.
04:32For his 16th birthday, I gifted that to him for his birthday.
04:37It's actually his, and now I've re-borrowed it back for the tour.
04:40But he's my guitar tech, so it's all right.
04:42He can keep a good eye on it.
04:45But anyway, this guitar is amazing.
04:47This was the 90s, it was the reissue, 62, I think, reissue, that they released in the 90s.
04:52It's aged wonderfully.
04:54It plays incredible.
04:55And it stays in tune, which I absolutely love.
04:58So that's all I'm bringing out for now.
05:00I also have a mandolin for change that I bring out.
05:04And this is just, you know, a cheapie in the sense that it's an epiphone.
05:08But these sound fantastic.
05:09I've had this since, you know, probably the 90s, too.
05:12I have nicer mandolins at home that I keep in the studio.
05:15Like older ones from the 20s and stuff.
05:17But this is just a great road dog, you know, cheap, cool mandolin.
05:23Here's my Supro that I use on, I'll bring this out.
05:26This is my Supro that I pull out for mouthful of cavities.
05:31And I'm not sure what year this is.
05:35But this came with a tiny little Supro amp with an 8-inch speaker that came as a pair.
05:40Which is probably my number one amp I use in my studio every day.
05:43That little Supro with the 8-inch speaker.
05:45There's nothing better.
05:46It's the biggest guitar sound ever.
05:48And like I said, it came with this.
05:50And this has been my main touring lap steel, which is nice.
05:53You know, obviously it has these on it so you can pull them out.
05:56Pack it up.
05:57And that's also tuned to open E major.
06:00There's a song or two.
06:01Sometimes I use it on stuff and I'll tune it to open E minor.
06:04But either way, it's an open E.
06:06Open E.
06:07Let's see what else I got over here.
06:08Here's my 1954 Martin that I actually tour with.
06:14Because I've written more songs on this.
06:16And this usually goes to the hotel room with me.
06:18So this is a 0017, I think they call these.
06:22I just forget.
06:23But anyway, I love parlor guitars.
06:25They fit my body better.
06:27They feel good when you're laying in bed.
06:28You can play them, you know.
06:30But anyway, that's been on the road with me for years.
06:32And the reason is I probably wrote more songs on this guy too.
06:35Just because it's with me at all times.
06:37So yeah, I want to say this Red Tele, once again, the same configuration, pickup configuration.
06:42Got the humbucker, got single coil.
06:45This is obviously a maple neck as opposed to the rosewood neck on that one.
06:49And I have one more Tele that's at home that's similar to this one.
06:54And I believe this is a 77 or 78.
06:57I don't know.
06:58People know how to read those.
06:5981 maybe.
06:59I don't know.
07:01Old.
07:02I've had this forever too.
07:04This guitar has been with me for since the early 90s.
07:07Actually, I probably bought this in Los Angeles.
07:10Trying to think if I can remember the place.
07:11But anyway, you know, back in the 90s and 80s on Sunset Boulevard, there was just nothing
07:17but guitar stores for blocks and blocks.
07:20Now I think there's like one guitar store there.
07:23But anyway, yep, that's a great one.
07:25That usually lives in my open E tuning there at all times.
07:28I usually kind of keep it, kind of keep it there.
07:30Here's the new, the reissued Supros are fantastic.
07:35And like I said, I'm a bit of a purist.
07:36I normally just like the old gear better.
07:39But when the new gear is as good or better, I'm all for it.
07:42Supro is doing a fantastic job.
07:45Every one of their amps that they're doing today is as good as the old ones, if not better.
07:50So this has been my touring, my touring amp.
07:54I have a bunch of them at home in the studio, all different sizes, all many different versions
08:00of the Supro.
08:01They made a lot of different versions of these amps.
08:03But anyway, the reissues are fantastic.
08:05They're doing a great job.
08:05It doesn't change that much.
08:07I got to tell you, I'm not pushing the amp super, a super ton.
08:10Although this, the distortion on this amp, when you turn it up is my favorite.
08:14In this case, in this situation, I have it not super, super loud.
08:19I mean, I'm on, what am I on, three or four here, volume-wise.
08:22I'm only using this side.
08:23It does have two sides.
08:24That has a great vibrato, but I'm only using this side.
08:26And I'm not really pushing the amp that much.
08:29It just has a great mid-range focus, which I love about these amps.
08:32I'm keeping it cleaner over here, because some of the songs, I want like a beautiful kind
08:37of clean sound as well.
08:38And then as far as when I need to get dirty, when I need to get dirty, I love Earthquaker.
08:44It's nice enough to hook me up, treat me well.
08:47And this thing right here, like I used to always use the Tube Screamer.
08:52Thank you very much, son.
08:53The Tube Screamer.
08:54This is a new version of that.
08:56This is Earthquaker.
08:57And it has a little more options than just the straight Tube Screamer, but I love this
09:01thing.
09:02This has been amazing for me.
09:04This is also Earthquaker, a fantastic fuzz.
09:07Another Earthquaker, great delay.
09:10I have reverb on this as well, but I actually don't use the reverb on this.
09:13I use the separate reverb.
09:15I prefer this plate on this right here.
09:17But yeah, anyway, they're making great stuff.
09:21And Earthquaker has this amazing switcher that you can get, which is super convenient.
09:26You can put things on different loops.
09:28Like I can have row one is all things kind of distortion, everything kind of down here.
09:38And then you can go up to number two, and then at two has sort of the modulation and the
09:43delays and stuff like that.
09:45And you can turn them on and off how you wish, depending on what you want.
09:48So you can have the pedals on, and then you just can hit one button, you know what I mean?
09:53And they kind of all bounce on.
09:55So, but anyway, just a really good, convenient way to sort of route things.
10:00It also cleans stuff up.
10:01It has buffers in there and things that are beyond my pay grade that I don't totally understand.
10:05I just know you're supposed to have some buffer at certain times.
10:08And I'm not a nerd when it comes to this stuff.
10:10I'm really not.
10:11I mean, I love it, but I'm just not, I'm not as nerdy as I probably should be when it comes
10:15to gear.
10:16If it turns on and it works and it has a couple of knobs, I'm good.
10:19What else have we got here?
10:20We got, I got just a small Crybaby, which is, I'm glad that they're making them this
10:26size these days.
10:27I had a hard time fitting them on my pedal boards.
10:30This is just the standard compressor.
10:32And I use this a lot for finger picking stuff.
10:35I notice if I have to finger pick without a compressor, it just doesn't feel, it doesn't
10:40feel together.
10:41It doesn't feel glued together, I would say.
10:43So this compressor is something new I brought on on this tour.
10:46Once again, TC Electronics.
10:48I just love a great little plate.
10:51A plate reverb is my favorite.
10:52So I got a little plate going on that.
10:54Actually, you know what?
10:55No, I'm going spring.
10:56Actually, I like spring too.
10:57Spring or plate.
10:58I'm going to spring.
11:00And then, you know, the classic Eddie Van Halen, who absolutely, you know, even though
11:04I don't play anything like him, he did change my life as a kid.
11:08And I, you know, I had pictures of him hanging on my walls and stuff, you know.
11:11I mean, he was the most innovative, you know, guitar player in my generation by far, you
11:16know.
11:17So anyway, I got this on there.
11:19Classic.
11:20That's just the Phase 90, just Eddie's version of it.
11:22And this is a great vibrato pedal.
11:27And I'm trying to think.
11:29I don't know much about it other than my friend Rick Nelson from the Afghan Wigs loaned it to
11:33me.
11:33And it was a friend of ours named Rick Rosser, who, sorry, Dave Rosser, who passed away and
11:42used to play in the Afghan Wigs.
11:43This has been on there since I do some touring with the Afghan Wigs.
11:47So that's been a leftover from those tours.
11:51And what have we got?
11:51Volume pedal here.
11:54That's about it.
11:55Sometimes I'm noisy and I just want to be able to, you know, roll back some of that, go quiet.
12:01But yeah, I don't have a ton of stuff.
12:03And it's pretty simple.
12:05Some of the stuff doesn't even, barely gets used.
12:07I don't think I've been using the fuzz so much on this tour.
12:10Sometimes I just boost and push into the amp more because I want that sound more than just
12:15a straight fuzz.
12:16I definitely have a pick preference.
12:18I use an Ebo here.
12:19Here's the slides.
12:21Very specific.
12:21This specific slide because it's tiny.
12:23Because I have to play guitar and slide at the same time.
12:28So if they're too big and bulky, then I can't, you know, especially for the song Paper Scratcher.
12:33That's perfect for that.
12:34These are my harmonicas I've been loving.
12:38It's the blues harp.
12:40Not much about those.
12:40But yes, I'm very particular about my picks because I get real greasy when I play.
12:46And my hands used to always slip and drop picks.
12:49So once again, back to the Everly Strings, True Tone, Star Picks.
12:57This is their company and their patent that they started making for these picks.
13:01And they're just fantastic.
13:02You know, they just do not slip.
13:04These have been my new favorite picks.
13:05So I've been using these for years.
13:07Can't play without them.
13:08You know, we used to take picks and scratch them on the concrete and try to make them, you know, so they had a little something.
13:15So those guys just said, well, we'll figure that part out.
13:17There we go.
13:18That'll work right there.
13:19And it does.
13:20These are great.
13:21Love these.
13:22I guess that's about it.
13:23I guess that's all my, for the most part, the gear that's on the road with me, I would say.
13:29Obviously a lot more stuff at home, but this is what I'm willing to take out of them, you know.
13:33It really depends on the set sometimes, too, depending what songs we're playing.
13:37Well, yeah.
13:38You know, you could follow us on all the Bly Mellon social media places that people go to look at things like that.
13:45And also I have a recording studio in Joshua Tree called Fireside Sound.
13:50And that's firesidesound.com and Fireside Sound social media, all that sort of stuff.
13:54Come check us out.
13:55Come hang out in the desert.
13:56Make some records.
13:57And see you on tour.
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