Uli Jon Roth - GEAR MASTERS Ep. 634 - video Dailymotion

Digital Tour Bus

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”, the guitarist, Uli Jon Roth, shows off the gear that he uses onstage, while on his U.S. tour 2026 celebrating the 50th anniversaries of In Trance and Virgin Killer, plus his new Pictures of Destiny show.  PLAY THE SAME GEAR: Sky Guitar "Mighty Wing IV" 7-String Electric Guitar - https://www.sky-guitars.com/sky-guitars-series/ Sky Guitar "Silver Wing" Electric Guitar - https://www.sky-guitars.com/sky-guitars-series/ Sky Guitar "Black Velvet Sky" Electric Guitar - https://www.sky-guitars.com/sky-guitars-series/ Uli Jon Roth "Super Strat" Electric Guitar - https://www.sky-guitars.com/product/ujr-sky-strat-anniversary-series-sky-strat-white/ Uli Jon Roth "Flight of the Rainbow" Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/yZjk5v Sky Guitar 9-String Nylon-String Electric Guitar - https://www.sky-guitars.com/sky-guitars-series/ Blackstar Artisan 100 Guitar Amplifier Head - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/MK2b13 Marshall 4x12 Guitar Speaker Cabinet with Vintage Greenbacks - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/7XnM7r Marshall Super Lead 100 Amplifier Head (1970, Ken Bran Built) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/m4jGBq Vox AC30 Guitar Amplifier - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/L0O2GL Analog Man King of Tone Overdrive Pedal - https://guitar-center.pxf.io/GbOg5r Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/ZVLN1Q D'Addario Electric Guitar Strings - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/gRqGKO MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/VOxqPk MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/R0Zbja DigiTech Whammy 5 Pitch-shifting Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/L0O2qL Marshall Combo Amplifier - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/qWmy3j Ernie Ball VP JR Volume Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/PzRb9X Lehle P-Split High Impedance Signal Splitter - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/eneNMD  VIDEO INFO: Film Date - April 17, 2026 Location - Des Plaines Theater in Des Plaines, IL  KEEP UP WITH ULI JON ROTH: Facebook - https://facebook.com/ulijonrothofficial Instagram - https://instagram.com/ulijonroth Twitter - https://twitter.com/UliJonRoth1  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 Skip Intro 02:23 Guitar Gear  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, Twen

Transcript

00:00guitar self-tuning which for me is important because I hate tuning I've

00:04always hated it nowadays everybody's just playing fast fast fast the faster

00:08they play the slower I play

00:35hi I'm Uli John Roth I'm on tour in America at the moment where beautiful

00:42theater Des Plaines Illinois and yeah I'm looking forward to tonight's show we're

00:51here we've just finished some soundcheck I normally do my soundcheck a little lazy I

00:57guess also I don't mind surprises so when I hit the stage sounds a little bit

01:02different keeps it fresh for me as long as it doesn't sound too different you

01:07know we're doing two shows actually which are completely different from one number

01:14the first show is like a solo show where I'm playing some classical stuff and some

01:20of my more recent things and I'm playing them with an orchestra backing which is

01:26computer and the big screen that's one of my oil paintings there thing is called

01:33pictures of destiny this this tour and for that setup I'm using a very different

01:39setup from the second half because the second half after the intermission we're

01:44doing a rock show with the full band and we are this year we're bringing 50 years of

01:50virgin killer which was an important album for me in the 70s you know exactly 50 years ago and

02:01we're playing the entire album which has not been done before and it's working very well it's we're

02:09playing it in exactly the right order and not every album is suitable to do this but that one is

02:16you

02:16you know for some reason and yeah that's basically the tour so in the first half

02:23I'm tuned to concert pitch because I'm playing you know I'm playing

02:36I play with a clean sound and everything is in concert pitch and I have two sounds that I'm using

02:47well two main sounds a clean sound which is

02:52like

03:16controlling that with one pedal if I want to bring in some more distorted singing

03:22sound I use this pedal which is basically just bringing another amp

03:49so I'm not playing a loud volume for this it's it's you know I don't need to

03:56any earplugs for this and yeah and then my main thing is really that I'm playing the sky guitar

04:04which gives me the full spectrum this is a copy of the first seven string which is mighty wing so

04:12this is actually mighty wing 4 there are several more most of them are in Japan because we're selling

04:18them also and this is very similar to the original mahogany body they all sky

04:29guitars have have position lights you know and most of the time I'm not looking but

04:35there are a couple of tracks particularly when I play something as way out there as

04:40Vivaldi's four seasons there are big skips and then I look and when they're not on it's dark I only

04:48see a blur my eyes are not good anymore and then here it all looks the same you know so

04:55that's why

04:57I have these position lights and I can dim them make them brighter you know guitar self-tuning which

05:04for me is important because I hate tuning I've always hated it particularly with a floating tremolo

05:10you know and here with this I can tune down to E flat in the split second and everything is

05:18automatic at

05:19the same time whereas if you do that by hand with a floating tremolo is quite a job basically a

05:25Tronicle system they were for some time they were on Gibson guitars and I was the first endorser of

05:34Tronicle and actually the last because the company as such doesn't exist anymore unfortunately it was a

05:40stroke of genius but then on Gibson guitars a lot of Gibson players are more conservative they they

05:47don't mind tuning their guitars but I'm not conservative I love technology and you know if

05:55this does the job for me yeah please you know I can talk to the audience while it tunes itself

06:00and I

06:00don't even need a guitar tech you know so that's just great we have quite a few sky guitar models

06:07like

06:07some of them look like this this is a silver wing for instance and yeah it says here silver silver

06:15wing

06:18most of sky guitars that one here is called black velvet sky that is a very early one probably 12

06:28years old

06:28um but still in very good condition and they all have the same uh pickup system or most of them

06:38we we

06:38have some that are not fully active so the pickup system is well probably no not probably it is the

06:48most

06:48powerful guitar system in the world why by large margin um because it draws so much power I've got a

06:57power

06:58supply this is 18 volt and um it feeds the whole guitar I could run it on battery but it

07:06wouldn't last

07:07that long you know maybe lithium batteries and it would last probably a show or two but um this is

07:16completely reliable it's a stereo cable feeding the guitar with both like the sound taking the sound

07:23and the energy the electricity so um this system is quite something because it took us several years

07:33to build it the um original sky guitars had simo duncan pickups which he made for me and they were

07:41of

07:42course uh excellent but there came a time when I needed a seven string and simo was busy doing other

07:49things so that's when I met john oran who is um actually I would say a design genius I don't

07:57use

07:57that word a lot with him full on he was the person who in who designed the original trident a80

08:05series

08:06which was in those days in the trident studio you found these mixing boards everywhere that fantastic

08:13sound I have five of his mixing boards I used to have five right now I probably don't anymore

08:19um and uh one day he he had his own pickup company called reflex and he came and said what

08:29would the

08:30ultimate pickup look like and then I thought wow that's like a dream question and um so I thought

08:39about it a little and then I said told him what it would look like or sound like or be

08:44able to do it

08:44he said that's impossible you know it's impossible and then three years later he made it happen um he

08:52was jumping through hoops and it wasn't easy because uh of the limitations and then physics you know which

08:58I understand but I think I pushed him to the limit and he gave me an amazing system the heart

09:05of it we call

09:06it mega wing because there's several uh pickup configurations and in one in fact the original

09:13first one had like no four then less four coils and they're all perfectly switchable from single coil

09:20to humbucking power humbucking and in between but uh the driving force is a game stage so when I play

09:30so if I play

09:36go to my

09:41that's a clean um

09:58Yeah, that's clean. Now, that's the output of a normal Strat, if you plug it in. It's

10:06not turned up full. But now, see what happens. And that's a tiny little amp on one. And I can

10:27do the same on a Marshall or whatever. I can make any amp sing just from the guitar. And because

10:33it's fully integrated, it's much better than any

10:35foot pedal you could use. You know, I am also for extreme moments sometimes using the King of Tone, which

10:43is absolutely the best one on the market as far as I'm concerned. And it does something. It's got a

10:52slightly different overdrive. And we're probably going to put one into my guitar. And the guy who designed it in

10:58New York said he's going to send me a microchip.

11:00Is then this guitar is already all dancing, all dancing, then it'll take it to another level. So this game

11:07stage is really, I'm constantly riding it. So because I don't like on-off switches. I always want a totally

11:16organic flow between pianissimo and fortissimo. And I'm constantly going between these worlds. You know, so I will.

11:45Yeah, that's only the beginning. Because I've got three extremely sensitive EQs, studio EQs, just like on the big mixing

11:58board.

11:58And we found the sweet spots for all three of them. So I've got mid-range. I've got the treble

12:07and the bass. And depending on whether I'm playing single chord.

12:19This is a Mahogany guitar, but I can make it sound kind of like a Strat because of the EQ.

12:26You know, it'll never sound totally like a Strat. It's more a little bit of a hybrid.

12:30But it can certainly sound very much like a Les Paul. Although it doesn't sound exactly like a Les Paul

12:37because it doesn't have the same scale length. And it has floating tremolo.

12:41You know, some of my Sky guitars are more like a Les Paul because they have Mahogany body and the

12:48Maple quilt top. You know, this one is just pure Mahogany.

12:52Then I've got Sky guitars which are all older. They are more Strat. But all of them are able to

12:59do this. Like if I...

13:03It's pretty much kind of flat. But if I put in like my...

13:23I'm sorry

13:24This is the best I need

13:24Now, I want to give you away

13:28You know, we're not even in the morning

13:30You know, sorry

13:30Some of them are in the morning

13:32I know

13:33Theseonsequ Jessie

13:33That when I come home

13:36The strategies

13:40I was just doing a more, less ball thing, but I can also, in the split oven I can do

13:46half like a telecut.

13:52I'm just rolling off mid-range, I've got 20 B plus and 20 minus, the same with the base

14:00and the top end, you know.

14:02So, I constantly use these, they're not marked, I always do it by ear, because every gig is

14:09different, every stage, I'm always playing everything by ear, I don't look, you know.

14:14And then of course I've got these.

14:16On some Sky Guitars, I have a bunch of effects here.

14:21I've got echo, looper, even, I mean I've got electronic wall or anything, phaser, flanger,

14:30you name it, it's all in this guitar.

14:32But I don't have it with me, because this is mainly like a Scorpions show, and I'm keeping

14:38it authentic in the Scorpions show.

14:40For the Scorpions show, I'm going towards a Blackstar, which is kind of based on the original

14:48Superlead, which I used to play for many years.

14:53And, of course, because of the output of the guitar, I'm just turning it to two.

14:58And it has tremendous headroom, then, you know, I'll let you do that.

15:01And, of course, I'll let you do that.

15:33But, that's what you play Scorpions, early Scorpions, we were loud.

15:38You know, we had, I had, I still have that, an old Superlead tremolo from 1970, built by

15:46Ken Brand, who was the master of these things back then in the Marshall days, and we call

15:52it the beast.

15:53When you measure it, it has like 150 watts before it even clips, you know.

15:58And we used to drive it with caps like this, that's a very antique 1970 cap with original

16:04greenbacks, that's 25 watts.

16:06And when I play some shows, I have 300 watt cabinets, they're much more, how shall I say,

16:14they're harder in sound.

16:16This is very sweet, quote unquote sweet, it's not really sweet.

16:21When I used to play this track, people say, yeah, it sounds great on an album, but in real

16:26life, because it didn't sing so much, we cracked it.

16:30And, um, it was quite shrill, particularly with the, with the, uh, World War Peril.

16:36You know, sounds great on an album, but in real life, we damaged a lot of people's ears.

16:41You know, not exactly mine, because I was always playing with cotton wool, from the beginning.

16:48But, um, yeah, nowadays, it's still loud, but not nearly as loud as it was.

16:55And normally, I also have, like, a plastic shield in front.

16:58And when the place needs it, we will turn these amps away from the audience.

17:03But in this place, here, I don't think we'll have a problem, you know?

17:07I play the seven string in the first half, tuned to concert pitch.

17:10In the second half, I'm starting with this guy's Super Strat, which is based on the original

17:18Strat, like I, because I used to have my white Strat, which I still have, you know?

17:24And, um, this basically can do what a normal Strat can do, but it can do more.

17:31It has the same pick-up system as this, uh, so, you know, you can push it to 11 and

17:38beyond.

17:39Actually, more like 20, you know, if I have to.

17:43Um, it's the same pick-up system, but here, these are push-pull, humbucker, and, um, it

17:49sounds more like a Strat because it's an older guitar.

18:06I think this should do something.

18:30All right, let's keep talking.

18:32Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

18:39Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

18:52oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

18:55oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

18:55oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

19:33So it's an animal but at the same time it can be very sweet.

19:37This is just a standard whammy pedal which I've been using for many years but that's just a normal delay.

19:46I have delay in the sky guitar but not in this one. So let me turn this amp down a

19:52little.

19:56So you see this guitar you can do all the strats sound.

20:07This is a very deep scallop and I usually have very high action and because of the high action I

20:13can really lay into the string and sings more. My Scorpion Strat was that high. It was completely unplayable for

20:20most people and even I struggled.

20:23But for me the sound was always the most important aspect of it and then I don't care if it's

20:29harder to play. I don't have to play like these fast kids.

20:32Nowadays everybody is just playing fast fast fast. The faster they play the slower I play. I played fast when

20:39I was a kid. Now I'm more interested in just every note has to mean something.

20:46You know no typewriter stuff. But yeah that's why this guitar is not set up to be played very fast.

20:57You know it's really all about sound and tone and color.

21:00And all of them. This is my original Flight of the Rainbow Strat. I got it back because it was

21:07anxious for many years. It was resprayed by an unfortunate. It was originally sunburst but it was better than this.

21:22But yeah that's the original. My Super Strat has 23 frets. Even my old white Strat. Because I always ran

21:37out of frets. And then now I can do this. You know. So it gave me two extra notes.

21:44That's how the idea came to do Sky Guitars. I've never played it since 50 years or probably even longer

21:54than that. Because it was phased out in 1975 mainly.

21:59But I will tonight probably for the first time ever play a couple of songs. It doesn't have a mega

22:06wing but it plays. It feels like a real Strat.

22:08Although the action is very low. And the strings kept slipping. And the sound check. So it really needs some

22:16treatment. You know. So yeah that's pretty much what I'm doing at the moment.

22:23When I play my solo shows. Normally my setup is more elaborate. I also have a 9 string nylon Sky

22:31Guitars. But I didn't bring it for this show. You know. Because 3 hours is quite long enough. Isn't it?

22:42I only use these for the intro. Because when you're playing with the orchestra. Actually I'll show it. I'll show

22:52it to you. So I'll use this one. For the first show. And then I play some classical pieces.

23:02Now for instance. You see. When you play like. An amp like this. It doesn't blend with the orchestra. It

23:11destroys the orchestra. Orchestra is that. They're very quiet. When you stand next to a violin. It's you can hear

23:17a needle drop. So it took me years to find a good way.

23:21Actually. Actually these guys. Although they're just extremely cheap little contraptions. There's one sound. That I can use. Which kind

23:31of emulates. What I'm trying to do. At very low volume. One sound only. One sound only. There's like a

23:38hundred in it. You know.

23:40So. And. So. It enables me. To do. That. By. What. Normally I have three pedals. And an AC30. I

23:53don't have the AC30 blew up. But. Yeah. The AC30 is one of my favorites. For the tone. But it's

24:03very unforgiving. You know. So. When I play this classical thing.

24:09So. I'm constantly alternating between clean. And. I'm fading in. Sorry. I still have this echo running. So. If I

24:25play something like a Mozart piece. Can you play the Queen of the Night. That's from one of his operas.

24:33You know. And then you can see what I'm doing.

24:36I'm playing. Um. And the orchestra's there on the screen. By the way. I played that. Uh. Some years ago.

24:50There she is. Oh. We don't have a sound. Because our sound man is having dinner. Sorry. Ha ha ha.

25:01These are Uli John Roth. They're very. Basically super heavy. Super. Super. Heavy. I don't know. Maybe one point. One

25:10point. Three or one point. Two. Sometimes I do. Uh. Hands. Strings are usually Dardario. You know. Um. My top

25:18strings tend to be rather light. And then they get heavy. Um. I've always had it this way.

25:24You know. You know. So my top string very often is actually an eight. Because they have the nicest shimmer.

25:30You know. And the only guy I was able to tell was Yngwie. One day he said. You play an

25:36eight string. I said. How do you know. He could actually tell the sound. You know. Because the bigger strings.

25:42They're great for rhythm. Uh. But in my. In the Scorpion stuff.

25:46I don't really need to play much rhythm. It's more single string. And power chords. So the eight string. Has

25:52a certain shimmer. To it. And it reacts so nice.

25:57You know. If the string is too hard. Even when you have strong hands. I can always tell. For players

26:04playing hard strings. Because the vibrato always sounds a little bit. Maybe not clumsy. But effortful. And I don't want

26:12that. You know. So my bass strings are thick.

26:16Yeah. I've got thick bass strings. Like 40. 48. In the Scorpion. Or in Electric Sun. My bass string was

26:23a 52. You know. And. Um. Yeah. So. They get consecutively harder. And. I like the Adario. Because they're the

26:34most reliable. I find. They. They never seem to break. I can play half a year without breaking a string.

26:42You know. And. And I do.

26:44They break. They break during the concert. Let's hope that doesn't happen today. Because I don't have a backup for

26:48this one. You know. Then. I'll be in trouble.

26:52Well. Thanks for watching my little excursion here. And. Um. Well. You put me up to it. You asked all

26:59these questions. Normally. I don't really think about gear a lot. I'm not really a gear person. Although. I. Um.

27:06You know. When. When I like something. Then I like it. You know.

27:09And. I tend to use the same stuff. But. I'm always open to new gadgets. Or whatever. You know. It

27:17means. Basically. I play with very little effect. Most of it is just direct playing. For the Scorpions. Very often.

27:24I use the Wawa pedal. But. For my. Uh. Solo show. The classical stuff. I hardly ever touch it. And

27:31that's it. I have a little bit of delay.

27:32All the rest. All the rest is the guitars. And. And the fingers. You know. And. Um. Yeah. That's my.

27:39That's my sound.

28:02A voice. That's my sound.

Uli Jon Roth - GEAR MASTERS Ep. 634

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