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On this episode of DTB’s “Gear Masters”, David Maemone, guitarist of the pop rock band, The Strike, shows off the gear that he uses onstage, while on The No Time To Waste Tour 2026 with Sum Sun and Kids That Fly. The Strike is currently supporting their newest single, Knock Me Out.

PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Suhr Pete Thorn Signature Electric Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/AgQjJN
Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/Gbkgz9
D'Addario XS Coated Electric Guitar Strings (.010 gauge) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/gR7GZ2
ENKI 2-Guitar Case - https://guitar-center.pxf.io/B59PZW
Neural DSP Quad Cortex - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/X41xMo
Shure GLXD6+ Digital Wireless Guitar Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/0G5PLE
Pedaltrain Metro 20 Pedalboard - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/VOm7Oa
K&K Shield for Neural DSP Quad Cortex - https://www.knkshields.com/products/quad_cortex
Dunlop Volume/Expression Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/OYZbNr
CIOKS DC7 Power Supply - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/2RedPa
CIOKS CRUX Power Adapter - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/R0obxR
Dunlop Tortex 1.0mm Guitar Pick - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/vDvVLy

VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - July 1, 2026
Location - Park West in Chicago, IL

KEEP UP WITH THE STRIKE:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/wearethestrike
Instagram - https://instagram.com/wearethestrike
TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@wearethestrike
Twitter - https://twitter.com/wearethestrike

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VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:33 Skip Intro
00:52 Guitars
04:56 Pedalboard

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 on stage, and "Stage Threads" dives into the meaning and inspiration behind the clothing artists wear during their performances.

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Category

🎈
Fun
Transcript
00:00I started playing guitar on Les Pauls, so to me they feel like home.
00:04It's super portable. I can actually fit this in my backpack if I need to.
00:34Hey guys, it's David from The Strike. We're here at the Park West in Chicago, and I'm going
00:38to walk you through my rig. So, starting with guitars. My main guitar on this gig, The Strike,
00:44we're very influenced by the 80s. I personally love a lot of guitarists like Steve Lukather,
00:49Dan Huff, The Session greats. So, I have a Super Strat made by Sur. It is the Pete Thorne
00:57model, which in my opinion is like the ultimate players gigging Super Strat. It just kind
01:03of ticks all the boxes for me. Some things that I love about it. The neck is great. It's
01:09super stable. It's like a roasted maple, I believe. Locking tuners are awesome. This thing stays
01:17in tune really, really well. And it's got a cool Wilkinson bridge on it that is very stable.
01:22You can do the dive-bomb-y kind of Floyd light stuff, and it's great. It's locked down here
01:28as well. The pickups are super cool. They're noiseless. Big thing for me is I rely on this
01:37Position 2 in-between sound a lot. And this guitar, when you switch to Position 2, it automatically
01:46splits the humbucker in the bridge, which gives you that quacky sound that we all love. And
01:55then when you put it down into the bridge position, you can also, I think, put it into parallel.
02:00It's not like a full split. It's just a parallel series switch, but it sounds kind of like a
02:05single coil, which is really useful as well. The only thing that I've done to this is I
02:10put a stop inside to make this down-only function. So I need to tune down to drop D every
02:17now and
02:17then. And if you're floating, we all know that's like a long process that you don't want to do on
02:22stage in front of people. So I'm kind of a down-only guy anyways. So I put a stop in
02:27there and so I can
02:28tune a drop D and we're good to go. And that's the only change I've made. Yeah, we're dimed on
02:32volume
02:32and tone. I'm kind of simple like that. Yeah, so standard tuning strings right now. I recently
02:38switched to the Diodario XS, their coated strings, which I really like. I like the feel. The feel to
02:45me is like a little more natural than some other coated strings. So I've been rocking these and been
02:50super happy. Second guitar is a newer edition. It's this incredible Les Paul Custom that I've been
02:59loving recently. This is a new guy from Gibson that they recently sent to me and it's amazing.
03:06I started playing guitar on Les Paul's. So to me, they feel like home. They're like the most
03:11comfortable. I like the short scale. I just find them really fun to play and easy to play.
03:17And it's a nice change of pace too from the Strat. Sometimes you want something different. And there's
03:22a few songs that we have where I recorded on a Les Paul in the studio. And so I wanted
03:26to get that
03:27sound live. And so I've been using this, I would say I probably use it for like 30% of
03:33the set
03:33right now. Soundtrack, for example, that kind of is like that Def Leopardy kind of hair metal vibe
03:42that it's got a pretty overdriven tone. And there's the guitar solo in there that I recorded on the Les
03:46Paul. So I wanted to use the Les Paul live. And then let's see miles ahead to also kind of
03:55that,
03:55that lead. This is like a really thick sounding guitar, which, which is awesome for those leads.
04:01It just cuts through and takes up a lot of space in a really good way. So I've been loving
04:06it for
04:06that. This is completely stock. Same strings as the Sur, the 10s, the Diodarios. But other than that,
04:14it's totally stock and it sounds amazing stock. So you don't really need to do anything to these.
04:19The case is a godsend. Honestly, this is one of the greatest additions. The Anke is obviously
04:26insanely protective for two guitars. You can check it. It's 49 pounds and your guitars will show up
04:33to the gig safely. And then it doubles as a guitar boat on stage for me as well. So I
04:37can do some quick
04:38changes right here and I don't have to lug around extra stands or anything. So I love it for that.
04:42It's got a bunch of extra storage too. So I can fit like my wireless pack, extra strings, picks,
04:49you know, all that stuff in there as well. So it's honestly the best. And then as far as the
04:54rest of
04:54the rig goes, it's super simple. I'm running the quad cortex and the sure wireless, which has been
05:01rock solid all on this perfect size pedal train Metro 20, which is super portable. I can actually
05:10fit this in my backpack if I need to, which I love if we're just going on a quick trip
05:15somewhere and I
05:15don't want to bring a ton of road cases with me, fits in the backpack, which is huge. Okay. First
05:20of
05:20all, sure wireless. I start there. Of course the tuner, it's awesome to have the two in one like that.
05:26And then straight into the quad. And honestly, I run one preset and I have eight scenes set up in
05:35that preset. And I kind of don't leave that the entire show. And you can see them here. I basically
05:41from left to right get progressively dirtier. And also want to mention this KNK shield, which is
05:49awesome to have on stage because stuff is always moving around and something falls on this guy.
05:54It's protected. The screen is also covered magnetically. You can take it off if you need
05:59to get in and really as far as like the, uh, the preset itself, I kind of run like two
06:06paths
06:08that I switch depending on what scene I'm in. And one is an AC 30 that's set pretty clean,
06:16like right on the edge of breakup. And, uh, and then I'll boost that with some pedals depending
06:21on how dirty I want that to get. And then for like the more rock stuff, I switched to
06:26a Friedman amp. That's going through a four by 12 cap. The AC 30 is going through like a open
06:32back two by 12 and, uh, and I'll switch between those two. So like my main solo sound will be
06:37the
06:37Friedman. Some of the cleaner stuff will be the AC 30 and I actually have like a parallel path here
06:42on some of the cleaner stuff that is sort of my attempt at simulating like a rock man esque clean
06:48sound. It's like more direct sounding. So I'll actually blend that in with the amp sound and get
06:55a little more like of that top end kind of sparkle that sounds like you were plugging kind of straight
07:01into a console or something. And, uh, that's been nice for that super shimmery eighties. Like
07:07you put an H 3000 chorus on that and you're, you're kind of set. So that's basically what I'm
07:13doing. And then as far as like modulation and delays, depending on the preset, I'm kind of just
07:18blending in different amounts of chorus and delay and reverb. Uh, and the great thing about the quad
07:26is from scene to scene, you can change the mix amounts and decay amounts and, you know,
07:33chorus depth and stuff really, really easily. And so that makes this kind of just a no brainer
07:40for those quick changes too. And you can MIDI control all that too. I'm not doing that right
07:44now. Uh, I'm just doing it all via the foot switches, which has been rock solid. Um, and so
07:52yeah, that's, that's kind of the rig here and a Dunlop is there. If I want to add any expression,
07:58I can, I mainly just use it as a volume pedal right now for some swells. It's all powered.
08:03I think, I think you pronounce it chocks DC seven and the, uh, and then the crux, which is
08:12an adapter that you kind of need to run the quad off this guy, but that's it. One, uh, IEC
08:17out
08:18and you're good to go. All right. Picks are the Tortex one millimeter, I believe. And we got
08:25these customized, which is pretty cool with the, uh, the band logo and then my signature
08:30on the back. So I can always throw them out to the crowd and they get a little something
08:35special from the show.
08:36I can always throw them out to the crowd.
08:38And we'll see you next time.
08:40Bye.
08:42Bye.
08:48Bye.
08:49Bye.
08:51Bye.
08:58Bye.
08:59Bye.
09:01Bye.
09:02Bye.
09:04Bye.
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