- 2 hours 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”, Jon Foreman, vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band, Switchfoot, shows off the gear that he uses onstage, while on the "Forever Now Tour" with Anberlin. Switchfoot is currently supporting their newest album, Forever Now.
PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Fender American Jaguar Electric Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/YVamPR
Gretsch Electromatic Hollow Body Electric Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/KBNdmx
Taylor Gold Label 717 Grand Pacific Blacktop Acoustic Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/PzDdEY
Neural DSP Quad Cortex Mini Modeling and Effects Processor - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/GbNdJk
Morningstar Engineering MC6 Pro MIDI Controller - https://www.morningstar.io/mc6-pro
Benson Amps Deep Sea Diver Fuzz-Echo Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/ZVAj51
Shure SLXD2+ Wireless Handheld Transmitter with SM58 Microphone Capsule - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/n4Q6x7
VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - October 10, 2026
Location - House of Blues in Chicago, IL
KEEP UP WITH SWITCHFOOT:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/switchfoot
Instagram - https://instagram.com/switchfoot
TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@switchfootofficial
Twitter - https://twitter.com/switchfoot
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
VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:33 Skip Intro
00:57 Electric Guitars
05:18 Amp
06:44 Pedalboard
10:28 Acoustic Guitar
13:03 Microphone
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.
Affiliate Disclosure:
Some of the links in this description are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase. Your support helps me continue to create content like this. Thank you!
Buy official DTB merch at http://digtb.us/merch
On this episode of DTB’s “Gear Masters”, Jon Foreman, vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band, Switchfoot, shows off the gear that he uses onstage, while on the "Forever Now Tour" with Anberlin. Switchfoot is currently supporting their newest album, Forever Now.
PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Fender American Jaguar Electric Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/YVamPR
Gretsch Electromatic Hollow Body Electric Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/KBNdmx
Taylor Gold Label 717 Grand Pacific Blacktop Acoustic Guitar - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/PzDdEY
Neural DSP Quad Cortex Mini Modeling and Effects Processor - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/GbNdJk
Morningstar Engineering MC6 Pro MIDI Controller - https://www.morningstar.io/mc6-pro
Benson Amps Deep Sea Diver Fuzz-Echo Pedal - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/ZVAj51
Shure SLXD2+ Wireless Handheld Transmitter with SM58 Microphone Capsule - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/n4Q6x7
VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - October 10, 2026
Location - House of Blues in Chicago, IL
KEEP UP WITH SWITCHFOOT:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/switchfoot
Instagram - https://instagram.com/switchfoot
TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@switchfootofficial
Twitter - https://twitter.com/switchfoot
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
VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:33 Skip Intro
00:57 Electric Guitars
05:18 Amp
06:44 Pedalboard
10:28 Acoustic Guitar
13:03 Microphone
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.
Affiliate Disclosure:
Some of the links in this description are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase. Your support helps me continue to create content like this. Thank you!
Category
🎈
FunTranscript
00:00I'm not a guitar player's guitar player.
00:01I want to use this to get somewhere else.
00:04I like them dead.
00:05Yeah.
00:06We don't change them.
00:07Don't change the strings ever.
00:33Hello, my name is John Foreman.
00:35I play guitar and sing in a band called Switchfoot, and tonight we are playing the House of Blues
00:40in Chicago.
00:41I love this place.
00:43This is my rig rundown.
00:45First up, we have the guitar, this American-made Jaguar.
00:53It's got a couple different mods on it.
00:57This one right here, years ago, I bought a Gretsch at a pawn shop in Atlanta, and I noticed
01:06that I could sing into it with loud enough gain, and it was a flaw, you know, harmonic pickups
01:17doing what they shouldn't do, but I loved it, and so Nathan helped to modify this guitar,
01:23and for my mother of guitars to do something similar.
01:28This allows me to play like, and then also, so it allows me to have a different form of
01:41microphone to be able to sing into.
01:44I do.
01:44I use it a lot.
01:46Love this guitar.
01:48I like to make the guitars my own, paint on them, put stickers on them.
01:54I love a guitar that just sounds like a motorcycle.
01:58I want a guitar that I'm not thinking about.
02:04I use it as a vehicle to get somewhere.
02:06Song is a vehicle to get somewhere, and so for me, every night, my hope is to connect with
02:12people.
02:12So I don't, I'm not a guitar player's guitar player.
02:16I want to use this to get somewhere else, and so what I do, I want to have, my settings
02:25are
02:25either moped or motorcycle, so those are my two settings, cloned after my favorite settings
02:34back in the studio, and the moped is, sounds, but usually, um, middle position here, and
02:46then motorcycles a little bit more.
02:50I'll use it for, uh, this position over here for, uh, that's got a great bite to it, and
03:00then, obviously, singing into it when I want to.
03:07Okay, so I usually, for this guitar, it's standard tuning, and I use 11s.
03:11I like thick strings.
03:13I play hard, I play thick picks, um, and I like to feel like I can hit it hard and
03:20kind
03:21of bend with it, and it's not going to break.
03:24So that is this guitar.
03:26I love it.
03:27This one's, uh, a brand new guy.
03:31This one back here, turn this guy off.
03:38This one is significantly older.
03:42This Gretsch is unique in that it has two different outputs.
03:51It's, um, it's unique because it has a piezo bridge that allows me to emulate an acoustic
03:59sound.
04:00Um, you won't be able to hear it through the amp.
04:03It goes straight to the board.
04:04Um, but it has that rattle jangle, um, transient attack thrown in even when it's a blitzed out
04:13setting that I love.
04:14And so this, yeah, this is my main guitar for everything.
04:18This is, um, tuned usually to drop D with 11s as well on it.
04:25And you can see this extra knob right here.
04:28It is a, uh, it's not a knob you see very often on this particular model.
04:34And, um, that is the piezo.
04:39So it's pretty fun.
04:40This is the setting that just feels, again, it's a motorcycle.
04:50I don't have to think about it.
04:52I can think about connecting and I love this guitar.
04:55This guitar also get to sing into it.
04:59Um, if you've ever seen us live, I like to get into the crowd.
05:03I like to move my way through and around and these guitars are durable.
05:11I've put them through the ringer and, um, they can get me through to the end of the show.
05:16So I love this guitar right here.
05:20This amplifier back here was made by my brother-in-law, Mark Mason.
05:29And it is very unique.
05:31This is a tree that he actually, um, it came from his own yard.
05:37It's from Michigan.
05:39He's one of the smarter people I know and he builds amps for fun.
05:45This is an incredible amp.
05:46I love the way it sounds.
05:48Again, like all the things that I bring on the road, I want it to be durable.
05:52I want it to just last to know that I can hit it.
05:56It'll take a lick and keep on ticking, you know?
05:59So this amp's amazing.
06:01Um, love this guy.
06:03So this is pretty durable.
06:04Again, um, for backline, if we're flying into a show and we're backlining amps, I will spend a little bit
06:14of time tweaking it.
06:15Um, but this amp, it sounds great.
06:20Um, I rarely, uh, change any of the settings.
06:24It does have a reverb option, but I rarely use that.
06:27Um, and yeah, again, it's just a workhorse that allows me to communicate with the people.
06:35Cause again, I want to kind of forget about this and this and just, and be one with whoever's there.
06:42The pedal board is a similar situation.
06:44This is my mini.
06:46Um, and I've got a morning star that controls what we're doing here.
06:52This particular, uh, patch here apparently isn't working.
06:58That's fun.
07:00Um, yeah, so this is the one that, that allows me to have the acoustic and the electric going at
07:09the same time.
07:10Um, and both of them have dirty and clean and, uh, an option to turn effects on.
07:20Um, this is, this is my main patch for everything, motorcycle moped.
07:25And the thing that I love about, I mean, I love the idea that I can have my favorite gear
07:31that I would never bring on the road in, in here that I can, um, there's this, there's this API
07:38pedal that I use to blitz everything.
07:43And it was very temperamental and it would always break on my pedal board.
07:46So this way I get exactly that and I know it's not going to break every night.
07:50All captures.
07:51Um, so here's the, uh, the main capture here.
07:57We've got a, uh, this is the main guy over here.
08:02So, um, there's an API distortion and then there's a, a projector amplifier.
08:10Again, the projector amplifier, um, hooks is a wizard.
08:16And yet, um, bringing his gear on the road and letting it get beat up every night is one of
08:22those things where you kind of shake your head and wonder if it's a good idea.
08:25So this way I can have both of those things right in here.
08:29And I love, I love the, the way it sounds.
08:32Um, I also love the idea that you can, um, I, I have that sent directly to the house and
08:42then, and then a different discreet line goes to the amplifier and they're both independent of each other.
08:49So if one of them breaks, the other one's still working.
08:52So it's a stereo line and, uh, redundancy, it, it, it can be stereo or something breaks.
08:59You still have a guitar that works.
09:01So I like this, this guy, this is a, uh, uh, deep sea diver fuzz echo that, um, I use
09:10on this chain that allows me to just have some, something to tweak with for the night.
09:15Because I, I like to, again, I like to feel like I'm kind of wrestling with the song.
09:21Um, and this feels too clean and I need something a little chaotic.
09:26I need more chaos in an effort to communicate to the crowd.
09:30Many times we'll put my guitar down.
09:33Um, and this allows me to put it down and not ruin my guitar every night.
09:39So yeah, this is basically a glorified, uh, guitar holder right here, which is, uh, yeah.
09:45And then the other great thing is, um, I have, um, my acoustic guitar as well running through here.
09:53So one less piece of equipment to have to bring no DI needed.
09:57It runs through the same piece of equipment.
10:00So, um, being a band nowadays, you're trying to figure out how to fly to different things, how to cut
10:09back on gear.
10:10How, how do you make rock and roll work, right?
10:13And to have less equipment is always the goal in to that end.
10:18And this allows me to have all the electric, you know, amp needs right here and the acoustic needs right
10:27there as well.
10:27So this is a Taylor guitar.
10:31Another genius friend of mine that I've known since junior high, a man named Andy Powers helped design this.
10:40Um, this right here is the gold label.
10:46Um, 7-170 black top Grand Pacific.
10:51Um, I, uh, added a little something like I do with all my, my guitars.
10:58Um, and yeah, I love the way this sounds.
11:03I have a guitar back home.
11:06Um, it just sounds so good.
11:13I have a guitar back home that's an, that's an old Gibson that I will never bring on the road.
11:19I did for a little bit and just got too beat up.
11:21And this is the closest thing I've ever heard to that, you know, 60s sound.
11:29And I love the way it feels and it, it is, uh, it's got all sorts of bells and whistles
11:35that, that are incredible.
11:37But yeah, basically I just like the way it feels.
11:40And I go over here and, and, uh, there's my setting right there.
11:47And, um, yeah, feels like a J45 from the sixties.
11:52And it's made in my hometown, San Diego.
11:56And it goes, these are the strings I use.
12:01Yeah.
12:02And I, I like them dead.
12:04Yeah.
12:05We don't change them.
12:05Never.
12:05Don't change the strings ever.
12:07So like, um, when a string breaks, then you change the strings, but until then don't change strings.
12:13This is a, a Tortex pick.
12:16It's pretty thick.
12:17I don't know how thick it is.
12:18It's, it's, uh, thicker than most.
12:22Let's just say that.
12:23The other cool thing that, that we have, um, this microphone allows me to communicate with the rest of the
12:32band.
12:33So I can, if, cause we're a very loose live band that if there's a moment that feels like, um,
12:42we need to change the set list, something that needs to be communicated audibly, that feels really amazing.
12:49Tim has one and our drummer, Chad has one as well.
12:52So sometimes you can communicate just, just with hand signals, but then there's other times where to be able to
12:59use English words and communicate like this feels great.
13:03So this is a sure 58 wireless microphone, fairly new.
13:08Um, it says S L X D two plus, but I, I think it's just a SM 58 and, and
13:17they get beat up.
13:18This thing is this, uh, top capsule.
13:21The head has been replaced many times, um, because yeah, things happen.
13:28Things happen on stage.
13:29Yeah.
13:30But I, I like this because it allows me to run around, get in the crowd, climb to the second
13:35balcony, whatever it is.
13:37And, uh, it'll stay with me.
13:39Um, thank you for, uh, listening to my rig rundown, uh, come see us play switchfoot.com.
13:46Come check out forever.
13:48Now the new album and more than anything that I would promote be present to the ones you love in
13:56your life.