Originally published in Guitar One magazine · August 2004
Backline Blueprint: Dream Theater’s John Petrucci
Article2 min read
Prog Power
By Michael Ross
Whether working with his primary project, Dream Theater; his side gigs, Liquid Tension Experiment and Age of Impact; or on Sega’s Necronomicon video game, John Petrucci brings a lot to the table. In addition to studying at Berklee College, he’s absorbed lessons from prog-rock progenitors Yes as well as from fusion fathers Al DiMeola and Allan Holdsworth. These influences are evident not only in the fluidity of his playing but in the complexity of his compositions. A card-carrying “Boogie” man, Petrucci uses not one but two complete rigs to create his lush sound.
The guitarist has both six- and seven-string Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature models, each featuring a Piezo pickup in the bridge. Planet Waves stereo cables send the guitar’s signal to a Framptone A/B switcher, which connects his electric pickups to the racks – custom-designed and built by Mark Snyder – and his piezos to the house mixer.
For solos, the signal enters a Snyder switching unit, in the lead rack, which determines whether the lead or rhythm rack is to be used. A Digital Music Stereo Line Level Mixer combines the dry signal with the one effected by two TC Electronic 2290s, two TC Electronic M3000s, a TC Electronic G-Force, an Eventide DSP 7000 Ultra-Harmonizer, a DBX Compressor/Gate, Boss digital delay and phaser pedals, and a Dunlop DCR2SR rackmount Cry Baby unit. Left and right signals are then fed to twin Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Road King heads; a third Road King either drives the Framptone Talk Box or is used as a spare.
His rhythm work runs through similar routing in a rig housing two Mesa/Boogie Lone Star heads, a TC Electronic 2290, a TC Electronic M3000, and a DBX Compressor. Those rhythm sounds are sent to two Mesa/Boogie 2x12 Traditional Recto Cabs, whereas solos soar through two Mesa/Boogie 4x12 Traditional Recto Cabs; all cabs contain Celestion Vintage 30s. Petrucci controls this soundscape from a Skrydstrup SCI with an expander. His pedalboard also houses a Dunlop Cry Baby control pedal, an Ernie Ball stereo volume pedal, and a Boss TU-2 tuner.