John Mayer sure can rock out on a guitar whether it be a Fender Stratocaster, a signature PRS electric, or a Martin acoustic guitar. John Mayer is a great guitar player in addition to being a great singer and songwriter and is one of our favorite musician's here at UberProAudio. He's done an amazing job playing with the Grateful Dead guys in the band Dead & Company in addition to his very successful solo career.
John has used a ton of guitar gear over the years, and is quite the guitar equipment collector. In this article we'll explore tons of guitar gear that John has used, showing pictures, videos and more which should help provide answers for folks who are wondering what gear John Mayer uses, including what amps, guitars, cabinets, strings, picks, and effect are in his guitar rig.
Now, without further adieu let's look at what gear and equipment has been seen in John Mayer's Guitar Rig.
Click the gear images for more info & specs at Guitar Center and Amazon
John Mayer's Guitars
Paul Reed Smith PRS John Mayer signature electric guitars - PRS Silver Sky
Here's a great picture John posted of himself playing the PRS guitar:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0u5yzcFru-/
- Paul Reed Smith PRS Private Stock "Super Eagle" guitar (only 100 were made for sale in 2016) and "Super Eagle II" guitars
- Fender Stratocaster guitars (John Mayer Signature strat)
- Martin JM Signature Acoustic guitars (his signature Martin OMJM guitar model)
John posted some pictures of him on tour in 2019 using his Martin acoustic guitar. You also can see his pedalboard in some of the photos:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Dq_zIlVcE/
- Fender ("The Black One") Stratocaster (was reproduced for sale - announced 2009)
- Fender Jimi Hendrix Monterey Pop Strat (this is the redish guitar with the flowers on it)
- Fender Stevie Ray Vaughn Stratocaster
- Fender Stevie Ray Lenny reproduction strat
- Gibson ES-335 (red)
- Various other Fender's and Paul Reed Smith guitars
- Gibson L5 featured throughout "Where The Light Is"
- Gibson SG guitars (seen playing a cherry red one and a white one)
- Duesenberg Starplayer guitar
- Martin 0045SC John Mayer Stagecoach Edition Acoustic Guitar
- SRV Charley replica made by Rene Martinez
- Fender Cypress Mica signature Strat
- Charvel Custom Shop guitar with skateboard inspired paint job. We saw him playing this as recent as 2019. It sounds like John got the Charvel guitar in 2017 and was using it on the Dead and Company tour also. Charvel x Powell Peralta “McGill” San Dimas model
https://www.instagram.com/p/BapTpJjHwE3/
- "Vultures" gold Strat
- Guild Starfire IV guitar
- Carvin Jason Becker guitar (gifted to him in 2015)
- EVH Frankenstein replica guitar
- Ernie Ball Eddie Van Halen Wolfgang guitar, purple, custom built by Ernie Ball with parts they had stored away from 1991. John had asked them to make the guitar, as it was the one John had seen on the 1991 Guitar World cover.
https://www.instagram.com/p/q2uh0dOEUe/
Notes: John has said (in a special features dvd) that he must have over 200 guitars!
Have you seen this classic video? It's a 2010 guitar rig rundown video that PG did with John Mayer's guitar tech, Rene Martinez. Rene was also the guitar tech for Stevie Ray Vaughan. We see that John was using a Fender Band Master amp head, a Two Rock John Mayer signature amp head, and a Dumble Steel String Singer guitar amp on this tour. Rene shows off John's Bradshaw system. There's a ton of drawers in the guitar rack and each drawer is filled with guitar effects pedals. Lower in this article, we document the pedals in the rack. After you see the guitar pedals that John Mayer uses, you then get a little walkthrough of the different guitars that John Mayer was playing on tour.
John Mayer's Amplifiers and Cabinets
- PRS John Mayer J-MOD 100-Watt Guitar Amplifier Head and John Mayer J-MOD Stealth 130W 2X12 Guitar Amplifier Speaker Cabinet. "intimately designed by Paul Reed Smith, Doug Sewell, and John Mayer to not only handle Mayer’s live work with Dead & Company, but to also move seamlessly into recording and performing Mayer’s solo work"
John posted a picture in 2017 saying that the PRS amp and cab is "the tone he's been looking for":
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQMWKdbj633/
- John Mayer Signature Series Two Rock amp heads (based on the Custom Reverb Signature amp)
- Two Rock 2×12 guitar cabinets
- Dumble Overdrive Special amp head
John was showing off his Dumble amp as recent as May 2019:
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByGmZQAlq58/
- Leslie cabinet
- Victoria Bassman Clone (45-410 model)
- Victoria Reverberato Head
- Fender Super Reverb Blackface
- Fender Vibro-King
- Fender Blues Junior (studio - as reported in his May 2008 blog)
- Fender Vibrolux
- Dumble Steel-String Singer amplifier head (clean. No overdrive)
- Fender Band Master head
- Alessandro cabinets, open back (celelstion speakers)
- black face Fender Bassman head
- Milkman 85 watt steel guitar amp, hand built. JAN 5751 NOS tube in v1 preamp stage.
- Marshall JTM45 MK II Plexi head and Marshall guitar cabinets
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgIutD2HMWg/
Here's a funny video of John talking to a live crowd about guitar effects pedals. It's hilarious - he talks about getting a reverb pedal that he used to write the song "Love on the Weekend".
John Mayer's Effect Pedals
NOTE: John's rig is complex and changes quite often. At any given time you might see a variety of pedals on John Mayer's pedalboard. As you've seen in the video above, one of John's hobbies is collecting guitar pedals. For example, in 2016 he posted a picture that showed just his Way Huge brand guitar effects pedals! In the picture you can observe the following guitar pedals along with many others in John's effects collection.
- Way Huge Aqua Puss analog Delay
- Way Huge Green Rhino Overdrive effects pedal
- Way Huge Swollen Pickle Fuzz pedal
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJgkBz-jLjO/
- Boss Blues Driver Pedal (Keeley mod)
- Keeley Katana Clean Boost
- Roger Linn Adrenalinn III Effects Box (also has Version II in his rack)
- Custom Audio Electronics MIDI foot controller
- Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere
- T-Rex CompNova Compressor
- T-Rex Mudhoney
- T-Rex Replica
- T-Rex Dr.Swamp
- Boss DD-5 digital delay
- RMC8-Guitar Eqwahlyzer (wah with eq on it)
- Dunlop Crybaby wah pedal - John has used the Buddy Guy model
- Electro Harmonix Memory Man
- MoogerFooger Analag Delay
- Fulltone Full-Drive Overdrive Pedal
- Ibanez TS808 booster
- Ibanez TS-9 and TS-10's
- Marshall Bluesbreaker (John prefers the original version of this pedal)
- Fulltone Supa-Trem Tremolo Pedal
- Electro-Harmonix POG
- Korg G4
- Boss Chromatic tuner pedals (he has 4 of these tuners on the floor for different instruments)
- Dunlop Power Brick
- Whirlwind A/B selector
- Line 6 DL4
- Klon Centaur overdrive pedal
- Eventide TimeFactor Twin Delay Guitar Effects Pedal (more than one in the rack)
- Boss GE-7 EQ pedal
- Analog Man 3 knob small Compressor pedal
- Radial JDI Passive Direct box
- Univox Univibe
- Hermida Audio Zendrive pedals
- Pete Cornish pedal
- Fulltone Tube Tape Echo
- Xotic Wah XW-1 pedal
- TC Electronic Polytune pedal
- Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron+
- MXR Phase 90 (script version)
- Strymon Volante
- Source Audio True Spring with Tap Switch
John Mayer's Strings, Picks and Accessories
- Ernie Ball Regular Slinky and Power Slinky guitar strings
- Ernie Ball Earthwood Phosphor Bronze medium light acoustic guitar strings
- Ernie Ball Coated Titanium RPS Slinky Acoustic Light strings
- D’Addario EJ16 light-gauge, phosphor-bronze strings on his acoustic. There were some old ads (2002) that showed him as a D'Addario user.
- Dunlop Tortex .60mm (as reported by one of our readers who caught a pick)
Here's a picture John posted of some of his older tour guitar picks:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPoP74WDGBr/
- Ernie Ball Black guitar strap (as seen in many pics)
- Fender guitar Straps
John Mayer's Live Vocal Sound Gear
- Shure Beta 58A (Mayer's vocals live)
- Neumann KMS105
- Universal Audio 1176 inserted
- Avalon U5 direct box (this is an important piece of Jonh's sounds)
In 2015 John shared a photo of his traveling practice guitar rig - it's really nice! He uses a Kemper Profiling amp plugged into a Dumble 1x12 cab. There's also a Furman Power Conditioner in the rack - it appears to be the Furman M-8DX Power Conditioner.
https://www.instagram.com/p/7BbwaWOEZn/
Go to the next page for pictures of John Mayer's guitar amps, cabinets, pedals and pedalboard.
Here are some good pictures of John mayer's 2007 guitar rig, taken by j4mie and licensed under Creative Commons.
Click the images to enlarge them fullsize in a shadowbox.
