Gear Review: Teramaze guitarist Dean Wells on his Ernie Ball Music Man Guitars

Dean Wells, guitarist for the Australian progressive metal act Teramaze, sat down to chat with me about the gear (including his Ernie Ball Music Man Guitars) he used to hone in on his unique and signature sound for the band’s newest disc, AnhedoniA. Here’s how the conversation went.

Dean, what kind of gear did you use when recording the new album AnhedoniA? (Guitar and amp setup).
Dean: I used Ernie Ball Music Man Guitars. These Luke models both have EMG 81 pickups in the bridges and EMG single coils Slv in middle and neck positions. I used Ernie Ball slinky strings with an 11-52 and a 10-48 custom gauge. I worked closely with Jeff Waters (Annihilator) on getting the right guitar tones. Here is the signal chain we used with pro tools:

Rhythm Guitar Tone: A Luke guitar into a JSX Peavey 120 watt head, a Marshall Reissue1960 cab with Greenback 25 speakers.

Lead Guitar tone: A Luke guitar into a Zakk Wylde over drive reissue pedal, an MXR phase 90 pedal, a Marshall JCM 900 lead series 100 watt head and a Marshall 1960 cabinet. During the recording Jeff and I used a Shure SM-57 into an Avalon 737 mic pre into pro tools.

Besides guitar what other instruments do you play?
Dean: I can also play bass and drums. I’m a record producer so it helps having a knowledge of other instruments and sounds.

How many guitars do you own?
Dean: I own four Music Man guitars. I have a Luke Ball Family Reserve, an original Luke, a limited Dargie Delight Luke, and my new Reflex model. I used a Taylor acoustic guitar to track our bonus track on the album, “Ever Enhancing II”.

Do you use special tunings on the guitar?
Dean: Yes we do, we use a drop C and a drop C # tuning for the songs off AnhedoniA.

What is the most difficult aspect of recording your distinctive guitar sound?
Dean: The most difficult was probably playing with hardly any gain or saturation on my tone; therefore it was kept really clean with the amp cranked to give it a nice cutting sound. There was no editing on the rhythm guitars while I was recording, which means I played most songs almost all the way through, trying to keep it all about the vibe. The other hard aspect of recording this album was having one of my idols watching me while I was laying down the tracks.

Overall, which guitarists have you been the most inspired by?
Dean: The main guitarists I looked up to were Marty Friedman for his exotic leads, John Petrucci for his phenomenal song writing and liquid leads, Dimebag Darrell and Jeff Waters for their bluesy riffage and leads also.

Past or present other than Teramaze, if you could be a guitarist for any other band, which band would it be?
Dean: That’s really a tough one. It would be a tie between Megadeth and Dream Theater for sure.

Did you have formal education on the guitar?
Dean: No I didn’t. I’m completely self-taught and I learnt most my skills before the internet. Learning from guitar videos that featured Vinnie Moore, Marty Friedman and Frank Gambale. These videos were crucial in my early development, but now with YouTube I find myself learning lots of Guthrie Goven, Greg Howe and Marco Sfogli licks.

Do you think about distinguishing the guitar performances and sounds from release to release?
Dean: I am constantly learning more and more about my instrument and song writing everyday so I hope to keep pushing myself and the sound of Teramaze to continue to evolve as a band. So to answer your question, yes absolutely!

Check out the song: “Anhedonia”