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Gear Review: Anti-Mortem Guitarist Zain Smith on His Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head

Hailing from Chickasha, OK, the five-piece hard rock/metal band Anti-Mortem are getting all hot and bothered with the pending release of their 12 track album, New Southern. Due out on April 29th in North America via Nuclear Blast Entertainment, the new recording features some air-guitar worthy songwriting and tons of shreddable and memorable moments (see the track “100% Pure American Rage” below for an instant and obvious example). Recently we caught up with guitarist Zain Smith to talk gear and he in turn told us all about his Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier solo amp head.

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Hailing from Chickasha, OK, the five-piece hard rock/metal band Anti-Mortem are getting all hot and bothered with the pending release of their 12 track album, New Southern. Due out on April 29th in North America via Nuclear Blast Entertainment, the new recording features some air-guitar worthy songwriting and tons of shreddable and memorable moments (see the track “100% Pure American Rage” below for an instant and obvious example). Recently we caught up with guitarist Zain Smith to talk gear and he in turn told us all about his Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier solo amp head.

What one piece of gear do you use to obtain your signature sound?
Smith: Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head.

What about it makes it so important to you?
Smith: It’s a tank from sound to durability. Purchase one and if you take care of it 30 years from now it will still be like new.

How was this gear used during the recording of your latest album?
Smith: All of my tones, period, you hear on the record was the Dual Rectifier.

How do you recreate your album (guitar/vocal/bass) tones in your live set?
Smith: As of now I keep my sound on the record to the gear I own so when we play live I can recreate it exactly how it got recorded.

What are the major pros and cons?
Smith: The pros are that it sounds better and it looks really bad ass to have all these amps and cabs, but the cons are it’s a lot of set up breakdown time and it’s a lot of stuff to take all over the world.

Do you have a backup for this gear, if so, what?
Smith: Yes, and it’s the same amp I own two Dual Rectifiers.

How long have you had it, how do you use it, would you ever change it?
Smith: I’ve had it for 6-7 years. No, only explore other options to blend with the Mesa amp.

Give us your best “gear goes wrong” story.
Smith: I needed a foot-switch for my Head to switch between clean and heavy tones so a friend gave me a Mesa roadster foot-switch because I couldn’t find the one for the Mesa Dual Rectifier, so I thought surely it will work – same cord same company. So right before we start our set I took it off of stand by and it blew all the tubes out so I’m in panic mode and luckily a guy let me borrow his crate solid state amp for the show. It wasn’t the best tone, but it got me through the night.

Any final thoughts or comments on the gear?
Smith: I use mesa amps and cabs along with the proper tube screamer/Overdrive pedal active EMGs in my guitars and of course a boss NS-2 noise suppressor to cut some unwanted noise. I recommend all these companies’ gear; it’s all top of the line and will last forever with proper love and care.

Check out the song “100% Pure American Rage”

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