Gear Review: Where Giants Once Stood Guitarist Jordan Turnbull on His Ibanez S1520 PB Guitar

Jordan Turnbell, Guitarist for the Toronto, ON-based metal band Where Giants Once Stood, recently took a moment to answer a few questions about his favorite piece of gear. The group recently completed work on their sophomore release, Live Above, which will be released on September 2nd.

What one piece of gear do you use to obtain your signature sound?
Turnbull: My Ibanez S1520 PB.

What about it makes it so important to you?
Turnbull: It’s the nicest playing, looking and sounding guitar I’ve ever used.

How was this gear used during the recording of your latest album?
Turnbull: It was used for all rhythm tracks and a few solos/leads.

How do you recreate your album (guitar/vocal/bass) tones in your live set?
Turnbull: We play to a click and our bass is programmed in, as we have no bass player. Vocals are standard, just whatever mics the venue has, and I use my Pod HD Pro with a Carvin Ts100 to recreate all clean, distorted and lead tones.

What are the major pros and cons?
Turnbull: Not having a bassist means less gear and more room on stage. But playing to a click means one mistake can ruin a whole song, luckily we practice a lot.

Do you have a backup for this gear, if so, what?
Turnbull: Not really. I use a wireless, but have a backup cord on stage if it dies or doesn’t work for some reason.

How long have you had it, how do you use it, would you ever change it?
Turnbull: I’ve used my current setup for about 3 months now. I used the HD Pro last tour but haven’t got a chance to tour with the Ts100. I feel my tones better than ever and my rig is lighter so I’m looking very forward to touring with it!

Give us your best “gear goes wrong” story.
Turnbull: There’s been so many over the years. We played a show in Ottawa on our first tour and I could not get my setup to work. I tried everything, our setup usually only takes a couple minutes but it must have taken over 20. Finally, I plugged in one cord to my cab and it all worked. Stupid mistake, but it happens.

Check out the song “Living In Security”