THE MARS VOLTA’S JUAN ALDERETE
The Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López
and bassist Juan Alderete have
long been known for having
expansive pedalboard setups that border on extreme.
Alderete admits that he once
had a multi-station setup with
one “standard” board, one dedicated to ring modulators and
whammy effects, one stocked
with micro-synths, and one
with an array of delay pedals
and flangers for tweaking on
the fly. Alderete had slimmed
down to this “economy version”—as had Rodríguez-López who had replaced many
of his effects with a Line 6
M9—for their summer tour
with Soundgarden.
Part of the reason for slimming down, he explained, was
because the band was playing
shorter sets and weren’t employing lengthy soundscape breaks
between songs, during which
he would tweak away at his
effects. In fact, he says, “All
these are pretty stationary.” His
Earthquaker Devices Ghost
Disaster Delay and Reverb is
one of the few pedals that still
gets hefty tweaking during a set.
Alderete appreciates the two-in-one quality when it comes
to pedalboard space, but also
praises the effect for its tone.
“It’s a great sounding delay, but
the reverb is really cool, too,”
CLICK
HERE
Watch Alderete
demonstrate his approach
to using effects with bass
in our Rig Rundown
at premierguitar.com.
Signal Chain: TC Electronic
Poly Tune > Boss CS- 2 Compres-
sion Sustainer > Boss VB- 2 Vi-
brato > Boss OC- 2 Octave > DOD
FX32 Meatbox SubOctave > Wren
And Cuff Pickle Pie B > Earth-
Quaker Devices Ghost Disaster
Delay and Reverb > Digi Tech PDS
20/20 > Boss PN- 2 Tremolo/Pan
> Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phaser
> (not pictured) Dwarfcraft Eau
Claire Thunder > WMD Geiger
Counter. Photo by Chris Kies
Below: Alderete’s vast pedal
collection came in handy when
he surrounded himself with
three pedalboards. Photo by
Juan Alderete
he says. “I love a dub bass line
with the flatwounds.”
Because he’s using flatwounds,
he’s also more selective about
which effects he employs—not
all effects come through the
same. The Pigtronix Envelope
Phaser is one of his preferred
effects with flatwounds, and he
often pairs it with the discon-
tinued Boss VB- 2 Vibrato.
Always in use on the board
is Alderete’s trusty Boss CS- 2
Compression Sustainer. This
pedal has been a staple since
his days with Racer X in
1986 and is almost always on.
Alderete says that it’s the most
musical compressor he’s tried
and he uses it for adding high
end and harmonics. Musicality
is high on Alderete’s list of
demands when it comes
to choosing pedals for his
board—he also lauded the
Envelope Phaser and Boss
OC- 2 Octaver for that
same quality.
