Rigged: Mutilation Rites Guitarist and Vocalist George Paul

My name is George Paul and I sing and play guitar in Mutilation Rites. We’re currently on tour with Skeletonwitch and Havok, which totally rules. Let’s start with the heads I use. I’m currently bi-amping two heads. On top in the picture is my early ’80s Peavy Butcher. I love this thing. I actually bought it on tour from Masakari (Southern Lord, Cleveland, OH). Peavey put out a lot of different models of heads around then (VTM 120, Butcher, 5150, etc) and most of them don’t really deviate from each other that much. I like my Butcher because it feels like a slightly hot rodded Marshall JCM 800. They’re also really cheap, just a little harder to come by. My second head is my mid ’70s Ampeg V4b. I’ve owned this amp forever and I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of it. Apparently they’re selling for around $800 nowadays because people caught onto how killer they are. I paid $350!  SUCKERS!  This amp is so god damned heavy to carry around but it’s totally worth it. SO MUCH MIDRANGE. It punches you in the stomach. While technically a bass head, I’m under the impression that the V4 and the V4b are almost identical aside from the lack of reverb (which I wouldn’t use anyway). We’ve all switched out our old cabinets entirely to Emperor cabs. Michael [Dimmitt] and I both run two 4x12s with two heads, while Ryan’s [Jones] bass rig is a 2×15 and a 4×12 with two heads. Excessive?  Maybe. But it’s a shitload of fun to play through and looks intimidating as hell. No wheel casters. My cabs have Weber speakers in them, not quite sure what models. When we switched out the cabs I couldn’t believe the amount of definition I was getting; everything felt so much clearer. I can’t recommend them enough. They’re all maple wood with a ’70s style blue/grey grill cloth. Justin [Ennis] has a matching Emperor maple drum kit. Pedal-wise I’m very straightforward. I’m using a Lehle A/B box to split my signal. It’s some German company that makes super high-end stuff to kill amp buzz with true bypass gold conductors blah blah blah. I like my Electro Harmonix Micro Metal Muff just fine, but I think I’m going to try and find an overdrive I like instead of distorting my signal. That being said, why fix it if it isn’t broken?  Who knows when I’ll get around to that. I use the standard Boss tuner; this pedal I do plan on switching out for a TC Electronics Poly-Tune, but I just didn’t have enough time before tour. My guitar is an early ’80s Ibanez Artist series.  It’s a Les Paul double cutaway rip off, such an accurate one that Gibson sued Ibanez over them and they had to be discontinued. Along with my V4, I’ve owned this guitar longer than any of my other gear and I doubt I’ll ever get rid of it. It’s completely beat to shit.  It’s one of those guitars that if anybody else picked up they’d hate it, but I’m married to the thing. Eventually I’ll buy myself a fancy Les Paul Custom or something, but for now I’ve got this old girl. I recently put in some Lace Deathbucker pickups and its really changed my tone for the better. A LOT more low end and clarity. Not to mention they’re passive! I can’t stand active pickups so I was immediately sold. I sing into a Shure Beta 58 microphone. Apparently they’re “very hot”. I don’t know anything about PA systems and microphones; I leave that up two Ryan and Justin, the two sound guys in the band. I think that just about covers it. Come catch us on the road with Skeletonwitch and Havok! Hails. – Gp3