Rigged: Dark Sermon Guitarist Neal Minor

Hey, I’m Neal Minor and I play guitar for Dark Sermon. Here’s the breakdown of what I play with at live shows.

My primary guitar is a Jackson SLATTXMG3-6 Soloist. It’s really light and I love the wider-set frets on Jacksons like this one. I love the matte feel as well. It is neck-thru and has EMG 81/85 active pickups.

The second guitar I use is a LTD EC-1000. I’ve been playing that guitar for five years now and it still kicks.

I run through an ENGL Fireball head. I love the dark heavy gain tones I can achieve with it.

For my cab I have an oversize 4×12 Mesa Boogie.

Let’s dig into the guts of the setup; it doesn’t get very complicated at all. I start out with my Korg Pitchblack tuner pedal. This thing has held up for years, and has a bright and easy to read display. After my tuner pedal comes my noise gate; enter the legendary Boss NS-2. I have it on mute and just don’t turn the pedal on, which definitely makes more abrupt notes cut quicker and cleaner. From the NS-2 I go to straight to my ENGL.

Next on my pedalboard is the effects loop. I use two MXR pedals in my loop: a 6 Band EQ and an analog Carbon Copy delay. I love the simplicity of the MXR pedals. They’re constructed very well and it’s noticeable. The EQ here allows me to achieve a great expansion; it is a much more suitable boost – it allows me to cut a bit back on the head’s gain but push out more defined qualities while still increasing the overall master volume. After the EQ is my MXR Carbon Copy delay.

I use Monster Cables throughout my setup, and I use Dunlop Jazz .73 mm Tortex picks. I love the smooth feel of these picks over the glossy plastic feel.

Thanks for checking this out. Catch us on tour this summer!

-Neal / Dark Sermon