RIGGED: IN FLAMES BASSIST PETER IWERS TAKES YOU THROUGH HIS ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL GEAR SETUP
As part of our coverage of this year’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival – currently winding its way through North America — we’re bringing you a series of “Rigged” columns in which several of the tour’s musicians take you on piece-by-piece guides of their current live rig setups. Check out the rigs of Machine Head’s Phil Demmel, Unearth’s Buz McGrath and Hatebreed’s Wayne Lozinak. Here’s In Flames bassist Peter Iwers:
Peter Iwers here from In Flames checking in from the road on the Rockstar Mayhem tour. Let me tell you a little bit about the gear I’m using this time around.
I have two different basses that are signature ones. They’re the Ibanez PIB1 and PIB2.
The PIB1 is based off of the SR 1005 model and then we made the bass a little more rounded around the edges. I’m basing it on the Spector, but the downside of those basses for me is that they’re a little bit too heavy. This make doesn’t make it too heavy. It’s light enough for me to play seven shows in a row without getting back problems, but it still has that solid sound that I really need. It’s got that Mono-Rail Bridge which I never thought about until I started using it. It makes it easier and clearer. Each string gets a clearer sound because they’re more individual rather than a whole unit. It’s easier to adjust each bridge if the action is too low or something like that. I use Dunlop strings; I use the .130- .45 because I downtune to A#, so the .130 is really good for me. I can go lower but it works perfectly for me that way.
The PIB2 is pretty much identical. The PIB1 is black with a jester outline in dark grayscale and the PIB2 is white with black detail and our In Flames symbol on it. They both have golden hardware because I’m a huge ’80s fan.
As for pedals, I use the MXR bass D.I. Plus. I keep that pretty much on half gain because it’s a distortion pedal, and usually when you distort the bass you lose a lot of the low-end, so I don’t put it that high up. I combine it with an Ashdown James LoMenzo HyperDrive pedal, and I put that on the highest output possible which makes the whole thing very microphonic; but I can have the high-end distortion of the Ashdown pedal and I keep the bottom with guitar pedals. It’s a really good combination for me.
I use the EBS Fafner II as a head. I can’t tell you too much about it because I just started playing with it. Before I used the first Fafner. I’ve always been an Ampeg guy, and I love Ampeg to death. We made a test of what I would prefer better and EBS kicked Ampeg’s ass. I never thought anything would be better than Ampeg, but EBS is a lot stronger. It has two different outputs and you can distort different channels – you can distort one and have one clean. It’s strong enough to drive two EBS Classic 8×10 cabinets which I use for the bigger stages. I have one on each side. It’s fantastic. It’s one of the best amps I’ve ever played with. You don’t even have to raise the volume up to half. It’s way stronger than anything I’ve played with before. It keeps the tone brilliant. You don’t have to adjust too much on it. It’s the perfect amp.
I use in-ear monitors so it’s really important for me that the sound is perfect because I hear everything. I hear every note very clear. In my mix I have mostly drums, so it’s really, really important for me to have a great sound every day. We have people with us that we always have. They know exactly what I want. So I really don’t have to adapt.
– Peter Iwers / In Flames
