August 19, 2025
New Guitar Gear: Inside Skunk Anansie’s Ace Live Rig
I’m Andy Ferris — the Guitar Geek — and in this piece I take you backstage and deep into Ace from Skunk Anansie’s live rig to unpack the New Guitar Gear, amps, cabs and pedals that give him that seismic, record-accurate sound on stage. If you love the tactile joy of analog pedals, the feel of vintage tube amps, and the satisfying logic of a rig that’s evolved over decades, you’re in the right place. I watched Ace walk me through his setup and I’ve written this as a hands-on, practical guide so you can understand the why and the how behind the New Guitar Gear choices that shape his tone.
Outline
- Guitar rack breakdown: signature PRS, Starla prototype, SE 277 baritone and the Tremonti workhorse
- Amps and cabs: vintage Greenbacks, heavy Zilla cab, warm clean coach cab
- Amp rack tour: heads, prototypes and the split-channel philosophy
- Pedalboard philosophy: analog, spacing, switching and the Mike Hill board
- Backup fly rig and travel-friendly New Guitar Gear
- Live rig demo: dirty and clean tones explained
- Actionable takeaways for building your own New Guitar Gear rig
Introduction: Why this New Guitar Gear matters
When you listen to Skunk Anansie live, the guitar tone isn’t just loud — it’s precise, layered and recognisably the record. That happens because Ace builds his rig around the core idea of reproducing the record tones on stage. For me, as a guitar geek, learning the practical choices behind that sound — the specific guitars, the split amp/cab approach, and carefully chosen pedals — is fascinating. This is New Guitar Gear beyond flashy specs; it’s about functional choices that stand up night after night.
Guitars: The rack that tells stories
Ace’s guitar rack is smaller than it used to be — but every instrument there has a specific role. He told me he used to have a guitar for every tuning; now he carries only the ones that matter for the set. Let’s look at the core pieces of New Guitar Gear he uses.
PRS Ace Signature — D# (the achievement)
The PRS Ace signature is, as Ace put it, “my achievement in life.” Tuned down a half step to D# standard, this is the go-to for a handful of songs like “Secretly” and “Love Someone Else.” A few practical mods help make it stage-ready: coil taps installed by Nick at PRS, and a block behind the bridge so a snapped string can’t pull the bridge back — effectively a fixed bridge feel. The swallow inlay and the personalized sticker work make it unmistakably Ace.
PRS Starla Prototype — the vintage voice
On the new album and live, Ace uses a Starla prototype for songs where he wants that vintage tone. The finish is purposefully wearing off — it scratches with a fingernail — and that provokes the right character both visually and sonically. As part of the New Guitar Gear lineup, the Starla is prized for its old-school voice and stage presence.
PRS SE 277 Baritone — the low-B workhorse
The SE 277 baritone is a major piece of New Guitar Gear on this tour. Ace mentioned three or four songs on the new album sit down around low B — and that’s what this guitar covers. It’s fresh on the rack (hence fewer stickers), and it’s already had a make-do mod — tape to stop strings catching under pickups when he hits hard. It also sports a coil-tap like the rest of his PRS instruments, letting him dial cleaner tones when needed.
The Tremonti from 2008 — the mainstay
Ace’s true night-in, night-out guitar is a 2008 Tremonti model he’s toured with forever. This one is ME (E standard) tuned and covers most of the set. It’s heavy, it’s been through the wars and Ace swapped the original pickups for PRS 57/08s early on — a change he did when the 57/08 was a new option. The result is a “vintage” voice with a seasoned, roadworn tone. The neck is wide-thin and handmade-feeling, which, for Ace, contributes to the feel and sustain that helps huge chords sing out in a big room. That’s New Guitar Gear with history — the kind of instrument that keeps sounding better the more it’s played.
Amps and cabs: How Ace gets a double-tracked live tone
Ace’s amp and cab approach is the heart of how he recreates record tones live. Rather than using one amp and a bunch of post-processing, he embraces multiple physical sources and uses them together to create the perception of double tracking. That’s one of the smartest moves in his New Guitar Gear setup.
Custom white & gold cab with vintage Greenbacks — Led Zeppelin/Free vibe
Ace wanted a cab that looked like Randy Rhoads’ and sounded like Led Zeppelin / Free — warm, full-bodied and organic. Marshall built him a custom white-and-gold cab with vintage Greenback speakers. This cab gives the rounded, full low-mid character that nods to the 70s sound that Ace loves. It’s heavy, and it’s lived on the road for decades.
Zilla cab with vintage G12-30s — Slash/Guns N’ Roses attack
The second heavy cab is a Zilla with extra-thick construction and what Ace believes are vintage G12-30s. This cab provides a tighter, faster attack — more of a 90s Marshall-style voice (think Slash) compared to the warmer Greenbacks. By running both cabinets, he obtains two different attack/decay profiles: one cab attacks and decays quicker, the other decays slower. Split left/right on stage, they create a double-tracked stereo image that gives weight and width — a studio trick done live with pure New Guitar Gear logic.
Coach (Holland) custom clean cab — warm, round cleans
For clean tones, Ace uses a custom cab from Coach in Holland, chosen specifically with the speaker mounted behind for warmth. The clean cab is independent of the heavy cabs and routes the modulation and clean-only effects so the clean channel remains sculpted, round and uncoloured — perfect for parts that require clarity against the dirt channels.
Amp rack tour: heads, prototypes and a little ghostly reverb
Ace’s amp rack is a living museum of heads and prototypes—each chosen for the way it contributes to the whole. He runs three primary heads, and each does a job in the orchestration of tone.
Marshall JCM900 — the classic foundation
One of the oldest amps in the rack is a Marshall that Ace bought when it first came out — a JCM900. He runs the gain up but pulls back presence and treble so the amp sounds big without being ear-splittingly sharp. This is a classic live trick: when you push valve amps loud, rolling back the top end keeps the tone big and comfortable, especially when stage monitoring is limited. He also told me a funny story — the reverb that failed long ago decided to come back to life on tour; Ace calls it a ghost.
Koch Powertone prototype — the distortion voice
Next up is a prototype Koch Powertone head modified just for Ace. He uses the master/distortion channel and likes it because it evokes the attack of older Marshalls like the 800 series. Combined with the Marshall, the two distortion sources provide differing transient responses that, when panned left and right in the PA, sound like two separate guitar tracks — again, making the live sound feel double-tracked. Stickers on the head are the visual history of months spent dialing it in.
Koch Powertone (clean channel) — a Fender-like clean
The third head in the rack is used mainly for a loud, clear clean — a big Fender-like bell. Ace uses the clean channel only, and modulation/delays are routed through racks to this amp. That separation means he can flip to a purely clean stereo sound without muddying or re-routing the distortions.
Racks for modulation and independent switching
Above the heads sit the racks that handle delays, choruses and modulation. Ace programs them so the clean amp gets the modulation and delay in the right timing — and crucially, so he can switch the clean channel independently from his distortion channels. That lets him stomp into a song’s clean part and have it be a pure, record-accurate clean while everything else remains on in the distortion chain. It’s New Guitar Gear orchestration done properly: physical routing, not just presets.
Pedalboard philosophy: space, analog tone and the Mike Hill board
Ace’s main pedalboard is a thirty-year-old custom board made with Mike Hill (the man behind the Marshall master volume patent). It’s a window into a philosophy I love: leave breathing room, build durability, and prioritise tone over complexity. That’s what real New Guitar Gear thinking looks like.
Why big spacing matters
Ace prefers a lot of space on his board so he can stamp without accidentally hitting neighboring pedals. Everything is laid out visually — green, orange — so he can stomp in the dark with confidence. The Mike Hill build integrates all the electronics: buffering, switching across two channels (clean and dirty), and low-noise splitting to three amp outputs. The pedals themselves sit outside the box for accessibility.
Pedal choices — all-analog for grit and interaction
He uses analog pedals in front of the amp (not in the effects loop) because he loves how they push tubes. That’s a key piece of New Guitar Gear logic: the interaction between pedal and amp is essential. Here are the main pedals Ace keeps on stage:
- Signal pad for volume/gain adjustment (used like a volume pot)
- Fifths/octave (classic Skunk Anansie sound — thick and harmonic)
- Envelope filter (original used for the “Hedonism” solo)
- Horse Meek overdrive (transparent overdrive to warm and push the amp)
- Hardwire chorus (reliable, studio-grade chorus)
- Angry Rhubarb (Mikey from Skindrett’s pedal — heavy fuzzy tones)
- Hardwire delay (studio-delay settings that Ace likes live)
Signal routing and the Digitech control
The Digitech control unit only affects the clean racks — and Ace programs whole songs to switch to the clean amp when required. That means you can have every distortion pedal on but step to the clean and get a dead-clean channel instantly. The main board splits the guitar to two distortion amps and one clean amp: everything after the split only goes to the distorted channels, while the racks for modulation feed the clean channel.
Backup fly rig: small, travel-ready New Guitar Gear
Touring hassles are real, and Ace has a compact pedal train as a spare or air-travel fly rig. It replicates much of the main board’s functionality: a Lehle switcher + P-split + PS ISO, a pad, a fifths pedal, classic DOD Looking Glass, a Brown Spirit fuzz from Vanda FX, a Nautilus (chorus/flanger) and a modern envelope where needed. It’s small, cheap to replace and airline-friendly — the sensible side of New Guitar Gear.
Live rig demo: the dirty and the clean
Ace demoed the rig for me — stepping through the dirty straight-into-amp tone, the effect of drive pedals, the envelope filter, octave, chorus and fuzz, then switching to a pristine clean. Watching the way each control interacts live explains more than any schematic ever could.
Dirty tones — amp-first identity
The dirty tone is essentially the amp. Pedals are there to push and colour, but the basis is pure valve amp drive. Ace keeps the distortion channels predominantly amp-driven and adds pedals like Horse Meek to heat things up. The result is a recorded-sounding heavy tone that still breathes on stage.
Envelope and octave — the Skunk Anansie trademarks
The envelope filter and octave (fifths) are part of the band’s signature. Ace keeps the envelope for solos like “Hedonism” and the octave for that thick harmonic body on parts that need to sit in the mix without clashing. He tunes the octave and the overall guitar tone to sit with the other instruments, which is why the sound can seem duller on its own but enormous in the mix — that’s intentional New Guitar Gear tuning.
Clean tones — dialed to match the record
Ace programs his clean channel to match the record as closely as possible. He said he reprograms or tweaks the clean sound every record he makes so live parts sound like the studio versions. The clean is bright, bell-like, and carries the modulation and delay in the correct stereo image to recreate the recorded space.
Practical takeaways: Build your own New Guitar Gear rig (without guessing)
If you want to build a rig influenced by Ace — practical, roadworthy, and record-faithful — here are the steps I’d recommend. These are not opinions; they’re distilled from Ace’s choices and how those choices translate to consistent stage tone.
1. Choose a small set of guitars, each with a purpose
- One primary instrument in your main tuning — the ‘workhorse’. Make it reliable and comfortable.
- One instrument for alternate tunings you use regularly (baritone if you have low-B songs).
- One ‘colour’ guitar for vintage tones or distinct character (e.g., a Starla-style guitar).
Keeping it compact reduces switching time and makes your life on stage easier. That’s sound New Guitar Gear reasoning.
2. Think in physical sources, not plugins
Double-tracking can be staged with two amp/cab pairs that have different speaker responses. Instead of relying on stereo effects to fake width, pair a warm, slow-decay cab (Greenbacks) with a fast-attack cab (G12-30-like). Split and pan them for instant depth.
3. Keep a clean amp and a dedicated modulation path
Route modulation and delays to a clean amp and keep distortion amps dry. This gives you clean-stereo delay and chorus that don’t get smeared by gain stages.
4. Use pedals to interact with tube tone, not to replace it
Put overdrives and dirt in front of the amp to push tubes. Keep modulation and time-based effects where they best serve the sound (often after the amp for direct studio-style repeats to the FOH). For New Guitar Gear, think about interaction, not isolation.
5. Build redundancy into the rig
Have a flight-friendly pedal train with essential pedals and a small switching system. In Ace’s case, the small pedal train mirrors the main board and keeps the show moving when something breaks.
6. Make switch logic simple and visual
Big, spaced pedals that are easy to see by touch reduce mistakes on stage. A single stomp to clean that really mutes the distortion chain is valuable. That’s why Ace uses a big pedalboard with visible colors and spacing — minimal camera tricks, maximum stomp confidence.
Why simplicity wins: a final word on philosophy
Ace’s rig is “old school” in the best sense: it’s pragmatic, durable and designed around the songs. He wants to hear what he made on the album — he wants the audience to get the record experience live. That leads to choices that are surprisingly conservative: run through tube amps, use analog pedals up-front and split real cabinets to achieve studio depth. As he said, it’s not a matter of being stuck-in-the-past; it’s about what works.
There’s also an important human element: Ace wants to be able to swap a pedal, change a setting on the fly, and step on a switch without second-guessing where the chorus is. For touring musicians, reliability and speed beat theoretical perfection every time. That’s an essential part of New Guitar Gear thinking.
Final notes — what I took away as The Guitar Geek
Walking through Ace’s rig reminded me why I love hands-on gear: the way physical amps, purposeful cab pairing, practical pedal choices and simple switching logic come together to create something that sounds like a record in a real room. If you’re investing in New Guitar Gear, ask yourself three questions before you buy: Does it serve a purpose? Does it survive touring? Does it interact well with my amp? Ace’s rig answers those with a resounding yes.
The New Guitar Gear lesson from Ace is: build around the song, choose gear that complements one another, and don’t be afraid to keep things tactile and simple. If you’re chasing tone, remember that some of the most convincing studio effects can be replicated by smart routing and real speakers. That’s something a lot of modern setups forget.
Further reading and quick checklist
Use this checklist to start implementing elements of Ace’s rig into yours:
- Pick one reliable workhorse guitar in your main tuning.
- If you need low-B, consider a baritone (PRS SE 277 style).
- Invest in two distinctly voiced cabs (one warm/slow, one tight/fast).
- Choose a distortion amp head that complements your primary amp for stereo drive.
- Route modulation/delay to a dedicated clean amp or send.
- Use analog pedals up-front to push tubes; avoid over-combining functions unless you need them.
- Build a small travel pedalboard as a backup.
If you want to nerd out further, try swapping speakers between cabs and listening for the attack/decay differences — that’s where Ace’s stereo double-tracked magic lives. Also, experiment with running a transparent overdrive in front of a pushed amp to see how the interaction changes both harmonics and dynamics.
Thanks and where to go next
It was an absolute pleasure taking apart Ace’s rig with him. The practical lessons packed into his New Guitar Gear approach are brilliant: they remind us that tone is often solved by better routing and better choices, not more complexity. If you’re building a rig for gigs, take the road-tested approach: start small, make each piece earn its place, and make sure it all works together on stage.
Go plug in, push tubes, and enjoy the hunt. If you build something inspired by Ace, drop a note — I love seeing rigs that balance history, practicality and tone.
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