TOP 5 Most Expensive Guitar Rigs
As soon as you play your first power chord through a full wall of Marshalls, set the ideal preset in Neural DSP or strum a G major chord on a genuine American Martin jumbo acoustic, you've opened Pandora's box, which instantly unleashes all the demons of GAS syndrome (an acronym for Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Or, as they say, if you want to keep your kids off drugs, teach them to play guitar and they will spend all their money on equipment. Today's topic is the TOP 5 most expensive guitar gear sets.
You can probably guess that the most expensive guitar sets are owned by big stadium bands and artists. Naturally, a stack of Marshalls, Mesa Boogies, endless chains of different boxes, and most importantly a myriad of guitars need to be tended to by a team of techs and the only place you're going to apply this mega gear is a stadium or a huge arena. Despite the respectful efforts of many alternative or jazz guitarists, when it comes to the value of equipment, rockers and, surprisingly, two bluesmen lead the way.
The rigs described below and their pricing were analysed and described in detail in the World's MOST EXPENSIVE Guitar Rigs video on the KDH channel and our article is based on this source. These include amps, speakers and boxes/effects, guitars are left out of this calculation.
And beware, we start with the cheapest (1) and end with the most expensive (5).
1. Van Halen
Van Halen's 2015 tour, which began on July 5 in Auburn, Washington, and ended on October 4 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, made history as Eddie Van Halen's last public performance with the band. We will look at his spectacular collection of guitars, boxes and amps.
- boxes: Boss OC-3 and CE-5, EVH Wah, Phase90 and Flanger, G lab amp loop selector = 950 dollars
- amplifiers, speakers and wiring: 5150III 100S amplifiers (seven pieces) and 5150III 100s el34, EVH 4x12 speakers (ten pieces), Furman PL Plus C, Roland SDE 3000 (twice), Lexicon PCM70 = 33 570 dollars
- total = 34 525 dollars
2. AC/DC
We are discussing Angus and Stevie Young's gear from the 2015 US tour. At first glance, both guitarists seem to have the simplest possible guitar and amp setup – SG and Gretsch directly into Marshalls, but there's a lot more going on in the background as you'll see from the list below.
- Amps, speakers and wiring: Marshall 87 slp100 (nine units in action and another twelve as backup), Marshall 1960 BXCab (fifteen units), Kikusui Power Supply, Furman PL8E, Shure ATX400 (twice), Shure ATX630, Shure ATX900, Mike Hill Switcher (twice), Shafer Replica (twice), Rocktron Hush (twice), Radial JD7 (twice)
- Total = 140 700 dollars
3. Yngwie Malmsteen
Of course, this guitar madman, master of arpeggios and proponent of the uncompromising "more is more" strategy can't be missing from our list. Let's take a look at the price tag of the gear he toured with between 2022 and 2023.
- Boxes: Line 6 G90 Wireless, Dunlop Wah, Boss NS-2, DD7, CE2W, RE200 and ES8, Fender YMOD, MXR Dynacomp, Digitech Whammy = 2 780 dollars
- amplifiers and speakers: Marshall YJM100 amplifier (fifty-two pieces!!!), Marshall 1960 AX and BX speakers (eighteen pieces) = 216 380 dollars
- total = 219 335 dollars
4. John Mayer
John Mayer's guitar equipment has changed many times over the years, he kept expanding his extensive collection of guitars, amps and pedals in sync with his growing fame (and bank account). His expressive soul guitar tone hits you straight away. But so will his very specifically refined equipment list from his 2021 tour.
Boxes – Boss OC-3, TU3 (X3), MXR M107, Ibanez TS-10, Way Huge Aqua Puss, Strymon Flint, Pete Cornish Tape Echo, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, Real McCoy RMC8 Wah, Keeley Katana, KLON, EHX QTron, Strymon OB.1 = 9 486 dollars
- amplifiers and speakers: amplifier Two Rock JM (twice) and Dumble Steel String (price 220 000 USD!!!), speakers Alessandro 2x12 (six times) = 319 403 dollars
- total = 328 795 dollars
5. Joe Bonamassa
Well, bluesmen seem to have very refined taste, because in our TOP 5, the pentatonic virtuoso Mr. Joe Bonamassa has the most expensive set-up. Let's see what vintage treasures he took on tour in 2022.
- boxes – Bonna Wah, Lehle Switch, Supa Trem, JB Fuzz Face, POG, Ibanez TS808, MXR Flanger, Boss DD2, WayHuge OD, H&K Rotosphere, Pedal Power 2+ = 2 294 dollars
- amps, speakers and accessories – plexi speaker covers, Custom Cab, Dumble ODS, Dumble ODS combo (twice), Fender JB Twin (twice), Mesa Revolver, Marshall Jubilee (four times) = 487 708 dollars
- Total = 490 002 dollars
So in the end, two guitarists with very sophisticated tastes won, thanks to incredibly expensive Dumble amps that pushed the price of their sets up to thousands of dollars. What an admirable effort and determination to remain "analogue" in an age of pocket-sized digital simulations and minimalist setups by modern guitar wizards. I assume they have a security team in addition to their technician team to secure this luxurious equipment.
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