Guitarists Colin Frangicetto and Brendan Ekstrom from Circa Survive were kind enough to show off their pedalboards and live rigs, sharing some of the secrets behind their sound.
In the video above, you can see that Colin's board includes a large collection of old standbys: a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, a Boss PS-3 Pitch Shifter, and the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano reverb, as well as a "very old" Line 6 Pod multi-effect processor.
While Colin does employ a Walrus Audio Julia chorus/vibrato, he notes that while many people try to chase after the newest pedals, "You can find pedals for really cheap used that have a lot of charm and interesting characteristics." In this manner, he also likes to use two Ibanez DE7s, one for delay and the other for echo.
In the second video, Brendan starts by showing off a couple of telecasters from Melancon Guitars, a boutique builder from outside New Orleans that "has taken care of me more than anybody in the business, and I really appreciate that."
These guitars are run through a pedalboard that includes an a limited edition Catalinbread Karma Suture fuzz, a MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, and a Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, which he says "is still my favorite reverb pedal that I've ever had."
In addition to these, Brendan also uses three Strymon pedals: the TimeLine, Mobius, and the Big Sky. And the whole rig goes into a Bad Bat Hot Cat 30R, "one of the best, high-gain-sounding amps that there is right now."
Be sure to check out the full videos above, and click below to check out Circa Survive's music for sale now on Reverb LP.