If you’ve ever wondered whether progressive metal and pop could ever be used to describe the same artist, you don’t need to look any further than Polyphia.

After crafting a signature melodic style that has garnered fans from many different musical backgrounds, the harmonic duo of Tim Henson and Scottie LePage quickly became icons for their infectious hooks, impressive technical abilities, and their instantly recognizable guitar tones.

The latter of which has certainly earned them a spot on today’s Geared: Polyphia!

Guitars:

Ibanez has provided Tim and Scott with custom prototype guitars which they have both been very tight-lipped about. From what we can tell, the two instruments seem to be identical in specs, with the only differences being the sparkle blue finish for Scottie and the trans-red quilted maple top for Tim.

another photo of the proto

A post shared by Scottie LePage (@scottielepage) on

Both guitars have 24 frets, two humbuckers of unknown design, 5-way selector, vintage-style tremolo, a very innovative neck heel design, and what appears to be an entirely Rosewood neck. They maintain the standard Ibanez volume and tone knob setup with the addition of a mystery switch, which we speculate might be the kill switch that appears on many Iron Label series instruments.

The good news is that if you’re chasing their tone, you certainly won’t need their prototypes to get there! Both Scottie and Tim use a number of stock Ibanez models including the RG652AHM, RGDIX7MPB, RGAIX6FM, RG655M, RG852MPB, S5528LW, RG3520ZE, and more.

Amps and Effects:

On their current “LIT AF” Tour the guys are basing their rigs around their Fractal Audio AxeFX II units. While we know there is typically a collective sigh of disappointment at a lack of info when a digital modeler is mentioned (despite how hard it is to argue about their benefits) we actually do have a pretty decent idea of how Scottie and Tim get their tones…


According to Nick Sampson, producer for Polyphia’s “Renaissance” album, the duo are big fans of the Corncob M50 amp model which is an emulation of a Cornford MK50 II amplifier. In order to get that organic, articulate tone they use a surprisingly low amount of gain.

They are well-known for achieving single-coil-esque tones with humbuckers, and a lot of that comes from using non-standard pickup positions like the two inner single coils, or the neck pickup wired in parallel.

To add to the spank and thickness of their tone, they use a healthy dose of midrange since they don’t need to worry about stepping on a vocalist’s toes. Lastly, Nick stated that one of his main focuses when mixing “Renaissance” was giving them plenty of high end in the 2-5kHz range for their signature snap and spank, but controlling it before it became harsh. If this is all nonsense to you, check out our Guide for EQing Distorted Guitars for more information!

Cabs and Monitoring

The duo run their Fractal Audio AxeFX II units directly to the PA, but for on-stage sound (and to give a little extra shred to the first few rows) they’ve employed the use of two Orange PPC412 cabinets with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers – in classy black tolex, of course. Each cab is powered by running the AxeFX II into the power amp section of an Orange Dark Terror amp head.

Strings:

Scottie and Tim both use Dunlop Super Bright Nickel Wound Strings (9-42) to give them that extra spank and attack to their signature guitar tones.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out some more! We upload new articles, guides, reviews, and interviews daily, such as our Alluvial piece!

Also, we are a dealer for many beloved brands such as PRS, Ibanez, Mayones, Schecter, ESP, and more! Feel free to stop by our shop and we can help you find the right guitar for you at the best price possible.

This article was written by Connor Gilkinson, our editor located in Canada.

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