Ariel Posen & Fender Have a New Take On The Stratocaster.
Is This Real Life?
Ariel Posen was recently at Cannery Hall in Nashville, TN and I had a unique opportunity to photograph the show as well as get a better look at the gear used by this absolutely insane guitar virtuoso. When I walked in the door of the venue, I quickly met Ariels FOH Engineer, Manuel Unrau and had a nice chat. Everyone working on Ariel’s team have been incredible to work with so far, maybe it’s just the Canadian hospitality. As they started to sound check… I realized VERY quickly that these guys were going to absolutely rip, and rip they did. Not to mention that the show was at Cannery Hall, which is an incredible music but equally great for various other events. Ariels show was at Row One Stage.
Ariel Posen + Fender
Ariel has a limited-edition signature Stratocaster guitar that is a product of tight collaboration with Fender. This beautiful guitar comes in Faded Lake Placid Blue and I’m a big fan of that. Lake Placid is my favorite color from Fender, with the exception of Fiesta Red that is. The “Brown Cupcake” style knobs are such a cool addition to the design, who said you absolutely MUST use standard white “witch hat” style knobs? The custom Ariel Posen AP-90 pickups have such a classic and vintage look to them and sound like something out of a dream sequence. Pair that with Ariel’s love for low-tuned guitars and you have a sound like nothing you’ve heard from anyone else.
A few other fun specs about this guitar that I liked where the vintage style tuning keys, 3A rosewood fretboard, 1969 U-Shape neck, and the vintage wiring scheme using a 500k volume pot paired with a 250k tone pot. Fender absolutely knocked this signature guitar out of the park. Everything about this instrument is perfect.
Full Specs on the Fender Limited Edition Ariel Posen Stratocaster
Trusted by Ariel
As I mentioned before, I had the chance to stand on the stage and check out Ariel’s gear before the show. While I was doing this, I met Zach Person, who was opening for Ariel for this tour. I jokingly said, “Did Ariel only bring one guitar? No backups?” thinking there was another one stashed in the green room. Zach quickly said “nope, that’s literally the only one he brought with him for this tour. He said this is the one.” That actually blew my little brain into pieces. The fact that he can trust a singular guitar for an entire tour was wild to me. This says so much about the quality of instrument that Fender created in this collaboration with Ariel. It feels great to trust an instrument’s build AND sonic quality.
Strings Built For Alternate Tunings
Before I realized that Ariel had a signature pack of strings from the awesome people at Stringjoy, I reached out to find out what gauge of strings he’s using. When he said 14-62 it threw me off. I’m not sure why I assumed they would be smaller considering the amount of slide and alternative tunings he’s using. This actually makes perfect sense and now I’m tempted to grab a pack for one of my guitars. For those not savvy with all of this guitar lingo, having these ultra thick strings allow the player to tune lower without the strings getting too slinky or weird. The alternate tunings can really bring your playing to life.
Pedalboard Essentials
Ariel doesn’t have some massive pedal that resembles something out of NASA, rather a fairly straight forward rig that serves as a tone toolbox. I’m assuming that the rotary style effects that I heard throughout the night were coming from the Eventide h9, regardless of where they came from, that is the best rotary effect I’ve ever heard. The fuzz tones that he was getting out of this rig were mind-bending as well. I got a good laugh out of the clock on his board, and then I thought about it and realized how handy that would be to have. From the way it looks at least I believe his signal chain is the following: KingTone Mini Fuzz, KingTone Octaland, KingTone Duellest, Chase Bliss Thermae, TC Electronic Flashback, Eventide H9, into the Keeley Hydra. He was also using a MorningStar MC3 for control and a TC Electronic Polytune Mini Noir as his tuner.
Two Rock Amplification
Ariel is listed on Two-Rock’s website as one of their artists. On their site they state that he’s using their Traditional Clean 100 Watt head & Classic Reverb Signature 100 Watt head, 2x12 Vertical Cabinet as well as a 1x12 Closed Back cabinet. On this tour Ariel used the Traditional Clean 100 and his 2×12 Vertical Cabinet. This amp made me rethink so much about my current amps. Nothing like a little “Gear Acquisition Syndrome”. You’d think using a 100w head would destroy a room that maxes out at 320 or so people but you’d be plesently surprised at the amp vs PA balance that Ariel and Manuel were able to pull off. No harsh frequencies or overwhelming volumes during the entire night. This was insanely impressive to me coming from a guitar and audio visual background.
Spacier Than An Astronaut
I’m not exactly sure on the model, but this is my first experience with VOID Acoustics and I was thoroughly impressed with the balance that Manuel was able to get in the room with this PA. My other business is the Audio Visual Integration world so I love getting to scope out that gear any time that I can. I’ll admit that I didn’t know what to think when I saw them. They look like something out of a movie involving aliens, which I’m actually a fan of in some cases. I’ll be looking into these boxes for sure, I love how these were sounding! It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t tell you to check out some of the interesting designs that they have on their Instagram.
But How Was The Show?
I wholeheartedly mean it when I say that you owe it to yourself to buy tickets to Ariel Posen next time he’s in your area. Everything was so great. The energy of the crowd, the mix, and especially the songs that Ariel has poured so much of himself into. If you haven’t heard his latest album, Bannatyne, go check it out now. You’ll have it on repeat for days and possibly weeks. It’s also worth noting that he was out at the merch table meeting fans of the show.
