Steve Vai | 2022 Live Guitar Rig | Thomann

We had the honour to check out Steve Vai's Live Guitar Rig together with him and his 2 great techs, Doug and Thomas, during their 2022 Inviolate European tour. The rig is a form of art in itself - The sound integrity and cable management - including the Hydra routing - is pretty impressive.



Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Introduction
0:18 Intro Playing
0:54 Steve's guitars with Doug
2:50 Playing John Scofield Hollowbody
3:28 More guitars!
6:51 Expensive magnets
8:04 Playing Bruno
9:00 Whitesnake Era Guitar!
10:11 Why a Hollowbody?
11:07 On stage with Thomas Nordegg: Rack and Board
11:24 Mindblowing schematics from Thomas Nordegg and Eddie Clothier
12:26 Hey, that's Steve Vai!
13:17 Synergy modules: The jewels
13:38 Fractal Audio Axe-FX III: The workhorse
14:11 The pedalboard
15:04 Steve's most important switch
15:53 The Synergy control surface: RJM Mastermind
16:13 Axe-FX control
17:13 Actual tube preamps
17:51 The rest of the signal chain: Real cabs on stage!
18:18 First time with In-Ears!
19:21 Interlude Playing
19:51 The Hydra Routing
22:44 The Hydra is heavy! Teeth of the Hydra videoshoot stories
23:59 The Hydra will be back!
24:33 The synth in the Hydra and its sounds
25:20 More John Scofield Hollowbody Playing
26:33 The back of one of the most tidy racks you'll ever see
27:37 The struggles of touring with that big of a rig
29:18 A screen to stay in sync
29:34 How to keep that rig easy to troubleshoot
30:17 Thanks Thomas, Doug and Steve Vai!

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[maximusaugustus]

Besides being a phenomenal musician Steve is a lovely human being.

[mindwork]

Thomas is a true gentleman, the way that he step back when Steve came. He is a humble and wise guy.

[Subhrocks]

He just saw them filming and interviewing Thomas and came to explain things a bit by himself. How cool and humble is this man!!

[ohraisins]

Is it just me or is Steve getting more Italian as he ages..? Such an amazing musician/person. Hope he brings the tour to the south pacific!

[BatmanBurns]

Went to high school with Doug, glad to see him doing well on tour with Steve

[kevinthornton]

Thomas is a guitar tech scientist, he.even looks like one, pure genius!

[JohnLloydDavis]

Thomas is a genius, there should be a documentary about him and the stuff he's made. I remember him from the Zappa band days making videos and the like.

[haraldsteaksauce]

You guys outdid yourselves. Insane video. Thank you Kris and all the guys working on this video!

[ajvargas]

Gotta say that it's really nice catching Doug's vibrato motion in the same circular fashion as Steve's. Extra points to any Guitar Tech who tries to identify and match their client's playing idiosyncrasies in order to set up their gear to the best of their liking and needs. ¡Kudos!

[peterknicked]

I Love Steve, not only for his playing, but also for his class act in interviews, but Thomas is the coolest tech out there. He is like Q is for James Bond. Cool rig. Modern touch on the classic rack system. That is one aspect of Vai I love too. He likes the tone in the room with tube preamps, powerampsand speakers. No IR's to front of house. Cool.

[Aletheia_Z]

Douglas is now the only guitar tech for the Vai tour in Europe, he's such a nice guy, I had the chance to meet him and chat with him after Steve's show in Spain, he even gave me one of Steve picks, glad you interviewed him!

[goport]

As much as his music doesn't really resonate with me (my loss) I can't help but like him because he comes over so well. Really funny, alert and accomodating. The respect he gave at the end was a really nice touch.

[DrMurdercock]

I live for these kinds of videos. Carefully watching them, pausing, looking at dials, settings, brands, etc. Surely I'm not the only one who geeks out for this shit

[slavmeister]

Steve rocks up and not only is he cool to do the video, he's genuinely charming, enthusiastic and funny as always. What a guy!

[kmichaelp]

What a great video. I love it when the “STAR” of the show comes out and greets you. That’s class!!! Well done Kris.

[Obxhatman]

While I will say, its nice to see Steve give a run down on his rig. Hes not the star in this interview. Mr. Thomas is. That man has probably seen and forgotten more stuff about electronics than most people could ever dream of to learn. A true work horse to this industry, guys like that are literally the reason that all this stuff comes together every gig. Without him, everything would come to a halt and you know, with Steve, as humanitarian as I feel he is. That is exactly what he would do if he could not have Mr. Thomas. He would be like, stop everything till he is back and good. As much as I would like to say thanks Steve for everything and that is still true, man, Mr. Thomas, You are the true master to all of this. Its literally amazing what you have done in your life and I look forward to hearing what you have in store for Steve as the years go on.

[Jmdeclue]

I saw the Whitesnake tour with the mirror guitar in Orlando, Fl. Amazing concert. Good times.

[brettgarsed]

So cool that Steve came in and did the rundown personally. Such a class act all the way.

[patrickbutcherine]

Knock on wood and he hits his head.... Steve's touring wouldn't be possible without that man that's for sure.

[atopng]

Vai always has the time for people. Exceptional guitar player, awesome human being.