Rig Rundown – Black Mountain’s Stephen McBean

Black Mountain is an amazing band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Black Mountain has always been interesting to me because the styles bounce around. One moment, you lock into the ‘stoner riff’ / fuzz awesomeness, but then it gets very spacey and atmospheric. It can go from riff rock to mellowness in the same song. The vocals are another aspect that grabs you. Amber Webber adds the peaceful and soothing melodies – that takes me back to older/retro days. Stephen adds his vocal for the perfect compliment, reinforcement or drives it himself.

Black Mountain has always been a mix of complex and simple, hard and soft. Black Mountain is a band that you truly ‘listen’ to, if that makes sense. I often find myself getting lost in the tunes – or maybe I should say – carried away. Want an experience? Grab some Black Mountain and go on a long drive.. and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Check out this great performance on my favorite radio show – KEXP:

Okay.. enough gushing over about this band. What I was excited about was the recent Rig Rundown from Premier Guitar on Stephen McBean’s rig. I’ve always enjoyed Stephen’s tones and was curious what he was running. Check it out..

Here is the break of pedals for Stephen McBean

True Bypass Loop Strip
Electro-Harmonix Octave Multiplexer
Keeley Neutrino Envelope Filter / Autowah
Diamond Memory Lane 2
DOD Phasor 595
Fulltone Soul Bender
Fulltone Supa-Trem
TC Electronic Ditto Looper
One Control Mosquite Blender Wet/Dry Effects Loop w/ BJF Buffer
Union Tube & Transistor Swindle
Vox Wah Clyde McCoy Reissue
Framptone Amp Switcher
Boss TU-3 Tuner

As always, let me know what you think by commenting below. Also, if you notice anything missing or incorrect with the break down, please let me know!