The rig PT was using on the last few albums and tours was built by Matt "Sarge" Schieferstein.

The setup is pretty basic all the way around. Each processor, or pedal, has one specific function. For example the Boss Chorus, makes a chorus sound.
That is all it does, ON or OFF.

So let's get to the PT sound. At the center of the sound is a Marshall JCM900 (100watt Hi gain/Dual Reverb) amp. This was the amp that had all the tone and signal routing that was needed for the effects. The next step was to have a way to route all of the various effects, without losing signal quality. For that chore, the Digital Music Corp. Ground Control Midi pedal with the GCX Expander unit was used. This system allows you to run multiple effects, channel switching, and midi patch changes all at once. It basically gives you 8 separate effects loops to do what you want.

Now with a switcher in place, let's see how it was set up. The output of the guitar went via cable to the input of the CGX unit.* From here the Chorus, Octave and ADA Flanger are put into loops for effect on/off control. These "stompboxes" are made to run in front of an amp, and through the switcher, this is what happened. Then it was sent to the input of the rack mount wah-wah. This unit is 6 different wah-wahs in one box. It also allows you to EQ the sound of your wah.

From there, the signal went to the input of the Marshall. Channel switching of the Marshall is done through the CGX. Pretty basic so far. Now off to the effects loop of the Marshall. The effects send is sent to the input of the Alesis Comp/Gate. Then to the Yamaha SPX-90, and finally to the Lexicon delay. The output of the delay is then routed back to the effects return of the Marshall. The rack effects are "daisy chained" together because of the bypass functions. The Comp/Gate is never bypassed. The effect on/off or bypass of the SPX-90 and Delay are hooked to the CGX unit.

The next step was to hook up the Leslie simulator. This unit is made by Motion Sound and is called a PRO-3. It has a rotating horn for the Hi end, and the Low end is simulated. The horn was mic'd and the low output was sent to a DI box for the PA. The PRO-3 gets its signal from the SPX-90. The output of the SPX is split. One side goes to the delay and the other to a loop on the switcher, then to the input of the PRO-3. By having it in a loop, it give complete control for on/off of the Leslie effect. The Fast/Slow function of the Leslie is also hooked to the switcher for control. The main idea here is that every device is controlled through the CGX, which give PT almost total control over everything in the rack. The pedal board is easy to use as well. Buttons 1 thru 8 correspond with it's respective loop on the CGX. The only cable that go to the pedalboard are midi, and a control cable for the wah. No audio whatsoever. All the audio cabling was in the rack, and as short as possible. Now that the signal is split and sent to effects and everything else, the amp powered 1 or 2 Marshall cabs depending on the venue. There were never more than 2 cabs in use for the guitar sound. That was pretty much the way it was. There were a few minor changes here and there, but it was a simple rig. The rack had a patch bay on the back for all the hookup connections. Send to amp, FX send, FX return, midi, wah and the like. The only thing that was not operated by the GCX were patch changes for different songs. These were done manually by either Pat or myself. Each song in the set had a different set of effect parameters.

I hope this will give some insight to the PT sound and how it works. But the main part of it comes from Pat himself, and the way he plays. Thanks for inquiring about PT's sound and equipment.

Matt "Sarge" Schieferstein

*NOTE: For a short time Pat tried a Nady 900 series UHF wireless system. The system worked flawlessly, but in the end, the cable won.

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