Nita Strauss Rig Rundown Guitar Gear Tour

With a new Ibanez signature model and an ultraportable plug-and-play rig, the rock heroine travels light to create the heavy tones on her new solo debut, Controlled Chaos.
Article & photos: bit.ly/NitaStra...
Don't Miss a Rundown: bit.ly/RIgRundo...
Furious, focused, and expansive, the playing of Nita Strauss is the stuff emerging-rock-guitar legends are made of. During soundcheck at Nashville’s Basement East, PG’s John Bohlinger checked in with Strauss, who was on a break from her regular gig with Alice Cooper, touring in support of her debut solo album, Controlled Chaos. Strauss wrote, produced, engineered, and recorded all the guitar and bass parts on the album, which, in testament to her abilities and her fan base, was made via a Kickstarter campaign that exceeded its $20,000 goal by $145,755. As she rips for our cameras, Strauss, the first woman to have an Ibanez signature model-which debuted at Winter NAMM 2018-talks about her JIVA10 and her backup S6570Q, and puts her easy-traveling rig, a Boss GT-100, though her core settings. Check out how Strauss shows off the JIVA10’s radical tuning stability at the 15-minute mark! And yes, she is a descendent of the Austrian composer Johann Strauss.
D'Addario Micro Tuner: www.daddario.c...

[@marklewis7484]

Good to see another musician who cares enough to present the rig themselves rather than a tech...

[@davecarsley8773]

@@AzathothsAlarmClock Oooooor, the boomer-Gen bands are actually busy because these days they have 4 kids and a wife running around on their tour bus. And have done 16 other "rig rundowns" for 16 other youtubers this tour... It's honestly kinda shitty to assume someone whom we pay to play music for us is a "jerk off" because they don't have the extra hours to get dressed, mic'd up, and do *another* rig rundown during their sleeping, family, eating, or rehearsal time while on the road. You do know adults sometimes have other things to do, yeah?

[@Killahead.]

Apparently someone's never been on a tour or been in that setting. Often times they have a million things to do. The whole purpose of having a tech is BECAUSE the artist doesn't have time to tend to their own stuff. They have a busy schedule and many times they aren't even in the same place as their gear right up until the show.

[@WaRLoKWYATT]

People who don't know their own gear piss me off. Alot..

[@WaRLoKWYATT]

@@davecarsley8773 You are a fool. There is wayyy too much down-time on tour. They have plenty of time.

[@WaRLoKWYATT]

@@Killahead. Not true at all.

[@AkiraSpectrum]

Nita has a great personality and seems like a very genuine person. Not to mention, she has mad skills.

[@utecastronoova863]

How is your post 5 days old when this was just posted today according to the time stamp? Did they reupload this?

[@AkiraSpectrum]

@@utecastronoova863 They always post a 'preview' a few days before they actually release the full video. In the description they always linked the article on the website which also has the full video linked. That way you can watch the full video days before they 'officially' release it.

[@ANTHONYFERNANDO]

I really love how excited she seems about guitar. She seems like she genuinely enjoys talking about this stuff as opposed to some other players on this series.

[@vav413]

"she seems so excited about about guitar" > Is a professional guitar player 😂

[@ANTHONYFERNANDO]

vav413 and yet so many professional guitarists they have on this series aren't excited about guitar. Alas, my point.

[@ANTHONYFERNANDO]

Brad Młodystach it's just nice to know that she's doing it out of a love for the music that's all. I'm not sure why my positive post is getting roasted geeze

[@sydnayallen6762]

@@ANTHONYFERNANDO Their lives probably suck so they gonna rip on people on the internet to make themselves feel better for some reason.. But Yeah you're right she's awesome and deff loves this stuff and that makes it so much more fun to watch.

[@KBP4]

She seems very personable.. She Knows her stuff. Great Interview

[@bifftop_johnny]

@Dr JT Agreed. She came to Toronto back in 2015 for a clinic and was absolutely wonderful. She spent time and actually talked to everyone that was there instead of just signing stuff or taking a picture and moving on. I really hope she comes back for another clinic

[@guitarlusteuphoria4507]

You forgot "hot."

[@rickjason215]

CccGuitar ddLcust Edd duphoria cc

[@russellzauner]

+1 for Google Talks. Nita does one pretty much every year.

[@Reportageandart]

Shes just wonderful and great attitude

[@michael_caz_nyc]

I love that she was so adamant about her Signature guitar being . . . Exactly The Same, as the one she actually plays. Very passionate & personable. Gorgeous looking guitar too.

[@prs149]

Best looking guitarists I've ever

[@Arcturian1111]

What guitar.?

[@no1beatsj]

Love how down to earth and passionate Nita is

[@simpleking1]

Wow, that string bend was incredible, wild to see the strings warble around like that. And the, magically, back in perfect tune.

[@psychovegan1]

Auto wah. Not just the capital of Canada.

[@stevenblakeakahashburns]

Haha 😂 brilliant

[@paulsimmons5726]

LMAO!

[@JohnsDough1918]

For that reason, Empress Effects are now legally required to create an Ottawa auto wah.

[@russellzauner]

Wah wah waaaaaaaah

[@JorgevanderLindenOficial]

Wah The Faux

[@GATvsGAT]

Fantastic player! Love how Nita uses a “mid priced” floorboard modeller on tour. Goes to show if you know what you’re doing, you don’t need the fanciest stuff to sound good

[@Guy9998]

Even her signature guitar is reasonably priced.

[@stevec6427]

Chuck Garrick, the bassist in Alice Cooper goes on tour with an Epiphone Thuderbird bass. I guess they're a band who don't feel they need to look flash with super expensive gear. They buy gear to get the job done

[@interpolagent9]

She seems like such a nice and genuine person. I think it's great that she is talking about her own gear. Her guitar is awesome.

[@rmperine]

She seems very genuine and enthusiastic about her gear -- very cool.

[@jakekemble806]

Played a gig this past year at the Local in Nashville and guess who hopped up on stage to play slide with the group right after mine?... John Bohlinger! Awesome dude, awesome player!

[@utecastronoova863]

He seems like a cool guy to hang out with.

[@kevinbothwell8425]

Dude he was the guitarist on my morning gig a few weeks ago and I was a bit star struck the whole time 😂😂😂 as we were setting up I finally was like "are you... The rig rundown guy" and he laughed and said "yea, I guess that's me!" very cool guy.

[@LicksoftheLegend]

this dude is the perfect example of how just being a nice guy can get you tons of gigs

[@wittvonwitt4403]

He is a legit player. People talk trash about him but he has respect from players.

[@bwgti]

​@@wittvonwitt4403 - Oh yeah. That guy can play! He does get trash talked a lot. To friendly or laughs too much. I don't understand what the deal is.

[@frmcf]

Nita Strauss Rig Rundown 2039 - I see you're rocking the Boss GT-10,000,000

[@metalgotte]

Fraser McFadyen 🤣

[@RonnieWarrant]

Best reply I've ever seen!! (in context of the vid) 😝 Thanks. Really made me laugh!!!

[@frmcf]

Cheers, Ronald! :)

[@nahirfadlala7966]

Hahaha

[@ainars.virga64]

@@RonnieWarrant laugh about what?

[@MiklaDfar]

Wow... that was an awesome interview. She is SO personable and obviously LOVES her craft. You can tell she is the type that would stop and talk with anyone, anywhere about guitars. It would be nice to see how her patches are setup. Thanks for putting this together... ROCK ON!

[@romaddan1]

Great thing about Nita- shes so talented, she earned her stripes and seems so appreciative of the position she now holds.

[@ScottTheNews]

Great player, great gear and a great girl. So down to earth and practical. Thanks for the video.

[@gkol69]

So, she's doing live shows with a Boss GT-1000 straight to the P.A., no fancy AxeFx, Helix, Kemper or big tube stacks and she has a great tone! Bravo!

[@ianbarcelos]

She always says that she's just a working musician, hired gun. So, no fancy shit.

[@gkol69]

@@ianbarcelos With Alice Cooper she has JVM 410 stacks and rackmount Rocktron processors. I wanted to point out that even with a Boss processor, not an AxeFx that most pros use, she's not picky and tone-snob and goes live with it!

[@wheresallthezombies]

She’s probably endorsed by boss and got it free or super cheap. Lol

[@gkol69]

@@wheresallthezombies Yes, but still you can make live shows with it while most guitarists consider it inferior to the more expensive cutting-edge modellers!

[@wheresallthezombies]

@@gkol69 i get what you're saying but we can just agree to disagree. lol.

[@blakestone75]

She loves talking about this stuff. That makes it more fun.

[@KRayxKodessA]

Liked before even watching... she’s awesome.

[@MichaelD8393]

Agreed! Nita, Jen Majura of Evanescence, and Sophie Burrell (kzbin.info/door/qj9P9PYqcK2o8jtKAQlcEQ) are my favorite female guitarists.

[@indybingyi]

Her clean tone really suprised me it's amazing

[@byronh77]

She’s really a very genuine person. I hit her on Instagram to let her know that l played her guitar and that l liked it and she actually responded 30 seconds later. If you haven’t played one check it out.

[@paulsimmons5726]

This lady obviously knows her stuff, glad to see she's doing so well.

[@stevensrspcplusmc]

Love her personality 😊👍

[@badbat01]

Nita is notably knowledgeable as is her explosive enthusiasm as a person and musician. Pulsating creativity and the power of a battery of rocketry. Blow me away, as you do, Nita Strauss.

[@thebibleinrecordtime]

It's impressive how this girl (and incredible artist!!) is so calm and pleasant in interviews, at the same time that she is so determined in her choices about the instrument. I also think it's incredible how well she knows her work, her instruments and equipment... Congratulations Nita, you deserve all of this and much more to come!! A big hug from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!!

[@jamespitman3357]

Nita obviously loves playing and one of the best rig rundowns I've seen. Refreshingly exciting. Well done Nita and Rig Rundown.

[@chriscuthbertson]

Nita's attitude to 'Amp Modeling' is really refreshing. Just use what sounds good, it should always be that way. There should be no 'rules' on what sounds good.

[@BackWoodsBillyCraftBeerReviews]

She did a Great Job on her Signature Guitar ! lots of Detail & its exactly what she plays.... Important...

[@SpongeBath_ShitPants]

21:33 **Kirk Hammett smashes through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man**

[@warpath6666]

Just mix with *WAH-TER* ... OH YEAH!!! 😄🤣😝🤪

[@Mamo878]

Good to see another total guitar geek. She really knows her stuff.

[@michaeleaster1815]

Nita is terrific and I love Ibanez, so this is a no-brainer to try one out soon ...

[@rikkifknrobin]

john’s a great interviewer. never interrupts, nerds out with the artist, lets them talk

[@byakubik]

Nita is most authentic and greatful performer today. Great job.

[@MisterGuitarItalia]

That clean sound is unreal

[@Mexxx65]

my very first guitar was a beautiful Ibanez! Wish I still had it today

[@mathewdavies6472]

She is gorgeous, talented, funny and wholly nice person, the total package

[@mathewdavies6472]

@FalconerPhoto well we're not exactly drinking buddies but I have met her on two occasions and spent some time chatting with her, she does have a lot of time for her fans. I also met and played a song with Kerri Kelli, another of Cooper's guitarists when he came to my local bar, he was a nice chap too

[@jsmjames]

Dream Girl

[@motorbikeray]

Nita comes across as a very down-to-earth and friendly person. That's a nice signature guitar that she has.

[@sammysouth8372]

I’m not really into this type of music but what a wonderful human being this is. More power to you sister

[@littlefish_tvlftv6025]

This is one of the best rig rundown I’ve seen good energy, thank you, love Alice Cooper

[@andood4167]

One of the best rig rundowns I've watched. Nita really seems awesome! And playing the actual signature model - no mods. Kuddos!!! \m/

[@murtasma]

I've never heard her play but she seems really nice and that's a real slick guitar - I like it sound great bravo!

[@davecarsley8773]

If you listen to a lot of rock music, you probably _have_ heard her play and don't know it. She doesn't just do the solo-band thing under her own name. She's played with dozens of the biggest names you know.

[@jarrettfinney4882]

Her signature is so awesome. I love it

[@dandogful]

What a sweetheart as well as a kickass guitarist.

[@katrynamcintyre5687]

Nita, you are an awesome guitarist. Thanks, Katy

[@harryharvey272]

Nita is coming to Savannah Georgia. So freaking stoked!!!!

[@Bits_N_Pixels]

She can talk shop, knows her stuff and is great to have a guitar conversation... You can see she cares and loved to be on this video... Great vid!

[@TomGlander]

That GT is incredible. If you don't have one... get one.

[@groovyhippie1165]

Those strings bouncing around at 15:13 and then comes right back in tune, so cool. Amazing guitarist! Great RR.

[@michael_caz_nyc]

Yeah - Fender should Learn How to keep their Trem Systems in Tune !

[@JuicyJonesHQ]

Love this woman, great interview, great attitude. She's an inspiration.

[@spiritzweispirit1st638]

Sweet Guitar!_ Besides Her Great Playing! And Attention To Intentional Tone Detail ! She's Always Been Super Cool' and Just a Genuinely Really Nice Person! Blessings Always To You Miss Nita Strauss! 🎸🔊🎼🌈

[@guitarblade1891]

she should be proud of her signature guitar. my local guitar center couldnt keep one in stock for a good while after it released they sold so fast

[@monmixer]

she is very level headed. when i started playing live in clubs every one had 100 watt marshalls on stage in a damn bar. Big bar some times but not that big. I did that for a very small amount of time. my ears would ring for hrs after a gig. I sold that thing and bought a fender deluxe reverb and a rat pedal and that was it. the only effects I used was the rat pedal for big crunch and it has knobs to adjust the crunch. i had a boss CE-2 for chorus and never leaned on it heavily and I used an effectron ADM 56 for verb and bit of slap back. an mxr dyna comp for leads and a bit of sustain at low level. end of story. that was my rig for 20 years.

[@Jesse.D33]

Ugh love the clean bridge tone, so classic. Love love

[@thehound2161]

It is a very nice signature model. Perfect and well thought out.

[@bwgti]

I have considered picking one up. I love the Ibanez S series - have owned 2 of them. And the specs on this one sound great. But it is SO over the top visually. Not even bad looking. Just a lot going on.

[@tigerbalm666]

One of the most creative inlays I've seen. That would look better with a pink flame burst...ie heart and blood flowing...

[@oakenshanks]

I hit 'like' when I heard nita is the first female Ibanez signature artist.. thats the kind of thing that makes me smile....

[@jonlennon3348]

I dont know if she is married but whoever marries her is lucky because she is so sweet, very well spoken and knows he equipment inside and out.

[@pedraw]

Nita has a lot to be proud of. She's a very accomplished musician.

[@fenderusa76]

Great guitar and Great player, well done PG the Rock & Roll scene need more girls like Nita, very talented person.

[@johnlane2010]

Nita seems just so down to earth and cool. She shreds. 🥰

[@jacttanna2353]

Never heard of her before today. Big fan now. She's a 10 in every way.

[@trentc7329]

She's in the Netflix documentary Hired Gun if you're curious about her. It's about tour musicians. She's Alice Cooper's guitarist.

[@neilpatrickhairless]

I could listen to Hurricanita play or talk about anything - her enthusiasm is contagious

[@Geerladenlad]

What a cool rundown! I'm going to have to check out her solo album.

[@BioStuff415]

A bright and humble woman...

[@daytona712]

nita Strauss is so beautiful .

[@jakobstumpf391]

Saw a rockband once. Thought the tone was absolutely slaying. guy played a 15w crate amp with 8" speaker and a rat. biggest rock guitar sound live....

[@zachary963]

I just picked up a 15w crate for a practice amp. I guess now I’m getting a Rat

[@tysonrinker5958]

Bohlinger is the man

[@frufru0071]

She certainly seems to be a great person and hasn’t got the Rock Star ego. Must be a real sweetheart. Just a lovely little lady with a huge and magnanimous personality. Stayed in tune after the whammy dives, nice!

[@rickfrazier1148]

That neck pup sounded amazing. So rich.

[@serbaserbi666]

Great skills , great personality, great person. Nita you're the inspiration !.

[@theedge00123]

She sounds like a really nice person, you know people are not full of themselves when they sit on the floor to show you their fun stuff

[@michaelmattson3515]

Just saw her with Alice Cooper in The Woodlands TX. Fantastic show.

[@russellzauner]

13:50 others are doing the same. One guitar's selling point is both the speed knobs for volume but also a friction adjustable knob for tone controls- 99% of players will be grabbing the volume knob 1000x for every tone adjust, and most of those, are from, accidental, of course. Seems obvious add in hindsight, but still genius.

[@thomaskennedy3189]

I'm an old hippie folk singer songwriter but man she makes me wanta play like that... she rocks!

[@seanantley1965]

Incredible musician and puts on a great live show!!!

[@kevintaylor8450]

Wow, thanks for sharing, love the detail of your signature guitar, sounds fantastic! I'm a big fan of your playing! Cheers

[@csharp57]

Love her personality

[@butcho7492]

What a personality-I would love to meet her. She kick ass as good as or better than any player today.

[@CallSignJammer]

The cleans are freaking fabulous on this rig.

[@craigkelm488]

Great to see players that are personable and humble. Refreshing.

[@nobbynose4254]

great player and still so humble

[@joelioes]

New fan to Nita Strauss.. It's hard going from Jennifer Batten as one of my guitar hero and now we got NITA!! Definitely following her career now... 👍

[@rkgaustin9043]

"Human language cannot describe a tone" -Hartley Peavey

[@raulperez2308]

well theres the chainsaw

[@Jeff-11_354]

"I'm auctioning off all the stuff I cant sell from my awful mismanaged company. " Hartley Peavey

[@maxpill2500]

She is amazing ..... i knew about her before, but never watched interviews or anything. But she's well into it and this is possibly the best rundown iv'e ever seen.

[@lanceraustin]

Lolol

[@DNYS8N]

Nita is incredible and my fav

[@haysfordays]

So refreshing and inspiring to see women in this biz.

[@rg2027x]

yess... 👍

[@zdave6083]

Ugh...another sexist comment . Check yourself , bro. You illin'.

[@haysfordays]

@@zdave6083 I can see how that came off that way. I meant it as a compliment, but you are correct. I removed the last bit. At least I didn't say "beautiful and talented"! lol

[@DelawareSongs]

all guitar players should have that nice personality

[@patientmental875]

Yeah but the music would suffer

[@Eyeamsurreal]

Great rig rundown! Thank you and well done, Nita! 🤘🏾

[@WiserInTime]

19:15 -- I like guitar players with that attitude towards tone. It sooooo doesn't matter if this or that modeling device sounds exactly like this or that amp or pedal. It get tedious when people get too obsessed over the accuracy of these models. They sound great. Just dial it in and play.

[@utecastronoova863]

Sounds bad to me especially the cleans. Nice guitar though but a pass on the Boss shit.

[@ZYGTropicals]

Just get an HD 500 by Line 6. Best Modeler on the market for the price. I prefer it over my Axe FX 2.

[@BNA_Est.1988]

I love her... just a ball of positive vibes and shred 🙌🏾🔥

[@Glad4394]

I currently have an rga42fml model and eventually I would love to upgrade. I grew up playing right handed bass, now I’m starting from scratch because I’m actually left handed. Nita you rock!

[@danielwmwolf]

Energized like her playing. Great knowledge and great musician.

[@tomprice3258]

Great girl. Absolutley loves to play guitar!

[@robertfarley8425]

AWESOME to see a girl rocker who knows her shit and ain't got no full of themselves attitude! And she did the rigrundown herself! Nita Strauss you KICKASS GIRL! 🤙✌🤘

[@astrophotonics9470]

Like the inlay on the neck, Grats to her on her sig model, she earned it.

[@manicmurph]

That synth sound is pretty cool.

[@eb972]

I never would have noticed the heart beat getting faster ...amazing

[@armageddonibliz4807]

Ibanez......... They caught another good ambassador for their company..... Nita is like a child talking about her toys... Such passion....

[@68PatrickC]

An an amazing sounding and simply beautiful guitar. A great reflection of the guitarist herself.

[@thefilthyjesusexperiment6924]

This makes 3 women in the last 4 rig rundowns. Guitar has been so male dominated for so long I (male) always feel like I learn something new from the women rig rundowns. Keep it up.