Converge’s Kurt Ballou on “disappointing the gear heads” by choosing digital gear live: “It makes it about the songs”
Kurt Ballou of Converge has opened up about his use of digital modelling gear on stage and the reaction it sometimes gets from gear enthusiasts expecting more traditional rigs.
Speaking on the Garza podcast with host Chris Garza, the metalcore guitarist discusses his use of the Line 6 Helix Stadium, explaining how it helps streamline his approach to tone and keep the focus on the band’s performance.
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“I kind of love it when people show up expecting me to have JMPs and V4s and other vintage stuff, or boutique amps,” he says. “I played Bad Cat for a long time. I still do play the cabinets. I love that company.”
While he acknowledges the appeal of traditional amp setups, Ballou says going digital helps remove distractions and keep the focus where he wants it: on the song itself.
“There’s something about disappointing the gear heads with using this modeler, “ says the guitarist. “I don’t necessarily want to disappoint them, but it’s cool that it makes it about the songs, is what I’m getting at.”
“I think this thing sounds sick. It lets me focus on the song,” Ballou continues. “All the gear in the world – that’s cool and stuff, but how many times have you gone to see a band and watched them set up their full stacks and massive pedalboards, and then they just suck? Or everything is breaking all the time and it’s detracting from the show?”
“Let’s just get to the songs, because that’s the thing that I really care about,” says Ballou. “This lets me do that.”
He adds that using a modeller also brings practical benefits when touring, particularly in maintaining consistency across different venues.
“This thing lets me go to a festival and plug into whatever they have as house backline and get my stage volume that way,” he explains. “I can have my sound that I’ve worked hard to craft in my studio every single night. It’s consistent.”
Ballou is far from alone in his support for digital gear. While once seen as a divisive alternative to traditional tube setups, digital modelling is now increasingly finding its way into the arsenals of players who built their reputations on analogue gear.
Vintage amp and gear collector Joe Bonamassa is one such example. Known for housing one of the largest private collections of classic tube amps across his Nerdville East and West studios in Nashville and Los Angeles, the blues guitarist might not seem like an obvious candidate for digital adoption.
But Bonamassa has recently been exploring Fender’s Tone Master range on tour – a fully digital line designed to replicate classic tube amp tones.
“It’s honestly really amazing what they did digitally,” he said, revealing in April that he has been “beta testing” the amps on the road.
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