Mike Kerr is the vocalist and bassist of Royal Blood, the two-piece he formed with drummer Ben Thatcher1. As a bass player in a band with no guitarist, his rig has to fill a lot of space, and his own account of how he built that sound starts with pitch shifting and heavy distortion rather than with any single piece of gear1.
The gear named in the published interviews and maker pages:
| Gear | Role in Kerr's setup | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| BOSS PS-6 | Pitch shifter used to help define Royal Blood's duo sound | BOSS3 |
| BOSS LS-2 Line Selector | Switches two of his three effects chains on and off live | Tom Dalgety, producer, in a BOSS interview2 |
| Gamechanger Audio Plasma Pedal | Used in the studio and live on tour, including on Boiler Maker | Mike Kerr1 |
Pitch shifters and the Royal Blood sound
Kerr's approach to gear, in his own words, works backwards from the sound. Asked how he found his equipment, he said:
"A lot of the time I'd use pitch shifters and, I was like, what if the whole rig could shift down and kinda go like …ewwwwww and then it's like, ok, what does that then?"
BOSS says Kerr used a PS-6 to help define Royal Blood's distinctive duo sound3. For more on this class of effect, see Octave & Pitch Pedals.
His earliest experiments predate the band, and each step moved him toward the rig he plays now:
- In his first bands he played keys through two bass amps with a lot of distortion and fuzz1.
- He came to amp switching after reading about Jeff Buckley using two amps, and that, he says, is when he discovered a switcher box1.
The BOSS LS-2 and his live setup
The BOSS LS-2 Line Selector is crucial to Kerr's live setup, according to producer Tom Dalgety in a BOSS interview. His rig runs three effects chains, two of which are switched on and off with the Line Selector2. For players building something similar, see Switching Pedals.
Kerr's rig is built around switching between effects chains rather than stacking everything at once. Two of his three chains are toggled by the LS-2, so the sound heard at any moment depends on which chain is active2.
The Gamechanger Audio Plasma Pedal
Kerr is a Gamechanger Audio artist1. He was interviewed at Positivus Festival 2019 in Latvia, on the second day of the biggest music event in the Baltics1. He used a PS-6 to help define Royal Blood's distinctive duo sound1.
The Plasma Pedal is a distortion pedal made by Gamechanger Audio4, and the maker describes it as suitable and designed for use with guitars, bass, synthesizers, and drum machines5. See Distortion Pedals for the wider category.
Sources (5)
- Mike Kerr, Gamechanger Audio, 2022-07-08
- Behind the Board: Tom Dalgety with Ghost, Pixies, Royal Blood, and The Cult, BOSS (articles.boss.info), 2024-09-04
- An Introduction to Pitch Shifter Pedals, BOSS (articles.boss.info), 2025-12-17
- Plasma Pedal by Gamechanger Audio, RockBoard PedalPedia, 2026
- PLASMA PEDAL, Gamechanger Audio, 2026-09-23