Stephen Carpenter

Stephen Carpenter is the guitarist of Deftones, and his effects story runs from a 2010 rig of analog pedals running alongside a laptop to the Fractal Axe-Fx II he uses today. Alongside the digital rig, ZVEX lists him as a user of five of their pedals: the Ringtone, Instant Lo-Fi Loop Junky, Seek Wah, Machine and Fuzz Factory¹.

The Z.Vex pedals on his board

ZVEX's artist page states plainly that "DEFTONES: Stephen Carpenter uses a Ringtone, Instant Lo-Fi Loop Junky, Seek Wah, Machine, and Fuzz Factory"¹. That is five pedals spanning several effect types: a fuzz in the Fuzz Factory, a looper in the Lo-Fi Loop Junky, and the Seek Wah in wah territory.

The Fuzz Factory has the widest reach of the group. Guitar World's review of the Vexter Fuzz Factory names him among its well-known users: "Used by everyone from Deftones axeman Stef Carpenter to resident Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, and noise junky Trent Reznor, the Fuzz Factory has a long list of famous admirers"³. MusicRadar called the pedal "a pedalboard staple" in 2018⁴.

The Instant Lo-Fi Loop Junky is a compressed, chorused and vibrato-ed looper pedal. MusicRadar describes it as "based on the company's Lo-Fi Loop Junkie, with its old-school vibrato and chiming compression, which only applies its magic to the looped sound, not your real-time guitar signal"⁵. The original Lo-Fi Loop Junky it comes from is an all-analog looper and effects pedal⁶, and Pedal of the Day called the Instant version "an sound experimenter's dream in a small, pedalboard-friendly enclosure, with controls that are basic, but create a wide palette of sounds"⁷.

Fractal patches for the oldest Deftones songs

In Premier Guitar's 2021 rig rundown, both Carpenter and bassist Sergio Vega were using Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II units in place of the analog rigs they used for many years². Fractal Audio's own artist page lists both Carpenter and Vega among Axe-Fx users⁹.

His patch approach splits by era of material. As Premier Guitar reported:

The rundown goes on to describe more elaborate customized patches for songs from Diamond Eyes and Koi No Yokan². The oldest songs also get their own guitar: an ESP SC-600 loaded with EMG 81 and 85 pickups and tuned to standard pitch is usually reserved for the band's earliest material².

The 2010 rig rundown

Premier Guitar filmed an earlier rig rundown with Carpenter in 2010, in which he walked through both his digital and his analog rig. That rig included ZVex, MXR and Dunlop pedals running parallel with the computer program Guitar Rig¹⁰, along with two Marshall power amps and his collection of signature ESP guitars¹⁰.

Strings, picks and tunings

Carpenter's 6-string guitars carry a custom set of Jim Dunlop Heavy Core .011 to .050 strings, and his 7-strings use the same set with a second .011 string². He uses an assortment of custom-designed Jim Dunlop Tortex 1 mm picks². One of his 7-string tunings is E-A-D-G-B-E-E².

His approach to gear is a matter of aesthetics and a no-nonsense playing philosophy, in his own words:

Delay in the rack

TC Electronic's website lists Carpenter among the players using the 2290 P delay pedal, alongside Steve Lukather, Richard Fortus and Doug Aldrich¹¹.

Questions