When British rock band The Kooks passed through Chicago on tour recently, we had a chance to stop by their soundcheck for a tour of both Luke Pritchard's and Hugh Harris's respective live rigs.
Hugh Harris kicked things off, showing us his special Les Paul Signature. Of the sunburst model he's holding, Harris says, "I think [Les Paul] only made like 83 of them... They're famous because he designed it to his ear, his spec." After demonstrating some of the features that makes this model unique, he also shows off a goldtop version of which, he says, many more were made.
In addition to stereo inputs and a switch for flipping in and out of phase, players can also set the guitar's impedance, and Harris demonstrates how this can color your tone with various flavors of grit. "I like it because it's got the kind of trebly, lovely glassiness of a Strat but the body of a 335."
Meanwhile, lead singer and rhythm guitarist Luke Pritchard explained that the Fender Telecaster is integral to his Kooks sound, especially the earlier stuff. In fact, he played nothing else on the band's first three records. Also in tow is a D'Angelico Guitars Premiere Atlantic. He only had a basic, standard model to show us today but said that he and the brand are collaborating on a special signature coming soon.
Harris is the more effects-driven of the two and walked us through his large pedalboard. At its core is the RJM Mastermind GT—a MIDI controller in pedal-format he uses to control about four or five different crunches and four different delay effects, along with a slew of other pedals to fill in the sonic gaps.
Be sure to check out the full video above, and let us know what you think of their rigs in the comments below.