Middle Class Rut’s Zack Lopez Discusses the Evolution of His Touring Guitar Rig

Following the recent release of their second album, Middle Class Rut's Zack Lopez sat down with Music Radar to discuss the evolution of his band, specifically focusing on their expanding live lineup and the gear that the band relies on to form their distinctive sound.

According to Lopez, Middle Class Rut ended up being a duo out of necessity. Lopez and drummer Sean Stockham were still reeling for the collapse of their previous band, Leisure, which was plagued with a history of unreliable band members that eventually proved to be the band's undoing. With Middle Class Rut, the pair decided to keep things simpler by writing, recording and performing all of their material themselves. But while they were prepping for the release of their second album, 'Pick Up Your Head,' the duo realized that the songs, when played live, would sound best being played by a full band.

Since the band is performing live as a full five-piece, Lopez's all-encompassing guitar rig had to be radically altered to give the other instruments room to breathe. In the band's earlier years, his rig consisted of two guitar amps and one bass amp running at the same time to fill the amount of space needed. Now, he's scaled back to a single Orange Rockerverb MkII head with a matching Orange PPC412 cabinet. Lopez says, "We tried to play with other people before when I was using my old rig, and it was just a mess."

Lopez's axe of choice is still the Gibson '57 Les Paul Jr. that he acquired in 2001. It has Gibson's super-fat 1957 neck profile and a replacement bridge made by Badass. He describes the guitar as having, "some miles on it," after years of loving abuse onstage and in the studio.

Catch Lopez and Middle Class Rut on their Summer 2013 U.S. tour promoting their new full-length album, 'Pick Up Your Head,' with dates on the Uproar tour to follow. The band will tour Europe through November and December.