Jeffrey Kunde. Love this guy. There are some people that are musicians, some that are guitarists and some that are Jeffrey Kunde. Jeffrey plays many instruments and really brings his past experience with music/instruments to influence any new ones that he picks up. Enter Jesus Culture. Jeffrey was asked to play guitar and has brought this aspect of musicianship to his playing that is truly rare. One of the biggest aspects of his guitar playing that has really added to his overall tone has been his improvement in effects (not the pedals themselves, but the use of the pedals to add great sound to whatever he is doing). Here is his most recent board (even though he has already switched some overdrives):
Here is his signal chain: 1. JHS Buffer-To send a strong impedance signal through his cable run to his amp. 2. Timon Klein 8 looper-Mainly for his dirt pedals 3.a. Keeley (2 Knob Compressor)- Used mainly for clean picking or slide to add sustain and a little big of a boost 3.b. CmatMods Signa Comp- Used for making his picking tone really bright 4. Zvex Fuzz Factory-For some minor Fuzz parts in some solos 5. Little Green Wonder by Mad Professor- His favorite overdrive, super transparent, super good. 6. Keeley Modded Rat-A higher gain distortion pedal that allows him to cut through the band 7. Keeley Overdrive (recently replaced by aWalrusAudio Voyager)-Used for a little more gain than the LGW 8. Cusack-Tap-A-Whirl-For tremolo 9. EHX Micro Pog-For octaves 10. Ernie Ball VP Jr. w/ tuner out (Boss TU-2)-For volume 11. Strymon Timeline (Replaces his timefactor for this) 12. EXH Big Box Memory Man-Really used for his atmosphere stuff 13. Strymon Blue Sky Reverb-Used also for some atmosphere. Lately the trend of a lot of guitar players has been to overload delays for some good atmospheric swells. I think that when people start downgraded the delays and start upping the reverb the atmosphere sounds a little loss muddled. 14. Boss RV-5- More verb 15. Xotic RC Booster- This is his last pedal. Always on, and always cleaning up tone. All this is powered by a GigRig power supply with the Radial SGI TX cable extenders (this allows longer runs of cord from the amp to the pedalboard/guitar without sucking any type of tone. One goes to the amp, the other goes to the guitar/pedalboard. Guitars are mainly his Gretsch Duo Jet, a White Falcon and a Fender Telecaster American Standard. As for as amps, he uses a ‘93 Vox AC30 6TB with the vintage speakers, a Matchless DC30, a Jackson Britain 3.0and a new Tioga EEzekiel. You can check out an explanation of how he uses all of his effects by clicking here: Jesus Culture
Yep, round two. No introduction needed anymore. Jeffrey Kunde, amazing guitar player for Jesus Culture. Very simple, yet extremely tasteful tone and sound. I have listened to their new CD now for a while and each song has been so filled by the Spirit in a way that has touched me at different points. Super blessed by his heart, his music and his tone. Here is his new board, built mainly around the TimonKlein(ya, he’s the real deal…but seriously). looper.
JHS Little Black Buffer
Mad Professor Little Green Wonder (His main overdrive)
Keeley Compresor (used mainly for sustaining things)
Keeley Overdrive (apparently being borrowed from Mr. Quilala himself)
ProCo RAT
Zvex Fuzz Factory
Micro POG
Tap-A-Whirl (getting to be a very popular pedal, this thing does wonders)
Ernie Ball VP (tuner out it looks like)
Eventide Timefactor (Holy grain of delays)
Deluxe Memory Man (Can’t go wrong with a classic)
Boss RV-5
RC Booster
Jeffrey rocks a many guitars: Duesenberg Starplayer, Gretsch White Falcon, but mainly a Gretsch Duo Jet. The amps he is running through include a ‘91 Vox AC30 top boost and/or a Matchless dc30. However, word on the street is that he converted to a Jackson ampworks Britain, which we can definitely give props to the Droff for that conversion.
The Quest for TONE:
Every guitar player should have a unending journey to figure out the perfect tone. If you don’t, then you probably should. Tone can make all the difference in your sound, meaning that bad tone can make however cool a part you are playing, sound aweful. Now, I am not a tone master or anything but I have learned many things about tone from both guitarists and sound guys. Here are a couple of tips regarding pedals and amps.
1. A buffer is always a good place to start. If someone has a particularly long pedal chain, then their signal, no matter how expensive the cables or how many true by passed boxes they have, will be negatively effected. A buffer is a good way of returning one’s original sound to the amp. Two main buffers are neat, nice, and pretty inexpensive. The little black box from JHS and the mini buffer from This1smyne effects. My experience with buffers are to always plug your guitar into them rather than putting them somewhere in your chain or at the end of the chain.
2. Pickups and tone knobs do wonders. I know that many pedals and amp settings get good tone but seriously, if you can pick up the oldschool tricks of using your tone knobs and the buckers on your guitar, you will be able to get some good tone.
3. True bypass strip. Buffers and true bypass strips are sort of the new thing for pedalboards. Not in the sense that they are new, they have been around for a while, but in the sense that everyone is starting to use them. A True bypass strip combined with a buffer can make one’s signal sound uneffected by a long chain of pedals.
4. Compressor: Get a good compressor. Like a studio quality compressor. Put it in the beginning of the your chain unless you want it for some other unique purpose. Compressors can be that pedal that no one really thinks about but that can totally create the tone you want.
5. Don’t buy pedals that have the same circuit set up. I see this all the time. People buying tons of overdrives or distortions because they don’t like the sound of the one they have. However, they don’t realize that the one they replaced it with is run off of the same type of circuit. Conclusion: if you didn’t like the first one, you will not like the second one and it probably is time to check out a pedal with a new circuit. I see this mostly because people see people they want to sound like and try to get either the most popular pedals or the ones that they see the pros use. However, rarely will you see a pro use overdrives or distortions that all have the same circuit board in them
7. Listen to people that have great tone. Since I am in the worship scene, I love guitar players like Taylor Johnson, Daniel Carson, Matt Adkins, Jeffrey Kunde, and of course the “Droff.” All have good tone that is different than anyone else.
8. Get some things MODDED. Best people are This1smyne effects, JHS pedals, or JHV3. All do amazing mods that will make great pedals even better.
Anyway hope that helped.
Jeffrey Kunde is the lead guitar player for Jesus Culture. While his playing on the outside would seem to not measure up to Nigel Hendroff’s from Hillsong, he definitely does not lack musicality. He plays in a style that is extremely subtle and melodic. One of my favorite things about Jeffrey’s style of playing is that it is incredibly unique. No one has the same type of tone or subtleness that adds to music in such a powerful and moving way. Here is his pedal board. IF you haven’t checked out any of Jesus Culture’s stuff, they are probably one of the leading bands in the sound of current worship music. A must need if you are looking for new types of worship.
I don’t know his chain order but he runs through a Timonklein true bypaass strip (Same person who makes pretty much all of hillsong’s cases and pedal needs)
1. JHS Little Black Box buffer (amazing little unit)
2. Ernieball VP Jr. with Tu-2 Tuner out
3. Keeley Compressor
4. Zvex Superduper 2 in 1
5. Mad Professor Little Green Wonder overdrive
6. Pro Rat (Looks like he had JHS mod it)
7. Ibanez Tubescreamer
8. Micro POG
9. Cusack Tap a Whirl (ridiculous little tap tempo tremolo, can do way too many things)
10. Eventide Timefactor
11. Deluxe Memory man
12. Guyatone SV2 (for all of his volume swells)
13. Xotic RC Booster
14. Boss RV-5
All of these are on a Timonklein lift out board and looks like he powers most of it with a Dunlop DC Brick.
As for guitars, I know that he plays a Duesenberg Starplayer
