Imagine stepping on stage, guitar in hand, and capturing the same searing tone that fills arenas when Joe Bonamassa performs. That’s certainly a dream of many blues-inspired guitar players out there.
But what if some of that magic was right at your feet?
For his 2024 tour, the Joe Bonamassa pedalboard wasn’t just a collection of effects—it was the engine of his legendary sound.
After carefully unpicking a picture I found of his current tour pedalboard, we’ve uncovered the essential pedals he’s using on this tour. From the transparent boost of the Klon Centaur to the immersive sweep of the MXR Micro Flanger, every pedal plays a specific role in crafting that unmistakable blues-rock tone.
In this guide, we will explore each pedal and tool of Joe Bonamassa’s pedalboard and discuss how to use these tools for your own setup.
Are you ready to get started? Let’s delve into the details.
Table of Contents
Picture of the Joe Bonamassa Pedalboard
Here’s the picture I found of the Joe Bonamassa pedalboard for his 2024 tour.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember who sent or posted the picture, but if it was you, please let me know, and I’ll credit you for it.
Okay, let’s break this pedalboard down.
Here’s the picture again, but this time with numbers by each pedal so you can reference it to a section of this article.
- Klon Centaur (Off Board)
- Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS808)
- Dunlop Fuzz Face
- Way Huge Deep State
- MXR Micro Flanger
- Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere
- Fulltone Supa-Trem
- BOSS Digital Delay (DD-3)
- Electro-Harmonix Micro Pog
- Dunlop Joe Bonamassa Signature Wah
- Lehle A/B/C Switcher
- Loop Box
- Input/Output Box
- Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus
Overdrive and Boost Pedals
1. Klon Centaur (Off Board)
The Klon Centaur is an important part of Joe Bonamassa’s pedalboard. It’s a cornerstone for achieving his signature blues-rock tone. Renowned for its transparent overdrive, the Klon enhances the guitar’s natural sound without significantly altering its character. This means it adds gain and sustain while maintaining the guitar’s and amplifier’s inherent tonal qualities.
Famous among guitarists, the Klon Centaur provides both a clean-ish boost and a warm overdrive, adding clarity and warmth to the guitar tone. Its unique circuitry and now famous sound have made it one of the most sought-after pedals on the used market, often fetching high prices on the used market.
Joe places the Klon Centaur off his main pedalboard. I would guess this is likely so he can easily protect this rare and valuable boutique pedal from the rigors of touring. It also makes it easy to adjust on the go. By keeping it accessible, he can tweak his tone to suit different songs and venues.
The Klon pedal is especially effective when used to push an already overdriven amp or to add a touch of grit to clean tones. Joe often stacks the Klon with other overdrives like the Ibanez Tube Screamer to create a rich, layered, dynamic, and expressive distortion.
2. Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS808)
The Ibanez Tube Screamer is renowned for its distinctive mid-boosted overdrive. From the picture of Joe’s 2024 pedalboard, it looks like he uses the TS808 model. From the picture alone, I can’t tell you anything more than that, such as the year or age of the pedal.
This classic pedal can push an amplifier into natural overdrive while retaining clarity and definition. Its midrange boost sets the Tube Screamer apart, which allows the guitar to cut through the mix. This is essential for blues and rock solos. This frequency emphasis helps leads stand out with smooth, saturated tones that are full of sustain.
The three-knob layout—drive, tone, and level—provides versatility, allowing for precise control. Whether dialing in subtle overdrive for rhythm parts or cranking the gain for soaring leads, the Tube Screamer delivers creamy sustain and rich harmonic content.
In Joe Bonamassa’s gear setup, the Tube Screamer is often stacked with other overdrives, like the Klon Centaur, to add layers of warmth and gain. This combination shapes his expressive tone, transitioning smoothly from subtle grit to full-on saturation. It’s particularly effective for pushing a clean or slightly overdriven amp into natural overdrive territory.
3. Dunlop Fuzz Face
The Fuzz Face is another iconic component of the Joe Bonamassa pedalboard. It’s known for generating gritty, warm fuzz tones essential to rock music. From the picture of Joe’s 2024 pedalboard, I’m sure this pedal plays a big part in shaping his fuzzy, bluesy sound. I can’t quite tell which model he is using here in the picture, but Joe does have his own signature Dunlop JBF3 Fuzz Face, known for its saturated, vintage-style fuzz [1].
The Fuzz Face has a fantastic dynamic response. You find it cleans up beautifully with the volume knob of your guitar, making it extremely versatile. This allows Joe (and others) to easily dial in a wide range of textures, from aggressive, full-bodied fuzz to a more subtle, woolly tone.
The Fuzz Face will work great with his other pedals on Joe Bonamassa’s pedalboard to create a rich, harmonically complex sound. Pairing it with overdrives like the Klon Centaur or the Tube Screamer adds layers of depth and saturation that are great for making solos soar.
4. Way Huge Deep State
The Way Huge Deep State Overdrive is a pedal designed in collaboration with Joe Bonamassa, making it a standout on his 2024 pedalboard. This pedal is a rare, modified version of the Conspiracy Theory Overdrive, featuring a special diode with a unique voltage drop that delivers smooth, velvety clipping. It responds incredibly well to playing dynamics, allowing Joe to shape his tone with precision and expression.
The Deep State Overdrive is known for its magical clipping characteristics, offering a rich overdrive sound that maintains clarity even at high gain levels. This makes it perfect for adding smooth, warm overdrive to both rhythm parts and solos, contributing to Joe’s distinctive blues-rock tone.
Modulation Pedals
5. MXR Micro Flanger
From the picture of Joe’s 2024 pedalboard, it’s clear that he’s using the MXR Micro Flanger for his flanger. He’d use this to create the swirling, jet-engine effects that elevate his sound. Known for its compact size and powerful flanging capabilities, the Micro Flanger is a great choice for guitarists looking to introduce a bit of flanging movement and texture into their tone.
Despite its small footprint, the two-knob design—with controls for rate and regeneration—offers intuitive yet versatile modulation. This will allow Joe to dial in everything from subtle, warbling effects to more dramatic, sweeping sounds. The rate knob controls the speed of the flanging, while the regeneration knob adjusts the intensity of the effect, providing a wide range of tonal possibilities.
In Joe Bonamassa’s setup, the MXR Micro Flanger works in harmony with his other effects, adding depth and motion to both his solos and rhythm parts. Flanger is especially effective when paired with overdrives and delays, giving the sound a sense of space and dimension that enhances his expressive playing style.
6. Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere
This is a pedal I’ve wanted for a while. The Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere stands out as a key modulation pedal on the Joe Bonamassa pedalboard, offering an authentic rotary speaker emulation that mimics the lush, swirling sound of a vintage Leslie cabinet. I would imagine this pedal to play an important role in shaping Joe’s spacious, three-dimensional tone.
The Rotosphere’s fast and slow rotary speeds, controlled by an off-board fast/slow switch box (5A), provide Joe with a wide range of dynamic modulation options during live performances. This allows him to shift effortlessly between fast, vibrant modulation and slower, more subtle effects, giving his sound versatility and movement.
This pedal is particularly good at creating a sense of depth and motion, adding complexity to both clean and overdriven tones.
7. Fulltone Supa-Trem
The Fulltone Supa-Trem is an excellent way to add some dynamic tremolo effects to a sound. It’s not surprising to see this pedal on Joe’s board, as this is a great way to add those expressive tremolo textures often associated with Joe Bonamassa’s sound.
The Supa-Trem is known for its robust build and versatile features, offering exceptional clarity and control. Its simple interface includes controls for adjusting the speed and intensity of the tremolo effect, while the “Hard/Soft” switch allows users to choose between a choppier, more percussive tremolo or a smooth, flowing wave. This flexibility makes the Supa-Trem suitable for a wide range of musical styles, from subtle rhythmic pulses to pronounced tremolo sweeps.
Time-Based Effects
8. BOSS Digital Delay (DD-3)
The BOSS Digital Delay (I think it’s the DD-3 pictured) is widely known for its reliability and precision in delivering lush delay effects. I would imagine the DD-3 plays a big role in adding depth and dimension to Joe’s solos and rhythm parts, offering clear, crisp delay repeats that enhance his overall sound.
The DD-3’s simple interface—with controls for delay time, feedback, and effect level—makes it easy to dial in the perfect delay settings, whether Joe needs a short, rhythmic slap-back echo or a long, ambient delay to fill out the space in his solos. This pedal’s versatility will allow Joe to explore a wide range of delay sounds, from subtle background delays that thicken his tone to more pronounced repeats that make his leads stand out.
Octave and Pitch Effects
9. Electro-Harmonix Micro Pog
The Electro-Harmonix Micro Pog excels at generating both higher and lower octaves of the guitar notes, no doubt allowing Joe to create a harmonically complex tone.
Its simple control layout—with knobs for dry, sub-octave, and octave up—makes it easy to blend the original signal with the added octaves and offers a wide range of tonal possibilities. This versatility allows the Micro Pog to be used for various purposes, from thickening single-note lines to creating organ-like tones that add a unique texture to his playing.
Utility Pedals
10. Dunlop Joe Bonamassa Signature Wah
The Dunlop Joe Bonamassa Signature Wah is designed to deliver the smooth, vintage wah tone that enhances Joe’s expressive guitar playing.
This wah pedal features a wide, expressive sweep, giving Joe the ability to control the wah effect with nuance and precision. The pedal’s distinct voicing is tailored to Joe’s preferences, with a lower frequency range that adds a warm, throaty quality to the sound. This voicing makes it ideal for everything from subtle tonal shifts to more pronounced, dramatic wah effects during solos.
11. Lehle A/B/C Switcher
The Lehle A/B/C Switcher is designed to streamline complex gear setup. This switcher probably plays a vital role in allowing Joe to seamlessly switch between multiple amplifiers or effect chains, giving him the flexibility and control needed during live performances.
Built with high-quality components, the Lehle switcher ensures reliable switching without compromising the integrity of Joe’s tone. Its robust construction is designed for heavy use, making it a dependable choice for both studio sessions and demanding live shows. The intuitive design features three distinct outputs, allowing Joe to efficiently manage different audio paths, whether he’s switching between clean and overdriven amps or integrating various effect loops into his signal chain.
12. Loop Box
A Loop Box is an essential utility pedal for managing complex effects setups, often found in professional guitar rigs. I’m not sure what model or brand this Loop box is, but it will allow Joe to organize multiple effects into loops, simplifying the process of engaging or bypassing entire groups of pedals with a single switch. By using a loop box, he can maintain a clean signal path, reduce unwanted noise, and preserve tone integrity when pedals are not in use—which is especially useful in an intricate rig.
From the picture of Joe’s 2024 pedalboard, it’s most likely that the Loop Box is working in tandem with the Lehle A/B/C Switcher. This setup would allow Joe to route his signal to different amplifiers or effect chains while the Loop Box manages the specific pedals within each loop. By combining these two devices, Joe gains maximum control over his signal flow, enabling quick transitions between different sounds and effects chains during live performances.
The Loop Box is especially useful for reducing tone loss caused by long cable runs and multiple pedal connections. In live settings, where quick changes between sounds are essential, this device ensures that Joe can easily switch between complex configurations without compromising his tone.
13. Input/Output Box
An Input/Output Box is a crucial utility pedal for ensuring efficient signal routing within a pedalboard, especially in complex setups like this. Again, I don’t know what model or brand this box is, but it is a central hub for connecting the guitar to the effects chain and routing the final signal to the amplifier.
It streamlines cable management by providing dedicated input and output connections, reducing clutter on stage or in the studio, and ensuring that all signal pathways remain organized and manageable.
On the Joe Bonamassa pedalboard, an Input/Output Box is most likely essential for maintaining signal integrity, particularly when managing long cable runs and multiple pedals. It helps minimize signal degradation, preserving the clarity and quality of the guitar’s tone throughout the chain. Some Input/Output Boxes include buffering or isolation features, further protecting against tone loss and unwanted noise, which can be a critical aspect of Joe’s tone management during live performances.
The Input/Output Box offers flexibility, allowing for seamless integration of audio sources and additional outputs. This makes it easy to transition between different equipment configurations. This flexibility is especially useful in professional setups, where multiple amps, effect loops, or recording equipment may need to be incorporated.
Power Supply
14. Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus
The Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus ensures that all of Joe’s effects pedals receive clean, isolated power.
Known for its high-quality isolated outputs, the Pedal Power 2 Plus eliminates ground loop noise and hum, which can otherwise degrade the guitar signal. Each output is individually regulated and filtered, ensuring that each of Joe Bonamassa’s pedals receives consistent, stable power. This is particularly important in setups like this, where multiple pedals with different power requirements must operate without introducing noise or interference.
The Pedal Power 2 Plus also offers flexible voltage options, allowing it to power a wide range of pedals, from vintage stompboxes to modern digital effects. This versatility makes it ideal for a rig like Joe’s, where a mix of old-school and cutting-edge pedals are being used to create his signature tone.
Feeling Inspired by Joe Bonamassa’s Pedalboard?
Taking a deep dive into the Joe Bonamassa pedalboard for his 2024 tour might leave you feeling both inspired and perhaps a little overwhelmed. His setup is a work complex, nuanced, and designed for maximum tonal flexibility.
But here’s the question: what will you do with all this information?
Joe’s rig is built to suit his style, but it can also be a launchpad for discovering and inspiring your own unique sound. Each pedal, each choice in his setup serves a purpose and is the result of years of playing and discovery.
Whereas I’d never recommend copying someone’s pedalboard like for like, there’s absolutely no shame or danger in using it as a source of inspiration.
So, what parts of the Joe Bonamassa pedalboard resonate with your style? What gear might help you shape your sound into something equally powerful but distinctly your own?
As you build and refine your own pedalboard, think less about copying and more about creating.
