ドミニクのペダルボード、PAシステムとアンプ類
Dom’s Pedalboard, PA System and Amps
ドミニクの長年のギター・テックであるリッチー・マゼッタが、ドミニクの最新のペダルボード、アンプの設定、そしてスティングのツアー用のPAシステムについて教えてくれたので、詳しく説明しよう。特にペダルボードの写真は、リッチーが配線をし終わったばかりの最新のものです。(2025.2.14)
Dominic’s long-time guitar tech, Richie Mazzetta, told me about Dominic’s latest pedalboard, amp setting and PA system for Sting’s tour, In particular, the photo of the pedalboard is the latest one, as Richie has just finished wiring it. (14. 2. 2025)
Firstly, let me talk about the PA configuration for Dominic’s stage. The diagram below was created after checking with Richie based on what I knew about Dominic’s equipment up to that point. Dominic uses both electric and acoustic guitars on stage, so the system is split into two systems, one for electric and one for acoustic.
PA and Electric Guitar Sound System
First of all, the electric guitars sound system. The B: wireless receiver and C: switcher are equipment information from around the summer of 2022, so they may have already been replaced with new equipment. Also, Richie said, ‘The Radial Switcher and Shure Wireless units are there but every few years the wireless technology gets better so we upgrade them.’, so there is a high possibility that it has changed. However, the basic mechanism is the same.



A: The sound from electric guitars such as the 61’s Stratocaster is first sent wirelessly to the B: Shure ULXD4D dual-channel digital wireless receiver in the PA rack.After this wireless receiver, all the signal is transmitted via a wired cable.
B: The signal is transmitted from the Shure ULXD4D dual-channel digital wireless receiver to the C: Radial JX44 guitar signal manager, and then to the D: 01_Mesa/Boogie CLEARLINK on the pedalboard by cable.
From there, it goes through a few effectors and then into the E:9_Boss CE-3 Chorus. By using stereo mode 2 on the Boss CE-3 Chorus, the sound after that becomes a stereo sound and is sent to the left and right F, G: Mesa Boogie Lone Star 1×12 Combo amp + Rectifier 2×12 Cabinet.
The sound from the F: Mesa Boogie Lone Star 1×12 Combo Amp + Rectifier 2×12 Cabinet on the right, as seen from the audience, is picked up by the I: microphone and sent to the J:Mixing Console. In addition, the sound from the F: Mesa Boogie Lone Star 1×12 Combo Amp + Rectifier 2×12 Cabinet on the left is sent to the J:Mixing Console after passing through the H: Mesa Boogie Lone Star/Cab Clone. Finally, the sound from the microphone and the Cab Clone is mixed on the J: Mixing Console and sent to the K: PA on either side of the stage, where it reaches the audience.
Acoustic Guitars Sound System
Next, I’ll explain the acoustic guitars sound system.

1: The sound from the Guild Paloma and other acoustic guitars are first sent wirelessly to the B: Shure ULXD4D dual-channel digital wireless receiver in the PA rack. After this wireless receiver, all the signal is transmitted via a wired cable.
2: Shure ULXD4D dual-channel digital wireless receiver → Switcher C: Connected to the DI of the Radial JX44 Guitar Signal Manager. From there, it is sent directly to the mixer console, where it undergoes a minimum amount of processing such as reverb, before being sent to the K: PA system on either side of the stage and reaching the audience.

Dominic’s Latest Pedalboard
On 14 February 2025 I received a photo of the new Dominic pedalboard from Richie. The wiring is as shown in the diagram below.



Dominic’s guitar sound is very clean. However, if that’s all there is, it tends to sound thin, but his sound has thickness and depth, and I think that spatial spread is what makes it so appealing.Chorus, compressor, and delay are important for Dominic’s sound. By placing a delay after the volume pedal and finely adjusting it, he creates a sound with depth and spread like a violin.
The pedalboard uses a classic professional pedal-train. On top of that, there is something like plywood attached.Everything is powered by the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2. As you can see, Dominic is not using any special pedals or effectors. They are all commonly available. In other words, there is nothing particularly high-end!
Using Stereo Mode 2 of the BOSS CE-3 Chorus (No.9), the sound is output in stereo. Dominic uses two different delay, the BOSS DD-7 Digital Delay (No.11) and the BOSS DD-500 Digital Delay (No.12), to subtly adjust the accents and depth of the sound to suit the song.This BOSS DD-7 Digital Delay is basically set to 800ms. 2From around the summer of 2023 until recently, a BOSS RE-2 Space Echo was here, controlled by a BOSS FS-5U pedal with tap tempo, but this has now been changed.At that time, the BOSS Space Echo RE-2 was also set to 800ms. But, Dominic had also used the BOSS DD-7 Digital Delay before, and it seems that he often uses different delay effectors depending on the situation.



On the bottom right, there is a gold switch to select the channel mode of Mesa Boogie Lone Star amp. It allows you to switch between the Lone Star’s Channel 1 and Channel 2. Channel 1 is a clean sound and Channel 2 allows you to switch between clean and drive mode, with detailed settings for each.
The Mesa Boogie Lone Star Settings
I don’t know if this photo is exactly the same as the current setup, but it’s probably the same.Dominic uses two sets of the Mesa Boogie Lone Star 1×12 Combo + 2×12 Rectifier Horizontal Cabinet combination.


According to Richie, Channel 2 is set to a slightly higher volume than Channel 1. Dominic uses Channel 1 almost he performs on one stage and Channel 2 only a few times. Channel 2 is basically set to a drive sound and he uses it when playing solos.
To get a clean sound like Dominic’s on the Mesa Boogie Lone Star, set the controls as follows. In terms of a clock, set the Gain, Treble and Presence to 10:30, and the Mid and Bass to 2:00. Please refer to the following diagram of the front panel. But, if you don’t connect the compressor and chorus effectors, it won’t sound like Dominic, so you’ll need to at least connect those two. Also, Lone Star has a reverb on the back, but Dominic doesn’t use reverb at all.



Also,Dominic seems to be careful not to turn up the volume on his amp too much. This is mentioned in the following interview from 2016.
ーSome words from Dominic on amp settings and volume ー
DM: “If you are too loud on stage the sound man will turn you down in the PA which will give you a thin sound. To get a big fat sound on stage you almost need to keep your stage level lower than you think and just trust the sound man to have you in the PA. It’s also a trick keeping it low because then the sound man will really want to hear what you are doing. This gives you control and not him.”

On The Stage
In Dominic’s case, as mentioned above, the sound of the Mesa Boogie Lone Star on the right is picked up by the microphone, so it is output. However, Dominic does not use in-ear monitors, so on stage he hears two different sounds: one from the amp and one from the monitor. So, as I have no experience of performing on stage as a guitarist, I thought it would be difficult to play in a situation where these two sounds were being produced, so I put the question to Richie.And Richie’s reply to this was as follows.
RM:“Actually the Zone as we call it is a great place to be when playing live. You get the power from the amplifiers and great tone then the monitors in front support that tone that surrounds Dom. It’s awesome! We also have very large monitors on each side of the stage the our monitor engineer turns up as Dom walks around the stage. It’s just fantastic!”
Also he said, ‘ The Lone Stars are louder than the monitors on the stage. They are loud enough to produce just the right amount of feedback when wanted using an overdrive.’, so I think that in the ‘zone’ that Ritchie talks about, the guitar sound is coming out at a low volume from the monitor speakers, and in most cases, Dominic is listening mainly to the sound from the Lone Star.
Overall Summary
As I’ve said many times on this website, Dominic is not a ‘gear geek’. He is a person who believes that it is up to your own skill to make a good sound. Especially in Dominic’s case, he often plays both electric and acoustic guitar with his fingers, and he clearly says that ‘it all depends on the nuance of my right hand fingers’.
So even if you use all the equipment described here exactly as described, your sound will still be your own and not the same as Dominic’s. But, if you are looking to sound as great as Dominic, I hope this article will be of some help to you.
Also, listening to Richie, I get the feeling that there is a really strong relationship of trust between Dominic and the stage crew. Dominic really trusts Richie and the other PA crew.
In Japan, some people think that Dominic’s music is very sensitive, and that he is a bit of a nervous person who gives detailed instructions on the miking on stage and in the studio. However, he is definitely not the type of person who gives detailed instructions to the stage staff. Dominic thinks it’s much better to leave the microphone and PA system to the experts than to give detailed instructions by himself, and believes his job is just to play to their expectations.
Finally, I asked Richie countless questions for this article from around July 2024, and he answered them all politely. I can say with certainty that he is a truly honest and trustworthy person.I really understand that Dominic can be at his best on stage with confidence because he had people like Richie and the crew who were sincere and enthusiastic about their work.
I would like to send my greatest thanks to Dominic’s trusted guitar tech, Richie Mazzetta, and all of Sting’s stage staff.
In writing this article, I received a great deal of help from three Japanese guitarists who are big fans of Dominic. Without their help I would not have been able to write this article as I have never played the guitar before.Thank you very much, Mr. Yoshimi Taniguchi, Mr. K. Akiyama and Mr. Yosuke Taniguchi!!!
Gallery




Pete Cornish Rack Effects System for Dominic Miller 1990


