Tone Master Pro Unleashed Featuring Stuart Braithwaite

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Over the course of three decades and ten studio albums, Stuart Braithwaite has worked diligently to sculpt the dynamic, distorted and deeply transporting sonics of Scotland’s legendary post-rock band Mogwai. Since one of the core elements of the band’s iconic sound is Braithwaite’s inventive, effects-driven guitar lines, we were of course interested to learn more about how he incorporates the Tone Master Pro into his current rig and beyond.

While speaking to him in his home studio, we learned that Braithwaite’s signature preset includes a Big Muff, a couple of delays, a reverb, a tremolo, a phaser and a (currently new to him) feedback generator, all of which he plays through a Super Reverb amp. For Braithwaite, a great luxury of our revolutionary effects processor is its ability to create huge sounds without generating too much noise. “One of the best things about the Tone Master Pro is it sounds as if it’s up full, but it’s at a manageable volume,” he says. “It’s amazing to have the sound of a completely cranked valve amp, but you won’t have the police at your door.”

Braithwaite, who grew up listening to bands like the Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3 and the Jesus and Mary Chain values distortion above everything else, explaining that it’s “probably what made me fall in love with guitar.” The world-historic Big Muff stompbox is his “number one” and “the holiest” for achieving that blistering tone. “I’ve put it in my Tone Master Pro presets,” he says, “so yeah, I’m a really big fan.”

And while the ease of adding your favorite effects to your presets in order to achieve your signature sound is an appeal for Braithwaite, he also loves the versatility and infinite possibilities of our powerful multi-effects workstation. Having access to “loads of different reverbs and different delays and different things I wouldn’t normally use” has proven revelatory for the seasoned pro. “It’s really good to be able to experiment with sounds without physically having the pedals or the amps, you know? It’s inspired me to try different things and incorporate things I wouldn’t normally have done,” he enthuses. “Imagine if we had had this when we were 16! That’d be amazing.”

Check out this video to hear how Stuart uses the Tone Master Pro to create his otherworldly sounds and learn more about our game-changing guitar processor here.