Guitar Gear: Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom Guitar & Amp Setup

Alexi Laiho is definitely one of my favourite guitarists. While his sound might not be as unique as that of Eddie Van Halen or Zakk Wylde, it is different enough to pick out. Someone once said to me “How does he make his guitar sound like a Nintendo?”. I believe they were mistaking the keyboard in the song for Alexi, but thats what I like about it. His sound really does harmonize with Children of Bodom’s keyboard very well.

The surprising thing is Alexi Laiho’s rig is very simple. From the single EMG-H4 pickup in his signature ESP to the effect free rack setup, it is literally just plug-and-play. One thing you may have noticed about Alexi’s guitar sound is it has above average amount of base. This is due to a custom gain boost built right into his guitars (copy of a Jackson boost made in the 80s). I personally like that sound a lot, it adds that extra ka-chunk to his rhythm riffs.

Alexi’s setup starts with an ESP Signature Alexi Laiho guitar. As I said above, this guitar is unique because of its single EMG-H4 passive pickup and the built in boost. Alexi uses a Shure UHF Marcad Diversity MKII wireless receiver for connectivity. He patches that through a Lee Jackson Perfect Connection GP-1000 tube preamp and further enhances his low end with an RSP 2400 Hush/Enhancer/Exciter. Alexi splits his signal into stereo using a Rocktron Intellifex and then sends it to his VHT Two/Fifty/Two Stereo tube poweramp. The whole unit is hooked up to a Marshall 1960B straight front 300W stereo 4×12 cab with 75watt Celestion G12T-75 speakers. Yeah, I know, like I said… it’s a simple setup.

Alexi Has 3 guitars for his live shows, all of them being Alexi Laiho ESP Signature models. The guitars all have Dr. Tite-fit JH-10 set strings and are tuned down one whole step with drop-d. The guitars also feature a Floyd Rose bridge.

Just to overview the setup, here is what Alexi is sporting:

• 3 ESP Alexi Laiho Signature guitars
• Shure UHF Marcad Diversity MKII wireless receiver
• Lee Jackson Perfect Connection GP-1000 tube preamp
• RSP 2400 Hush/Enhancer/Exciter
• Rocktron Intellifex
• VHT Two/Fifty/Two Stereo tube poweramp
• Marshall 1960B Straight front, 300W Stereo 4×12 Cab
• 2 75-watt Celestion G12T-75 Speakers

I think this is probably one of the simplest rigs I have seen, but it defiantly gets the job done. I think there is something that can be said about simplicity. It lets you focus on the important thing: playing guitar.

Posted Saturday, October 21st, 2006 at 6:00 am under Guitar Equipment.

Tags: alexi-laiho, amp-setup, children-of-bodom, guitar-gear, guitar-setup

Related Posts

• About Guitar Stuff
• Alexi Laiho Interview – Chaos Ridden Years DVD
• New Children of Bodom Song
• Alexi Laiho & Paul Gilbert Sweep Picking Lesson

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