Matt Heafy (Trivium) guitar rig

Matt Heafy is the guitarist and lead vocalist for the metal band Trivium. He's a guy that's dedicated to his music. It is said that when he was 12 years old he was practising guitar eight hours a day. That's heavy.

Up until 2005, Matt Heafy primarily used Gibson guitars. Three of the Gibson's he was seen playing most often were a Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty, Gibson Les Paul Supreme Alpine White (which was sold on eBay for charity in January of 2006), and a Gibson Voodoo Explorer. In the early days of Trivium he was also known to have used a Washburn Stealth, Ibanez RG7621, Fender Stratocaster and LTD ESP M-107. A majority of his guitars were fitted with EMG pickups, most commonly EMG-81's in the bridge and an EMG-85 or EMG-89 in the neck.

For the recording of The Crusade, an Ernie Ball Putrucci 7 string was used for a large portion of the rhythm work, while leads were recorded with a Dean Hardtail, Dean Razorback V and a Dean ML.

At the end of 2005/early 2006, Heafy left Gibson to take up a Dean endorsement. Initially he used a Dean Dimebag Rust Tribute Razorback (up until early 2007), Dean Timecapsule MLF, Dean Custom White Razorback, Dean Trans Black ML and Dean Razorback V. Heafy's Dean guitars up until early 2007 were fitted with Seymour Duncan pickups, either a Seymour Duncan '59 or Alnico II in the neck and a Dimebucker in the bridge.

Dean issued the Dean Matt Heafy Signature series in 2007 and he's used them since. They include the Dean Matt Heafy Signature MKH Rising Sun, Dean Matt Heafy Signature MKH 7 string Snow White as well as the Dean MKH Prototype 7 string. Heafy's signature series guitars are fitted with his custom USA Dean Matt Heafy “MKH86” pickups.

Heafy's amplifier of choice has changed relatively frequently. For much of the early material, such as Ember to Inferno, he relied heavily upon a Peavey Triple XXX.

When it came time to record The Crusade, the main rhythm guitars were recorded with a Bogner Uberschall and a 1995 model two channel Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. Both amplifiers went through a Marshall cabinet with V30's. The rhythm guitars were also boosted via an Ibanez TS-808. Leads were recorded with a Kustom 72 Coupe, and Peavey 5150, once again boosted by an Ibanez TS-808.

Touring for The Crusade, Heafy turned to a Marshall JCM2000 DSL head. For a brief period in early 2007, Heafy used a Mesa Boogie Roadster head and Mesa Boogie Rectifier cabinets. More recently he has adopted the Peavey 6505+ head through Marshal 1960BV cabinets.

In terms of effects, Heafy keeps things relatively simple.

Early on he used a Maxon OD808 Pedal and Boss NS-2 Noise Gate. A Dunlop Dimebag Crybaby from Hell Wah pedal Boss DD-3 Delay have also been seen on his board. More recently Heafy appears to have picked up an MXR/Dunlop endorsement, as he's been known to use an MXR GT-OD Overdrive, MXR Phase 90 EVH and MXR 10 band EQ.

He uses some rackmount gear including an ISP Decimator Noisegate and Korg DTR1000 Tuner powered by a Furman PL-Pro Rack Power.

If you're new to Trivium and want to give them a listen, give either The Crusade
or Shogun a try.