Citation:
Ibanez: Tell us about that guitar.
Dino: The Ibanez 8-string… it's insane. It's the low 8-string, which is an F sharp. And it works out perfect, because I do a lot of the slower, chuggier stuff with that guitar. And just the tone of it is so massive. It's so massive that sometimes you question whether you need a bass player on that track. Plus I also had EMG make me custom 8-string pickups for it, so it's got a brighter tone and the low end on it is a little tighter. So it doesn't sound like a typical bass, because sometimes that low string could sound like a bass string. But with the guitar pickup I have, it makes it sound more like a guitar so it sounds really good. Plus, I'm able to expand on my playing because there are more notes to play with.
Ibanez: What do you like best about your RG 7-string?
Dino: It's what I've playing for the past 11 years. What do I like best about it? The way it feels. To me, Ibanez makes the best quality guitars, especially for the type of stuff that I do. I've never thought about going to another company. I've had other companies approach me, but I'm happy. Ibanez has definitely become a part of my career. And I'm very happy that the company stuck behind me through thick and thin.
Ibanez: You are now using the new Ibanez Tone Blaster amp. How do you like it so far?
Dino: It's really cool. A lot of the stuff I do is either completely killer distortion or clean. With this amp, I'm able to switch between the two, and it's really cool. The distortion really cuts through for what I want to do. I use a lot of mid-range, a lot of presence, and a lot of gain… you know, I want to get that really cool, distorted tone.
Also, when you're in a band and you have a bass player who's playing distorted too, you have to find a balance between the two guitars so they won't start sounding like each other. And with the Tone Blaster, I'm able to really find that balance, and I'm able to find where to sit so the frequencies won't mess with the bass. Because you've got to realize, I'm playing low tunings. The Tone Blaster has helped me to find that balance within the band and the mid-range really helps me out a lot with that. I'm also able to switch to the clean channels and use some of the effects on that as well.
Ibanez: You also use the Ibanez Thermion. What do you think of that amp?
Dino: It's massive. It's killer. It's huge, it's fat. I mean, I'm not describing myself (laughs), I'm describing the amp. It's a tube amp, and if you're a tube guy, it's killer. The Tone Blaster is solid state, so obviously it has slightly different tones… actually, very different tones. But I like them both, because they're both good in different ways.
Ibanez: How would you describe the tones of these amps?
Dino: Well, if I had to compare the two, I think with the Thermion you can get a really good, classic tone. And the Tone Blaster, being a solid state amp, has a little bit more of a digital tone. There's less tube noise, things like that. Plus on a solid state amp, I think sometimes you can experiment and add a lot of things to it.
