“I know there’s purists that aren’t into that, but it made me a better guitar player”: Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready explains why switching to digital modeling improved his guitar playing

Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready has made the switch to a digital guitar rig – and he says it’s made him a better guitar player.

In a new interview with Guitar World, McCready revealed that he brought Fender’s Tone Master Pro out on Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter tour, and it’s a mainstay in his home setup, too.

“It’s a mixture of amp modeling and real amps, so I keep both the analog and digital worlds,” he says of his new setup. “I love the Tone Master [Pro] – I have it right here and I play on it every day. I can pick up any kind of pedal on that thing and it sounds pretty great.”

McCready’s tech Josh Schreibeis put the rig together and has been integral to matching his existing rig and conjuring up new tones.

“I can say, ‘Hey, I want this to sound heavier,’ and he'll go, ‘OK, bam, it's heavier.’ He knows the technical stuff, and I know the verbiage – like, ‘Make it sound kind of like The Byrds in 1966.’”

McCready has gradually shifted to digital amps over the course of the past few years. He was first spotted playing Fender’s Tone Master Deluxe Reverb and Blonde Twin Reverb combos in 2022, alongside a Lead Custom tube head from Seattle amp builder Rola.

But from 2024’s Dark Matter tour onwards, McCready switched the combos out for Fender’s floor unit, employing the company’s Tone Master FRFR cabs for monitoring onstage, alongside a pair of Marshall 4x12s for the offstage tube heads.

In his current setup, the Tone Master Pro is also offstage, controlled via an RJM 10-footswitch MIDI unit – although McCready does bring the amp modeler to the floor for smaller shows, such as his guest spot with Thunderpussy at Seattle’s Showbox in December.

Traditional physical pedals still in rotation on his pedalboard include the Line 6 DL4, Boss VB-2W, MXR Uni-Vibe, MXR Phase 90, Electro-Harmonix Stereo Electric Mistress, MXR Carbon Copy and J Rockett Archer.

What’s impressed McCready most about his new rig is the consistency of tone night to night. So much so that it has sharpened his skills on the instrument.

“I know there’s purists that probably aren’t into that, but I felt like my amp modeling system along with the old analog stuff has made me a better guitar player.

“It was the consistency of the amps over the Dark Matter tour that pushed me to play better than I have ever done. I just felt more confident.”

The guitarist has recently put the rig to use on Farewell to Seasons, his rock opera that is seeing release as a graphic novel and accompanying soundtrack in October.

Guitar World’s full interview with McCready will be published next month.