What Gear Did J.T. Use On Your Favorite Song?

This site gives a large list of the guitars and gear that J.T. Corenflos used throughout his career. If you have a favorite song in mind that J.T. played guitar on and you’re curious about how he got that sound, this page is meant to help narrow your search by showing which pieces of gear he may have owned at that time and ruling out pieces of gear he didn’t.

These charts organize most known pieces of gear J.T. owned by category. For each piece of gear the blue bar shows when he is confirmed to have owned it. The grey bar shows additional years he may have owned the piece of gear. No bar means he did not own it yet (usually because that piece of gear wasn’t invented yet).

The blue bar dates are usually confirmed by pictures, and sometimes by things J.T. said or audio evidence (like the 12 string electric being present on ‘Long Trip Alone’ or the baritone being present on ‘Suds In The Bucket'”.

The grey bar dates usually run from the year that piece of gear was released until the first confirmed sighting of J.T. using it. The gear could have been acquired anywhere in this grey range of dates. Sometimes (like in the case of the green Glaser strat) the piece of gear was likely acquired earlier in the grey range. And sometimes (like in the case of the Marshall 4×12 cabs) the piece of gear was likely acquired later in the grey range. Since the date J.T. got these pieces of gear is not confirmed, guessing is avoided and all possible dates are included.

The absence of a bar means J.T. certainly did not own the gear yet. This is usually because the piece of gear did not exist yet, though sometimes the year he bought something has been confirmed or narrowed down in other ways. The charts will be refined for more precision as new info is confirmed and as time allows.

According to his son, Jacob, J.T. usually bought gear new at music stores around Nashville and rarely took the time to sell anything.

Guitars Timeline

Amps Timeline

Cabs Timeline

*an open back Carr 2×12 that was his main big session cab in the ’10s is missing from this chart but will be added when more information is gathered.
*JT had a custom open back blonde 2×12 with 1996 Mojo Tone M12B speakers
*JT’s custom black open back 2×12 had a 2006 Matchless H30 (not Vintage 30) and 2007 Celestion AlNiCo Gold.
*The cabs in his big cartage rig in June 2009 were the Orange PPC212 and the custom black 2×12 with H30 and Gold. The Orange was on bottom with the Black cab stacked on top of it.

Pedalboard Timeline

Tuner Timeline

Volume Pedal Timeline

Wah Pedal Timeline

Compressor Timeline

*JT’s Keeley 2 Knob Compressors, both the one from his Trailer Trash board and the one from his Pedaltrain-2 board, have power jacks on top of the pedal instead of the side of the pedal, meaning they were made January 2006 or later. Also, his Boss CS-3 had red text on the power sticker, meaning it was a silver label CS-3 made in 1997 or later. The chart will be updated soon.

Overdrive Timeline

Modulation, Delay, Reverb, and Multi FX Timeline

Utility Timeline

Notes: The Les Paul Custom, Les Paul Deluxe, Bandmaster head, Bassman head, and Marshall 4×12 cabs were probably not bought back in the ’70s. It’s more likely that they were bought in the ’90s or early ’00s, but this has yet to be confirmed. Similarly, the Hilton Volume Pedal could have been owned by J.T. as early as 1997, but was likely one of Rooster’s contributions to J.T.’s Trailer Trash pedal in 2009, as many TT boards from this era made by Rooster had Hilton VPs. The Ovation Viper and Ibanez Blazer were guitars used early in J.T.’s career and may never have been used on sessions. Rack gear is currently omitted from this page but will be added as time and knowledge allows.

Tips for narrowing down what gear he used on a song:

Was the song recorded in a major label master session? If it was on a major label album, the answer is probably yes. If that’s the case, like it would be for a Dierks Bentley song, Luke Bryan song, or Eric Church song, J.T.’s big cartage rig was probably used. In the ’90s this might have been rack effects, a couple amps, and a couple stompboxes. In the ’00s it was about 7 amps and a tupperware bin of pedals. From late 2009-2017 it was about 4-7 amps and his Trailer Trash board (with some additional pedals in a drawer). From November 2017 until 2020 it was 4-7 amps and his big XTS board. If you’ve gotten ahold of a demo that J.T. played on then he may have been using a smaller “B” rig.

When was the song was first released? It was probably part of an album, so find that album’s release date. If the song was the first single from the album, it was likely released even earlier than that. Albums are usually recorded anywhere from 3 months to a year and a half before they are released. So an album released in February 2009 was almost certainly recorded sometime in 2008. Go to the charts and find the pieces of gear J.T. owned or may have owned at that point. Rule out pieces of gear with no blue or grey bar at that point, as he did not own them yet and they couldn’t have been used.

JT had an amp head rack in cartage for most of his session career. In the early ’00s (and possibly mid-late ’90s) it had a Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp, a TC Electronic G Force, a VHT Pittbull 45, and a Fender Bassman. Sometime before 2004 a slightly smaller amp rack was made and the Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp and TC G Force were taken out of the lineup. Between 2004 and 2009 a Carr Slant 6V head and Orange AD30 head were put in the amp rack, replacing the Bassman and VHT. Around 2014 the Orange head was replaced with a Reinhardt Marshall-style head. Other amps were set up on the floor in front of him. He seemed to favor the Carr Slant 6V and Carr Viceroy after the got them.