John Scofield: The Artist Man

Scofield’s signature guitar, the Ibanez JSM100, is based on his longtime stage and recording guitar (he has been using this axe for more than 20 years), a beautiful 1981 Ibanez Artist AS200 (see a pic here). According to him, these Artist models are some of the best semi-acoustics ever built. The AS200 is also the longest running guitar model in the Ibanez history. These Japanese built guitars have gone pretty much unnoticed for some time, especially other Artist models (the AS200 is pretty well known because of John Scofield), but are starting to be sought after by a growing group of players and collectors (late 70’s and 80’s models seem to be the most popular ones). They are great sounding guitars, and if you are lucky you can still get one for a reasonable price (search on eBay for Ibanez Artist).

Scofield’s standard distortion is a Pro Co RAT stomp box, a black metal box built like a tank, that although not very fancy looking, is a great distortion pedal. An Ibanez CS9 Analog Chorus pedal is also key to his characteristic sound (you can also get these on eBay, both original and reissue). Other effects Scofield uses include: a Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler (as well as the Delay Modeler) and a Boss EQ pedal. For amp, he uses either a Vox AC-30 or a Mesa Boogie Mark I reissue.