Mark Speer's Guitars, Amps & Gear List

This guitar predates Mark’s blonde Fender Stratocaster, the one he has since become known for using with Khruangbin. Mark played this earlier Stratocaster during his time with Sound Patrol, a ska/reggae band active in the early 2000s.

It’s hard to tell anything specific about the guitar from the available photos or video, but it appears to have been a fairly standard Fender Stratocaster, possibly a stock Mexican-made model.

The image of Mark with the guitar comes from a recorded Sound Patrol gig at KUHT, performing “What She Wants” on 10-1-02. Interestingly, he appears to have already been using the same blonde Fender Deluxe amp at that time.

This 2000s Fender Stratocaster has been Mark Speer’s main (and only) guitar ever since he bought it in the early 2000s, and he used it on all of the Khruangbin’s live and studio recordings. The exact model of the guitar is unknown, but based on Mark description, and on how the guitar looks, it almost certantly a 2002 Fender Classic Series ’70s Stratocaster.

It’s the only one I have only guitar I got this guess the 2001-2002 somewhere in there so I’ve had it for a long time.

Rig Rundown: Khruangbin’s Mark Speer & Laura Lee

If someone handed me their guitar I’d be like, ‘Wow, what a nice instrument,’ but I won’t sound very good on it, I’m used to mine. I’m not a guitar player – I play that guitar. I’ve been using that one thing for the whole time. I know exactly where certain notes are going to sing more than others. Or if I play here versus here, I can really control the timbre of where things are happening and why – the volume knob, things that I do against the gain structure, it’s all part of the voice. Really, it’s my voice, right?

Guitar.com interview with Mark Speer and Laura Lee

In one of the few – possibly only – videos of Khruangbin performing live without Mark using his Fender electric guitar, he can be seen playing what appears to be a dreadnought acoustic, likely a Fender FA-100 or CD-60, though the exact model is difficult to confirm from the footage alone.

According to an email exchange that a Reddit user had with Mark, this is also the same guitar he used on the studio recording of The Universe Smiles Upon You II, mic’d up and run through his regular effects chain – the same one he uses with his electric. What pickup setup he used is not known.

Mark’s main studio amp is a Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb – the Blackface model – while on the road he uses a ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb in its Silverface configuration. oth are reissues rather than vintage originals, though the Blackface is considerably older than the Silverface.

[I record with] my blackface Deluxe Reverb reissue from ’96, or something. It’s one of the beige covered ones. It’s got a brown screen, a black face, and is covered in beige tolex. It’s been beat to absolute hell. That one won’t go on the road with me, simply because it’s so ugly. [Laughs.] But it sounds amazing.

Khruangbin’s Mark Speer: Addicted to Reverb

In case you’re unfamiliar with the naming, the two refer to distinct generations of Fender amplifiers: the Blackface era covers the mid-1960s and takes its name from the amps’ black control panels, while the Silverface followed from 1968 onward, distinguished by its aluminum-trimmed silver fascia. As for why he splits them this way – Mark likely likes to keep the Blackface safe at home for recording, while the Silverface goes on tour. But it’s not just a practical decision – he’s mentioned that he genuinely likes how the Silverface looks on stage and that it fits the vibe.

Mark’s road amp is a Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, which je picked up not too long ago – around early 2010s.

His reason for taking it on the road is mostly aesthetic. As he put it, the amp “looks fantastic and matches Laura Lee’s bass amp”. His studio amp, by contrast, is a 1990s reissue finished in beige tolex with a brown grille – a rare and unusual cosmetic variant – and has, in his own words, been “beat to absolute hell.” It stays home.

That said, Mark is under no illusions about the sound trade-off. He’s been clear in saying that the Silverface doesn’t sound as goodas his old Blackface, and has even floated the idea of transplanting the Blackface’s internals into the Silverface shell.

In a Khruangbin subreddit thread titled “How much of Khruangbin’s guitar tone can be attributed to the amp?”, Mark commented that he uses a ZT Lunchbox amp for practicing backstage.

It’s unclear whether he uses the older Lunchbox model or the newer Lunchbox Reverb, which was released in 2019.

Although I definitely prefer the fender deluxe, you can get pretty close with almost any amp. My backstage amp is a lil ZT lunchbox and I think it sounds great.

Mark Speer on Reddit

In a comment posted on reddi,t Mark mentioned using a Boss OC-3 octave pedal in the past, specifically in the context of playing as a duo. He was responding to a question about how he would change his setup if he were playing only with a drummer. His answer was to use the OC-3 in Poly mode, with the sensitivity set so that the octave effect only tracked the lower strings, mainly the A and E. That way, the chords stayed clean while the pedal added a lower “bass” layer underneath.

He also mentioned sometimes splitting that octave signal and sending the “bass” part to its own amp. In context, this makes sense as a way for one guitarist to cover some of the missing bass role in a two-person guitar-and-drums setup.

When I did the duo thing long long ago, I used a Boss OC-3 with the poly setting, and the sensitivity was set so it only pushed low octaves on the A and E strings. It kept the chords nice and clean, and filled out the bottom end. Sometimes I’d split the signal off and send the “bass” to its own amp.

Mark Speer on Reddit

The Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano is Mark’s main and only reverb pedal. He has used it basically since the inception of Khruangbin and continues to use it to this day. He usually has it set around noon or 1 o’clock, and keeps it on at all times.

In the past, Mark had a silver tape on it with some Arabic words that translate roughly to “Educational Messages” or “Educational Letters.” He also had the whole pedal encased in a sticker showing the Carina Nebula, known as “Mystic Mountain,” taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Additionally, the small blue sticker near the bottom footswitch is a graphic of the Hubble Space Telescope itself, and there are a few holographic star stickers placed manually over the nebula.

Recently, however, he painted the pedal completely black, like he did with the MXR Dyna Comp and the Boss PH-3.

The Dunlop GCB95F is Mark’s go-to wah pedal – his one and only – and it has featured on essentially every Khruangbin live performance to date. As for why this particular pedal, Mark has pointed to its Fasel inductor as a key part of the appeal.

My preferred setup is my guitar into a Cry Baby wah that I never turn off. It’s usually toe-down, in its most trebly region, so if I have to switch it on, it doesn’t change the tone so drastically.

Khruangbin’s Mark Speer: Addicted to Reverb

The Fasel is a small coil component at the heart of the wah circuit that determines the character of the filter sweep – the inductor is the main component that affects a wah’s overall character, smoothing out the frequency shift and adding a certain warmth and voice to the sound. Originally handmade in Italy, these inductors were integral to the vocal quality of the earliest Cry Baby pedals – the ones heard on recordings by Hendrix and Clapton – but had been unavailable for years before Dunlop reissued them.

Mark uses the Boss DS-1 more as a boost than a distortion. He has the tone and distortion knobs turned all the way down, and the level knob turned all the way up. From there, he uses the volume knob on his guitar to control how much signal feeds into the pedal, since more volume leads to a more distorted sound.

Mark often leaves it on for the entire duration of a gig and just uses the guitar’s volume knob to control it. This makes it one of his most important pedals, alongside his wah, his DynaComp and the Holy Grail reverb – as Mark said himself:

I think the biggest factor is the COMBINATION of the always-on wah, DS1, dynacomp, flats and the holy grail. The core of my sound is how all those effects gel together. The phaser and chorus aren’t used that much, and the delay is for specific things. Although I definitely prefer the fender deluxe, you can get pretty close with almost any amp. My backstage amp is a lil ZT lunchbox and I think it sounds great.

Mark Speer on Reddit

The MXR M291 Dyna Comp Mini is Mark’s main compression pedal, and he has it on throughout live gigs. His Output knob is set to almost max and his Sensitivity knob is set very low, and he places the compressor after all other effects like the phaser and the distortion.

These settings mean that only the loudest peaks get tamed while the natural dynamics of his playing stay mostly intact. With the output cranked near max, the pedal acts more as a clean volume boost than a heavy-handed compressor.

Prior to switching to the Strymon El Capistan V1 (and later Strymon Timeline), Mark was using the Red Witch Violetta Delay as his main delay pedal. As the reason for switching to the El Capistan, Mark noted that the Red Witch sounded too dark.

I used to use a Red Witch Violetta delay (has an ⅛” exp pedal input for controlling feedback). I think my only gripe was that the repeats seemed really dark. That’s why I got the El Cap when I could afford it.

Mark Speer on Reddit

Mark uses the Boss PH-3 phaser on specific songs during the set, such as Friday Morning. As for settings, his Rate knob is set to around noon, Depth at around 3 o’clock, Res at 11, and Stage is set to 8.

In a 2022 Premier Guitar interview, Mark said that his inspiration for this specific sound is Ernie Isley, the guitarist of The Isley Brothers.

The Strymon El Capistan (V1) is a tape echo emulation pedal, designed to recreate the warm, organic character of vintage tape delay machines like the Maestro Echoplex and Roland Space Echo. Mark used an expression pedal with it to control the repeats Roland EV-5.

When I’m using the pedal I rarely pull the expression pedal all the way down to heel. Most of the time it’s either repeating gently or in feedback territory. If I’m using a heel down setting I’m most likely using that one repeat to supplement whatever rhythm I’m playing, whether it’s timed for an ⅛ note or dotted ⅛s.

However, another key factor is finding the mix level that works for your needs. If the pedal is set to where it’s equally wet/dry (oddly enough this is at 3 o’clock), then when starting feedback, I find it too loud against normal playing, and when the exp pedal is at heel, that one repeat is clearly heard. If the mix is set to something like 12 o’clock (maybe a little more or less) that one repeat is a lot less pronounced and when the exp is pushed into feedback the oscillations can have time to develop and overtake the main signal. Messing with [tape age] also can help mask some of these limitations.

Mark Speer on Reddit

As far as settings – Time is at noon, giving him a medium delay that’s not too short or too long. Tape Age is at 8, which makes the repeats sound warm and a bit dull, like an old worn-out tape. Repeats sit at 8, so the echoes keep going for a while before fading out. Wow & Flutter at 7 adds that wobbly, slightly out-of-tune feel to the repeats. Mix is at 11, meaning the echoes are almost as loud as his actual playing. Mode A is the cleanest-sounding of the three tape styles the pedal offers, and the tape head switch changes whether the repeats come out evenly spaced or in a more bouncy, off-beat pattern.

Mark started using this pedal ocasionally in 2018, but it seems that it didn’t find a permanent place on his pedalboard, because in the more recent rig rundowns and interveiw, he does not mention it at all. He seemed to have switched to a much simpler Boss CE-2 for all of his chorus needs around 2020.

Sometimes I like to use a really, really slow vibrato at the end of the chain to change the pitch. Right now, I have a Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl on it. It sounds really psychedelic and warpy. But honestly, I wish I could go back to the wah and DS-1 and that’s it.

Khruangbin’s Mark Speer: Addicted to Reverb

According to Mark, at that time he was using it at the end of the chain (later on, the CE-2 would move to the start of the chain). He also explained why he switched to a dedicated chorus pedal: he needed one for the Mordechai tracks.

Mark started using the Boss CE-2 chorus around 2020, when the band started playing the material from Mordechai live. He needed a dedicated chorus pedal for some of the tracks from that album, and the CE-2 was used for that purpose, all the way up until 2024, when it was replaced with an Ibanez mini chorus.

I was using a Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl (the white one) at the very end of the chain, last thing before the amp. I kinda stopped using it once I had to include a chorus pedal on the board after Mordechai,

Mark Speer on Reddit

For some reason, Mark painted the pedal completely black, as he did with several other pedals on his pedalboard at the time.

Mark has recently added the Nose Micro Volume to his setup – a small, passive, hand-built volume pedal placed somewhere after the DS-1 in his chain. This allows him to reduce his volume while keeping the full, overdriven signal intact. Rolling back the volume on the guitar itself would weaken the pickup signal before it hits any pedals, resulting in a thinner tone – something the Nose neatly sidesteps.

There’s also a Nose volume pedal. It’s like a volume knob that allows me to move it with my feet on the board.

Khruangbin’s Mark Speer: Addicted to Reverb

Mark switched to the Strymon Timeline echo/delay pedal around 2024, moving away from the Strymon El Capistan V1. As the main reason for the switch, he explained that he likes being able to store presets in the Timeline, noting that he uses an expression pedal to control more than just repeats in some of those presets, like he did on the Capistan.

These days I use the timeline on stage, and I’ve made some patches where the exp pedal controls more than just the repeats (like varying mix level in realtime).. that’s likely what I’m doing on Cherish the Day.

Mark Speer on Reddit

Mark added a Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator to his pedalboard around 2025. On Khruangbin’s 2025 album, The Universe Smiles Upon You II, some parts were recorded on acoustic guitar, and rather than bringing an actual acoustic on the road, Mark opted for the AC-3 to replicate that sound live. Acoustic guitars can be a real challenge in a live setting – feedback, mic placement, and general fragility all become problems – so the simulator offers a practical way to get close enough to the recorded tone without the hassle.

This Ibanez Mini Chorus replaced the Boss CE-2 as Mark’s main chorus pedal around 2025.

The all black pedal on the far left is indeed a Boss CE-2, but that space is now currently filled with a mini Ibanez chorus & a EHX pico pitchfork. The rest of the board is essentially the exact same signal chain as it always has been, with the only difference is the Timeline in place of the Capistan. (bright orange switch on the extreme left is so I can talk to our monitor engineer)

Mark Speer on Reddit

According to the same reddit thread linked above, Mark has the chorus very early in the chain, right after the Pitchfork, after which the signal goes into his wah, phaser, distortion, compressor, reverb, delay, and then into the amp.

Mark added an EHX Pico Pitchfork to his pedalboard in 2025. The way this pedal works is pretty straight forward – it shifts the pitch of the guitar signal up or down by a set interval – an octave, a fifth, a fourth – and can blend that shifted pitch with the dry signal to create harmonies on the fly.

In his 2026 Premier Guitar interview, Mark said it’s there mostly for fun, and as a tribute to Prince, who was a well-known user of pitch shifting throughout his career.

In the past, Mark’s approach to strings involved a clever bit of customization. He would buy a standard set of D’Addario Chromes (12–52), discard the heaviest string – the low E (.052) – and shift the remaining five strings down one position, so the A string effectively became the low E. He would then add a single plain steel .010 for the high E, arriving at a custom set of .010, .012, .016, .024, .032, .042.

These are flatwound strings, which sets them apart from the more common roundwound variety. On a standard roundwound string, the outer wire is coiled in a round spiral, giving the string a slightly ridged, textured surface. Flatwounds, by contrast, are wound with flattened stainless steel ribbon wire, polished to an incredibly smooth surface.

The smooth surface also has a practical upside: flatwounds are far more resistant to the corrosion and wear that typically kills a set of strings. Dirt and oils from the fingers have nowhere to accumulate in the windings, so the strings stay consistent much longer. This is why Mark has mentioned being able to get through an entire tour on a single set.

On his classical guitar, Mark also uses flatwound strings, as he does on his electric. More specifically, he uses La Bella 900B classical guitar strings, though it’s not entirely clear whether these are true flatwound strings or something of a hybrid, as the manufacturer only notes that the bass (wound) strings are “polished for reduced finger noise.”

I should mention that all of my instruments here at the crib have flats on them. That includes my classical guitar (Labella 900B, you’re welcome), and my steel string acoustic. The only one that has rounds is an active ZON Sonus 5-string bass from the 90s, for obvious reasons.

Mark Speer on Reddit

Mark uses a Dunlop Tortex Standard 0.88mm pick – the green one. What’s perhaps more remarkable than the pick itself, though, is that he has been using the same single pick for years. Somehow, against all odds and every guitarist’s lived experience, Mark has managed to hold onto it – keeping it tucked under his pickguard between performances.