Taking an inventory of Xanadu would be easier than cataloguing John Mayer’s rigs, but let’s take a quick head count of his most significant guitars, amps and pedals

John Mayer is a bona-fide tone king. This takes hard work and taste, with the blues-rock pop megastar taking an epicurean approach to gear, his gourmand’s palate uniquely attuned to the most flavoursome frequencies.The ingredients might change but sound remains instantly identifiable. Think early 60s Strat through Fender amps, but refined, purified, and made transcendent via a meticulously curated pedalboard. His arsenal is swollen by a number of signature instruments – Martin, Fender, and when he felt the latter was unable to follow him down the rabbit hole, Mayer partnered with Paul Reed Smith for his signature Silver Sky. He has signature PRS and Two-Rock amps, and owns so many Dumble amplifiers he has lost count.

Few players in history have fused exemplary technique, a curatorial zeal for tone and mass appeal like him, but here we take a look at some of the gear behind the phenomenon. We’ve loosely arranged our rundown by time, but be aware that John switches his gear in and out all the time – he gets rid of nothing!

EARLY DAYS: THE BIG F

Novax Expression

The guitar from the cover of RoomForSquares, the Novax and its fanned-fret futurism seems like an outlier for Mayer – though he has played a hot-pink Jackson Soloist on occasion.

Fender Vibro-King

Mayer has used all kinds of Fender amps but it made total sense that he’d use the Vibro-King so much in those early days. It’s bright, big, spanky, super-clean... Very John Mayer.

Marshall BB-2 Bluesbreaker