Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 is set to open his Reverb shop. The frontman of the group has spent years building a collection and—for the first time—is preparing to let some of it go.
Including some of his gear firsts to dozens of pieces that appeared throughout the band’s discography, The Official Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 Reverb Shop is stocked and now live.
Whibley has led the band from its in-your-face, teenage sound into a more mature, heavy direction. Ahead of the band’s next record, Heaven and Hell, he’s decided to clean up shop and start anew.
"I've never sold anything," Whibley says. "I've always just collected stuff. I don't know if it's just that time in my life, but I want to get rid of some stuff and start. It feels exciting to start fresh."
For his shop, Whibley is reaching back into his past and putting up sentimental pieces, like his 1962 Gibson SG, which kickstarted his love of vintage guitars. As his first "expensive guitar," it became a studio workhorse and can be heard on songs like "Walking Disaster," "Pull the Curtain," and many more tracks.
The singer is also letting go of his first guitar cab, a Marshall 4x12". "I got it in the buy-and-sell magazine during high school," he says. "[I drove] two hours to test out this cabinet somewhere in the suburbs. Some guy had it in his basement, and I picked it up, and that traveled with me for a long time. It made it onto our first record, Half Hour of Power, and it appeared in the music videos for noted Sum 41 tracks 'No Difference' and 'In Too Deep.'"
Along with these pieces, Whibley’s selling:
- A Gretsch 6118 Anniversary featured in the video for the song "Catching Fire" and used as a live guitar for the song "Pieces" in 2004-'05 and on multiple songs on the records Screaming Bloody Murder, 13 Voices, and Order in Decline.
- The main source of the heavy tone on Sum 41’s upcoming record, Heaven and Hell, a Wizard MTL amplifier—"I got a couple of their amps a few years ago, and they're just really good. It's just got that perfect heavy sound for me, and I used it a lot [on the upcoming record]."
- A Joe Meek VC3Q mic pre that was Whibley’s vocal chain for nearly every song on the demos for the first three Sum 41 albums. "t was a gift from another producer named Matt Hyde, who worked on a ton of great records. It was his little go-to for vocals as well," Whibley says.
- A Gibson Les Paul Classic Goldtop that Whibley bought for guitarist Tom Thacker, frontman of the punk rock band Gob, when he joined Sum 41 in 2007.
- Three Yamaha acoustic guitars the band used during radio station performances and acoustic sessions throughout their career.
- A custom white Fender Thinline Telecaster designed specifically around Whibley’s touring specs and used for the song "Pieces" live.
The Official Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 Reverb Shop is now live.