Dan Auerbach's Guitar Rig

That's the solo artists covered but who was flying the flag for rock in the group category? It was the Black Keys, although group is perhaps overstating a little being that there's only two of them in the studio. But if they introduced a category for Duos then it would just be the Pet Shop Boys up against the Chemical Brothers every year and Sparks or Outkast in the international category.

Now Dan's guitar gear is a big part of the raucous garage rock sound that the Keys specialise in. He's not a fussy man though and has used a wide range of gear, mainly involving vintage guitars, tube amps with a neat range of pedals old and new.

With a definite taste for esoteric discontinued models it might be hard to emulate Auerbach's axe but Fender have come up with a range of guitars and amps inspired by the kind of unusual instruments you might find in a Pawn Shop. Try these for a different look and sound.

Dan's tastes are a little less catholic when it comes to amps, sticking with the holy trinity of Fender silver face cleans, Fender Tweed crunch (get both with the hybrid Super Sonic) and Marshall stack for when things need to get hairy (Tweed Fender captured with a quality SM7B dynamic mic and an SM57 in the background). Relying on the amps for most of his tone Dan only really uses boost pedals to enhance his clean and crunch tones, utilising fuzz and other effects for wilder sounds.

I use fuzz pedals, but I’ve never used a distortion or overdrive pedal -- just boost pedals. The Shin-ei Companion Fuzz and the Marshall Supa Fuzz are my favorites. Before the sessions, Dunlop sent me a box full of effects, including a talk box. - Guitarworld.com Interview