Synyster Gates Rig

Estimated build cost: ~$24,576 (based on current listings)

Metal Avenged Sevenfold Synyster Gates

Synyster Gates is Avenged Sevenfold's lead guitarist, the player behind the sweep-picked arpeggios, Floyd Rose dive bombs, and violin-like harmonic squeals on City of Evil and Nightmare. His breakthrough tone was a mahogany Schecter Avenger-shape Synyster Custom loaded with Seymour Duncan Invader pickups into a Bogner Uberschall, with a Boss CS-3 compressor he called his secret weapon. Before the Schecter deal he also filmed Unholy Confessions and cut early tracks on a Gibson Les Paul Custom that Gibson wanted back after the video.

For Hail to the King he co-designed the Schecter Hellwin USA 100 with James Brown and ran a Visual Sound H2O and rack Cry Baby in front of it, then moved live work onto a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III around 2018 so the whole effects chain could live in the rack. He still tours on Sustainiac-equipped Schecter Synyster Gates Custom-S guitars plus a Custom-7 TR Headless; Life Is But a Dream... was tracked through his own Synner SG-22 clean pedal-platform amp, not the discontinued Hellwin.

~$24,576 Estimated total
13 Pieces of gear
Metal Genre / style
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Synyster Gates Rig
Photo by © Markus Felix | PushingPixels (contact me) / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Synyster Gates guitars, amps and pedals

Classic / iconic era

The breakthrough pieces they are most associated with.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop Pearly Gates Billy Gibbons 59 vos
Classic 2003–05: Gibson loaned him a Les Paul for the Unholy Confessions video during Waking the Fallen; he kept it and used Gibsons on the early records before the Schecter deal.
$15,517
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Schecter Synyster Custom
Guitar
Schecter Synyster Custom
Schecter Synyster Gates Signature Synyster Custom-S Sustainiac with Schecter Humbucker 2018 - Present - Satin Gold Burst
Classic 2005–11: the pinstripe Avenger-shape signature with Seymour Duncan Invader pickups that defined City of Evil, Bat Country, and the self-titled album — before the Sustainiac Custom-S.
$1,200
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Bogner Uberschall
Amp
Bogner Uberschall
Bogner Uberschall Twin Jet TJ Rev Blue (PICK UP ONLY)
Classic 2005–09: primary high-gain head through City of Evil and the late-2000s tours; he told Guitar World in 2009 he was using Bogner amps with his custom Schecters.
$1,895
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Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer
Pedal
Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer
Boss CS-3 cs3 Compression Sustainer Compressor Pedal with Box - Black Label / MIT Made In Taiwan / ACA 12-volt power 1990
Throughout 2003–present: the compressor he called his secret weapon in 2009, used to beef sustain on the Bogner, Hellwin, and later digital rigs.
$59
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Mid-career

A real in-between era or endorsement — not what they use now.

Amp
Schecter Hellwin USA 100
Mid 2013–17: 100-watt EL34 head he co-designed with James Brown for Hail to the King; three channels, MIDI switching, and a built-in gate — discontinued, not the current tour amp.
Not listed
Cabinet
Schecter Hellwin 4x12
Mid 2013–17: matching Baltic-birch 4x12 loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s, run in an isolation box on the Hail to the King tours.
Not listed
Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus and Echo
Pedal
Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus and Echo
Visual Sound H2O V1 2000s - Blue
Mid 2013 Hail to the King tour: tech Za told Premier Guitar they used the H2O for echo, sitting in the chain before the Hellwin and Axe-Fx II loop.
$75
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Electro-Harmonix Micro POG
Pedal optional
Electro-Harmonix Micro POG
Electro-Harmonix Micro POG Polyphonic Octave Generator 2007 - Present - Red / Gray
Mid 2010s live rack: polyphonic octave for selected leads and textures; confirmed in the Premier Guitar Hail to the King rundown.
$180
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Dunlop Cry Baby DCR-2SR
Pedal
Dunlop Cry Baby DCR-2SR
Dunlop DCR-2SR Cry Baby Rack Module 2010 - 2021 - Black
Mid 2013: rackmount Cry Baby module with an onstage foot controller — the one analog effect kept out of the Axe-Fx II loop on the Hellwin-era tours.
$450
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Current / most recent

What they tour or record with now, or the newest signature line.

Schecter Synyster Gates Custom-S
Guitar
Schecter Synyster Gates Custom-S
Schecter Synyster Gates Custom-S Relic in Distressed Satin Black
Current 2012–present: the production signature fans can still buy, with a Sustainiac neck driver and Invader-style bridge pickup; main 6-string on The Stage, LIBAD, and current tours.
$1,949
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Schecter Synyster Gates Custom-7 TR Headless
Guitar
Schecter Synyster Gates Custom-7 TR Headless
Schecter Synyster Gates Custom-7 TR Headless Signature Electric Guitar - Oak Green Metallic (SynGCS7HOGMd1)
Current 2023–present: Schecter's first headless, used live on Nobody and released commercially in 2024 with Schecter USA Synyster Gates humbuckers.
$2,069
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Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III
Amp
Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III
Fractal Audio AXE-FX III HIGH END MULTI-PROCESSOR
Current live 2018–present: he switched from the Hellwin to the Axe-Fx III for touring durability and automated delay/modulation scenes; this is the stage rig, not a finished mid-era tube head.
$1,362
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Amp
Synner SG-22 Universal Pedal Platform
Current 2023–present: his own-brand clean tube pedal-platform amp, used (as a prototype) for most rhythm and lead tones on Life Is But a Dream… and released commercially in 2025 — not the old Hellwin.
Not listed
Estimated build total ~$24,576
Rig Overview
Estimated total ~$24,576
Pieces of gear 13
Genre / style Metal
Classic / iconic era 4 items
Mid-career 5 items
Current / most recent 4 items
Research This Gear
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