Pepper Keenan had the chance to play out of one of the most legendary guitar rigs in the game thanks to a former guitar tech.

The Corrosion of Conformity member says he played through AC/DC legend Malcolm Young’s guitar rig, courtesy of his former guitar tech.

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Keenan tells Chris Garza on the Garza Podcast: “My old guitar tech, Takumi, he worked for White Zombie and then he jumped to COC [Corrosion of Conformity] when COC had the Metallica tour and for all those years needed a real guitar tech.

“Takumi was great, we were on tour with Metallica doing the big, giant shows. Me and Takumi were so tight we roomed together on tour… We were just super buddies and stuff.

“One day he came to me on the Metallica/COC tour and said, ‘Pepper, I’ve been offered another gig.’ I was like, we’re on tour with Metallica. Who could it possibly be? He said ‘Prince.’”

While Keenan understood the offer and Takumi later worked with Prince “for years”, his former touring bunk buddy did later get him the chance to use the Malcolm Young’s AC/DC rig.

Keenan explains: “He did that and then he ended up working for AC/DC. He called me up and I went to a show. Down actually played with AC/DC in Transylvania, but yes, I got to play Malcolm’s rig.

“It’s Marshall’s improper bias that is microphonic, like hot, insane, and they’re all on. It scared the shit out of me. It’s just volume. No overdrive. Just volume. He has no pedals.

“He’s got this big rack for guitars and there’s two of them in there. There’s a glitter one, and then there’s The Beast.”