Steve Lukather
For the first time Luke introduced a three way system live on stage.
He had been using the three way system in the studio since The Seventh One .
The three way system contains a dry mono center cab, and two effect cabs reproducing the effects in stereo.
He had replaced the Soldano X88R preamp with the Custom Audio Amplifiers 3+, and the HH V800 Mosfet Poweramp was replaced with a VHT 2150.
A new guitar was also introduced to the public - the Music Man Luke Signature.
The reason for his departure from Valley Arts is that Valley Arts went bankrupt (due to Mike McGuire's Japan adventure) and having invested some money in the company Valley Arts, Luke was not exactly pleased. Through Eddie Van Halen he was introduced to Sterling Ball and a collaboration took place.
The only difference between his Dark Blue Metallic Valley Arts and the Music Man Luke, is the appearance.
The body is designed differently, also the Music Man is made of Alder, but the necks are identical.
Music Man laser scanned the neck from this famous Valley Arts and had a CNC router reproducing a exact copy.
This procedure had also taken place with Eddie Van Halen and his famous red/black/white striped Strat.
On this tour he used three Music Man Luke, and one Blue Metallic Valley Arts (with a standard Strat head).
This setup was also used on most of the Tambu tour, although he changed his Marshall cabs with Rivera, and during the Tambu tour he started using Rivera Knuckleheads as Poweramps.
