Welcome to another episode of MNPR Sound Check! We caught up with Søren Andersen, the Danish guitar wizard who’s been holding down the six-string duties for rock legend Glenn Hughes for the past 17 years.
We met Søren at the O2 Academy in Bristol for the first night of “The Chosen Years” UK tour, and despite the chaos of first-show setup happening around us, Søren showed up early and ready to talk gear.
The Fly-In Rig Philosophy
Søren is a road warrior in the truest sense. Living in Copenhagen and touring with Glenn means most gigs are fly-ins. “I fly in with my guitars and pedal board, and everything else is on the floor waiting,” he explains. This reality has shaped his entire approach to gear – everything needs to work, everywhere, every time.
For the past 15 years, Søren has been a Marshall endorsee, and there’s a great story about meeting Paul Marshall himself at a bar during the Birmingham Guitar Fest. These days, he flies in and finds a pair of JCM 800s waiting for him. “I’ve been playing a JCM 800 since I was 12,” Søren tells us. “It’s been my amp for 40 years.”
His approach to the 800 is simple: plug into the low input, crank the preamp all the way up, and use the master volume as, well, volume. “I’m a 12 o’clock guy,” he says with a grin. “All my tone knobs – on pedals, everything – set to 12 o’clock.”
Stage Volume and the Art of the Mix
One thing that struck us immediately was how reasonable Søren’s stage volume is. We could actually have a conversation standing right next to his rig. “I’m on two on the master,” he explains, “and I’m working with the volume knob on my guitar a lot. Old school.”
There’s real wisdom in his approach to stage volume. “If I match my level with Glenn and Ash, the first row can actually hear drums, guitars, and bass, and the front-of-house guy can have me in the PA. If I’m too loud, I’m going to destroy the show for those first ten people, and I won’t be as loud in the PA.”
The Guitars
Søren’s main guitar is a 1975 Fender Stratocaster that he bought on GBase about 25 years ago for $650. It was beaten up, nothing was original – tuners, frets, pickups all replaced – but it had great wood and a great neck. He had the finish taken off and the neck slimmed down a bit. “It’s probably worthless now,” he laughs, “but it’s my Strat.”
The pickups? DiMarzio all the way. Specifically, the Virtual Vintage Blues models – stacked single coils designed for higher gain applications. “If you’re looking for that John Mayer, Clapton-type single coil sound, look for the “area” model” Søren explains. They’re noiseless but have more midrange, so when you add distortion and overdrive, everything stays warm and musical.
His guitar arsenal for the Glenn Hughes tour is refreshingly simple: two Strats and two Gibson SGs. One Strat in E-flat, one in E-flat drop C#. Same with the SGs – one in E-flat, one in drop C#. The band’s standard tuning is E-flat, which Søren says “just sounds rock and roll.”
When Søren pulled out the stunning Pelham Blue custom shop SG, we couldn’t help but admire the gorgeous finish. It’s a proper beauty, that one.
The Pedal Board
At the heart of Søren’s rig is a Line 6 Helix. He’s been in love with the platform for years, coming from a 15-year relationship with TC Electronic (where he was a demo guy and gear tester in the pre-Instagram, early YouTube days). “When that green DL4 came out,” he reminisces, “I knew Line 6 was something special.”
His Helix setup is clever: wireless in from his Shure GLXD6+ system (dual-band, switches between 2.4 and 5.0 GHz—”three years of touring everywhere, never had a single dropout”), then into the Helix, with two distortion pedals in the effects loop, then out left and right to two mono Marshalls panned stereo.
“I am a mono guy, but I like effects in stereo,” Søren explains. “When you listen to my guitar in headphones, you feel a mono guitar with stereo reverb, delays, chorus. It’s massive.” He demonstrated the Line 6 “double take” effect, which creates a fake double that pans to the opposite side. “When I showed Christian, our front-of-house guy, he was like, ‘It’s so big, man.'”
Every song has its own preset with specific delay times, reverb levels, and effects. And here’s the key: Søren uses the snapshot feature heavily. “Four snapshots per preset. That way I can go from verse to chorus to solo and back without any gaps. It’s seamless.”
The expression pedal on his board does multiple duties depending on the preset—whammy, volume pedal, wah. “I have a lot of options in a very small pedal board.”
The Wireless Revelation
For years, wireless systems were Søren’s nightmare. “Only super expensive systems actually worked,” he says. Then Shure released the GLXD6+. The dual-band feature means it automatically switches frequencies if one band isn’t working. “£500, and it’s been flawless for three years touring America, South America, Europe, UK, Australia, Scandinavia – everywhere.”
With four guitars in rotation (two Strats, two SGs), he just keeps one pack in his back pocket. Sam, his tech, hands him a guitar, he plugs in, and he’s ready.
Covering the Legends
Playing with Glenn Hughes means covering an incredible catalog of guitarists: Ritchie Blackmore, Tommy Bolin, JJ Marsh, Mel Galley, Joe Bonamassa, even Tony Iommi when they dip into Black Sabbath material. Each player requires a different approach.
When Søren switched to the Blue SG and dropped into C# for some Iommi-style riffing, the difference was night and day. “I want to do it as authentic as I can. I know there will be Sabbath and Iommi fans in the audience. I want to give them the closest experience possible.”
In-Ear Monitors and the Stereo Revelation
Søren admits that in-ears were initially frustrating for him. Everything was centered—snare, kick, bass, vocals, guitar—all mono in his head. The game-changer? Going stereo with his rig.
“When I got my stereo rig and my effects panned out, it started to be more like having two pairs of ears. That mono thing just didn’t work for me.” Now his guitar sits in the center with stereo effects swirling around, and when he plays with another guitarist, he pans them hard left and himself slightly right.
He also asks for crowd mics in his mix. “They’re mainly for Glenn when he’s interacting with the audience, so he can feel the vibe. But I ask for it too – it brings in the room a little bit.”
And here’s the crucial part: “In-ears are all about having a good sound engineer. If you don’t have a good sound engineer, in-ears are hell.” Fortunately, Søren’s monitor engineer mixes a full record-quality mix with reverb, compression, panning – “everything sounds like an album when we play.”
Ever the professional, Søren travels with a Boss GT-1000 in a tiny carry-on size flight case. “It sounds like nothing special,” he admits, “but if I lose my presets somehow, I’m screwed! I could show up anywhere, grab a guitar, and make it work.” The most important things? Those presets and his two overdrive pedals. They travel with him everywhere.
Getting the Gig (and Keeping It)
Søren’s journey with Glenn Hughes started at NAMM through his work with TC Electronic. As the Danish company’s demo guy and gear tester, he flew to LA for the NAMM show without realizing the scale of what he’d signed up for. “I got my setup and started doing clinics, and I was like, ‘That’s Eric Johnson. That’s Yngwie Malmsteen.’ I had no idea what I’d gotten into.”
He worked the room with business cards until he met the guy who worked with Glenn Hughes. “I’ve been listening to this gentleman since I was 6 years old, and I know every note of every one of his songs” Søren told him. That led to three shows in Russia – the first was in Moscow. Walking off stage after that first gig, the manager handed him a roll of euros and said, “Put these in your pocket and say goodbye to your friends and family.”
That was 17 years ago. Two albums and a thousand shows later, Søren is still there.
So how do you keep a gig like this? Søren quotes Pete Thorn’s advice: “Don’t be late, be prepared, and don’t be an asshole.” Show up five minutes early. Know your parts. Get your gear ready. And just be cool.
“Playing guitar? There’s a hundred players right here in Bristol who can shred the hell out of me,” Søren says honestly. “You have to understand what’s going on. If I showed up at a Glenn Hughes show with a Kramer and a Floyd Rose, he’d be like, ‘What are you doing?’ I show up with a vintage Strat and two SGs, and he’s like, ‘I love it.'”
He recalls meeting his heroes at the Marshall 50th anniversary show at Wembley Arena – Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Kerry King, Doug Aldridge. “I went up to Doug and said, ‘Never met you before, but I just want to let you know I think you’re one of the greatest guitar players that’s ever been in Whitesnake.’ And he was like, ‘Thank you, Søren.’ We’ve been friends ever since.”
The lesson? Don’t be a dick. Be cool. Have a plan. Know the gig.
The Philosophy
Throughout our conversation, Søren kept coming back to a simple formula: “33% is your playing, 33% is your sound, and 33% is your personality.”
His sound philosophy is equally straightforward. The best compliment he can get from his front-of-house engineer? “I just turned you up. I didn’t touch anything else.” When Christian says that, Søren celebrates. The tone is right, the levels are right, the stereo field is working – it’s just ready to go.
And that approach to gear – keeping things manageable, reliable, and road-ready – reflects a deeper professionalism. Whether he’s playing the O2 Academy in Bristol or an arena in Moscow, whether the backline is perfect JCM 800s or a mismatched plexi and a 900, Søren shows up prepared to make it work.
After 17 years on the road with one of rock’s true legends, Søren Andersen has proven that staying power comes from more than just chops. It’s about being reliable, being prepared, and being someone people want to work with.
