Jon Donais (Shadows Fall and Anthrax)

Jon Donais forms the other half of the Shadows Fall potent guitar attack. In comparison to his bandmate, Matt Bachand, Donias has kept his guitar rig relatively simple. In 2013 Donais joined Scott Ian in Anthrax.

Jon Donais (Shadowsfall pre-Anthrax era)

In 2007, Donais picked up an ESP endorsement and played a custom Jon Donais ESP model, which features a EMG85/81 pickup combination. Previously he held a Washburn endorsement, and used a Washburn Face Eraser, which was his signature model.

Donais has endorsed Krank amplifiers, and played through a Krank Revolution Series 1 heads and Krank Chadwick heads, into Krank Revolution 4×12″ cabinets.

In terms of his earlier effects line up, Donais used a Maxon OD808 Overdrive and Dunlop Crybaby Wah.

Donais’ early rig was featured in the Guitar World Vulgar Display of Power column, and is pictured below.

Jon Donais Vulger Displays of Power

At the time he was using two Washburn NX6’s with EMG85/EMG81pickups. One tuned down a whole step and the other tuned to Drop-D then down a whole step.

For amplification, he was using a Marshall JCM800 All-Tube 2203 head into a Marshall 1960B straight front 300 watt 4×12 cabinet loaded with 75-watt Celestion speakers. A second JCM800 is kept on head as a back up.
Effects wise he was using a Korg AX30G Guitar Effects Processor and Dunlop Crybaby Wah. Interestingly at the time he was plugging into the low input of the JCM800 and relying on the Korg unit for his distortion.

Anthrax rig (2016)

In an April 2016 interview with Premier Guitar Donais is listed as using the following when playing with Anthrax:

Guitars

  • Legator Jon Donais Signature Ninja Reverse 300-Pro (with Fishman Fluence humbuckers)

Amps

  • Rivera Knucklehead Tre Reverb (120 watts)
    Rivera 4×12 (with Celestion Vintage 30s)

Effects

  • Vox V847 Wah
  • Maxon OD-9 Overdrive
  • CP-9 Pro Plus Compressor
  • TC Electronic Spark Booster
  • TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
  • MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay
  • Rocktron Hush Super C noise gate

Strings and Picks

  • DR Tite-Fit LT-9 (.009–.042)
  • Dunlop Tortex .73 mm sharp picks

A picture of his board – see below – from the Godlyke promotional video published in 2015 features the Maxon OD-9 Overdrive, Maxon CP-9 Compressor, Dunlop Crybaby, Boss Tuner and what I believe is the Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor. The Maxon AD10 Analog Delay is going through the effects loops. Donais’ website also listed him using the MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay so potentially the AD10 may have only been used for promotional purposes. Here’s a video Donais did for Godlyke in 2015 where he runs through the sounds he gets from his Maxon pedals.

Anthrax rig (2019)

In a 2019 interview with Sweetwater Donais walked through his rig. The big change for his 2019 rig was trading out his tube amps for a Kemper Profiler for touring (with profiles of his Knucklehead).

  • Dunlop Crybaby 95Q
  • Maxon Overdrive
  • Maxon Compressor
  • Kemper Remote

On stage he’s also using EVH cabinets.