With 18 years in the game, Ben Jackson knows the road like the back of his hand. He got his start behind the wheel, quickly moving up to backline tech for a string of touring acts – including two runs on the Vans Warped Tour. Since then, he’s gone global with Neck Deep and added names like Good Charlotte, Bullet for My Valentine, Deaf Havana, and Frank Turner & the Rattlesnakes to his collection of AAA passes.
Jackson first crossed paths with YUNGBLUD in the early days, striking up a strong working relationship as the artist’s career took off. Since 2019, he’s been the artist’s go-to Guitar and Backline Technician, also looking after stage-right duties for Guitarist and Musical Director, Adam Warrington and Bassist, Silke Blansjaar.
“It’s a high-energy, fast-paced show where performative elements can be unpredictable, so having a rig that is rock solid every night is essential,” said Jackson, YUNGBLUD’s Guitar and Backline Tech since 2019. “My biggest challenge is keeping things consistent across every stage, country, and venue, every night. There’s no time for tech issues mid-set, so everything’s built for reliability and speed. Radial Engineering gear plays a big part in that – it just works, every time.”
Jackson has been using Radial Engineering products since 2017. Neck Deep’s stage-left guitarist, Sam Bowden, introduced the engineer to the Radial Engineering StageBug SB-6 Isolator. “On my first day with YUNGBLUD, stage-right guitarist and Musical Director, Adam Warrington, had me build him a stereo amp setup, and the SB-6 was the first thing I added to the rig. It’s still there to this day,” the technician fondly recalled.
Up until March, Jackson was using one line of RF each for Warrington and Blansjaar. “At the start of this album cycle, we were given a budget to upgrade the rigs and to employ a second tech to split the workload. The first thing I ordered was the JX42 – I always felt I was pushing my luck having only one line of RF on such a high-profile show. Having four lines of RF easily interchangeable was essential not only for slick guitar changes but, should any of my RF get stomped on mid-show, I’m able to switch to a backup guitar on a clean frequency. I’m blown away by how user-friendly the JX42 is, especially when coupled with the JR5 remote,” he added. “Having the JR5 remote in the wings means that I can easily engage and disengage each input whilst 20m from my guitar world. This is a must, especially when handing off two guitars at once!”
Earlier this year, while designing the new rigs, stage-left Guitar Technician Elliot Russell, and Jackson quickly settled on the JX42s as an essential part of the build. “With high-pressure shows it is so important to relieve any tech responsibility from your artist. Their focus should be on the performance and nothing further,” he explained. “Eliminating the need to switch packs on and off is just one less thing for the artist to worry about, and achieving this without compromising tone is essential. The JX42 sounds like it’s not even there! It’s the industry standard for a reason.”
Jackson spends a lot of time working and talking with other technicians about issues that arise. One thing that comes up time and time again, he said, is the reliability of Radial products: “Once they’re installed you can stop thinking about them – you power on and they work. Having this reliability is ultimately why I look to Radial in every instance. We have countless Radial products over the whole YUNGBLUD stage and wings, from JDIs, Backtracks and HotShots,” Jackson commented, citing the “build quality” and “durability” of Radial’s portfolio.
When building YUNGBLUD’s redundant Quad Cortex rack in April 2024, Jackson consulted a “pioneer of fly racks”, Brad Bartosz of Best-Tronics Pro Audio (BTPA). “He immediately pointed to the Backtrack for its practical implementation and rock-solid application. Since installing this unit, I have had it save my skin multiple times. With seamless switching between A and B machines, having such a reliable analogue switcher for essentially two computers is now the only way to go!” Jackson enthused.
The team currently tours with three SGI RX/TXs. “With stages expanding in what feels like a weekly occurrence, we have had to allow for our tech worlds getting further away. With 20m looms, our concern for running unbalanced cables had to be addressed,” Jackson noted.
Cue the SGI TX/RX, with its capability of switching an unbalanced signal into a balanced signal and back again. Jackson elaborated: “It was a no-brainer for us to implement this product. With its ability to do this comfortably up to 100m, it could handle our 20m easily.“
Radial solutions have also found their way into YUNGBLUD’s audio package and playback world, with Playback and Keyboards Technician, Luke Collins, harnessing Radial Backtrack and ProD8 daily. “Having an attentive service like POLAR in the UK has made getting hold of Radial products a breeze,” Jackson said. “They have a fantastic customer service team who pick up the phone when you need them, and even post things out when you’ve most certainly missed their next-day cut-off time – and I’m speaking from experience…”
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