The fascinating gear behind one of the coolest heavy bands on the planet.
Die Spitz are a band that arrived fully formed and have been in a hurry ever since. The Austin, Texas four-piece formed in 2022, cut their teeth in the city’s dive bars and picked up three Austin Music Awards before they were even a year old. Jack White’s Third Man Records signed them, a viral KEXP session made them internet royalty, and they’ve since played festivals including Coachella and hit the road with the likes of Amyl and the Sniffers and Olivia Rodrigo. Their debut album, Something to Consume, landed on 12 September 2025.
Their sound is an expertly crafted punk-metal hybrid full of crushing riffs and raw, guttural vocals. A true band’s band, musicians the world over know that Ava Schrobilgen, Ellie Livingston, Kate Halter and Chloe de St. Aubin are not messing around.
So let’s take a look at the gear behind one of the best sounding groups in the world and hope it wont be too long before they hit Australian shores.
Read up on all the latest features and columns here.
Ava Schrobilgen
Schrobilgen’s main guitar is a Frankenstein build composed of a Fender Jaguar neck, a Squier Jazzmaster body and a Strat bridge. The custom offset is loaded with two humbuckers and has a badass black on black finish. A pure, simple heavy metal machine.
Schrobilgen has been seen using a mix of both Fender and Marshall amps, but her board is more consistent. Centred around an EHX Green Russian Big Muff, the gain section is backed up with a Boss DS-1 Distortion and a Way Huge Fat Sandwich harmonic saturator. That’s three different flavours of crunch before the EarthQuaker Devices Astral Destiny octave reverb even gets a look in. A Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner keeps the carnage in tune, and a Walrus Audio Canvas 8 power supply keeps it all humming.
Ellie Livingston
Livingston is a self-described Gibson devotee and her main guitar is a cherry red 1969 reissue SG, a nod to her love of Tony Iommi. There’s a black SG in the arsenal too because two SGs are obviously better than one. Livingston’s gigging journey started on her dad’s 1960 reissue Les Paul but it turned out to be too heavy (and expensive) to throw around on stage, so she ultimately settled on the Les Paul’s lighter and more nimble cousin.
Her board has a fair bit in common with Schrobilgen’s, beginning with the same Green Russian Big Muff, but she adds a Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion for extra bite. For atmosphere, she turns to an EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath V3 reverb and an MXR Carbon Copy analog delay, which she reckons makes every solo stand out. A Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner and another Walrus Audio Canvas 8 round it out.
Livingston has been spotted rocking a variety of tasty amps, including a Fender Super-Sonic, an Orange Rockerverb 50 mk III and a good old fashioned Marshall stack.
Kate Halter
Kate Halter has probably the coolest and most unexpected trio of basses in her arsenal of anyone around. There’s a Fender Precision Bass with a rosewood fretboard and a spectacular green finish (with DIE SPITZ proudly spray painted on the back of course) and then things get really interesting.
The second is an Ovation Magnum III. Featuring a natural brown finish, the Ovation Magnum III is a gloriously weird slice of late-’70s and early-’80s bass design. With its aggressive body shape, spaceship looks and distinctive pickup system, the Magnum III was Ovation’s attempt to push bass design into the future and Halter is turning it into a cult classic before our very eyes.
The third is the wildest and rarest of all, a Silvertone Paul Stanley Apocalypse Special Bass. Yes you read that correctly. The bass iteration of a very brief run of kiss merchandise that Paul Stanley coordinated with Silvertone, this bass is a gloriously over the top piece of 2000s history that looks suspiciously very much like a BC Rich. Not particularly known as a masterfully crafted instrument, the Silvertone is highly collectible nonetheless due to its rarity and the well known enthusiasm of Kiss fanatics for obscure merch. Despite being a Stanley signature, we reckon its nobody but Halter’s bass now.
Chloe de St. Aubin
Chloe de St. Aubin holds it all together from behind a Gretsch Catalina Club kit in White Marine Pearl.
The Gretsch Catalina Club in White Marine Pearl is a modern take on Gretsch’s classic kits, pairing vintage styling with a straightforward, gig-ready setup. Introduced as part of the Catalina range in the 2000s, it became a popular choice for players chasing the look and feel of older Gretsch kits without the price or maintenance of vintage drums. The White Marine Pearl finish gives it a distinctly retro feel that’s become one of the series’ most recognisable looks.
St Aubin is also an Istanbul Agop artist, with her cymbals coming from the Istanbul Agop Traditional Series, a range that’s all about warm, dark, lived-in tone.
Keep an eye on ’em.
Learn more about Die Spitz here.
