I watched a recent vid (below) of Steve’s tech, Tommy Alderson, running through Steve’s rig. It’s actually kind of boring because the rig is so simple: one Morse signature Engl head run dry (no effects) into 4 Engl cabs, another amp (same head) run wet (effects) into two cabs. That’s it.

And the effects aren’t much: two Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man pedals and a Boss OC-3 Super Octave Pedal. That’s it! Except for some chorus (rack?) on one of the delays.

Which implies that Steve’s pedalboard is pretty darn simple – and it is, which is the interesting part. He uses volume pedals (I assume Ernie Ball?) to control the expression of the two delays and the octave pedal. He does have some presets on an Engl board on the floor (the shiny silver one to the right in the above photo), but doesn’t tap-dance on it as you can tell from the fact that it’s at a right angle to the main pedalboard.

The volume pedals let him control the amount of the wet signal, and “ride the solo, I call it,” Tommy says. “It’s much more effective… It’s basically infinitely controllable…depending on how you feel, what the acoustics [of the venue] are that night….”

Very cool and very interesting.

In the vid below, Steve talks about the volume (expression) pedals starting at 5:04. He notes, “For me it’s the only way to go. Having a preset with here’s delay and suddenly here’s none is too stark. It’s too weird.”

Using expression pedals with effects isn’t new, but is pretty dang rare in the rock world. Anyone have another example? I’m REALLY curious now about manipulating a flanger, a boost/OD…hmmm. Like dialing in a little bit of another pickup. Could result in some unique tonage.

We are left to wonder why Neal cut his 'fro.

I have a few buds who still laugh at me for digging Journey. I think it’s the Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain-driven “Don’t Stop Believin’” stuff that gets them laughing because after the chuckle they’re always like, “Neal Schon, great player.”

“F-in A right!” as they say, or used to, in Patterson, N.J. Neal is a stellar player, possessed with the rare combo of chops and feel, not to mention the ability to write good pop and rock riffs and tunes. And the oldest Steve Perry-era Journey was rock and blues-rock, not pop. Great stuff. (Wait a minute…. Am I a Journey apologist?!)

The problem with tracking down what Neal used in 1980 (the Departure album) and before is that Neal is a known gear lover and tone-chaser. The guy would experiment with just about anything. I remember watching some very early Journey shows on TV – just after the advent of cable TV – where Neal changed guitars about 10 times.

From photos and videos, as well as his time with Santana starting when he was just 15 – according to Neal, Clapton asked Neal to be in Derek and the Dominoes a day before Santana asked him to come aboard – it’s obvious that Neal favors Les Pauls. Even now he uses custom-built Lesters.

So that was his preferred or most-used model of guitar (he used several), along with a ‘63 Strat, but certainly wasn’t his only one. In addition to Strats, he used other brands of guitars and seemed to play anything effortlessly.

Amp-wise, it’s tough to tell. He used a Marshall here and a Fender there – Hiwatts later – but it appears that his preferred amp on record and live in roughly ‘78, ‘79 and ‘80 was…the Peavey Mace.

The Mace, no longer produced, had a solid-state pre-amp and not two, not four, but six 6L6 power tubes, just in case anyone in that era still valued their hearing.

If the Mace sounds familiar, it’s the same amp used by the Skynyrd guys back in the day.

Check out these two vids that feature an early Neal with Peavey amps, though it’s hard to say for sure whether they are Maces. Great playing too.

End of “Feelin’ That Way,” Live, 1978

“Any Way You Want It,” In the Studio, 1980

Notable

From the July 1982 Guitar Player mag:

> Infinity album: ‘63 Strat, rosewood neck, Gibson PAF in the bridge. “Lights” was the Strat into a Marshall plexi.

> Departure album: ‘63 Strat on neck position for “Walks Like a Lady” through a Peavey Mace which was on very low; “Precious Time” was with a Peavey doubleneck, with the short-scale 12-string tuned regularly but an octave higher; “Line of Fire” was a black Les Paul through an Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes distortion pedal into the Mace.

More on Neal coming up!

Premier Guitar recently posted an interview with Ace Frehley in which Ace FINALLY talks with some specifics about what he used in the studio back in the early KISS days. Not a lot, but some. Here it is:

“On the early KISS records, I used my tobacco-sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard with a rewound hot pickup [rewound by Larry DiMarzio?] through a Marshall stack or old Fender tweed amp on most of the studio recordings. I used an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff to overdrive them sometimes.

“Later I got a cherry-sunburst Les Paul Custom and an old ’59 Les Paul Standard, which dominated my studio recordings in the late ‘70s. My 1978 solo album, Ace Frehley, really shows off what a Les Paul guitar can do in the studio. I recorded almost the whole album exclusively with my 1959 vintage sunburst Les Paul.

“I use Gibson Les Paul Customs live because they’re simply the best guitars for loud rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve always said, ‘Just plug a Les Paul into a Marshall amp and turn it up to 10!’ It’s a no-brainer.”

It’s a little-known fact that live, and possibly in the studio, in the early KISS days Ace’s Marshall Super Leads had 6550 power tubes, not the typical Marshall EL-34s. EL-34s are warmer and get a little more compressed and dirtier than 6550s. So it’s interesting that he would use a hot pickup and a cleaner amp.

On Anton Fig

I’ve said before here that the drumming on the 1978 solo album and on Anomaly is outstanding – really helps the songs. The guy responsible for that is Anton Fig, the Late Show with David Letterman drummer. Here’s what Ace said about Anton in the interview – interesting info:

“I met Anton around the time I was putting songs together for my first solo album when I was with KISS. He had only been in the country for a few years, because he’d grown up in Cape Town, South Africa, and had been around that amazing beat his whole life.

“Eddie Kramer heard his demos and asked if he wanted to work with me. Ironically, I had another friend, Larry Russell, who also heard Anton play and came to me independently and said he had a great drummer for me. To me, that’s karma, so I jumped at the chance to jam with him. We’ve been close friends ever since.

“The greatest things about Anton are his fills and the space he leaves. He doesn’t try to fill up everything, and I really like the fact that he plays slightly behind the beat, à la John Bonham. A lot of drummers play on the beat, and when they get excited and the adrenaline is pumping they play ahead of the beat, which gives some songs a nervous feel. I like to have a relaxed feel, and Anton always holds the song back with a solid rhythm.

“Me and Anton have been playing so long together we almost have this telepathic communication, where I’ll think something and he’ll do it, or I’ll just look at him and he’ll know what I’m thinking. Things come together so quickly, and it’s just a joy to work with him.”

Notable

> For anyone curious about Ace touring – no Anomaly tour in the U.S. yet! – here’s what he said: “I finished a successful European tour, and I’m getting ready to go out again to Australia. Dates in the States will be coming up, and I’ll be doing festivals in Europe this summer. I’ve got a Behind the Player DVD coming out, and I’ve already been writing for the next record.”

> The Ace interview – one of the best I’ve read – was done by Rich Tozzoli, one of the Anomaly engineers.

Even though I played in bands that copped multiple tunes off Rush’s Moving Pictures album, my favorite Rush album is Permanent Waves. The band was just on fire for that recording. Lots of energy, great parts, great arrangements that are complex yet understandable.

Did I say great?

Naturally, I got curious about Alex Lifeson’s gear on that album. I remember watching the Loving Pictures-era studio and live videos on MTV, but not Permanent Waves-era stuff – which apparently doesn’t exist, according to what’s on the almighty YouTube.

So failing a visual of what Alex used, here’s what some Internet sleuthing dug up.  Several websites hav copied and pasted the same info among each other, so the following is some of that plus a little anecdotal info dug up here and there. Lifeson fans please check me on this stuff.

Alex’s Permanent Waves Gear

Guitars

The black Strat – and bad hair!

> Black ‘77 Fender Stratocaster with an original (no fine tuners) Floyd Rose tremolo, no locking nut – Alex used powdered graphite in the string slots – and a Gibson humbucker. Used on “The Spirit of Radio” and the lead on “Different Strings.”

> A sunburst Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion was also used on “Different Strings.”

> Trusty white Gibson 355, stock, used on the rest of the album with the exception of the leads on “Jacob’s Ladder,” which was:

> Custom-built Pyramid solid-body [could not find a pic of this guitar either].

> Acoustics were a Gibson J-55 and a Dove in Nashville tuning.

Amps

> Amps were said to be a combination of Hiwatts, Marshalls and Mesa/Boogies into Marshall 4×12 bottoms. Live, Alex was clearly favoring Hiwatts at this time.

> He also used a Leslie cab [song?].

Effects

> “Various” wahs, fuzzes and phasers, according to the websites, along with “Loft analog delays and Maestro parametric EQs.”

> The flanger in “The Spirit of Radio” is presumed to be an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress or an Eventide Harmonizer, with most thinking the former.

> After my experiments with the new Eventide PitchFactor pedal, I’d say that Alex was also using an Eventide Harmonizer, at least for some parts if not for whole songs. The Harmonizer was (and still is) used a lot by guit-slingers in the studio, and was seldom talked about.

Alex on the ‘The Spirit of Radio’ Opening Riff

And through it all he comes off like a nice guy/guitar tone knucklehead – just like us! (With a lot more chops.) Here’s the vid:

Also, here’s what Joe said about his upcoming new 24-fret (!) guitar from Ibanez, which he played on the new Chickenfoot “My Kinda Girl.” From an interview with Satch on iheartguitar.com:

Joe: I’ve always liked the idea of having those frets up there but I never wanted to move the humbucking pickup. That’s always been the problem because the humbucking neck pickup really only works where Gibson stuck it on the Les Paul. To me, that’s the spot, and once you start moving it back towards the bridge it starts to become horrible-sounding. Other guitars that have had the 24 frets and they move that pickup, it’s like, you may as well get rid of it, you know? So I was determined to solve this. And what saved us was the DiMarzio Pro Track. Ibanez got this thing right up against the last fret. It’s amazing how they were able to do it. It’s got a little bit more generous cutaway to the body so you can get up there and play up there. We’re still experimenting with the bridge pickup. I’m thinking it might be a Norton, one of the pickups I designed along with the FRED and the Mo’Jo with DiMarzio.”

If you don’t have Bridge of Sighs on CD, you must…go…get…it. Right now!

Anyhow, the obvious question for us gearheads is: Did Robin use the same stuff as Jimi to get his sounds? I’d always assumed the answer was yes, and…it mostly is.

Here’s some info from Gibson.com and ModernGuitars.com:

Then

Upon leaving Procol Harum to start your solo career, you immediately got into what generally became known as the signature Robin Trower sound. Did a lot of time, effort and research go into creating this?

Robin: Well, it all really started from that very distorted Hubert Sumlin sound, and a track by Muddy Waters called ‘Still A Fool’. I was always trying to make it, right from the moment I’d heard it, you know, that Howlin’ Wolf noise. That’s what it developed into really.

In the early ’60s, I put it through a preamp to get the overload sound. You couldn’t buy an overdrive pedal. I used to put it through a little practice amp and then into a bigger amp to try and get that sound. Eventually I started getting fuzz boxes, when they started making stuff like that. During my early period I had custom-made overdrive stuff because I didn’t like what they were making at the time.

_____

By Bridge of Sighs, he’d fully developed his trademark style of fluid legato lines support by a sustained, overdriven tone and colored by his smart, spare use of effects like the wah-wah, Octavia, and phase shifter — all, not coincidentally, favorites of Hendrix.

Did the comparisons to Hendrix back in the early days ever get annoying?

Robin: No, I can’t say they ever did because it’s obviously a great compliment really. The only thing is, I often wondered if people were missing what I added to it of my own. That was the only other side of it. I definitely felt I had developed into something of my own from the influence. He was one influence, along with quite a few other guitar players. I felt that the main thing I had brought to it was my compositional ability.

_____

Before Hendrix came on the scene, Robin was studying records by Albert King, B.B. King, and Otis Rush. Albert and Otis were both southpaws, so had the natural advantage of pulling downward to bend strings, and all three have masterful vibrato.

Robin continued to develop his sound and his array of gear. By 1977’s In City Dreams Trower was using a modified wah-wah pedal with an expanded sweep and gadgets like the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, which blends stereo flanging and chorus effects.

Robin’s hottest rig was: Strats through a pair of 100-watt Marshall JMP-100 Mark II heads feeding two 1960-B 4×12 cabs, and an big effects chain on the floor: custom preamp and clean booster pedals, a Dan Armstrong Red Ranger treble booster, a Tychobrahe wah-wah, an octave/fuzz Fender Blender, a Uni-Vibe chorus/vibrato, Mutron II phase shifter, and two Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistresses.

He used .10 strings for a slinky, but not slithery, feel. He also tuned his guitar down a whole step for concerts, to D-G-C-F-A-D. And while much of Trower’s playing favors standard blues boxes, chromatic melodies are his hallmark, so think about the notes between the notes of standard pentatonic patterns.

Now

There are some discrepancies as far as what Robin is using on the floor now, but then again he’s always experimenting.

Here’s one: a Jennings or Vox wah, a Tube Works Real Tube Overdrive, a Boss Tremolo and a Fulltone Deja Vibe.

And here’s another: “All of the pedals I use are from Mike Fuller, Fulltone. The wah, Deja-Vibe, the OCD pedal – those are the three main things I’m using at the moment, but I also mess around with a thing called a Fat Boost, which is really good. I don’t tend to stand still for very long. I tend to try stuff all the time. I’m always trying different pedals and setups, you know.”

Also: “I’m using Marshall JCM 900s. For the studio I’m just using 2 2/12s, but I add a 4/12 for live. I also record with 2 Fender Blues Juniors sometimes. I use Ernie Ball strings, 12, 15, 17, 26, 36, and 48, tuned down a whole step.”