Rivers Cuomo's equipment: Difference between revisions
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====Special note==== | ====Special note==== | ||
The "=w=" headstocked black flying V guitar seen in some Green Album publicity photos is a cheap copy that a woodworker modified for the photo shoot. It actually didnt even play at first, but Rivers asked Bobby Schneck to make it go, and it was fixed up to be a fair sounding guitar, but not a great one. Apparently its just too cheaply made to really rock, but is a very cool looking guitar, anyway. | The "=w=" headstocked black flying V guitar seen in some Green Album publicity photos is a cheap copy that a woodworker modified for the photo shoot. It actually didnt even play at first, but Rivers asked Bobby Schneck to make it go, and it was fixed up to be a fair sounding guitar, but not a great one. Apparently its just too cheaply made to really rock, but is a very cool looking guitar, anyway. | ||
===2001 - Outloud Tour, USA=== | |||
For a while in 2001 both bodies were replaced with unpainted "blonde" maple strat copies, as well as that of the original blue guitar. The original blue body has been "retired" due to its large crack getting worse over time (photo forthcoming). Rivers later decided to go back to the better toned ash(Alder?) green and new blue bodies. | |||
The guitar up top, pictured above, has all the original "guts", pick guard, and neck from the first sonic blue Strat from '93. The ones below that on the left and right are currently body only, their guts and necks going back to the green and new blue bodies. | |||
====Touring setup:==== | |||
30th Anniversary Marshall driving 2 tall Marshall cabs, one a "slave" via a split signal thru a slight delay unit, powered by the back up SL-X but sound from the 30th head. 4 Strat copy setup, Black, Blonde, Light Blue#2, and Green. | |||
===2001 Japan Tour=== | |||
N/A | |||
===2001 - Hooptie Tour, USA=== | |||
The band made some significant changes to their touring gear at the start of the "Hooptie Tour", in order to adapt to extreme constraints of storage space and tour budget, as this tour was entirely a money-losing promotional thing. Some very compact gear was invested in, which would more than save money by eliminating the need for a huge truck. After much experimentation, the guitar techs recommended trying the Line 6 "POD" system, which is basically a very modern "virtual amplifier" which actually sounds really good, unlike the many rackmount systems of thew past which always sounded like a bad computer trying to copy an ampo sound (which is really what they were) The Pod actually DOES sound like real amplifier, so despite the extreme reservations of the band, they were tried out in rehearsals, and were an instant hit! So Rivers and Brian each got a guitar pod, and Mikey got a bass pod. The strange thing about the POD system is the POD's are kept offstage where the guitar tech's can service them if needed, so there is literally nothing on stage except the drum kit! The sound is sent directly from the POD's to the PA system, eliminating the need for speaker cabinets with microphones trained on them... | |||
Rivers was using 4 guitars, 2 intonated and tuned to E (standard), and 2 intonated and tuned to Eb (1/2 step down), these were for the pre-green album songs. One main and one backup per tuning. All 4 are generic Fender Stratocaster style copies, all are heavy maple bodies of (unknown) custom origin, all fairly recently made in the last few years. The main "New song" guitar is a "blonde" (unpainted) model, plastered with stickers (as are all 4), with a Dimarzio super distortion humbucker and a Seymour Duncan humbucker. The main "old song" guitar is black, and has seen heavy exposure in a large number of magazine photos over the last year. This guitar is pictured on the cover to the green album. It has a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups, details on that to come. All 4 guitars are strung with GHS Guitar Boomers, in size ".10" to ".46" gauge. The guitar signal is sent via a wireless system (the Shure U4D) to a Line 6 POD Pro. The POD has a heavy and clean sound dialed in, switched by a footswitch on Rivers's pedalboard. The distortion sound is set on "British hi gain amp" send thru a "4X12 vintage 30 cabinet", with the gain set at about 50 percent. The clean sound is set on a "Blackface" through the "2x12 cabinet" setting. From the POD the signal is run out to the pedal board, where it goes through the pod clean/dirty switchbox, a Dunlop Crybaby Wah-Wah Pedal (standard model GCB-95), and a Boss Turbo Distortion overdrive pedal. | |||
At this point, Everyone switched over to an in-ear monitor system, where tiny wireless headphones are worn by each band member, through which a custom mix is pumped, depending on what the band member requires. This eliminated the need for monitor wedges all over the stage, which made things a lot easier during the Hooptie Tour with its tiny stages. The band has fallen in love with the system (also after major uncertainty and doubts), as they get a much more consistent sound night after night. Monitor wedges can sound very different night to night depending on the stage and electronics in use, and can "feed back" at inopportune times. | |||
===2001 - Europe Tour=== | |||
The Europe Tour in summer 2001 had virtually an identical setup to the Hooptie Tour, as the band continued to experiment with the "ampless stage" look. | |||
===2001 - Midget Tour=== | |||
Overall very similar to the "Hooptie" and "Summer" tours, with the following changes...This was the beginning of a new phase, in which Rivers did extensive experimentation, trying to determine whether he was going to continue with Statocasters or delve into Gibsons. He went through a huge amount of temporary try-out guitars. Rivers switches 2 of the Stratocaster bodies back to the green and blue ash (alder ?). The remaining complete Strats are the Black one and the Blonde one (with the extra billions of stickers). Also Rivers gets a new Marshall head, a JCM 2000. There was much debate as to whether to stick with the POD system or try amps again, and everyone was impressed with this amp so it was kept for future use and recording, despite the tour going on with PODs. | |||
===2001 - Extended Midget Tour=== | |||
Overall very similar to the "Midget" tour. | |||
Rivers got these brand new Gibsons during the tour and immediately loved them both. For a little while he was borrowing Brian's white Gibson Les Paul, then he took the Gibson plunge. | |||
Rivers' revised pedalboard setup. | |||
===2001-2002 - Demos+Maladroit=== | |||
N/A | |||
===2002 - Hyper Ext. Midget Tour=== | |||
Overall very similar to the "Midget" and "Extended Midget" tours. | |||
===2002 - Spring Europe=== | |||
Overall similar to the "Midget" and "Extended Midget" tours, with some modifications made to cut down the ovrall size of the equipment load. | |||
===2002 - Dusty West Tour=== | |||
Overall very similar to the "Midget" and "Extended Midget" tours. | |||
===2002 - Japan=== | |||
Overall similar to the "Midget" and "Extended Midget" tours, with some modifications made to cut down the ovrall size of the equipment load. | |||
===2002 - Demos/Early Album 5 Work=== | |||
Overall similar to the "Midget" and "Extended Midget" tours, with some modifications made to cut down the ovrall size of the equipment load. | |||
===2002 - Enlightenment Tour=== | |||
N/A | |||
===2002 - Japan/UK August 2nd=== | |||
N/A | |||
===2003=== | |||
N/A | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||