Rivers Cuomo's equipment: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 42: | Line 42: | ||
===1993 - Blue=== | ===1993 - Blue=== | ||
[[Image:Ricocaseksguitars.jpg|thumb|120px|Ric Ocasek's guitar collection with Jason's Telecaster between them.]] | [[Image:Ricocaseksguitars.jpg|thumb|120px|Ric Ocasek's guitar collection with Jason's Telecaster between them.]] | ||
In New York, Ric Ocasek introduced Rivers to his guitar collection, from which three guitars got heavy use on the record: A red 60's Fender Jaguar, a | In New York, Ric Ocasek introduced Rivers to his guitar collection, from which three guitars got heavy use on the record: A red 60's Fender Jaguar, a Gibson Les Paul Junior Special, double cutaway, and another Les Paul Junior Special, in yellow (not pictured). | ||
The Gibson (above) is definitely one of the finest guitars ive ever seen, and its sound is | While in the original version of the equipment history, Koch noted "The Gibson (above) is definitely one of the finest guitars ive ever seen, and its sound is unbelievable, responsible for a lot of the sweet crunch found on the blue album", however, years later, [[Patrick Wilson]] claimed otherwise, saying "A superstrat is the way to go". When someone replied, asking about the information from the equipment history, Wilson simply replied "No". This, while unclear, seems to stack out with photos of Cuomo playing the infamous red Stratocaster during the recording of the album. | ||
It is possible that Cuomo recorded his parts with the red stratocaster, but used Ric Ocasek's Les Paul specials when he famously re-recorded Jason Cropper's guitar parts, after Cropper's exit from the sessions. | |||
In any case, responsible for Cuomo's guitar tone during this period was the Mesa Mk. 1, still in top condition at this time. The Mesa was run through the tall Marshall, often at unusually low volume, to get some of the sounds on the album. It is not known if Cuomo used any effects pedals, save for one... | |||
In 2014, recording engineer Chris Shaw claimed the following: | |||
"The album was tracked on Electric Lady's Focurite Forte console in Studio A with the remote pres (the pres were in the live room and ran at line level to the console)(I posted some pics around here of it.). Some overdubs were done on the SSL G in studio C (I distinctly remember cutting the gtrs for in the Garage up there. I believe we used a Tele through a Big Muff using Electric Lady's Fender Twin for that tone. We also cut the clean rhythm for Say it Ain't So up there on Ric's Jaguar." | |||
It appears that some recording was also done in Ric's home, as he noted at the same time: | |||
"Vocals were done with a U67 at Electric Lady and a U87 at Rics house (surf wax, and some bgvs)". This does stack with [[Jake Sinclair]]'s claim that Rivers had been using a Neumann U87 "since the early days". | |||
[[Image:Riverseleclady74gibson.jpg|left|thumb|180px|Rivers 1974 Gibson acoustic heard on the intro to "Jonas" and "In The Garage."]] | [[Image:Riverseleclady74gibson.jpg|left|thumb|180px|Rivers 1974 Gibson acoustic heard on the intro to "Jonas" and "In The Garage."]] | ||
Rivers also picked up an acoustic guitar at this point, and brought it to Electric | Rivers also picked up an acoustic guitar at this point, and brought it to Electric Lady, where it is heard on the intro to "Jonas" and "In The Garage". This was a 1974 Gibson. I don't have the exact info on this at the moment, but I know it was either a J-45 or a 70's descendant of a J-45. It sounded amazing. Sadly, this guitar was to meet a tragic end later, when Rivers had his leg brace. The brace wore a huge hole right through the bottom of the guitar, which Rivers duct taped together for a while. The thing still sounded pretty good in this state, but it didn't last. | ||
Keyboards on Buddy Holly: In 1993, a friend was storing his late 80's digital synth at 'the garage' where Weezer practiced and cut demos. This was a Korg M1 type synth, definitely not vintage or cool in any way, especially then. But it had a huge library of sounds, and in between the koto drums, etc, Rivers stumbled across a slippery little sound that he decided was just right for his new song "Buddy Holly". Later, in NYC recording the Blue Album, Rivers tried in vain to get that same sound from different equally digital synth that was brought in. For whatever reason no one could find the same model as the one back in L.A. The sound used was basically as close as Rivers could get it to what was on the demo. | Keyboards on Buddy Holly: In 1993, a friend was storing his late 80's digital synth at 'the garage' where Weezer practiced and cut demos. This was a Korg M1 type synth, definitely not vintage or cool in any way, especially then. But it had a huge library of sounds, and in between the koto drums, etc, Rivers stumbled across a slippery little sound that he decided was just right for his new song "Buddy Holly". Later, in NYC recording the Blue Album, Rivers tried in vain to get that same sound from different equally digital synth that was brought in. For whatever reason no one could find the same model as the one back in L.A. The sound used was basically as close as Rivers could get it to what was on the demo. | ||
| Line 175: | Line 183: | ||
====Touring setup:==== | ====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. | 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. Four Strat copy setup: Black, Blonde, Light Blue #2, and Green. | ||
===2001 Japan Tour=== | ===2001 Japan Tour=== | ||
| Line 182: | Line 190: | ||
===2001 - Hooptie Tour, USA=== | ===2001 - Hooptie Tour, USA=== | ||
[[Image:Podracks.jpg|thumb|300px|The Pod Racks from the 2001 Hooptie Tour.]] | [[Image:Podracks.jpg|thumb|300px|The Pod Racks from the 2001 Hooptie Tour.]] | ||
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 | 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 effort. | ||
Some very compact gear was invested in, which would save money by eliminating the need for a huge truck. After much experimentation, the guitar techs recommended trying the Line 6 POD system, which was a then-very modern amp sim. 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 techs can service them if needed, so there is literally nothing on stage except the drum kit. The sound was sent directly from the PODs to the PA system, eliminating the need for speaker cabinets with microphones trained on them. | |||
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 | At this time, Rivers was using four guitars. Two intonated and tuned to E, and two intonated and tuned to E flat (1/2 step down). These were for the pre-green album songs; one main and one backup per tuning. All four are generic Fender Stratocaster style copies, with heavy maple bodies of unknown origin. The main standard tuning guitar at this time was a "blonde" unpainted model, plastered with stickers (as were all four), with a DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker and a Seymour Duncan humbucker. The main "old song" guitar at this time was black, and saw heavy exposure in a large number of magazine photos. This is the guitar pictured on the cover to the green album. It had a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups. | ||
All four guitars were strung with GHS Boomers, in size ".10" to ".46" gauge. The guitar signal was 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" sent through simulated 4 x 12 vintage 30 cabinet, with the gain set at about 50 percent. The clean sound is set on a "Blackface" through the "2 x 12 cabinet" setting. From the POD, the signal was run out to the pedal board, where it went 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 tour the band was on at the time. 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=== | ===2001 - Europe Tour=== | ||
| Line 192: | Line 204: | ||
===2001 - Midget Tour=== | ===2001 - Midget Tour=== | ||
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 two of the Stratocaster bodies back to the green and blue ash (alder?) bodies. The remaining complete Strats are the black one and the blonde one (which had been largely covered in stickers). | |||
Rivers also got 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=== | ===2001 - Extended Midget Tour=== | ||
| Line 199: | Line 215: | ||
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 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. | Rivers's revised pedalboard setup. | ||
===2001-2002 - Demos+Maladroit=== | ===2001-2002 - Demos+Maladroit=== | ||
| Line 222: | Line 238: | ||
[[Image:Rivers_pedal_board_swinghouse_studios.jpg|thumb|170px|A close-up of Rivers' pedal board.]] | [[Image:Rivers_pedal_board_swinghouse_studios.jpg|thumb|170px|A close-up of Rivers' pedal board.]] | ||
[[Image:Rivers_setup_Swinghousestudios.JPG|thumb|left|210px|Rivers' SG and pedal board at Swinghouse Studios, November 2003.]] | [[Image:Rivers_setup_Swinghousestudios.JPG|thumb|left|210px|Rivers' SG and pedal board at Swinghouse Studios, November 2003.]] | ||
In April the band went into SIR Rehearsals in Hollywood. | In April the band went into SIR Rehearsals in Hollywood. By November of the same year they found themselves at Swinghouse Studios to perform pre-production for the first Make Believe sessions, which would follow in December at Cello Studios. Much of the same equipment was used in both studios. | ||
Although it is not made clear in the photograph pictured at left (Rivers had two red SG guitars with one being tuned to E flat while the other | Although it is not made clear in the photograph pictured at left (Rivers had two red SG guitars with one being tuned to E flat while the other was tuned to E) it's possible that this is the E flat guitar before placement of the sticker with the Thai word Farang, meaning "a white foreigner." | ||
===2010-2014 - Memories Shows, Weezer Cruise, EWBAITE Touring=== | ===2010-2014 - Memories Shows, Weezer Cruise, EWBAITE Touring=== | ||
| Line 241: | Line 257: | ||
For The White Album, producer Jake Sinclair noted on All Things Weezer that he was able to get ahold of a 1977 Mesa Mk. 1, "identical to the one used on The Blue Album in every way (including the handmade labels on the back). 99% of the guitars were tracked through it." | For The White Album, producer Jake Sinclair noted on All Things Weezer that he was able to get ahold of a 1977 Mesa Mk. 1, "identical to the one used on The Blue Album in every way (including the handmade labels on the back). 99% of the guitars were tracked through it." | ||
Also on All Things Weezer, Sinclair said that Rivers's parts were recorded with Brian Bell's Gibson Les Paul Jr, and no pedals were used, except a Boss Turbo Distortion pedals were used. Use of Cuomo's superstrat "or one of my guitars" was occasionally employed for solos, as well, though it is not known for which songs or for which parts. | |||
During touring for The Black Album, Rivers continued his Kemper off-stage profiling setup, often playing his Gibson SG, which he had painted black. | During touring for The Black Album, Rivers continued his Kemper off-stage profiling setup, often playing his Gibson SG, which he had painted black. | ||