Pictures of the band's gear during the MCIS tour

[Funbags]

IIRC it was given away in a competition?

[FoolofaTook]

Originally Posted by Ram27

https://i.imgur.com/JPyyU2r.jpg

fucker must of stole that orange thingy from WATA

[T&T]

Originally Posted by FoolofaTook

fucker must of stole that orange thingy from WATA

absolute GO came out in 1996... pretty sure the SP world tour was well on it's way at that point.
when do you suggest think billy saw em before that?
orange were being rebuilt again in the 90's. they had the OD and OTR amps . I'm not surprised billy played an orange - they're loud, ballsy and roadworthy. belly liked brittish amps back then.

[dreams of glass]

I always loved the look of that starry strat, and the bat strat is ofc legendary as well

James looked like a pimp when he played that Flying V, and I mean that in the best possible way

[dreams of glass]

Just jumping around the SPFC equipment pages, and I found this gem:

In 2000, James played a Gretsch Silver Jet Reissue mostly for "Glass and the Ghost Children" and "Tonight, Tonight"

such a beautiful guitar

http://www.spfc.org/data/media/18/418/1947.jpg

[he/she/it]

Looking at some pictures of Kirk Hammett's guitar rigs, I noticed that Billy has gone through a similar progression in the type of gear he uses for his base amp tone as Kirk and James.

http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/montyjay/kirkamps.html


Early rigs included JCM 800 and ADA MP-1 (not used together).


This earlier live rig of Kirk's had both the JMP-1 and Triaxis preamps, and powered them with Mesa Strategy 400 power amps. Billy's MCIS rig had both JMP-1 and Triaxis preamps, and used Mesa Strategy 500 power amps with them.

http://i.imgur.com/67iSDZ8.jpg

Kirk's preamp rack contains the following:

Juice goose grand loop control 320 (power strip)
EMB Audio Remote wah
Nady 1200 wireless system
sony wrr-840 wireless system
TC electronics m2000 effects processor
Bradshaw RSB-18R switching system
custom audio electronics 4x4 switcher
mesa/boogie hi gain amp switcher
marshall jmp-1 preamp
mesa/boogie triaxis (clean)
mesa/boogie triaxis (distortion)
Mesa/boogie dual rectifier
mesa/boogie dual rectifier

Kirk's power amp rack contains the following:
(spaces 1-4 are covered)
(spaces 5-8 have a slight see thru cover)
(spaces 9 and 10 are covered)
EMB Audio remote wah
Mesa/boogie Strategy 400 Stereo Power Amp
Mesa/boogie Strategy 400 Stereo Power Amp


Later Metallica rigs used Diezel VH-4s:

http://www.metallica-japan.com/guita...etfieldrig.jpg

http://s203.photobucket.com/user/thi...amps1.jpg.html


I wonder if Billy has gotten some of his gear ideas from Metallica's rigs.

[Ram27]

i didn't know people actually liked metallica

it seems lile lame radio friendly metal

i think

[T&T]

I'm not particularly a metallica fan, but they weren't always a radio friendly metal band.

what years are those metallica rigs from?

[he/she/it]

I don't know the exact years, but, according to an assortment of (inconsistent) resources (which could be wrong):

Marshall 100 watt heads: Pre-1988, used intermittently since
ADA MP-1: 1988 - 1993
Triaxis, Strategy 400: 1991 - 1998, onwards?
JMP-1: dunno
Diezel VH4: dunno

[T&T]

I don't think it's about 'copying', but just what was available as top tier gear at those times.
The market wasn't saturated with options or Bradshaw type switching rack systems, and there was only a handful of techs that could build them... with waiting lists. Those techs would obviously be quick to suggest the same top tier gear to multiple clients. and you know billy's an investigative topper and would want to learn everything these guys would have to say - billy's a gear nut, it's only normal that he went out and bought the best stuff all the time

Strategy 500 amps were only in production for 10 months (June 1991 - April 1992),
Billy had Diezel VH4 amps in 1999, that's ridiculous. they were practically unobtanium at that time. Diezel amps started out as a boutique modded marshall, it's only natural that he'd known about them. Billy had his KT88 modded JCM 800... he was an amp nerd with OCD from the start.


off the top of my head I can't name other switching tube preamps aside from the ADA & Triaxis available back in the early 90's

[he/she/it]

That could certainly be. It just caught my eye to see a similar lineage of gear.

At the same time, I'm sure Billy would have been aware of the gear being used by other big acts he likes. Like you say, he's a gear geek. Also, he called Metallica one of the next big things in music in his high school newspaper, and he includes a Metallica album as one of his favourite heavy metal albums:

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guita...ll-time-248694

Just anecdotal stuff.

I didn't know the S-500 amps were such a short run. Glad I have one of them.

[he/she/it]

Saw this in a Zeitgeist documentary on YouTube.

There's the Marshall JMP-1 with Strategy 500 power amps, but there's also the ADA MP-1 preamp there, between the two Strategy 500s, which was used for the Gish guitar sound. The ADA MP-2 was used for MCIS live (and maybe on the album), however, I don't think I'd seen the ADA MP-1 present in Pumpkins gear, post-Gish, before that shot.

http://i.imgur.com/y2TvUi9.jpg



ADA MP-1 reference:
http://medias.audiofanzine.com/image...p-1-708002.jpg



Also, in that same documentary, it was said that the analog tape machine that they recorded Zeitgeist to was the same model that was used for MCIS, and is what gave that album its dark, slightly-muffled sound. The tape machine is an Otari MTR-90.

[T&T]

I wonder why billy's never gotten an amp endorsement

[he/she/it]

I bet that he would've been approached for endorsements during the band's peak, during SD and MCIS. But, he might've felt like he didn't need it, and wasn't willing to be seen as a commercial sellout, or be bound to using particular gear for the sake of an endorsement contract.

In the Zeitgeist documentary I took that picture from, there are scenes of Billy's equipment in the recording space, and he has walls of different types of amps, multiple Marshalls, Bugera, ADA, Diezel, Ampeg...

Maybe he uses too much gear for an endorsement of a particular brand (other than his sig guitars) to really be effective.

http://i.imgur.com/4GMb8q6.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AMymZvy.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/g834k5A.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/UFmDR7I.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/BU7z09V.jpg

[cork_soaker]

can anyone identify this?
https://s11.postimg.org/bm7vydsbn/7_Ig_EXAn_1.jpg

[Mals Marola]

man he looked so much different in '07
it's jarring because i've pretty much got to thinking of "SP2 Billy" as fairly static in comparison to how he was in the 90s, but really that's not the case at all

[cork_soaker]

pls identify

[crabshack]

ths tears of mine

[cork_soaker]

enhanced
https://s15.postimg.org/73fcunj97/7_Ig_EXAn_1.jpg

[cork_soaker]

seriously i will paypal $5 to whomever can figure it out

[crabshack]

It's a master on/off switch.

No need to pay.

[cork_soaker]

my assumption has always been that it's a power conditioner

whether or not that's actually the case -- i'd like specifics

[cork_soaker]

meaning make/model

[crabshack]

I'd be willing to bet the housing is custom made, iirc.

[he/she/it]

Looks like a power conditioner. Also, there's no power conditioner in the bottom rack, so that's probably what it is. Don't know the make and model.

It could also be a storage shelf, but it has a button on it, so it's probably not that. It could also be an empty rack space cover, but there's a button on it, and also it's the only thing in that rack, and it doesn't have ventilation, so it's probably not that.

[T&T]

Originally Posted by cork_soaker

my assumption has always been that it's a power conditioner

whether or not that's actually the case -- i'd like specifics

probably a voltage regulator with UPS (uninterrupted power supply). Power conditioners will just filter out offset and off band frequencies). Billy would want to to keep the voltage constant (to control his tube amps) and compensate for voltage dips and spikes - you need the UPS for that.

it looks to be 6U

There's lots of computer companies that make them - they're found in server racks.

[he/she/it]

I think it's ~4U, because it looks similar to the same size as the Strategy 500, which is 3U.

[T&T]

my mistake. 4U (duh)

[cork_soaker]

ah, thanks

[cork_soaker]

another equally blurry pic/still
http://zombtracker.the-zomb.com/thumbnail.php?52370.JPG