a site devoted to how Radiohead make all of those funny noises.



we also make effects pedals (more info in sidebar)

NAVIGATION

Page 1 / 169Next ->Blog Archive



Quick answers to some common questions: Jonny only uses his Marshall Shredmaster distortion with his solid-state Fender Eighty-Five amplifier. The Eighty-Five is set for a flat clean tone without any reverb, and it’s mic’d with either a Shure SM57 or an Audix OM3 (both inexpensive dynamic mics).

Jonny only uses his BOSS overdrive and his time-based effects (delay, reverb, looping) with his tube Vox AC30 amplifiers. He generally uses the “Normal” channel on his 1998-ish Vox AC30TB, so only the “Volume” and “Tone Cut” controls are used – the “Treble” and “Bass” controls only affect the “Top Boost” channel. At shows it’s mic’d with either a Shure SM57 or Audio-Technica AT3060, though others are used in studio.



His setup uses a line selector to choose between those two options, and it’s configured to choose one or the other, not both amps at once. Due to the way it’s wired, the Shredmaster cannot be used with the AC30, and the BOSS overdrive cannot be used with the Eighty-Five. This may seem limiting at first, since Jonny can’t “stack” the two pedals, but it makes it much faster and easier for Jonny to switch between two very different sounds, as he does when switching from the verses to the main riff on Airbag , for example.

, for example. Jonny used a BOSS SD1 overdrive starting in late-1995, a year after The Bends was recorded, but prior to the recording of OK Computer in 1996. He switched to an OD3 overdrive in mid-2006. Both overdrive pedals were used during the recording of In Rainbows, though Jonny also used small vintage tube amps for overdrive on that album. The character of the OD3 can be heard most clearly in the outro solo on Identikit from A Moon Shaped Pool. Jonny with his pedalboards during tour rehearsals in April, 2006. His BOSS SD1 overdrive, Marshall Shredmaster distortion, and BOSS LS2 line selector can all be seen on the board on the left.

2 days ago 24 notes

This question was submitted by Anonymous Hello , im the person who asked you about getting my first guitar , just a small follow up ,, i saw one of you posts before mentioning that the fretboard is important for the tone ( Do you know if I can get somewhere Fender Telecaster Plus?) it's this post (im not able to link it for some reason )but you advised me the opposite , so i think i misunderstood , do you mean the fretboard doesn't matter but the neck wood type does right (sound wise) ? We’ve done a lot of research and blind testing over the past seven years since the original post. There’s a lot of myths around guitar, and many times things that are true for acoustic guitars are assumed to be true for electrics without any testing. Today, our stance is that the neck and fretboard of an electric guitar basically only affects how it feels to play, not the plugged-in tone. Of course, how it feels is important, and there’s nothing wrong with going out of your way to get a solid maple neck for the smooth feel – it’s just important to acknowledge why. Hope that clears things up! 2 weeks ago 3 notes

This question was submitted by Anonymous so i'm new to the guitar for a bit , i used my friend's squier bullet strat for a bit just to get a feel for a guitar but now i wanna get my own guitar and i'm planning to get something of the affinity series , what would be the closest one to sound like jonny's ? the affinity tele doesn't have humbuckers t and there's squier jazzmaster HH that seems to be closer to his sound because as i've found looking around your blog is jonny's neck pickup is closer to a humbucker but it has laurel wood You’re quite right, the Jazzmaster HH would sound a lot closer to Jonny’s guitars than the Affinity Tele or the other Affinity guitars with single coils. There’s also the Affinity Starcaster, but it seems to have the same pickups as the Jazzmaster HH, so the higher price would be largely for aesthetics.* Fingerboard material has basically no effect on the plugged-in sound of an electric guitar. The main difference between maple and laurel is how it feels to play, with maple being “smoother” (due to the finish applied to it) and laurel having a “softer” feel. But for a first guitar, you should seriously consider buying a used instrument, perhaps the Squier Contemporary Tele HH, Squier Classic Vibe ‘70s Tele Deluxe, or Squier Classic Vibe Starcaster. Of course, price isn’t a guarantee of quality, and I’m sure some Affinity guitars are better than the more expensive Classic Vibe guitars. Still, there’s a fair chance you’ll get a slightly better used guitar for a similar price, especially if you can try it in person to confirm. Another factor to consider is whether a Squier really is the best option. Squier and Epiphone can sell a lot of guitars just on the designs and branding of Fenders and Gibsons respectively. To compete, other brands in the same price range like Ibanez and Yamaha often offer better quality. But there are really no guarantees in this price range, so if you can, try all of these guitars to see which one you like best in person. Good luck! *The solid center block of semi-hollow guitars like the Starcaster prevent the body from resonating like true hollow-bodies, so they actually behave more like solid-body guitars. They sound louder unplugged than solid-bodies due to reflections from the glued-on hollow sides, but those reflections have little effect on the plugged-in sound, which is why semi-hollows avoid the feedback issues plaguing hollow-bodies. 2 weeks ago 1 note

Major Correction to Nigel’s Page For many years, Nigel’s page included gear used on Zero 7’s 2006 album The Garden. While additional recording for that album was done at Nigel’s “The Hospital” studio, most of the album was recorded at Henry Binns’ home studio in Glastonbury, called the “Roundhouse” (not to be confused with the Roundhouse venue in London where Radiohead and Jonny Greenwood have performed). As such, a lot of gear that we thought belonged to Nigel was totally unrelated to Nigel, and instead was part of Binns’ studio. You can now see that list of gear on this page. But it’s worth noting that Nigel and Binns have similar taste in gear, which is unsurpring since they’ve been friends since they shared classes at the William Ellis School in London. Both are frequent users of Acoustic Energy AE1 monitors, Neumann U47 and Shure SM57 mics, Urei 1176 compressors, and the Protools DAW. The list of gear at Binn’s home studio was originally listed in interview with Sam Hardaker of Zero 7 from Electronic Musician magazine. The original article is gone, but you can read an archived version here. Fixing this correction made us realize that Nigel’s page is missing a lot of information about the mics used for his From The Basement recordings, aside from the well-known vocal mics. We’d greatly appreciate any submissions identifying the instrument mics used for those sessions.

3 weeks ago 5 notes

This question was submitted by Anonymous Why is there always a technician helping jonny to cut the signal of his guitar before recording the loop for weird fishes? Can't he just mute it with his volume pedal? Jonny’s volume pedal only controls the volume of his guitar going to his Fender Eighty-Five amp. But the output of Jonny’s looper is connected to his Vox AC30 amp, so it is unaffected by the setting of his volume pedal. The exception to this was on Radiohead’s 2012 tour, when Jonny brought two volume pedals, one for each amp. See Jonny’s effects page for more info how his pedals are arranged. 1 month ago 7 notes

Is it worth modifying a Standard Telecaster to fit humbuckers? Note: we don’t do affiliate marketing or sponsorships, so we don’t get any money if you buy any of the gear mentioned in this article. If you do buy something because of us, we don’t ask that you donate to us, but why not donate to a good cause? If you can afford another pedal, you can afford to do that.

Recently we’ve gotten various Jonny-related questions about Telecaster pickups configurations and about converting a Telecaster Standard into a Telecaster Plus using the Lace loaded pickguard. Before giving advice on how to modify a Tele, it seems worth asking whether it’s worth it. The first consideration is that both pickups of the Telecaster Plus V1, Jonny’s main guitar with Radiohead, are voiced as humbuckers, while both pickups on a standard Telecaster are true single coils. Despite its shape, Lace claims that the Blue pickup (found in the neck of a Tele Plus V1) has a “warmer 50’s humbucking sound in a single coil configuration” (Lace). Additionally, in recent years Jonny has used a range of guitars, from his stolen-and-reacquired 90s Tele Plus to Thom’s old Tele with a Gibson PAF, from his 70s Starcaster to a 2014 Modern Player Starcaster reissue, from his 70s Les Paul Standard to various Les Pauls rented on tour in support of Junun. These guitars use a wide range of pickups (including CuNiFe Wide Range pickups in the case of the 1970s Starcaster), but they all use humbuckers. So you should really ask whether it makes sense to buy a single coil guitar for it’s look/shape and then modify it, when Jonny seems happy with the sound of any humbuckered Fender. A photo of Jonny playing Thom’s “Tele3″ at a performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra in Budapest on October 17, 2015. The guitar is a heavily-modified 70s Telecaster Standard featuring a ‘57 Gibson PAF in the bridge, an unknown humbucker in the neck, and artwork by Thom.

Humbuckers, including the pickups in the Lace Tele Plus JG loaded pickguard, will not fit on a standard Telecaster guitar, which is routed (i.e. has space in the wood of the body cut out) for single coil pickups. And even standard (Stratocaster-sized) single coils won’t fit in the neck position of a Standard Tele, since it only has space for the smaller chrome Tele neck pickup. The loaded pickugard will only work with certain (not all) Telecasters which already have humbuckers. Examples of Teles which would fit the loaded pickguard include the Fender Player Telecaster HH and the now discontinued Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus. Both have 22 frets, like the original Tele Plus and unlike most standard Teles. Ironically, the stock pickups of the Player Tele HH will be closer to the sounds Jonny likes than the stock pickups the Modern Player Plus, despite the name. The single coil neck pickup of the Modern Player Plus will sound like a standard Telecaster, unlike the Lace Sensor Blue neck pickup of the original Tele Plus V1 which is voiced like a humbucker. The Player Tele HH is also relatively inexpensive and comes in sunburst finish, so in general it seems like the best option if you really want the traditional Telecaster look/shape but with humbucker pickups. You may decide you don’t even need to swap out the pickups at all. If you care less about the appearance, there many versions of the Telecaster Deluxe (favored by Thom in the 90s) and the Telecaster Thinline (‘72 version), all of which are fitted with humbuckers. You won’t be able to use the pickguard from the Lace loaded set, but you’re probably better off buying the pickups individually anyway (compared to buying the pickups individually, you’re essentially spending $30 USD on a black piece of plastic). Although in construction the “Wide Range” humbuckers in Fender reissues like the Deluxe Tele are closer to Gibson PAF pickups than to the original pickups they claim to replicate (they use bar magnets instead of CuNiFe pole piece magnets), they clearly sound good enough to Jonny since he used a 2014 reissue Starcaster for performances in Budapest and Italy. Jonny playing a 2014 Fender Modern Player Starcaster reissue in Fermo, Italy in October, 2019. Screenshot from his interview with Tutta un'Altra Musica.

To use the Lace Tele Plus loaded pickguard with a standard Telecaster, you’ll need to route the body to fit a humbucker. You’ll also need a new Hardtail-style bridge, and there will be a visible hole in the body between the humbucker and the bridge. A better option is to purchase the pickups individually, and to purchase a Telecaster-style bridge plate designed to fit a humbucker. That’s exactly what Plank (the band’s guitar tech) did in the 90s when he converted an American Standard Telecaster into a Telecaster Plus V1 to use as Jonny’s backup (see “Tele2” on Jonny’s page). That sort of bridge plate is also what Plank used when he added a bridge humbucker to Thom’s Tele3. But even if you do get that bridge plate, you’ll still need to route the guitar to fit the humbucker – the larger bridge just covers the hole. Unless you already own routing equipment, or you want to start modifying guitars more heavily in the future, the combined cost of the new bridge plate and tools (or paying a tech, often just as expensive) mean that it doesn’t make much sense to do this compared to buying a guitar that’s pre-routed for humbuckers. One can see the Telecaster-style humbucker bridge plate on Jonny’s 90s American Standard Telecaster in this screenshot from Radiohead’s performance of Exit Music at the Eurockéennes de Belfort festival on July 4, 1997.

3 months ago 8 notes

This question was submitted by Anonymous I'm thinking of buying the squier affinity pj bass pack which comes with the fender rumble 15 amp. Now I know colin uses ampeg amps but do you think I could sound close to him by adjusting the knobs on that amp? Amplifier settings aside, a 1x8″ speaker cabinet will not sound like an 8x10″ speaker cabinet. But why would you need it to sound like an Ampeg? It’s meant to be a practice amp, and for practicing it should be suitable. That said, be careful when purchasing combo packs like that. If at all possible, visit a music store and try multiple basses (preferably with a friend/teacher with experience) to make sure you get one that plays well. It’s easy to get a larger amp down the road, and you’ll still be able to use the small amp for practicing at home. But a bass that plays poorly can cause problems in your technique that you won’t have the knowledge to notice (like using too much force to overcompensate for a bad string setup). 3 months ago 2 notes

This question was submitted by Anonymous I was listening to the Henry Rollins Show version of Cymbal Rush and Jonny's French Connection sounds different to me in the final part of the song, as if there's a harmonizer or some similar device. Am I crazy? You’re right to be surprised at hearing harmonies from a French Connection, although it would be possible by tuning a second oscillator at the desired interval. But the real explanation is that it’s not a French Connection at all! Rather, it’s a 1980s “student model” ondes Martenot, which uses digital additive synthesis (unlike other ondes Martenot). You can more clearly hear the differences between the French Connection and 80s Martenot in Jonny’s interview with Caroline Martel from the documentary Wavemakers. Jonny has used the 80s Martenot for all of his one-off performances of Cymbal Rush with Thom, and you can read more about it here. It’s also worth noting that, for the Henry Rollins performance, Jonny has a pedalboard by his feet including an Akai Headrush E1, which he uses for looping in the middle section of the song. You can see how Jonny uses the looper much more clearly in this video of the 2017 Macerata performance. Jonny in the midst of crafting a first inversion D# minor chord on his 80s ondes Martenot. One can see his French Connection with its associated modular cabinet (since it can’t create sounds on its own) in the background. 3 months ago 7 notes

Radiohead’s 1994 live setup at the Astoria in London Performed in the midst of the recording of The Bends, Radiohead’s show at the Astoria gives us a picture of the album just as it was coming together. Some songs would be tweaked further before recording, others are near there final form, and one was just about perfected at this show: My Iron Lung. The band liked this performance of the song so much that they used this live recording for the intro and verses of the album version, albeit with some vocal overdubs. Overall, the range of sounds and the use of effects at this show are much wider than on Pablo Honey, and they had no qualms with mixing those new sounds into the songs from that album to give them new interest. But the band are clearly focused on the more dynamic and interesting guitar playing and arrangements that would so clearly differentiate The Bends from its predecessor. Perhaps no song shows this more than Just, which Thom says was written mostly by Jonny, who “was trying to get as many chords as he could into a song. It was like writing a medley." (Guitar World. April 1998). Not only does the song have tons of chords, but the main riff, in addition to being practically a cover of Magazine’s Shot By Both Sides, is the first time that Jonny used the octatonic scale – a true sign of things to come. This show also gives us a look at the band’s setup before most of it was unfortunately stolen in Denver on October 3, 1995. The band had switched out a few pieces by then – Thom was using Ed’s old Peavey 130 as a monitor instead of the Fender Super 112, and Jonny switched out his Orange combo for a Fender Twin – but it largely remained the same until then. According to Ed, “[t]hat was everything we’d ever owned in terms of musical instruments … We had to regroup, buy new gear, and play a week and a half with Soul Asylum. That’s the worst touring we’ve done. Morale was incredibly low, as one would expect” (denverpost). The band had to rebuild their setup before recording OK Computer in 1996, but they did use their original setup when they recorded Lucky in just five hours on September 4, 1995 – almost exactly a month before the theft.

It’s worth noting that the setup is identical to that used for Radiohead’s performance at the Rock Am Ring festival five days prior, and their setup is a little easier to see in that video since it takes place during the daytime. It’s also nearly identical to their setup for the Reading festival a few months later. Highlight: Jonny’s Original Telecaster Plus Guitars Jonny playing his original Tobacco Burst Telecaster Plus during You.

Among the gear stolen in 1995 were Jonny’s original Telecaster Plus guitars: his main guitar in “Tobacco Burst” finish and his backup in “Ebony Frost”. Though virtually identical to the Tobacco Tele Plus that Jonny has used constantly with Radiohead since 1996, the older Tele can be distinguished by a different collection of stickers gracing its face. At this show, it features an arrow sticker on the pickguard and a “perfect patient” sticker featuring the Pink Panther – perhaps a souvenir from a doctor responsible for Jonny’s arm brace. Jonny later added a large “no nukes” peace-sign sticker, visible in the music video for Just. By contrast, the Ebony Frost guitar is distinguished by being perhaps Jonny’s only Tele without any decoration.

For any who may somehow come across the Tobacco guitar and hope to return it, the serial number begins with N9083****.

The theft must’ve been particularly frustrating for Jonny, since the original Telecaster Standard that he bought as a teen from his guitar teacher had also been stolen a few years earlier. Jonny wrote expressed his feelings about the stolen Tele Plus with some wit in a waste newsletter:

“Dear w.a.s.t.e.r.s,

right now my mind is on the people who stole our instruments, and, specifically, the person with my guitar, which will no doubt end its days having Green Day songs worked out on it. A better fate was deserved – and while the reverence given to guitars annoys me, I shall miss it. Less of a ‘63 sunburst mint and more of an ‘89 battered wreck it may have been, but Emily loved him. My only comfort is knowing that whoever has it will find it unplayable, with it’s Heath Robinson buttons and bolts all over it, and hopefully throw it away.

We’re two days into the U.K. tour as I write this, and everything being new has put new life into us. I hope you got a chance to see this tour. Write soon (enclosing witty-but-realised-too-late-heckles). Love Jonny G “ (waste newsletter #10)

While Jonny’s stickered old Tele Plus remains lost, we were lucky enough to have a small part in returning the Ebony Frost Tele to Jonny after 19 years. He performed with it at the St John the Evangelist Church in Oxford on February 21, 2015, and also at the Victoria Hall in Geneva on February 25 of the same year. At the Astoria, Jonny used the Tobacco Tele for You, Creep, The Bends, Maquiladora, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, Stop Whispering, Anyone Can Play Guitar, Pop Is Dead, and Blow Out. He used the Ebony Frost for Bones, Ripcord, Black Star, My Iron Lung, Prove Yourself, Vegetable, Street Spirit, Pop Is Dead. But at shows of this era, Jonny used the two instruments interchangeably – knowing Jonny, he doubtless didn’t bother listening for small differences between the two – switching whenever he needed to tune up or switch to an alternate tuning. In studio, he more likely stuck with his main Tobacco Burst guitar, which is why he wrote about just one guitar in the waste newsletter.

Jonny playing his Ebony Frost Telecaster Plus during Black Star.

Jonny performing with the Ebony Frost Telecaster Plus

Thom Yorke’s vocal and guitar setup at the Astoria Audix OM7 vocal microphone



Takamine EN10C acoustic guitar



1990s Fender Telecaster Thinline electric guitar (heavily modified)



Early-90s Gibson SG Standard SGS- electric guitar



Proco Turbo Rat distortion

Fender ‘65 Twin Reverb Reissue tube amplifier



“Red Knob” Fender Super 112 tube amplifier All of these guitars were unfortunately stolen in Denver on October 3, 1995, but not before they could be used during the recording of The Bends. The Thinline Tele was repeatedly modified over the course of 1994 and 1995. At this show, the pickguard is removed, and it’s fitted with a Tele single coil in the bridge, a DiMarzio DP102 X2N humbucker in the middle, and a Tele or Strat single coil in the neck. It also has a standard Telecaster control plate, but with an output jack in place of the tone control. Thom’s Red Knob Fender is kept on top of Phil’s drum riser, and it’s only used as a monitor so that Thom can hear himself on both sides of the stage. Thom singing into his Audix OM7 vocal mic during Just. A closeup of Thom’s heavily modified Telecaster Thinline during The Bends.

In this screenshot from Maquiladora, one can see Thom’s Proco Turbo Rat by his feet, surrounded by a square of white tape. Jonny Greenwood’s guitar setup at the Astoria

Tobacco Burst Fender Telecaster Plus V1 “Tele1”

Ebony Frost Fender Telecaster Plus V1 “Tele2”

Demeter The Tremulator tremolo

Digitech Whammy WH1 pitch-shifter

Electro-Harmonix Small Stone V2 phaser

BOSS LS-2 line selector

Plank’s Shredmaster clone distortion

BOSS FV100 volume pedal

1970s Orange OR-80 tube amplifier

Fender Eigthy-Five solid-state amplifier This show took place during the brief period in 1993-1994 when Jonny used a clone of the Marshall Shredmaster built by the band’s tech, Plank. Photos of the band recording in 1992 show a stock Shredmaster, and touring photos show Jonny started using the clone around 1993. The clone was build in an enclosure with with an angled white front panel and black side panels. Photos often show a few of the knobs missing – either removed to prevent adjustment, or kicked off by accident. According to Plank, the clone didn’t hold up well to touring: “I made a version of the shredmaster a few years ago but after a couple of tours the prototype box was flattened due to being stomped on and that was it !!” (stringsreunited). Jonny’s used a stock Shredmaster since.

Jonny chooses between two signal chains with his BOSS LS2, which takes a single input and selects between two outputs. The modulation pedals are placed before the LS2, so they can be used with either amp. The volume pedal is placed after the Shredmaster clone to work as a master volume control. This allows Jonny to change the volume of his high-gain sound without changing the amount of distortion, enabling dramatic crescendos and violin-like effects (such as on this performance of The Bends). It also lets Jonny mute the Shredmaster clone when he isn’t using it to avoid noise. But it’s worth noting that at this show, the volume pedal can sometimes be seen at full volume when Jonny is playing clean, so perhaps Jonny used his Eighty-Five for clean tones on some songs during this era. This would explain why the Shredmaster clone was destroyed by stomping, and also how Jonny is able to switch from cleans to distortion so quickly on songs like Maquiladora. Jonny with his foot on his Whammy WH1 during the outro of My Iron Lung. In case you’re wondering how he created those sounds on the album recording, you can watch him do it here. One can also see the Shredmaster clone (the larger white box), BOSS LS2 (the smaller white box), BOSS FV100 volume (the black rectangle beside the clone and LS2), and Small Stone V2 (identifiable by the bit of orange from its label).

Jonny’s Orange combo and Fender Eighty-Five can be seen in this screenshot from Anyone Can Play Guitar. Additionally, on the left Ed can be seen playing his original Plank guitar, while on the right Jonny’s tech Duncan can be seen tuning Jonny’s Ebony Frost Telecaster Plus. Colin’s Music Man Stingray can be seen in a guitar stand in front of Duncan.

Ed O’Brien’s vocal and guitar setup at the Astoria Audix vocal mic



Rickenbacker 360 electric guitar in “Mapleglo” finish



Plank “Ed1” electric guitar

Marshall Guv’nor distortion

EBow (“licked-circuit” model)



BOSS LS-2 line selector

Yamaha FX500 multi-effects rack unit



Korg A2 multi-effects rack unit

Korg FC6 MIDI foot controller (for Korg A2)



BOSS TU12H tuner

Mesa Boogie Trem-O-Verb tube amplifier

1980s Vox AC30 tube amplifier

The “Plank” guitar was built by the band’s guitar tech, Plank. Unfortunately, it was stolen along with rest of the band’s gear in Denver on October 3, 1995, but Plank built Ed a second custom guitar, dubbed “Plank ED2″. The first Plank has only one f-hole, while the second has two. Ed used the FX500 on Pablo Honey, including for Blow Out. The A2 was acquired after the recording of ‘Pablo’, and went on to be used heavily for The Bends. At this show, Ed used the A2 for heavy tremolo on Stop Whispering, for flanger effects on The Bends (at 20:08) and My Iron Lung (at 26:02), for the reverb effect on Just ("but then he’ll get to you”), and possibly for the delay effect on Pop Is Dead. While the fast tremolo sound wasn’t used on the recording of Stop Whispering, Ed was clearly experimenting with the A2 at this time, since he used a similar setting on the recording of Planet Telex. Ed playing his original Plank guitar during Anyone Can Play Guitar.

Ed getting some feedback from his Mesa Boogie Trem-O-Verb during Stop Whispering. He’s playing his Plank ED1 guitar, and one can see his 80s AC30 on the right, and his rack units on the left. The half-rack unit with the green display is the FX500, and underneath it is the A2. There’s also a BOSS TU2 or LS2 on top of the rack, most likely used by the band’s techs for troubleshooting purposes.

Colin Greenwood’s bass setup at the Astoria Music Man Sterling in “Honey Burst” finish



Music Man Stingray in “Honey Burst” finish



BOSS TU12 tuner

Gallien-Krueger 400RB V1 bass amplifier head



4x10 bass cabinet

1x15 bass cabinet

Colin’s music Man Sterling was his main bass for both Pablo Honey and The Bends, while the Stringray seems to have been a touring backup. Unlike the other guitars used at this show, the Sterling wasn’t stolen in Denver, but Colin no longer has the bass because in May 1996 he traded it for the Olympic White Fender Precision Bass that would become his favorite touring bass for the next two decades. The person to whom Colin traded the bass still has it, and you can see more recent photos of it on Colin’s page. The reason that the bass wasn’t stolen is that by late-1995, Colin had gotten a new touring bass: his Music Man Stingray in Green Sparkle finish. The new bass can be seen clearly in the band’s set for MTV’s Most Wanted on August 18, 1995.

A screenshot of Colin playing his Sterling during Blow Out. His 400RB amp head and TU12 tuner can be seen on top of the 4x10 cab. There’s also an unknown red/orange box on the left – it may be a DI box, but that seems unlikely since the 400RB has a dedicated “DIRECT” output. On the right, one can also see the Solina String Ensemble played by a ghost during Street Spirit. A closeup of Colin’s Sterling from during Stop Whispering.

Phil Selway’s drum setup at the Astoria Phil didn’t give any interviews with drum magazines during this era, so it’s hard to say much about the specific sizes of drums and cymbals. But we can tell that he’s using DW drum kit in natural finish and Ziljian K series cymbals. He stopped using DW kits soon after this, but has remained faithful to K series cymbals to this day.

A screenshot of Phil at the dw kit during My Iron Lung.

3 months ago 12 notes