:: HOME :: GIGS :: MUSIC :: VIDEOS :: BIOG :: CONTACT :: LINKS ::


:: Gear / Equipment ::


Just for the curious amongst you here's a brief rundown of Steve's current gear. This page also lists his solo rig too.

Main guitars are Fender Strats and Gibson Les Pauls and SG's. For amplification its always Marshall amps and pre-amps.


Guitars - click on pics to enlarge
Fender Strat(Customised) - customised strat with graphite nut and Dimarzio HS-3 in neck Duncan humbucker in bridge.

Gibson SG - For different sounds, now and again I use this Gibson SG, in black, of course!

Peavey Wolfgang - Great little guitar, was used a lot in 2003-2005. It has a good rock tone.

Jackson Soloist - My main guitar for about 5 years, never let me down, always stays in tune.



Strings

Steve uses Ernie Ball Guitar Strings.

He uses their Hybrid guitar strings [9-46] on his Fender Strats and other guitars.



Amps and Pedals

Steve plays Marshall amps, 2203 100 Watt JCM800 1978 Marshall valve heads or JCM2000 DSL 100Watt heads for live band work, but his absolute fave piece of gear is the Marshall JMP-1 pre-amp. Steve loves using the JMP-1's for his rock solo gigs. Also the DRP-1 preamp now and again makes an appearance.

Pedals are stock Jim Dunlop Wah Pedals GCB-95 models, Marshall Overdrive pedals either original Guvnor pedals or the new Guvnor Plus pedals, and Boss Tu-2 tuner pedals.

Apart from Steve using Delay for lead breaks, those are the only effects he uses live.

For studio he uses the JMP-1 or DRP-1 as well, or for mic'd up sounds a Shure SM57 in front of his Marshall 4x12" cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30's in. But more and more Steve is going direct into the board from the JMP-1/DRP-1.




Picks


Steve uses his own custom made picks which feature his trademark backdrop/barcode. These are available to purchase on the SHOP page.





Steve's Solo Rig

For a larger view click the above pic

It seems there is some confusion amongst you all as to how I run my solo rig on my solo gigs. Heres how I do it.

The guitar, vocals and backing all go into an Alesis Multimix6 FX mixer. This then goes from the mixer to a MONO out into the power amp(s) which feed different speakers to handle the treble/bass frequencies. I prefer dealing with MONO as you hear the exact same sound wherever you stand.

Guitar sounds
I use NO backline and run direct into the mixing desk. I use Marshall JMP-1 preamps with some delay now and again from an Alesis Midiverb 4 unit. I also occasionally use Marshall DRP-1 preamps.

Vocals
For Vocals I ALWAYS use a Shure Beta 58. Theyre the best I've found in a live setting, and they give me no feedback.

Laptop
For playback I use a Dell Latitude laptop. From the Laptop's headphones out the signal then goes into an isolating transformer to kill any ground loops. Before it hits the mixer its left and right outputs get fed into a custom made MONO signal "sum" box which mixes the stereo signal into an "in-phase" MONO signal.

Mixer
The Mixer is where everything gets put together. A MONO out then splits the signal into a high-pass/low-pass filter which feeds the power amp(s). From there I can use really small treble speakers and a sub-woofer to give me a full sound at any volume.

Power Amp(s) and Speakers
The treble speakers are pro quality studio monitors. Since they're only receiving treble frequencies they can be low output and work very well. The Sub-Woofer handles just the bass frequencies and it doesnt matter where you place it. Bass has to be felt and isnt just 'heard' like treble is. For that reason I keep the bass cab behind me so I can feel it whilst performing.



© steveforward.com