Official Alice in Chains Gear thread... best on the net!

[EXPcustom]

Over the years I have compiled a list and information of gear Alice in Chains had used over the years. Some info I got on my own others from forums.

So I put it in one big pile of crap here for you guys,

I am not going to cover Sean Kinney's Gear since I am not really into drums.

Mike Inez:
Custom Warwick Streamer in Moonburst(Silverburst) finish with EMG pickups.
Ampeg SVTII Pro poweramps and Ampeg 8x10 cabs.

For Jerry Cantrell its pretty huge list so I will start first with his huge Facelift sound. This is a copy and paste from the Bogner forums:

Here is intresting bit of info I found on the recording of Facelift and the huge sound they got. This is from the Bogner forums and the guy that posted this does not like paragraphs:

Hello Fellas!Normally i dont do the forum thing but i have some interesting info to share.My name is Ronnie Champagne im a Producer/Engineer/Guitarist,i was in the Hollywood studio game from 1984 to 1998.I recorded Janes Addiction's "NOTHINGS SHOCKING"and 'RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL",as well as Dave Navarro and Eric Avery's "DECONSTRUCTION" for Rick Rubin.I also recorded ALICE IN CHAINS "FACELIFT" as well as SOCIAL DISTORTION and MY SISTERS MACHINE's "DIVA" and a few hundred more around the world as well as touring europe and africa and canada and the u.s.I just wanted to clarify what msr.Bogner has on his web site about the Fish and Jerry Cantrell.But lets backtrack a little.When i was recording "nothings shocking" i was using my own amps,a black face fender bassman 50,a late 70's,early 80's marshall jcm 800 50 and a silverface twin loaded with greenbacks.plus a 60's marshall 4x12 with greenies...i was getting great tones using a modified r.k.butler tube driver to hit my amps hard...anyways back in the day ANDY BRAUER RENTALS had some great gear so i used them all the time for extra tones,well we finished nothings shocking and i was listening to how un satisfied i was with the tones(they still rock though)so i got it by the grapevine that steve and joe and eddie had these mods done by this new guy,msr B.,when it came time to start preproduction on janes "ritual" i was told there was a modded marshall at brauers that i should check out...i did...and i wouldnt give it back!!!it was a jcm 800 just like the one i owned.So i took mine over to Brauers where Bogner was now working before he got funding for his own line...i asked him if he would do to mine exactly what he had done to this rental...he said no...i said you dont get this one back...i finally pleaded with him telling him that it was in his best interest considering i knew what was in the pipeline and i think we paid him double,hehe!any ways thats when the SNORKLER was born.it was originally a combo that i bought in canada in '83,used.Actually i traded a half stack for it and some dosh as i was moving to los angeles and didnt want to lug a half stack around...well the rest is history as they say...everyone who got to use my baby wanted to buy it from me.i think Jerry offered me 5 grand at one point a couple years after facelift went platinum because he couldnt get the tone from the bog's he got...my favorite tone is using a drop d tuning telecaster thru the snorkler and two 4x12's....its the voice of god!we used that combo alot on Facelift doubled with Jerry's G & L 's...my 69 les paul custom fucking kills it and my es 135 sounds like butter with fangs!!!Contrary to popular belief i always went straight into the snorkler and then mic into neve 1073 into la-2a direct to tape(studer a-800 16 track tw0 inch.)i used the fender bassman for clean tracks and slightly raunchy brown tones then left the solos for the SNORKLER.I recorded most of Jerry's solos and Lanes vocals at Capitol Studios hollywood studio "a".I put my 4x12 greenies in a stairwell,which made everyone go crazy!!!thats my style....and recorded the natural ambience so it sounded fucking real and HUGE...dont know if they will let me do that trick ever again!!!but hey i want to sell millions of records so they can suck it up,cuz i pay their wages!!!Anyways thats pretty much the set up i have used since 1990 or so...
So as far as the Fish pre amp goes,well thats not what we used,ever...I think my snorkler is one of the 6 best sounding amps ever made and they all were modded by rheinhold...hes a fucking genius.Its priceless to me,made me and others a lot of money just trying to crush some fucking skulls via ROCK GUITAR!!!...any questions?

This is a pic of the poster with Jerry and amp:

More stuff coming I have to copy and paste and move pics to my photobucket.

I also have the most in detail info on Layne Staley's gear... coming very soon.

 

[EXPcustom]

Regarding Jerry Cantrell's Bogner Fish preamps. They are all have the Shark channel modded. Here is how you can tell if a Fish has the mod or not. Bogner does this mod to the Fish you just have to convince him to do it.

Here is a Jerry Modded Fish. This was the one I just bought. You can tell it was modded by the addition of a knob on the second row and the removal of a toggle switch.

Here is a stock Fish (it is a reissue

Look at Jerry's rack and you can see his Fish has been modded.

Notice that most sources say Jerry used a Intelliflex. This is incorrect he used an intelliverb in his rack.

 

[EXPcustom]

Layne Staley was a huge Sabbath and AC/DC fan so when he started to play the guitar on the Dirt tour it was no suprise he used a modded 67 Gibson SG standard.

Some specs,

1967 Gibson SG modded to stop tailpiece from tremolo. You can see the screw holes from the tremolo in some of the live photos.

Single ply after market white pickguard a-la Angus Young.

Neck pickup has been installed backwards.

This guitar was finally destroyed by accident on tour in 93 at the Rotterdam show and here is the video of its destruction at around 1:00 minute

Layne used a 91 or 92 SG standard (black pickguard) as a backup to his 67 SG.

 

[EXPcustom]

This was mostly a copy and paste from another website I added some of the more finer details at the bottom in Bold.

Gear:
Overview:
Guitars: G&L Rampage, G&L ASAT, Gibson Les Pauls, Ernie Ball Music Man, Custom Fender Style, Danelectro Baritone, Guild Acoustic
Amps: Bogner Fish Preamp, Shark, Bogner Shiva, Peavey 5150, Marshall, Soldano, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Fender, Marshall Cabinets
Rack: Eventide Harmonizer, Alesis Intelliverb, BBE Sonic Maximzer, MosValve Poweramp
Misc: Dunlop Crybaby, Dunlop Rotovibe, Boss TU-2 Tuner, Big Muff, Pro Co Rat, Dean Markley Strings

Gear information culled from Guitar World articles:

A pair of distinctive G&L axes - the creatively decorated ASAT and Rampage - along with a healty arsenal of Gibson Les Pauls made up the rocker's six-string arsenal on his recent sojourn with the Jerry Cantrell Band.
Cantrell's rack includes a pair of Bogner Fish preamps feeding a pair of Mesa Simul-Class 2 Ninety power amps (the duplication is for backup purposes), plus a pair of Rocktron RPS Intelliverbs and a BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer.
Floor effects include a couple of well-worn wah pedals. Less glamorous, but equally important, tools include wireless systems by Nady and Samson, a Furman line conditioner, and a Digital Music Corp. Ground Control GCX switcher with foot controller. Cantrell's metallic grunge is then fed to a bank of Marshall cabinets.

Gear information culled from Guitar One article:

I used everything in the studio. I had a really great experience in the studio. Actually, for amps I used the Bogner Fish before and the Shark, which is a preamp and a power amp, but what I'm using now is just a straight head, the Bogner Shiva. I use those heads almost exclusively on this record. It's a little smaller than a regular head. I was very cocky about my sound, so I was like, "Well, this is what I use, I use these." My engineer, Jeff Tomei, said, "Man, you gotta try this amp out, it's really cool." I like all Bogner amps pretty much, but I've got my thing, which I thought was my sound, and really, your sound is in your hands anyway. It really doesn't matter what you play through. So, I ended up blowing out my amp about five or six songs in, and then I had to use this amp. But after I used it, I went back and re-recorded all of my tracks. It's so good, and that's what I'm using live, the Bogner Shiva.

In the studio, we probably used about 40 or 50 guitars. And I was lucky enough to have a guitar tech who works out of L.A. and also has a vintage guitar and equipment rental company, so basically, I had his store in the studio. So there where guitars and amps lined up everywhere. I mean, you name it, we used it. I've always been into layering sound and layering tracks and different guitars and stuff. We made full use of about every parameter or every combination of guitar and amp that you could thing of on this album. And because it's such a big record, we tried to make the songs as individual as possible. We really listened to what the songs needed, instead of what you think the song needs. That's the trick.

Guitars: Cantrell owns four G&L Rampages, each equipped with a singles Seymoue Duncan Jeff Beck pickup in the bridge position and a Kahler tremolo. About his penchant for these guitars, he says, "When I picked up my first Rampage, it was the most comfortable thing I'd ever played. I'm not sure what the body is made of; I think it's alder. It's also got ebony fretboard and a hard rock maple neck.

"The stickers on my main Rampage came from KISW, a Seattle radio station that was always my main conduit to rock music. I cut the word 'rock' out of three KISW stickers and stuck them on the middle of the guitar. I did this when I was 18 or 19, so they've really been there for a while. The sticker of the naked girl is a different story. I cut her out of a Oui magazine, I think."

Cantrell's other guitars include an Earnie Ball Music Man Van Halen signature model that was a gift from Eddie himself, and a variety of Fender Strats and Teles. Lately he's been playing Les Pauls frequently, including black and white Les Paul Customs, a '52 goldtop, a Seventies goldtop Standard and a Les Paul Junior that he bought from Heart's Nancy Wilson. To record his acoustic parts on Jar Of Flies, Cantrell borrowed a Guild acoustic from Mike Inez.

Strings & picks: Dean Markley Custom strings, .009-.046, black Jim Dunlop Tortex picks. "I used to use the purple Tortex picks," says Cantrell, "whick are the heaviest, but now I use the black ones, which are the next to the heaviest. I've eased up in my old age!"

Amplifiers: In the early Nineties, Cantrell's amp rig consisted of a Bogner Fish preamp running through a Tubeworks MosValve 500 power amp. After Alice In Chains toured with Van Halen in 1992, Eddie gave Jerry several Peavey 5150 stacks, which have remained part of his backline since then. "The 5150s ended up taking the place of the Mesa Dual Rectifiers that we used on Dirt, which were there to back up the sound of Bogner," says Cantrell, "The 5150 is fatter and nastier, and a little bit more out-of-control kind of tone."

Cantrell records with a variety of amps in the studio, his favorites including Mesa Dual Rectifiers and various Marshalls, Fenders and Soldanos. For his clean electric and amplified "acoustic" parts on Jar Of Flies, Jerry plugged his guitar into a Sixties Fender Twin Reverb. On stage he plays thorugh eight 4x12 Marshall speaker cabinets equipped with Celestion 30-watt Vintage and 25-watt Greenback speakers.

Effects: Alesis Intelliverb digital reverb unit, an Eventide Harmonizer, a Dunlop Crybaby wah from playing songs like "Man in the Box." For his solo album Boggy Depot, Cantrell experimented with several distortion stomp boxes including ProCo Raat and a vintage Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi. Cantrell's wirelles unit is a Sony WR-820 model

EXPcustom's updates:

One of Jerry's main guitars over the years was his 95 G&L ASAT deluxe. It had a Maple board and bound cherry top. Now what made his special was it has a 3 bolt neck plate. 95-96 was a transitional year for G&L's neck plates so if you can find a Deluxe ASAT with 3 bolt plate snag it. It sports a partially broken headstock now...

Also during the unplugged show Jerry used one of Mike Inez's Guild D-55 acoustics. Not sure what year it was but it had the black colored pickguard so it could have been as old as a 70's model.

9/2/10 Here is some more info I found on the self titled album:

“We used a lot of vintage stuff, some old Fender amps, old Marshalls, Soldanos. I’m an intense person, and when I get into something, I go full into it, but for some reason I never really got into collecting guitars or gear, so I always have to borrow stuff [Laughs]. I used some cool guitars from Nancy Wilson, she’s always loaning me shit. She’s got a ton of great stuff. I recorded with one of her Les Paul juniors and some of her acoustics. Then we got a box of old effects from [Heart guitarist] Howard Leese, who sent a bunch of stuff down. There’s also these guys from Tacoma that have a place called Guitarmaniacs, that has a lot of stuff. They had a ’52 Les Paul and an old early ‘60s Strat that I’ve used before on a couple of records, but they would never sell them to me. They were like, “These are our personal guitars,” and I kept going, “Come on, man, sell them to me. Please!’ They finally broke down after all these years and sold me both of them.”

Even though he was outfitted with plenty of Heart’s gear and ensconced in Heart’s recording studio, Cantrell had no difficulties in making a suitably snakelike sludgy Alice in Chains album. “I generally cut the main track with my G&L guitar and a Bogner, and then cut another track hard left or hard right with a different guitar and different amp, which doubled the main track. Then we’d blend them together. Sometimes it was three or four tracks, whereas on Dirt we might have cut as many as six or eight guitars tracks, although we wouldn’t use them all. I think having fewer tracks might have opened this record up to that jam vibe more.”

The five months of studio experimentation extended beyond musical jams and borrowing guitars. “I used a Peavey 5150 head on “Sludge Factory” with a Les Paul, and it was nasty as fuck. I had asked Eddie Van Halen if I could buy a head and an EVH guitar off of him at the end of the tour with them, and when I got home there were three full stacks and two guitars waiting for me. He just gave them to me. It was weird for me to use the 5150 on this record, because I hadn’t spent too much time with it. I’m so married to what I do that everything I use I’ve already put through all the paces – you know, blown the doors off the stuff. And I played with the 5150, taken it out for a few spins, but had never really seen whatever I could do. So it kind of sat around. During this record my guitar tech, Darrell Peterson, came over and was tweaking it and playing it a little bit. When I heard it, it was incredible. I asked him, ‘What the hell is that?’ and he goes, “It’s your 5150. You know, the one that’s been sitting in your fucking closet for two years.’ It’s a great head, it has a lot of beef to it.

“Also, with all those old borrowed pedals around, I probably used less Crybaby on this album, but I am a Crybaby-head, man. I mostly use Dunlop Rotovibe on this record, and I also got an old Maestro Phaser, which is a big monstrous thing. When I was a kid I used to have one, and in my neighborhood band we used it to play “Unchained” and it was perfect, even though I’m pretty sure Van Halen used a Phase 90. Anyway, we basically stockpiled our stuff and we had an arsenal of effects, so that we could do whatever we were thinking of at the time. Like we’d say, “Let’s take the Strat and run it through the Soldano with a Phase 90 or take the G&L, through a Bogner with something else.’ I didn’t think about actual tone or effects when we were recording. I would just say to Darrell, ‘I need a sound like that obscure song by whoever and he would get it.”

taken from:

http://guitarinternational.com/wpmu/201 ... n-smiling/

Three songs were the result of a new tuning, which Jerry discovered by accident. “A friend of mine had retuned one of my guitars and left it like that. I’m not even sure what it is, man. I’m totally retarded when it comes to musical tunings and stuff. We played ‘Nothin’ Song,’ ‘Over Now,’ and ‘Shame in You’ in that tuning.” Grabbing a guitar, he refigures out the tuning, which is D A D F# D G (low to high).

Grind: It’s what it says. They’re all pretty literal statements on this album, by the way. I cut that track at my house, and did it on my ADAT. Toby was helping me out. The solo was lifted off the ADAT and transferred right over to the main track. The main riff was something that Sean, Mike, and I came up with.

Brush Away: The almost acoustic-sounding intro is a Strat with the neck-position pickup on. It’s also got a backward solo. You can just punch in a backward record control on Studer consoles and it flips the head without flipping the tape. I was there the day Howard Leese came in with his effects pedals, and I told him the solo had a vibe, like the “Magic Man” solo. It took about three takes. I wasn’t quite sure where to come in, so you hear the feedback and popping at the end, which is where I was beginning. But it came out perfect. Layne also did some playing on this cut.

Sludge Factory: Another riff that came out of the demo sessions I had done earlier in the year. It’s actually an old riff, maybe seven years old, from the first year we were a band. It’s from the same period as “Love Hate Love.” But the rest of the song, not that main riff, always rubbed Layne the wrong way. So it took me about seven years to get it right. It probably sounds so brutal because it had been waiting seven years to get out of its cage and onto a record [Laughs].

Heaven Beside You: Mike and I came up with that while we were jamming with our buddy Todd from Green Apple Quick Step. We were drunk at a bar and then went to his little rehearsal place in this urine-soaked alley with bums everywhere. And I started playing this riff and Mike came up with a perfect bass line, and all of a sudden both of us stop and said, “Uh, okay, Todd, see you later, we’re going home now.” It was just one of those inspirational songs that I had to take home and work on. Plus I didn’t want to beat it to death, and I wasn’t sure if I needed to let everyone in on it [Laughs]. Maybe a little selfish, I guess, but if you don’t watch out for your own ideas, no one else will.

Head Creeps: Layne came up with that, and it’s a good fucking riff that turned out more brutal than I expected. I added that real stupid metal guitar to it to make it heavier. Layne’s been playing more and more guitar lately, which will help me out when we play live again.

Again: I had the riff for that one and an idea for the vocal, and then Layne came in with something so much better that I decided to throw mine right into the fucking trash.

Shame In You: Mike, Sean, and I came up with that riff in our early playing around between January and March. Sean will probably kill me for saying this, but he thought it was too ballady. It’s in that open tuning, and has that big mondo ending and some cool chord changes, but the lyrics hold it together and make it tough.

God Am: The best part of this song is how disjointed it is, but it still flows. I think it’s a great song. I used a Sustainiac on the backing chorus, so that whole part was all done with the left hand.

So Close: The last track we cut. It was something we hadn’t gotten to, and we got to the end we were burned out, finished. But we listened to it for about a week and said we should add it. It was a song waiting for lyrics. I cut it with that vintage Strat that I bought.

Nothin’ Song: One of the open-tuning songs that has that real Pagey riff. One of the great things about this record for me is that a shitload of my influences came out on this record, more so than on any other record we put out in the past. You can pick stuff and say this sounds like Iommi, or this sounds like Gilmour. For me, it’s cool to listen to my influences coming unconsciously and clearly. Brian May, Robin Trower, Jimi Hendrix. The guitar solo on “Shame in You” is to me a lot like Brian May. Toby and Darrell and Tom were listening to me cut the solo, and it had this certain tone. When I finished they all yelled “Brian May” [Laughs].

Frogs: This is the masterpiece of the record. It is a big epic mondo, but the rhythm was done, like, on the first take and it was one of the first keepers we did. We didn’t even realize how long it was until we were done mixing it. We thought, “Eight minutes? No way!” It just didn’t feel long, which is good. There’s a lot of personal stuff that lets you in our on our personal jokes. Layne’s got his deal at the end of “God Am.” I’m talking to Sean at the end of “Nothin’ Song” through my guitar pickups, and scraping my strings at the same time. I always liked the stuff like that on records. It’s the human factor.

Over Now: One of the other ones that Mike, Sean, and I did together before we started recording. It’s also in that open tuning. That was the only was done at London Bridge Studio when I was doing stuff on my own. We took it to Bad Animals in Seattle and taped over everything except the drum track. It was a great drum, track, although Sean hated it and trashed his drum after this take.

Taken from:

http://guitarinternational.com/wpmu/201 ... ng-it-out/

 

[stephen sawall]

I met Jerry before there was a Alice. I have seen him play many times. I have seen him come into a place and just use what is there more than once. Just like the rest of us he sounds like himself no what he plays with.

Cool thread

 

[ke2]

Very cool reading. Thanks for sharing

 

[EXPcustom]

I will post more updates shortly.

 

[noseminer]

what is used on the latest track that they just put out?

 

[EXPcustom]

what is used on the latest track that they just put out?

I have no idea.

I wont know what they used for a while, I am not cool info to get that info right away, but I will find out.

 

[killertone]

I teched for Jerry on a one-off gig he did with Cardboard Vampyres back a few years ago. It was a fly date so they used rental backline. When he got to the gig he didn't dig that 2210 that was there for him...Billy Duffy (who I was also teching for) had a '78 JMP 2203 that a local friend had brought him. I told Jerry that I had a '77 JMP 2203 and he asked me to get it. I also had my prototype Sex Drive pedal which I told him sounded great with my JMP. He handed me his cigarette burned LPC and told me to get him a tone. I did and he used it all night.

Dude was a prick, though. Never thanked me for getting my personal amp or copping him a killer tone. His sound guy loved the sound and said it was the fly date tone Jerry had ever had.

 

[se7en]

Regarding Jerry Cantrell's Bogner Fish preamps. They are all have the Shark channel modded.

I heard he got 2 Fish reissues without the Shark channel modded...

 

[EXPcustom]

Regarding Jerry Cantrell's Bogner Fish preamps. They are all have the Shark channel modded.

I heard he got 2 Fish reissues without the Shark channel modded...

Yes he did. I am sure Tonemerchants can fill us in better on what Cantrell has been using on the new record better than I can. I hear Dave Freidman has setup Jerry's latest rig so both of them know better than me whats going on with the most recent setups.

I am covering the late 80's and 90's AIC stuff since people always ask about that sound and what was used.

 

[EXPcustom]

A little on G&L Rampages:

Jerry used a total of 4 Rampages on tour. One for Drop D songs and another for 1/2 step down tuning. Then a backup for each. All are white with 3 bolt neck plate. They have been modded with a recessed Kahler Tremolo and Floyd lock nut.

Rich Beck had done the mods on Cantrell's main guitar.

http://www.richbeckguitars.com/about/

Regarding the pickups. I had heard he uses SD JBs and has used a TB-4 as well.

Dont take my word for it. Here is what G&L had to say back in 99 regarding Jerry and the Rampage guitars:

A totally mint NOS Jerry Cantrell sig Rampage from 99.

 

[just42dave]

A little on G&L Rampages:

Jerry used a total of 4 Rampages on tour. One for Drop D songs and another for 1/2 step down tuning. Then a backup for each. All are white with 3 bolt neck plate. They have been modded with a recessed Kahler Tremolo and Floyd lock nut.

Rich Beck had done the mods on Cantrell's main guitar.

http://www.richbeckguitars.com/about/

Regarding the pickups. I had heard he uses SD JBs and has used a TB-4 as well.

Dont take my word for it. Here is what G&L had to say back in 99 regarding Jerry and the Rampage guitars:

A totally mint NOS Jerry Cantrell sig Rampage from 99.

wow 12 inch radius...Beautiful.

 

[CGB89]

Do you have any more info on Layne's gear? Also, I've heard that Jerry used a Marshall JCM800 2203 head before the Fish preamp was released.

 

[kannibul]

Sean Kinney uses DW drums and hardware and a mix of Sabian AA and AAX cymbals.

 

[CGB89]

You should also chronicle Jerry's rig by year.
i.e. rig from 1990, rig from 1991, etc.

 

[CGB89]

Also, I think Layne used a Bogner Ecstasy head through Marshal 1960A/1960B Cabs.

 

[EXPcustom]

Also, I think Layne used a Bogner Ecstasy head through Marshal 1960A/1960B Cabs.

He had a Laney 100watt head and he changed the letters around to say "Layne" you can see it on the last show with AIC in 96 and I think he used it during a Mad Season show or two.

He had a Mesa Dual or single recto combo, he would just go into Guitar Center and buy off the shelf stuff that was in the store.

I have been trying to find out what he used earlier do you have a source for the Bogner info?

 

[CGB89]

Bogner's website said Layne used a Bogner. I just guessed on the model based on the footage of the 96 concert. But Laney makes sense since Tony Iommi used Laneys. Lol