Muses Equipment

Written by Mike Sullo on Fri, 27 Jun 1997 15:14:48 -0700.

Hope I'm not being a know-it-all

The Muses are far more important to me than even the pixies....here's what equip. I know.

KH:

Originally played a Gibson Les Paul with EMG active pickups in it. She then switched to a Fender Telecaster, and an old Kramer (hence the really Metal tones on Red Heaven), then onto 2 different Fender re-issue series Strats. She was playing a Marshall JCM 800 Half stack, then switched to an A/B setup of a Fender Twin Reverb and Marshall JCM 800 (both 2 X 12 combo's). Now she plays only a Fender Vibro-Delux (I believe it's called). It's essentially a Fender Twin with a built in Tremelo system.

For her acoustics, she originally used an Ovation plastic bowl back, but now uses some hand made job. I forget the name of the maker, but I believe he is thanked in Hip & Makers. I remember an article in Guitar Player where she said that she liked it because while strumming chords you can hear every individual note. I've also seen her use an Alvarez acoustic. The last time I saw her with the Ovation, she was using it on the Red Heaven tour, and it was literally being held together with Duct Tape.

TD: Played exclusivly Les Pauls into Marshall JCM 800 Half-Stacks. Her final Les Paul (in the muses) was a "Special" model. The Specials have smaller pickups in them, for a twangier sound than the regular Les Paul.

In Belly she's been using Gibson SG's and the same Marshall.

LL: Know she played Fender basses, no idea on the amps. I saw her whne she did a couple of dates with Belly, and she was using a Trace Elliott amp with I think a Carvin bass, but I'm not sure. One of those newer styled 5 string jobs.

FA: Fender Basses, Gallien Kruger Amp.

BG: Fender Basses, Ampeg Amp. He also uses a Rat distortion box.

DN: I think Yamaha drums, and Zildian symbols.

All of this info comes from times I've seen them. I do know that they use (and own) a lot more equipment then they take on tour with them. I read that they record using a number of different guitars (ie. TD's photo in House Tornado with a Fender), but prefered to tour with only Les Pauls because they get most of the sounds out of them.

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