JT, qui est atteint d'un GAS assez sévère :), voulait essayer un Gibson Firebird Studio et un Fender Jaguar Vintage '62. Malheureusement, malgré l'énorme choix, pas de Firebird Studio ... on s'est consolé avec une Firebird Standard. Toutes les guitares ont été testées sur une excellente grosse tête Orange Rockerverb 100W si je me souviens bien (visitez le nouveau site Orange !)

Le test de la Firebird a été assez court. L’instrument a un look fantastique mais le son ne correspondait pas à ce que nous cherchions : les mini humbuckers Gibson sont trop secs et agressifs mais pas sales, toujours un peu trop droit. Autre défaut : l’instrument est assez déséquilibré et pique de la tête de manière dérangeante. Peut-être que cela s’arrange en étant debout avec une sangle mais nous n’avons pas pu vérifier.

Le test de la Jaguar a été plus concluant. La bête rugit, le son est claquant mais aussi un peu sale. Ca sonne bien rock, épais et velu. Le manche assez vintage (bombé) reste confortable. Un rayon des défauts, il faut avouer que les contrôles sont assez complexes avec 4 switchs, deux potentiomètres et deux sliders. Malgré toute cette électronique embarquée, la guitare reste assez silencieuse même avec une bonne grosse disto.

Avant de quitter le magasin, l'envie me pris de tester une des 5 ou 6 Gibson Flying V du showroom, juste pour voir l'effet que ça fait. Assis avec l'OVNI en mains, pas facile de coincer l'aile inférieure entre les jambes pour que le manche reste dans une position jouable. Une fois la technique maitrisée, l'envie de riffer furieusement ne peut plus être réprimée ! Ca sonne très très bien, avec beaucoup d'harmoniques, surtout sur les cordes aigues. Le manche est confortable et les solos en légato coulent naturellement. Les sons clairs assurent également, excellent en funk. Je ne suis toutefois pas tout à fait parvenu à reproduire un son clair "à la Metallica", un brin de chorus aurait probablement aidé. Une petite remarque quand même : la finition du bord supérieur de la touche laissait un peu à désirer pour un instrument à 1200€ (vernis pas homogène). Dommage !

Piens est une caverne d'Ali Baba remplie de tentations. Malgré cela, nous sommes repartis les mains presque vides (3 médiators achetés (Dunlop Jazz 3 Ultex) et deux carnets avec portées offerts gracieusement à la caisse) Peut-être la prochaine fois si les tarifs deviennent un peu plus raisonnables ?

Ora la voglio O.O

Vi presento la Fender Jaguar HH Special, unica chitarra della linea Jaguar a montare Pickup Humbucker. Il resto dell'elettronica comprende 4 selettori per il mixaggio dei magneti, con doppio controllo di Tune e Volume, il tutto racchiuso in una accattivante linea nera e cromata.

E poi suona da dio :Q___

Sarà mia entro il prossimo mese.

only in dreams

Kevin Shields' sound has been topic of thousands of message boards threads and articles since they last released an album, in 1991. My Bloody Valentine were one of the (or perhaps "the") loudest bands on earth, and one of their songs was reportedly so loud members of the audience would faint...

Here's what we hope is the most comprehensive Kevin Shields/ My Bloody Valentine equipment list on the web...find out all (or most) of the gear they have used in the past and in their current comeback tour!

(UPDATED JULY 2008 WITH SOME CORRECTIONS AND MORE PICS OF FX PEDALS)

The big hiatus since My Bloody Valentine walked the Earth and released an album has only served to feed the myth, and one of the hot topics amongst MBV fans has always been "how did Kevin Shields come up with that sound?" With scarce info from the man himself, this subject has been an open field for speculation, wrong leads and the occasional spot on info. Here's a look at all the info we could gather from all those sources, and some new info. We may not be always 100% correct - it's been pretty difficult to gathar all that info already! - but this is most definitely the most comprehensive list and info source on My Bloody Valentine that you're likely to find on the web!

Here's a look at the gear MBV used, and how to sound like them (you can try, anyway!)

Kevin Shields Gear (Loveless Tour)

- Two Marshall Guv'Nor Distortion pedals (during Isn't Anything era. Discontinued, replaced by the Guv'nor 2) 

According to a roadie, for Loveless live shows he used - Digitec Whammy, Boss EH-2 enhancer, Boss PQ-4, 2 x Boss GE-7, Boss T-Wah, Pro-Co Turbo Rat, Roger Mayer Axis & Mongoose, Marshall Guv'nor, Jim Dunlop Roto-Vibe, Boss Tremolo/Pan (Boss PN-2 to be specific), Digitech PDS-8000 (now replaced by the Jamman), ADA Pre-amp, MidiVerb2 (made by Alesis for those who don't know), SPX90 x 2 and 3 x JCM800's (only 2 amps were actually running) JCM's valved with EL34's and ECC83's (including phase split).

The Midiverb 2 has been discontinued, but you can still find it on Ebay or try and go for the Alesis Midiverb 4, which is really good and not even that expensive! Shoegaze bands who love MBV seem quite happy using this unit...

Unfortunately the Boss PN-2 has been discontinued. While Behringer doesn't release their new version of it (the TP300 out next year) the best option is the Dunlop Tremolo Pan, excellent and used by artists such as Black rebel Motorcycle Club.

And here's some quotes from Kevin Shields:

"As for effects, says Kevin, "There's no chorusing or anything like that. But there's one very definite effect that I do use, and that's reverse reverb, mostly on a Yamaha SPX90. It inverts a normal reverb envelope without making the notes backwards. There are certain settings I use that, along with the way I have the tone of the guitar set up, create a totally melted sort of liquid sound. I don't use any of the original, dry guitar signal; it's purely the reverb. When I use that sort of effect on guitar, that means there's one guitar on the track. A song like 'Soon' has got three guitars. But the bulk of the sound is just from one guitar."

"Ninety percent of what we do is just a guitar straight into an amp." (Alan Di Perna, Guitar World, March 1992, Pg. 25-26)

 "People think its all pedals, but all my pedals are graphic equalizers and tone controls. Its all in the tone." (Steve Double, NME November 9, 1991, pg. 14)

The Marshall RF-1 Reflector reverb pedal has an amazing reverse reverb and is very affordable. Very good for My Bloody Valentine sounds!

The other MBV guitarist, Belinda Butcher, used a Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal, and the Boss GE-7 equalizer. She also used Marshall amps.

OF COURSE, one essential piece of My Bloody Valentine kit are the Fender Jaguar and Fender Jazzmaster guitars. Get one of those and use the vibrato arm a lot...

NEW! EXCLUSIVE MY BLOODY VALENTINE COMEBACK GEAR INFO (JUNE 2008):

After attending their earth-shaking, ear-shattering, awesome gig at the Manchester Apollo last Sunday 29th June, and analyzing some recent photographs, here's a few more details we can bring to you, previously not found ANYWHERE ELSE on the web!

Kevin Shields actually uses between 6 to 8 amps at any one gig, using a pedalboard to select which amp. The amps include not only the usual Marshal stacks, but JMI and Vox amps (AC30 head?), a Divided by 13 stack, and a Fender Tone-Master head. A couple might be switched off, like spare or whatever, but most amps onstage were definitely turned on and miked, and when the roadie was setting up the guitar you could see him using this pedalboard to select different amps:

The pedalboard is also probably used to control the rack units.

Belinda also had Marshall stacks and a Vox head/ cab combo. We could find no images of any pedals.

Here's a good pic of the amp setup (click to enlarge):

Besides playing the usual assortment of Jaguars and Jazzmasters, Kevin Shields also played an electro-acoustic guitar in one song (Cigarette In Your Bed) but unfortunately the make wasn't clear. It looked like the same one he had way back in 1989:

The electro-acoustic guitar seems to be a Takamine...they're really good! For all we know, it could even be a cheap one like the EG260C, rather than a more expensive one, but who knows...

Belinda Butcher, on the other hand, also plays Fender Mustang guitars, as the pic below shows.

The most mysterious guitar is the next one here, which Belinda used and looks like a semi-acoustic fender Mustang, with Bigsby? No info about it...

And here's a GREAT photograph we managed to find on Flickr, which shows some of his pedals:

We can clearly see the Digitech Whammy, some volume pedal(s), and a Snarling Dog Mold-Spore Wah (discontinued now) The Mold Spore is the yellow pedal, here's a better pic:

Info about the Mold Spore pedal, which is very interesting, you can totally see why Kevin Shields would want to use one:

Blast off to the Cosmos or come in for a landing with our award winning MOLD SPORE. This pedal starts off with our three basic wah sounds, WHITE ROOM (thick and creamy), VOODOO (midrange growl), and SHAFT (sharp and funky). It also has an adjustable wah pre-amp and can be used as a conventional wah. STEP ON THE MOLD SPORE SWITCH IF YOU DARE! Enter a new dimension as it activates a sort of ring modulator that can be used alone or in conjunction with the wah.

The internal freakwincy tone can be set with a chickenhead knob on the side of the pedal, or changed by the foot pedal. Used in this fashion with the wah turned on, you have a filter freak out. Adjust the balance of the modulated and normal signals. Play a chord with a dissonant sound and then bring it into blissful tune with the foot pedal. Create robot voices, spaceships taking off or landing, tribal drums, cracks in the universe and Godzilla alarms. If you want weird ... you want a MOLD SPORE.

• Controls: ON/OFF, Psych-ON/Psych-OFF
• 3-way switch: White, Voo Doo, Shaft
• Preamp volume boost
• Freakwincy
• Scum Freakwincy Volume
• Straight Jacket Volume
• Freakwincy switch
• Mold/Spore

JULY 2008 UPDATE: we found a new pic on the web that shows Kevin's pedals better!

Besides the pedals on the floor, there were lots of pedals on top of his rack.

A more or less complete list of Kevin's pedals (on teh floor) and rack units is:

Pedalboard:
Volume Pedal
Roger Mayer Stone Fuzz
Digitech Whammy
RMC Wah?
Effector 13 Rocket (not Micro Pog as previously stated here. It looked liek one from teh distance, the white knobs were misleading...)
Effector 13 Truly Beautiful Disaster
MG That's Echo Folks
Snarling Dogs Mold Spore
Roger Mayer Vision Octavia
Pete Cornish Custom? NG-2?
Ernie Ball Volume
Boss TU-2 Tuner
Mike Hill Services Midi Foot Controller w/ External Mute Switch (for rack effects)

Rack:
Alesis MidiVerb II
Yamaha GEP-50
conditioner
Yamaha SPX-900
Yamaha SPX-90
Alesis MidiVerb II
Mike Hill Services Midi Effect Preset boxes x5

Now...the following AMAZING pics show ALL the FX pedals Kevin Shields brought on tour, including a good look at his rack - God knows if he actually used all of them, but here we go!

A few things we can see:

Ibanez AD-9 Delay (could be Maxon, too); Z-Vex Seek Wah II; Danelectro Back Talk Reverse Delay pedal; Boss PN-2; Boss GE-7 Equalizer; Electro Harmonix Big Muff; Coloursound Fuzz; Boss SD-1; Boss Delay (DD-3?); Boss DD-20 Giga Delay; Coloursound Tremolo; Z-vex Super Hard-On; Z-Vex Tremolo Probe; Dunlop Rotovibe; Tech 21 SansAmp; Electro Harmonix Q-Tron

...and many, many more, that we can't find out what they are...and we are too tired to find out now!

Amongst the guitars, you can see a Fender Jazzmaster J Mascis Signature...

And here's a couple more pics from the ICA gig, also from Flickr, where you can have a good look at the guitars and amps.

Well, that's as much as we could gather...we hope you liked the info, and let other MBV-fanatics know about it!

And on a final note...if you love Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters, 2008 will be a GREAT year!