Hi there...

I'm a bit of a guitar geek, and was wondering if anyone on this board had any idea what kind of effects pedals Prince uses for his guitars?

I'd even be curious to know what kind of pick ups are installed on his custom guitars, and even info down to his choice in strings would be nice to know...

I'm trying to find "that" sound.

If anyone had any information or could point me to some websites that would be great.

Many thanks

darlingomo said:

:::bump to top of page:::

I don't know the answer but I'm sure some of the other guitar heads who read this forum from time to time do.


.damnIcanttype

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[Edited 4/10/07 15:31pm]

Ifsixwuz9 said:

Me too.
I don't know the answer.

I think you can find that article from a guitar magazine somewhere in the gallery, it contained tons of info about his gear, and there was also a thread about his strings and pickups here in this forum not too long ago. I think one orger said his strings were from Australia or New Zealand or something.

He uses Boss pedals. I can't remember the exact effects though.

Well as far as effects goes, he has pretty much the whole line of Boss pedals. The main effect he uses is a CryBaby Wah. He usually runs from the wah to a Boss compressor, to a Boss DS-1 distortion, to a Boss Delay, to a Boss Flanger. Those are the pedals he uses the most. However he also has a Digitech Whammy pedal I think as well as some sort of volume pedal. He also has some rack mounted effects as well as various rack and pedal mounted EQ's. All his guiatrs are equipped with active EMG pickups. A single coil at the neck and a humbucker at the bridge. As far as strings and picks go I am not sure. If you are trying to kinda get his sound use a Wah pedal alot for the fast runs on your solo's and use lots of delay, and distortion. He uses the flanger for his stuff at the end of Let's Go Crazy and so forth. Just remember to not get stuck trying to sound exactly like him because you never will. Everyone will always sound different, but otherwise have fun and hopefully it will help you find your sound.

Wow thanks for the info guys...

I'm quite suprised that the majority of his pedals are Boss

I'm not convinced that he is getting that monster fuzz sound with a DS-1 though,even with a lot of verb and delay...
I would have thought it was more like a Fuzz Face a la Hendrix only a lot smoother...

Was he using Boss pedals back in the early 80's? I'm particularly looking for his lead guitar sound, which is an absolute monster.
I know I'll never sound like the guy... But hey, it's fun to try. He is after all the best.

Also... Are his custom guitars modeled on strats then?
and that can't be the same Honer tele copy he's been using since his teens is it?

Thanks again

darlingomo said:

There was a Guitar Player article about Prince's gear years ago... I'm sure someone must have scanned it in. If not I'll try and dig it up. It was light on detail but had a few interesting nuggets.

As you might expect, Prince has a lot of different guitar sounds, and plays around with a lot of different gear in the studio. But yeah, Boss stomp boxes seem to be a staple of his live setup - the usual overdrive, digital delay, stereo chorus etc. He's used the Boss MetalZone at times too I'm sure. Some albums like Diamonds and Pearls were all about the Octaver, others like The Gold Experience added stuff like a whammy or pitch shift pedal. Anyway the point is you can get pretty close to his sound with off-the-shelf stomp boxes anyway, if you want to.

As for guitars, yeah he still plays his old Hohner tele it seems! I can totally relate... sometimes you find an old guitar that is so played in, you always find yourself reaching for it first even ahead of newer or better guitars. Recently he seems to be playing a lot of strats live, but switches the three singles for his usual bridge humbucker plus single coil neck combo. They could be active EMGs as that's what he always had on the "cloud" guitars, but personally I think it'd be a shocking waste of a nice strat to put a big fat active humbucker on it. He's had so many other guitars though, too many to list.

Was there a particular lead sound you were trying to recreate? His sound has evolved a lot over the years.

I should say too, there's a lot of misinformation out there so treat it all with a pinch of salt

Like any musician with lots of money, Prince has a whole bunch of different amps and guitars and effects. I think I saw some recent pics of him playing with a stack of Orange amps for example. He doesn't always play active EMGs - he certainly did for a long time, but he still plays a lot of single coil guitars like his usual tele. Also I doubt he uses a Crybaby as someone above mentioned - he doesn't even use wah all that much these days, but if he does I really don't think it is a Crybaby. Correct me if I'm wrong

I also think Larry Graham's gear was listed at one point on the old GCS website... he used stuff like a Danelectro Fabtone, and a Boss Auto-Wah. On a bass!

ian said:

I've a Seymoure Duncan Humbucker at the bridge of my Mustang along with the factory fitted single coil. Sounds brilliant. I've no problem with customizing guitars. It's all about the feel rather than the sound IMHO when it comes to guitar choice.

The lead sound I'm particularly fond of is his live sound on the Sign O The Times tour. I have some rehersal CD's and they sound amazing.
The solo on Never Take The Place Of Your Man in the movie is beautiful as is the guitar sound on the opener Sign O The Times, but there is tons more delay on that...
And obviously the screaming solo of a live Purple Rain is also a winner, particularly the live version on Prince and the Revolution Live'85

ian said:

This I'd be really keen on seeing. Fingers crossed you find it.
Thanks
[Edited 4/11/07 10:28am]

Ok here is the draw-up of his setup from that article.


Also here is why I know he is using CryBaby's at least lately

Look at the front of his wah pedal.

Anyways, there ya go and I forgot about the blues driver. The person that mentioned that is right. Also good call on the DS-2 not DS-1. For some reason I had the other stuck in my head. Anyways, have fun.

Excellent thread and excellent responses. Cooool.

RobDogg27 said:

Excellent stuff altogether.
Thanks RobDogg and everyone elso who responded.
I'm going to try out that DS-2 with a Blues Driver this weekend and see what I come up with...

Although in that bottom pic... On the left, after the Blues Driver, the stomp box looks very much like a Fender Blender Fuzz Pedal... It's the two switches and sunken knobs that make me think that... Although, it could although be just part of his custom board. I cant see it very well...

I still cant believe he dose'nt use a Fuzz Pedal...

Great stuff, thanks

Interesting

darlingomo said:[quote]

RobDogg27 said:

On Prince's left of course...

darlingomo said:

No problem. Anytime.