=rwa= presents:
Mikey (bass, backup vocals)1998-2001
Mikey Joined Weezer with only one battered bass and amplifier, but soon built up a mighty arsenal. The initial bass, that he had been using for years,
was an original Fender presicion Bass with a sunburst finish from about 1975.
As far as I know this bass was 100% stock parts, except it was in pretty bad,
abused shape from being in constant road use for years with no servicing. This
bass was "retired" from touring in summer 2000 due to it sounding increasingly
weird despite frequent visits to the shop. The amplifier, a Gallien-Kruger 800RB, remained in use untill the Feb 2001 "Outloud" tour, as a backup head. Mikey said hes been using it since he was a
teenager ("my first amp"), and its still going strong!
Matt(bass, backup vocals)1992-1997
Matt started out in Weezer with some gear that he later called "awful and embarrassing". His amp (actually a perfectly good amp) was a Gallien-Kruger 800RB (same as Mikeys first amp, by the way). He had it since he was a teenager and it served him well right up through the mid 90's Rentals era. Where it is today is unknown. His first cabinet was a P.A.S. 2 piece cabinet, with the 18" speaker in one unit and the 2x10" in a separate part. This was a bad cabinet. It sounded crappy. Once signed, Matt got a new cabinet, a vintage 1968 Ampeg SVT 8x10". this was before they had wheels and good handles, so we mounted casters to the bottom. He got it for a bargain $300. He also got a new main amp, a vintage 1967(?) 200 Watt Orange 'Matamp'. However this did not end up on the Blue Album due to its constant fuse popping (later we figured out that it needed a bigger size fuse than what it said on the back). We rented a wonderful Ampeg B-15 'pop top' that was brought in, and it was the bomb. The signal was run pretty clean for the whole album, except for some mild distortion added (through an unknown non-pedal means) on "In The Garage".
Later, in 1995, Matt got a second Orange 'Matamp', which was very similar to the '67, except it was from approx 1975. It looked almost new, but this was before they started re-issuing them, so we knew it was old.
on 'pinkerton' and on stage for later weezer tours and Rentals tours, Matt went back to the GK, with a Sovtek Big Muff pedal for distortion, and used the Orange just for recording clean sounds and for a back-up. Eventually both Oranges were severely damaged- the '67 from the "Rhino Lad" incident during a '97 show in Richmond Virginia (more on this later), and the '75 from a bad freight shipping incident. Their whereabouts and current condition are unknown.
Matt's first bass in Weezer was a holdover from earlier times, a 5 string Hamer "Chapparel", with the paint stripped off and the whammy bar removed. He soon dumped this unceremoniously and returned to his old teenage bass which was slightly more ready to rock: a Hamer "Explorer" style bass, whose model name is unknown. He painted it crazy swirly green and glued cut out "w-e-e" letters all over it, which were clipped from extra weezer show flyers. Later this bass was traded away for an amazing bass neck made by Warmouth. Later still one of the 'explorer horns' was chopped clean off. (see photo). Before the trade, Matt went through a number of borrowed basses, trying to get closer to what he wanted. He used a cheap black Squire Jazz bass copy (Rivers's), an early 60's sunburst Fender P-Bass (Justin's of Nerf Herder), and a Gibson Ripper (Brian's, of Black Market Flowers).
Matt then bought a new Jerry Jones hollow body 'longhorn' bass, in celeste green. Unfortunately he soon found out that it wasnt useful in live performance, as it wasnt possible to intonate it to "E Flat" tuning, and thus had to be tuned to E Flat 'against its will'. So it went out of tune fast. This is when Matt made the trade for the Warmouth neck. This is a Telecaster Bass style neck, but a little different. A similar but not identical model is still made, but this particular one was an early model and made from a very interesting swirly kind of darker wood, that newer ones just dont have. Though the trade recipient got the whole explorer Hamer for the neck, he was still quoted as saying "youre ripping me off!". The neck was that nice! This neck was grafted onto a vintage black Fender Jazz Bass body he got as a gift from Johnny of El Magnifico. Matt got some Scheckter pickups and the "Frankenstein" bass was complete. After getting signed, Matt got a rare Fender Telecaster bass from the early 70's. This one didnt work out too well. "Too much low end", said Matt. "It just sounded like a big fart". It was sold. Then Matt tried to replicate the black bass, which was quickly becoming established as an extremely cool bass. He failed, but came as close as anyone could come: (blue album people take note) He bought a brand new mexican made blue fender Jazz bass, replaced the neck with a new Telecaster bass Warmouth model, and popped in some new Scheckter pickups. This became his back up touring bass, and the black and blue "hybrids" were his 2 weezer basses till he left the band. The black bass appears on both the Blue Album and Pinkerton.
Additionally, in 1996, Matt bought a white vintage Music Man bass, which saw use on about 1/3rd of a typical show's set from then on.
Matts strings were GHS Bass Boomers, in .50-.70.-.95.-.115, and he used .80mm "big style" Clayton USA picks.
more Matt info coming soon!
Jason (backup vocals, guitar)1992-1993
Jason started out joining weezer with a red Fender Stratocaster that he took
to rewiring extensively, and replacing the neck of (see Rivers's section for
more on that). As pictures (in Rivers's section) show, the guitar was given
a psychedelic paint job by Jason, though most of this was eventually picked
off by Rivers months later. This is because the guitar was soon given to Rivers,
as it was determined that Jason should play acoustic guitar. The acoustic in
question was a (tbd)
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Live Setup Summer-Fall 2000
basic rough notes for future expansion:
Mikey: Ampeg SVT classic head, 1 Ampeg 8x10 bass cabinet; 4 basses.
Rivers: 30th Anniversary Marshall driving 1 tall Marshall cabs, back up amp: the SL-X. 4 Strat copies: Black, Blonde, Light Blue#2, and Green
Brian: 70's MK2 Marshall driving 1 tall Marshall cab...Maroon SG, Thinline Tele, and Gibson Jr.
Pat: Blue 70's Vistalite drums
more info and pix coming soon!
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"Green Album" Recording gear and info, Jan-Feb 2001
this info coming soon!
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Live Setup: Outloud Tour (March 2001)
basic rough notes for future expansion:
Mikey: Ampeg SVT classic head 2 Ampeg 8x10 bass cabinets; piles of basses.
Rivers: 30th Anniversary Marshall driving 2 tall Marshall cabs, one a "slave" via a split signal thru a slight delay unit, powered by the back up SL-X but sound from the 30th head. 4 Strat copy setup, Black, Blonde, Light Blue#2, and Green
Brian: gets a new cabinet a 100 watt (25watts x4 speakers) Marshall "1960", powered by a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. His MK2 head was his back up. Maroon SG, Thinline Tele, and Gibson Jr.
Pat: Blue 70's Vistalite drums
more info and pix coming soon!
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Live Setup: Hooptie/Europe Tours (Summer 2001)
The band made some significant changes to their touring gear at the start of the "Hooptie Tour", in order to adapt to extreme constraints of storage space and tour budget, as this tour was entirely a money-losing promotional thing. Some very compact gear was invested in, which would more than save money by eliminating the need for a huge truck. After much experimentation, the guitar techs recommended trying the Line 6 "POD" system, which is basically a very modern "virtual amplifier" which actually sounds really good, unlike the many rackmount systems of thew past which always sounded like a bad computer trying to copy an ampo sound (which is really what they were) The Pod actually DOES sound like real amplifier, so despite the extreme reservations of the band, they were tried out in rehearsals, and were an instant hit! So Rivers and Brian each got a guitar pod, and Mikey got a bass pod. Meanwhile, Pat continued to use the mid-'70s Ludwig blue Vistalite drum kit ( [to be] detailed in the "Outloud Tour" section above). The strange thing about the POD system is the POD's are kept offstage where the guitar tech's can service them if needed, so there is literally nothing on stage except the drum kit! The sound is sent directly from the POD's to the PA system, eliminating the need for speaker cabinets with microphones trained on them...
Rivers:Has 4 guitars, 2 intonated and tuned to E (standard), and 2 intonated and tuned to Eb (1/2 step down), these are for the pre-green album songs. One main and one backup per tuning. All 4 are generic Fender Stratocaster style copies, all are heavy maple bodies of (unknown) custom origin, all fairly recently made in the last few years. The main "New song" guitar is a "blonde" (unpainted) model, plastered with stickers (as are all 4), with a Dimarzio super distortion humbucker and a Seymour Duncan humbucker. The main "old song" guitar is black, and has seen heavy exposure in a large number of magazine photos over the last year. This guitar is pictured on the cover to the green album. It has a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups, details on that to come. All 4 guitars are strung with GHS Guitar Boomers, in size ".10" to ".46" gauge.
The guitar signal is sent via a wireless system (the Shure U4D) to a Line 6 POD Pro. The POD has a heavy and clean sound dialed in, switched by a footswitch on Rivers's pedalboard. The distortion sound is set on "British hi gain amp" send thru a "4X12 vintage 30 cabinet", with the gain set at about 50 percent. The clean sound is set on a "Blackface" through the "2x12 cabinet" setting. From the POD the signal is run out to the pedal board, where it goes through the pod clean/dirty switchbox, a Dunlop Crybaby Wah-Wah Pedal (standard model GCB-95), and a Boss Turbo Distortion overdrive pedal.
Brian: 4 guitars as well, 2 for the new songs, 2 for the old. His main standard E tuning guitar is the 1995 maroon Gibson SG, the same guitar that was Rivers's back up guitar from '94-'96. This is stock except for some custom fretwork. The backup "E" guitar, which in fact has become Brian's main guitar for the brand new songs, is a Gibson Les Paul Jr, the same one you see Rivers playing in the 1993 picture above. It continues to be mismatched with an incorrect neck, and has been determined to be a mid '70's model. Brian's main guitar for the older songs is a recently aquired 1972 Les Paul Custom, in either (aged) white or cream (I can't tell). Brian's vintage Fender Telecaster Thinline has become his backup guitar for the E-flat songs.
Brian also uses the Shure U4D wireless system, but the signal is sent back to his pedal board before going to the POD. Brian's pedalboard routing goes through the POD footswitch, to a Zevex Super Hard-on into a Ibanez Tube Screamer, into a TC Electronics chorus flanger, into a Boss GE-7 Graphic Equalizer (set for mid frequency boost, used in "tired of sex"), into a Boss tu-2 tuner, used only as a mute switch. Then the signal goes back to the Line 6 POD Pro. For his clean sound, Brian is set up with the "Tweed Blues" sound (similar to a Fender Tweed), but modified, with some mid and gain cut out, making it extra clean sounding. The "dirty" sound is the "Brit Hi Gain" sound, which is essentially a hot rodded Marshall jcm 800. Also, for "Crab" and "Hash Pipe", Brian adds some "vomity" flange effect, via the footswitch. Brian has changed his mind on guitar string guage many times, I'll have to check on what he's using now. (its GHS, that much I know)
Mikey: For the Green album and newest songs, Mikey played a 1979(?) black Gibson Ripper. He used GHS Bass Boomer strings, size 45-105 medium. For the old songs he used either a Fender Precision Bass (he has several, some vintage, most hybrids of various recent models) or a Fender Jazz Bass. Actually, this Jazz bass is the one he tossed into the crowd at the end of the last gig at Shepards Bush Empire, in London on July 5 2001. A lucky fan has it now (assuming he made it out of the neighborhood alive!). Additionally Mikey got a vintage Gibson Thunderbird bass, which he used on "Island In the Sun".
Via the Shure U4D wireless system, Mikey's signal went to a Bass POD Pro, which is set on the amp setting that exactly matches his old setup: Ampeg SVT Classic through an Ampeg 8x10 cabinet, with all the settings set on "10".
Pat: still using the vintage blue Ludwig Vistalites. This would be their last tour
... the POD racks...the one on the right is Brian's, the little amp
on top is for the guitar tech to monitor Brian's sound offstage.
...Rivers's Pedalboard, under construction...Rivers's setup...
...guitar rack holding Rivers's back-up "E flat" Strat, the black Main E-flat Strat, and Mikey's vintage Fender Jazz bass (currently "AWOL"), and 2 P-Basses...
...Brian's pedalboard (Mesa pedal since removed)...the '72 Les Paul in action...
Also, everyone switched over to an in-ear monitor system, where tiny wireless headphones are worn by each band member, through which a custom mix is pumped, depending on what the band member requires. This eliminated the need for monitor wedges all over the stage, which made things a lot easier during the Hooptie Tour with its tiny stages. The band has fallen in love with the system (also after major uncertainty and doubts), as they get a much more consistent sound night after night. Monitor wedges can sound very different night to night depending on the stage and electronics in use, and can "feed back" at inopportune times. All in all the band is currently quite happy with the current system, and have been having much more "musical" experiences on stage over the last few months. Of course there is always the possibility of further change to the various setups, as nothing lasts forever 'on the road'
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Live Setup: Midget Tour September 2001
Overall very similar to the "Hooptie" and "Summer" tours, with the following changes...
new drumkit for pat, a Ludwig in Psychedelic Red. Dimensions to come.
Rivers switches 2 of the Stratocaster bodies back to the green and blue ash (alder ?). The remaining complete Strats are the Black one and the Blonde one (with the extra billions of stickers).
...Scott gets on board for touring, following the Inland Empire show...
...more details soon!!
the kit in recording action, Nov 2001...
Also Rivers gets a new Marshall head, a JCM 2000. There was much debate as to whether to stick with the POD system or try amps again, and everyone was impressed with this amp so it was kept for future use and recording, despite the tour going on with PODs.
the JCM 2000, its a monster!
Scotts pedalboard.
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Live Setup: Extended Midget Tour Nov-Dec 2001
Overall very similar to the "Midget" tour, with the following changes...
Scott got a black Rickenbacker bass, and used it on a couple of songs in the set. Still looking into the details of this bass, photo to come
...more details soon!!
Rivers got these brand new Gibsons during the tour and immediately loved them both. For a little while he was borrowing Brian's white Gibson Les Paul, then he took the Gibson plunge.
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