=rwa= presents:

The (ongoing) Weezer Equipment History (Page 2)

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Brian (backup vocals, guitar) 1993-current

Brian joined the band in the fall of 1993. At this point he was playing a red 1963 Gibson SG Melody maker. Anyway, Brian has said it was a '63, while some folks insist its a '66. in any case it had a very low 4 digit serial number (possibly #1030?) so it was old. The headstock was the early rectangular shape, which came before the more familiar curved style. The tremolo bar assembly was missing, but you'd never know it unless you knew it was supposed to be there. This guitar was all original except for the tuning pegs, which Brian had replaced with locking ones to help keep the thing in tune (which was an uphill battle). The pickups were the original ones, but what they were remains unknown at this writing ('hotrails' have been suggested, but perhaps they are recognizable fromn the picture below). He soon bought an extremely unreliable but awesome looking yellow Kapa "Challenger", a cheap 50's guitar, that was sort of a Fender Stratocaster copy. The thing was simply unsuited for live performance, and Brian later gave this guitar to his sister. I did some digging and learned the following: There is a 70's Kapa Challenger that looks like a big Rickenbacker, this is not it. There is also a: "USA Made (in Maryland) '63 or '64 model. Volume and tone along with 3-way selector. 2 double coil p/u's. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Has Jazzmaster like tremolo tailpiece, 22 frets. Cool kind of mini Strat solid body." That sounds right from my memory.

To replace this guitar, Brian picked up a rare and unusual guitar, a solid aluminum necked Travis Bean.

Later in 1995, both the Red Sg and the Travis Bean were stolen right out of Brian's car, so Brian had to start his guitar quest over again. He soon picked up a Fender Thinline, a fairly rare semi hollow body Telecaster style guitar. This has remained in use to present day (2001), usually live during "Surf Wax America" and a few other songs. This guitar is fairly fragile and valuble, so it doesnt see too much action on the road anymore.

For a period in '96 and '97, and intermittenly to present day, Brian has been using a new sunburst Fender Stratocaster. He also has come to use Rivers old Gibson Les Paul Jr. and a cream colored vintage Les Paul. (see "Hooptie Tour" notes, below).

For a period in 1998, Brian also played a vintage white Gibson SG that he picked up while the band was still rehearsing, during the aborted original 3rd album rehearsals. He said he paid about $900, (or possibly $1300) for it at Voltage Guitars on Sunset. Brian says it didnt stay in tune so he sold it or traded it back in somewhere, before it made any public appearences.


the original (now stolen) '63 SG, photos taken Dec. '93
in the background, brians 2x12 marshall cabinet and the oddball Mesa Engineering amp that Rivers bought


Left: the 1996 Sunburst Strat, still in occasional use by the band
Right: The vintage white SG, tried out by Brian in '98, then sold.( photo from current owner)
note the rough looking case is from 1994, and originally housed the 1994 Maroon SG (which is currently one of Brians main guitars)

As seen in the above photo, Brians first amp setup consisted of a Marshall 2X12 cabinet, a loud little thing that was perfect for the club touring that was to come. Since Rivers had the Marshall SL-X head now, Brian got the Mesa Enginneering 60-watt (pictured inside the Blue album) for his amp. This worked out fine for the first several months of touring in 1994.

Sometime in late 1994 or early 1995, Brian upgraded. He found yet another "tall" Marshall 4x12 of alost the exact same vintage and specifications as Rivers's. (This one didn't say "Mercinaries" on it though!), and he picked up a vintage Marshall head, a MK2 Master Model 100 watt Lead dating from the late 70's. The head is still used frequently, in recording especially. The cabinet is still around but doesnt see much use as yet another new cabinet (a 4x12 marshall reissue cab with 4x25watt speakers) was purchased in 2001, not to mention the "Pod" system often used from the May 2001 Hooptie Tour onward (see below).

Brian had been using a Fender Twin amp for his "clean sound" switching back and forth with a footswitch. In 1996 he bought a new Top Hat amp, the TC-15. This was essentially a Vox reissue with a little more juice. Brian still owns that amp but its basically a home amp now. (later, in 2000, Brian used Rivers' Fender Vibro King and still later he gets his clean sound from the POD system.)


Left: 1997: Brian's own tall Marshall setup, next to his Top Hat TC-15 amp
Right: the back of Brians Marshall MK2, showing identifying marks

Brian used to use GHS Boomer strings, in the TNT gauge, with a wound .24 G string substituted. Later he switched to GhS Boomer .11's and still later .10's... currently I'm not positive what gauge he's using, but they are still GHS Guitar Boomers. He uses Jim Dunlop plain gray pics, from the very thin .38 thickness up to the .73's, usually settling on the .60s.

more Brian info to come, incl. photos of the Travis Bean, Maroon SG, Fender Twin, and Vibro King.... see 2001 info (page 3) for more...

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Pat (drums)1992-current

When weezer formed in early 1992, pat had a 3 piece Ludwig drum kit. This was a black kit with red blue and green paint swirls, and dated from the 70's. The kit had a 22" bass drum, a 16" floor tom, and a 14" Ludwig Supra-Phonic snare that was silver and had some really lame permanent maker graffiti on it of "Peace and Love" with accompanying peace symbols. Pat still has this drum now. Sometimes Pat would add an old set of Rototoms, but this practice faded with time. He used 14" hi hats (mismatched Zildjian and Paiste), an 18" Zildjian crash (severely cracked), and a huge china crash (also cracked) that had to be one of the loudest cymbals ever made. The ride cymbal was a Paiste 2002 which was praiseworthy for its cool bell sound. His kick drum pedal was a rough old DW5000 that always seemed to be falling apart. The hardware was a mismatched smorgasboard of Ludwig and other brands in bad shape.

As weezer played shows around LA in the spring summer and fall of 1992, this drum kit remained mostly unchanged except for some minor hardware changes and cymbal replacements. Pat started shredding crash cymbals, and kept having bad luck with the replacements he bought. The old 'china boy' finally cracked to uselessness. It was too expensive to replace, but Pat did experiment with a small strange china/crash called the "roar of the dragons wind" or something, Which was so poorly made that it cracked within 10 minutes. Pat soldiered on with it for 3 shows, whereupon it split right in half in the middle of a show at the Gaslight, thereupon sounding kind of like a car crash everytime he hit it. Pat delightfuly stomped up and down on it at show's end.

This black kit is pictured inside the Blue Album booklet in the garage where it did most of its duty. This kit is the kit heard on "first" demo tape, the "Kitchen Tape" demos, the "November '92 official demo tape", and countless other demos and recordings from 1991-1993. By July 1993, however, Geffen was kicking down for new equipment in preparation for the upcoming Blue Album sessions in the fall, so Pat went out and got a new kit. The black kit has recently been recovered from a 4th party by karl, and has been fixed back up to usefullness.


here it is, 2001.the front hoop mismatch was unavoidable, otherwise it looks pretty much like it used to.
(the vistalite snare was not part of this original kit!)

Pat's new kit was a new Drum Workshop (DW) in Marine Peral finish. This kit had a 22"x18" bass drum, a 16"x14" floor tom, and a tiny 13" rack tom (later returned and then later still re-bought!), and a 14"x5" Ludwig Black Beauty snare. Pat got a set of Zildjian "A" cymbals, though he held onto the trusty old Paiste ride for a while. This is the kit as heard on the Blue Album. The DW kit was sold to Shufflepuck, who contained now-current members of both Psoma and Roosevelt. Its current wherabouts are unknown.



the evolution of the "Bokkus" drumhead (no, thats not pat in top right photo)...all shown on the DW kit.

The "Bokkus" drumhead: I have located 4 pictures that show the evolution of the drum head that was to appear in the garage photo in the Blue Album. Top Left: Aug '93: Originally Pat drew the "Bokkus" Character on the backside of the drumhead while recording the Blue Album at Electric Lady. The photo shows the head hanging on the wall as decoration. Top Right: Sept. '93 Pat decides to use the head, but Bokkus is on the wrong side. This enhanced photo emphasizes the 'hidden' Bokkus. Bottom Left: Nov. '93: A classic "Weezer W" is added. Bottom right, Dec '93: Pat traces Bokkus on the outside of the head, only to discover that the hole cut to accomodate microphones is right where Bokkus' pipe was, so the pipe is squashed below the hole. this leads to people thinking Bokkus is blowing a big bubble out of his pipe. Note that the photo of the garage was taken after the DW kit was purchased, so the Bokkus head had to be put on the original black kit for the photo.

Later in 1994, Pat picked up a green brushed aluminum Trick brand 14" snare drum. We were under the impression that Trick had since gone out of business, but apparently they still are going. Anyway, the snare sounded awesome. Pat sold it (on ebay no less!) in mid 1999.


the Trick. this is the actual picture Pat used to sell it on ebay! What a joker.

In the spring of 1995 Pat bought a vintage blue Ludwig Vistalite kit that dated from the mid '70s. The kit consisted of a 22" bass drum, a 16" floor tom, and 2 rack toms, of which Pat usually only used one. By this point his cymbals were as follows: Zildjian 14" "K" hi-hats, a 22" dark "K" ride, and 16" and 18" custom "A" crashes. This kit did extensive touring in 1995 and 1996, then came back out for the Outloud tour in March and for the Hooptie and Europe tours in 2001, and currently is kept at Pat's home studio.

In 1996 Pat got a new Ludwig kit directly from Ludwig. This was a full double bass drum set, a Super Classic in Champaigne Sparkle finish, that he broke into a "big" and a "small" kit. The small kit stayed at home, and is heard on the first Special Goodness "bunny cover" album, and later went away somewhere. The big kit was used on "Pinkerton" and was used for all the touring in '96-'97. This kit went away as well.

Today Pat uses a beautiful Ludwig Super Classic in "Psychedelic Red", which looks suprisingly like pats original black kit. This started service for the Midget Tour in September 2001 (see photo in that section: page 3!).

Other Pat Notes: Used an Axis 'chainless' bass drum pedal for a while, then went back to the DW5000 style. Started with Vic Firth 2B sticks, then went to Vic Firth 5A's, Zildjian Z4A's, Zildjian 5A's, a bunch of different sticks from 1996-2000, and currently uses Vater 5B's.

more Pat info to be added, including photos of the Vistalite and Champaigne Sparkle kits.

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Scott (bass, backup vocals)2001-current

Scott is a vintage Fender Precision Bass man, through and through. He has 2 old beauties, plus several new ones for back ups. He loves the Ampeg SVT amp and 8x10 cabinet, both the vintage and the modern "classic" model.



top row: old ass basses (i havent asked Scott what they are yet), plus a new one
bottom row: Scotts old Ampeg SVT; his current "side of stage" POD/full amp hybrid setup

Still waiting on info re: The details of above, plus Scott's picks and strings.


more Scott info coming soon!

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Other Instruments: Keyboards, harmonicas, piano, etc, used on demos, albums, etc.


...Casio MT-205; Electrocomp 101...
  • Keyboards:

    Buddy Holly: In 1993, a friend was storing his late 80's digital synth at 'the garage' where weezer practiced and cut demos. This was a Korg M1 type synth, definitely not vintage or cool in any way, especially then. But it has a huge library of sounds, and in between the koto drums, etc, Rivers stumbled across a slippery little sound that he decided was just right for his new song "Buddy Holly". Later, in NYC recording the Blue Album, Rivers tried in vain to get that same sound from different equally digital synth that was brought in. For whatever reason no one could find the same model as the one back in L.A. The sound used was basically as close as Rivers could get it to what was on the demo.

    Waiting On You: During an early tour in the summer of 1994, we hit a pawn shop in (i think) Cleveland or St Louis, and everyone picked up cheap used Casio keyboards. At the time they were used as vocal warm up aids in the van, before shows. Rivers chose a Casio MT-205, which is actually one of Casio's better "beginner" keyboards, lots of sounds and a fairly versatile drum pattern bank. It's creamy "pipe organ" tone appeared on several demos, and finally on the B-side "Waiting On You". Rivers still has this.

    Tired of Sex, IJTOTLOMD: In late 1994, Rivers purchased a vintage Electrocomp 101 monophonic synthesizer from a pawn shop in rural Connecticut. He paid a fraction of what these things are currently vauled at by collectors. It saw use on several "Black Hole" demos, and finally appeared on Pinkerton's "Tired Of Sex" and B-side "I Just Threw Out The Love of My Dreams". He still has it today.

  • Acoustic guitars:

    In the Garage, Butterfly, Jonas, et al: [info coming soon]

  • Harmonica:

    In the Garage, Jonas, et al: [info coming soon]

  • other: (trumpet, violin, farfisa, etc: stuff only on demos)

    [info coming soon]


    more of this info coming soon!

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