Adrian, Janick and Dave's guitars and Steve's basses

[matic22]

I have a question for Matic, and anyone else who might know!

I’d like to revisit the Seymour Duncan pickups Dave has used. I read in this thread that, in the ’90s, he supposedly had an SD ’59 in the neck position. More recently, I also read that his white Strat (the one Colin gave him — the “1956 white one”) was converted to an HSH setup, with a Jazz in the neck.

Does anyone have reliable sources for any of this?

Same question regarding something I read on the Seymour Duncan forum: apparently he had a custom Alternative 8 in the neck, but I couldn’t find any solid source to back that up.

So far, the only confirmed info I’ve found comes from Colin himself: his custom Strat (70s-style headstock) with two custom JB pickups, and ’59s in the neck position on his Les Paul...

Thanks guys!

The Birthday Strat's HSH configuration is a mystery, however, it's safe to assume that the pickups were the same as in the black Jason Smith Custom shop one.

The black Jason Smith one went from JB - a SD single coil, possibly one of the SSL's - Jazz (Alice Cooper's new year Maui), zebras to JB(SH4)-SSL-Custom Alternative 8 (TBOS up to Prague 2016 show), all white, to JB(SH4) - SSL - JB(SH4) (zebras again). It remained in that configuration until Run For Your Lives, when the SSL was changed for a black JB Jnr. The source about the custom wound Alternative 8 during the TBOS era was Colin Price on either Facebook or Instagram at the time (forgot where).

So, the "Birthday" Strat has most likely had the JB(SH4)-JB Jnr-JB(SH4) configuration at the start of RFYL tour and was used as a backup for the Jason Smith Custom Shop Strat. However, when California Series Strat was converted to HSH, the "Birthday" strat recieved the Hot Rails pickguard again and was used as a backup for the Andy Hicks Strat. Basically, I think Dave preffered the neck on the California Series Strat to the one on the Jason Smith Strat.

 

[Kalata]

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

Kinda a pointless rig rundown, since he'll be using a different set of guitars in Europe (those are his LA guitars). What is kinda interesting is that the LP is tuned to drop-C and he says it is for the song "Running", which kinda makes sense as he was using the backup green sunburst Jackson for that during the last SK runs.

Also, the ebony Jackson seems to be one of the prototypes/colour samples as it is noticeably yellower than the maple/black one.

It's cool to see his rehearsals guitars. Curious info about ''Running'', I bet he still enjoys writing and playing heavier material like Bruce's solo. That's the red Les Paul, right? I like both, but the yellower ebony Jackson is still a really cool and memorable guitar of Adrian's. He easily could use different rigs of guitars for both bands, I guess only the Green Jackson will be used with both.

 

[Mateus256]

The Birthday Strat's HSH configuration is a mystery, however, it's safe to assume that the pickups were the same as in the black Jason Smith Custom shop one.

The black Jason Smith one went from JB - a SD single coil, possibly one of the SSL's - Jazz (Alice Cooper's new year Maui), zebras to JB(SH4)-SSL-Custom Alternative 8 (TBOS up to Prague 2016 show), all white, to JB(SH4) - SSL - JB(SH4) (zebras again). It remained in that configuration until Run For Your Lives, when the SSL was changed for a black JB Jnr. The source about the custom wound Alternative 8 during the TBOS era was Colin Price on either Facebook or Instagram at the time (forgot where).

So, the "Birthday" Strat has most likely had the JB(SH4)-JB Jnr-JB(SH4) configuration at the start of RFYL tour and was used as a backup for the Jason Smith Custom Shop Strat. However, when California Series Strat was converted to HSH, the "Birthday" strat recieved the Hot Rails pickguard again and was used as a backup for the Andy Hicks Strat. Basically, I think Dave preffered the neck on the California Series Strat to the one on the Jason Smith Strat.

Great! Thanks.

It’s a shame he didn’t keep the Jazz, I really like his tone in the Hawaii videos.

And what about his Strats from the ’90s? Is there any confirmed information about the SD pickups, or is it mostly speculation around the JB/'59?

 

[matic22]

Great! Thanks.

It’s a shame he didn’t keep the Jazz, I really like his tone in the Hawaii videos.

And what about his Strats from the ’90s? Is there any confirmed information about the SD pickups, or is it mostly speculation around the JB/'59?

Mostly speculation. But the JB/'59 is the classic Duncan combo, so it's most likely that. Could be the JB/Jazz (also known as Jeff Beck setup too).

BTW, a bit of trivia for you: JB = Jazz Blues humbucker, not Jeff Beck. However, the JB (SH-4/TB-4) and the Jazz (SH-2) were in fact designed for Jeff and were on his Telecaster with humbuckers, which was used on Cause We Ended As Lovers, but they were never sold as signature pickups.

 

[matic22]

So, going by the videos Adrian's guitars are a bit of a mix with his Maiden rig for Smith Kotzen:

All guitars tuned to Eb.

Standard tuned songs:
#2 production green sunburst Jackson, previously used as the backup for the main green custom shop Jackson, main standard tuned guitar during the first The Future Past 2024 tour, before the green custom shop returned to the rig.

Drop D (C#) songs:
Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

Running:
Black Les Paul Classic

I think this indicates that the 50th anniversary Jackson will likely be replacing the #2 Jackson in the Maiden rig. There also seem to be 3-4 other guitars on the road with S/K. At least one white Jackson and a guitar that looks like a Lado, either the old black one or the new one that he had built.

 

[sea.of.madness.1986]

So, going by the videos Adrian's guitars are a bit of a mix with his Maiden rig for Smith Kotzen:

All guitars tuned to Eb.

Standard tuned songs:
#2 production green sunburst Jackson, previously used as the backup for the main green custom shop Jackson, main standard tuned guitar during the first The Future Past 2024 tour, before the green custom shop returned to the rig.

Drop D (C#) songs:
Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

Running:
Black Les Paul Classic

I think this indicates that the 50th anniversary Jackson will likely be replacing the #2 Jackson in the Maiden rig. There also seem to be 3-4 other guitars on the road with S/K. At least one white Jackson and a guitar that looks like a Lado, either the old black one or the new one that he had built.

Where did you find photos of Adrian’s rig, on Instagram or something? I would like to see the rig.

 

[matic22]

Where did you find photos of Adrian’s rig, on Instagram or something? I would like to see the rig.

Some guitars are in the background of the Madrid videos.

There are no racks. Going by the rehearsals it is: a few front end effects (Tube Screamer being one) into a full JVM210 stack with Line 6 HXFX in the effects loop. Pretty simple.

 

[sea.of.madness.1986]

Some guitars are in the background of the Madrid videos.

There are no racks. Going by the rehearsals it is: a few front end effects (Tube Screamer being one) into a full JVM210 stack with Line 6 HXFX in the effects loop. Pretty simple.

Ok, thanks man

 

[Maiden Australia]

So, going by the videos Adrian's guitars are a bit of a mix with his Maiden rig for Smith Kotzen:

All guitars tuned to Eb.

Standard tuned songs:
#2 production green sunburst Jackson, previously used as the backup for the main green custom shop Jackson, main standard tuned guitar during the first The Future Past 2024 tour, before the green custom shop returned to the rig.

Drop D (C#) songs:
Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

Running:
Black Les Paul Classic

I think this indicates that the 50th anniversary Jackson will likely be replacing the #2 Jackson in the Maiden rig. There also seem to be 3-4 other guitars on the road with S/K. At least one white Jackson and a guitar that looks like a Lado, either the old black one or the new one that he had built.

Are there any pictures of the new lado yet.

 

[matic22]

Are there any pictures of the new lado yet.

No. It wasn't played. It's also unknown which Lado is on tour, if there is one. But from Madrid videos, it looks like there is a guitar with 6 a side angeled headstock, so I assume it's one of the Lados. Only other option is the Destroyer, but that one would be easily distinguishable.

Also, the drop D guitar is one of the ebony-white Jacksons and not themaple-white Jackson. Used in Barcelona last night. Also, there are 2 green Jacksons, both were on stage last night, when Adrian seemed to have some tuning issues.

 

[Kalata]

So, going by the videos Adrian's guitars are a bit of a mix with his Maiden rig for Smith Kotzen:

All guitars tuned to Eb.

Standard tuned songs:
#2 production green sunburst Jackson, previously used as the backup for the main green custom shop Jackson, main standard tuned guitar during the first The Future Past 2024 tour, before the green custom shop returned to the rig.

Drop D (C#) songs:
Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

Running:
Black Les Paul Classic

I think this indicates that the 50th anniversary Jackson will likely be replacing the #2 Jackson in the Maiden rig. There also seem to be 3-4 other guitars on the road with S/K. At least one white Jackson and a guitar that looks like a Lado, either the old black one or the new one that he had built.

So we don't know one or two more of his guitars in the rag? 7-8 in total? Les Paul Classic is the 'SOTC' guitar for me.

edit: found some photos - the Gold Jackson is also in the rig.

 

[matic22]

So we don't know one or two more of his guitars in the rag? 7-8 in total? Les Paul Custom is the 'SOTC' guitar for me.

LP Custom was never used on SOTC. Always the Classic.

 

[matic22]

The drop D (C#) Jackson on the Smith/Kotzen run is the one with JB in the bridge from The Book Of Souls tour.

 

[Maiden Australia]

The drop D (C#) Jackson on the Smith/Kotzen run is the one with JB in the bridge from The Book Of Souls tour.

do you still have the photos of Adrians 86 Jackson on the Dance of Death tour?

 

[Ascendingthethrone]

do you still have the photos of Adrians 86 Jackson on the Dance of Death tour?

Here’s a photo of his guitars from that tour (source: DOTR documentary). There is also a photo of him warming up with in the DVD booklet.

 

[Maiden Australia]

Chee

Here’s a photo of his guitars from that tour (source: DOTR documentary). There is also a photo of him warming up with in the DVD booklet. View attachment 45419

Cheers mate

 

[sea.of.madness.1986]

I think H only used #1 Sunburst Strat (in standard tuning) and #2 Sunburst Strat (drop D) live on DOD Tour. Other guitars were the ‘86 Jackson, by that time with a cream DiMarzio SD in bridge, cream Stratocaster with Schaller Floyd and the Black LP Custom, but IIRC those guitars didn’t see the stage during DOD Tour.

 

[Ascendingthethrone]

I think H only used #1 Sunburst Strat (in standard tuning) and #2 Sunburst Strat (drop D) live on DOD Tour. Other guitars were the ‘86 Jackson, by that time with a cream DiMarzio SD in bridge, cream Stratocaster with Schaller Floyd and the Black LP Custom, but IIRC those guitars didn’t see the stage during DOD Tour.

I am pretty convinced that I have seen a photo of Adrian using the black Gibson on the DOD tour. I think it must have been during the song Iron Maiden, as there was a big Eddie behind him. Obviously he didn’t use it lots, as he is always using a Sunburst strat on the DOTR show.

 

[Mandume]

Here's a pic of Davey's rig on the No Prayer Tour (It's from a Show in Scotland). I always thought he continued on using GK amps after 7th son, as his No Prayer tone was so similar, so I went digging and found this photo. He's using 3x 2100SEL heads along with 2 Marshall JCM900 amps (which were brand new at the time)

 

[Mandume]

1st photo is from June 22, Montreal Canada, so Davey had that white 70s strat on the Killers tour already
2nd photo is from a gig at the Rainbow in November 1981, photos taken during that show were also used for the Beast on The Road tour book (which obviously was released later), note Steve's bass is painted white here (assuming it's his #1), which means it went from white, to black (killers era), then back to white again, before being painted in that classic blue sparkle finish before the Beast on The Road tour (perhaps even before they entered the studio to record TNOT
3rd Some photos from a German Magazine, note Dave is playing his Dean V even on the Powerslave Tour
4th From the Powerslave Tour, Steve can be seen playing one of his Lado basses
5-6th Again from the Powerslave Tour, Davey is playing his Cherry Sunburst Heritage Les Paul (So now we know it was played live before it was eventually retired for studio work).