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

I don't know if this has been discussed at that time, but while I was watching TGU video of Book of Souls Live Chapter I realized that in addition to the capo, H was playing the LP Custom with only 5 strings.


It's visible starting with 4:40.

I am not a guitar expert, but I was wondering what type of strange tuning was that. @matic22 - feel free to intervene :)
 
mihai said:
I don't know if this has been discussed at that time, but while I was watching TGU video of Book of Souls Live Chapter I realized that in addition to the capo, H was playing the LP Custom with only 5 strings.


It's visible starting with 4:40.

I am not a guitar expert, but I was wondering what type of strange tuning was that. @matic22 - feel free to intervene :)
Click to expand...
I think Adrian said it’s some sort of open D and uses a capo on the second fret
Edit: about halfway through this article
noisecreep.com

Iron Maiden Guitarist Lost Phone With Embarrassing Videos

One fan recovered Adrian Smith's lost phone and got quite a surprise when looking through the videos!
noisecreep.com noisecreep.com
 
mihai said:
I don't know if this has been discussed at that time, but while I was watching TGU video of Book of Souls Live Chapter I realized that in addition to the capo, H was playing the LP Custom with only 5 strings.


It's visible starting with 4:40.

I am not a guitar expert, but I was wondering what type of strange tuning was that. @matic22 - feel free to intervene :)
Click to expand...

My guess (considering how he is fretting) is:

D-A-D-A-D, capoed at 2nd fret, with the with the G string (That would be F# or F in this tuning, and would determine if it's an major or a minor open tunning) missing.

P.S. I went to the Brooklyn video where H plays a little improvised solo at the end to research this... And realised: fucking hell was H near falling into the pit at 6:36...
 
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Steve has gone the Geddy Lee route and now has a signature SansAmp...

www.tech21nyc.com

Steve Harris Signature Sansamp – Tech 21 NYC

When it comes to Steve’s rig, surprisingly it has barely changed in almost 40 years. What has never changed is his handmade custom pre-amp, the “Alectron,” as well as his prized custom vintage Marshall cabs loaded with EV speakers. We sent the original prototype to Steve when he was out on tour...
www.tech21nyc.com
 
Sort of surprising, but also not really since I feel like a lot of bassists for even semi-old bands have largely switched away from the typical amp + cab combo, let alone newer ones which may have never even used anything other than modeling units like Axe-FX IIs. Even Steve's live sound is from a DI box if I'm not mistaken.
 
Ruflux said:
Sort of surprising, but also not really since I feel like a lot of bassists for even semi-old bands have largely switched away from the typical amp + cab combo, let alone newer ones which may have never even used anything other than modeling units like Axe-FX IIs. Even Steve's live sound is from a DI box if I'm not mistaken.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but there is still that old Alectron Hiwatt clone preamp, he has used since Powerslave, which is in the chain before the DI...

I also think Steve's tone is a combo of a mic and DI, too bad Pooch didn't talk about that in the video he did 2 years ago.
 
matic22 said:
Yeah, but there is still that old Alectron Hiwatt clone preamp, he has used since Powerslave, which is in the chain before the DI...

I also think Steve's tone is a combo of a mic and DI, too bad Pooch didn't talk about that in the video he did 2 years ago.
Click to expand...
I know. But is it really that big of a difference going from a preamp to a DI to just a SansAmp instead?

I'm almost certain it was mentioned somewhere even Steve's tone is just DI and the mic on the cab is specifically for the monitor mix. I could be wrong, but then that's also a very, very common setup these days so I would be surprised if they were still using the mics for the mix.
 
Ruflux said:
I know. But is it really that big of a difference going from a preamp to a DI to just a SansAmp instead?

I'm almost certain it was mentioned somewhere even Steve's tone is just DI and the mic on the cab is specifically for the monitor mix. I could be wrong, but then that's also a very, very common setup these days so I would be surprised if they were still using the mics for the mix.
Click to expand...

AFAIK almost all big touring bands have 2-3 channels of bass. I'm almost certain that Steve's tone is a mix of DI and cab microphone.

For example Geddy Lee's tone on R40 was a combination of Axe Fx splitting the signal into: a line of Axe Fx amp simulation (DI 1), 1 line of his Tech 21 prototype (DI 2) and Orange bass amps through Palmer Speaker Simulator (PDI03).

I'm almost certain that Pooch has at least 2 channels of bass at his disposal. He even has 3 channels for every guitar (TUL, Sm57 and PDI03)
 
Steve doesn’t use in ears, Nicko said somewhere he likes to really turn up his amp. I doubt that that’s just for the stage. Combination with DI maybe, but does he even use his sansamp at all, or isn‘t it more aimed at other bass players who want to easily/ affordably emulate his sound?
 
Here, from the early days (76/77?) Steve plays a nice-looking sunburst Fender Jazz bass. This might be the same as the one pictured with the very first incarnation of the band, in the Cart & Horses.
Does anyone know exactly when he acquired that iconic Precision bass?

1582187123363.png1582187305140.png
 
jazz from hell said:
Steve doesn’t use in ears, Nicko said somewhere he likes to really turn up his amp. I doubt that that’s just for the stage. Combination with DI maybe, but does he even use his sansamp at all, or isn‘t it more aimed at other bass players who want to easily/ affordably emulate his sound?
Click to expand...

I think Steve uses his SansAmp with BL now, because it's too expensive to ship 2 cabs and fridge sized rack for this tour.
 
jazz from hell said:
Steve doesn’t use in ears, Nicko said somewhere he likes to really turn up his amp. I doubt that that’s just for the stage. Combination with DI maybe, but does he even use his sansamp at all, or isn‘t it more aimed at other bass players who want to easily/ affordably emulate his sound?
Click to expand...
He uses his SansAmp with British Lion, so that he can get his tone anywhere (Maybe they're renting their backline) .
 
Yup :-)

Question, does anyone know if fender closed production of Steve signature bass? I can't find it anywhere.
 
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