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

Mandume said:
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 TNOTB)
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).
Click to expand...
2nd photo:
The white bass was the backup during Beast On The Road tour. It can be seen being played by Michael Kenney (with Eddie mask) on the Madrid 82 bootleg. That bass became the blue crackle bass.

3rd photo:
I assume that the Dean V was the backup for the Heritage LP during early stages of World Slavery Tour.

4th photo:
Lado basses were used during early stages of World Slaver Tour.

5th photo:
The Heritage LP was used nightly on Powerslave (the song) during the early stages of World Slavery Tour. It was likely replaced with the Kossoff to avoid quick guitar changes before the guitar solo, which featured tremolo use.
 
Mandume said:
note Dave is playing his Dean V even on the Powerslave Tour
Click to expand...
It's nice to know that Dave didn't just use the Dean V for 1 tour. It was used for Trooper right, I mean during WST outings.
matic22 said:
The white bass was the backup during Beast On The Road tour. It can be seen being played by Michael Kenney (with Eddie mask) on the Madrid 82 bootleg. That bass became the blue crackle bass.
Click to expand...
Nice trivia.
 
Last edited:
Ascendingthethrone said:
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.
Click to expand...
It was probably a drop D guitar (along with #2 Strat and cream HSS Strat) which was used on Iron Maiden during the tour but very rarely.
 
matic22 said:
2nd photo:
The white bass was the backup during Beast On The Road tour. It can be seen being played by Michael Kenney (with Eddie mask) on the Madrid 82 bootleg. That bass became the blue crackle bass.

3rd photo:
I assume that the Dean V was the backup for the Heritage LP during early stages of World Slavery Tour.

4th photo:
Lado basses were used during early stages of World Slaver Tour.

5th photo:
The Heritage LP was used nightly on Powerslave (the song) during the early stages of World Slavery Tour. It was likely replaced with the Kossoff to avoid quick guitar changes before the guitar solo, which featured tremolo use.
Click to expand...
Regarding the LP, it was retired from live use due to Dave considering it to be too nice to be banged up on the road. That's what he said in Infinite Dreams.
 
Kalata said:
It's nice to know that Dave didn't just use the Dean V for 1 tour. It was used for Trooper, right.

Nice trivia.
Click to expand...
Dave used the V for "Die With Your Boots On" I believe, on the world piece tour.

I also came upon a pic of Bruce playing Adrians Dean Baby ML (presumably during Revelations) on the Powerslave Tour, I'll post it tomorrow.
 
Kalata said:
Yeah, but Steve have it with different colors - black, white/black (Killers tour, if I remembered well), blue (it has one more blue, which is more dark blue), the one with the chess backdrop, and his signature white/black with the West Ham United FC emblem ! - I think that this is all of the basses ! And for the videos on AH and 2MTM he uses one very strange blue bass - I think it was Unicorn Lado Bass or something ! - would be cool to see all of them with pictures.
Click to expand...
Did we ever have a post listing Steve's main basses? I did try to read everything im this thread today but didn't see one (could be that I'm blind :D )

Obviously there's the West Ham bass (White then Black then Blue Sparkle then West Ham).

Then there's the Checquer Board and the blue crackle... (one started red and one white if I recall correctly from skimming all 96 pages today?).

Was the killers/ beast white precision one of those?

Lado Unicorn....

Jazz bass used in 1976...

Mostly his 21st century extras are clones of his classics, right?

Would love to see a good timeline of the various mods/ repaints though :)
 
KostamojeN said:
Did we ever have a post listing Steve's main basses? I did try to read everything im this thread today but didn't see one (could be that I'm blind :D )

Obviously there's the West Ham bass (White then Black then Blue Sparkle then West Ham).

Then there's the Checquer Board and the blue crackle... (one started red and one white if I recall correctly from skimming all 96 pages today?).

Was the killers/ beast white precision one of those?

Lado Unicorn....

Jazz bass used in 1976...

Mostly his 21st century extras are clones of his classics, right?

Would love to see a good timeline of the various mods/ repaints though :)
Click to expand...
I might add that both the main and the crackle blue basses are from 70s and likely maple bodied. The checkerboard is a 59, one of the earliest basses with a rosewood fretboard.
 
So i n terms of a rough chronology....

19xx? Sunburst Jazz Bass, rosewood fretboard with block inlays.
(First seen 1976)

1970's Fender Precision, maple body and fretboard, dot inlays (Main bass)
(White -> Matte Black -> Blue Sparkle -> West Ham)

19xx's Fender Precision, maple fretboard
(White) (chequer board/ blue crackle bass)?
(Killers/ Beast on the Road)

19xx's Ibanez bass, black
circa Beast on the Road

1970's Fender Precision, maple body, rosewood fretboard, dot inlays.
(White or Red -> Blue Crackle)

1984 Lado Unicorn Bass

1984 Lado Super Falcon Bass

19xx? Fender Precision, unknown body rosewood fretboard, dot inlays.
(Red or White -> Checquer Board)
Also later another Chequer Board bass with a maple fretboard.

Obviously corrections and additions welcome :)
 
Last edited:
sea.of.madness.1986 said:
View attachment 45465
A nice snap of Davey and Steve during NPOTR, with Davey playing his white Jackson, notice a black humbucker as the bridge pickup, I think it had a white one during FOTD tour.
Click to expand...
I always liked Dave's Jacksons

Weird lighting on Steve's bass. It almost looks black. I'm sure there are hints of blue in there, so it has to be the hero bass in lake placid blue sparkle. :D
 
Last edited:
Steve seems to have had the white one with rosewood fretboard since (at least) 1980.

This photo from Infinite Dreams states Reading 1980.
1000021531.jpg

Also found these 2 from Google.
Steve Harris 1080.jpgSteve HarrisTuning.jpeg
 
So a small update to the list :)

19xx? Sunburst Jazz Bass, rosewood fretboard with block inlays.
(First seen 1976)

1970's Fender Precision, maple body and fretboard, dot inlays (Main bass)
(White -> Matte Black -> Blue Sparkle -> West Ham)

1959 Fender Precision, maple body, rosewood fretboard, dot inlays.
(White -> Blue Crackle)
(Seen at Reading 1980)

1970's Fender Precision, maple fretboard
(White) (blue crackle bass)?
(Killers/ Beast on the Road?)


19xx's Ibanez bass, black
(circa Beast on the Road)

1984 Lado Unicorn Bass
1984 Lado Super Falcon Bass

Also later another Chequer Board bass with a maple fretboard.
(Around NPOTR ?)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top