Stuart Adamson: Big Country Pedalboard

While first coming to prominence in the Scottish punk band The Skids, Stuart Adamson will forever be remembered for his instantly recognizable voice and guitar playing with Big Country. Along with co-lead guitarist Bruce Watson, bassist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki, Adamson composed four classic albums during the 1980s that melded meaningful lyrics, passionate guitar solos and solid rhythms. If you're not familiar with Big Country, check out the songs "In a Big Country", "Wonderland" and "Look Away" from The Crossing, Wonderland and The Seer albums, respectively. We challenge you to stand still while listening to any of these selections. It's impossible!

If you're interested in comping Big Country's guitar tones, we're happy to provide you with the following summary of the set-ups of Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson.

1. Stuart Adamson

• Rack mounted effects:
• a MXR M-129 Pitch Transposer - used by Adamson and Watson to achieve the guitar/bagpipe tones heard in the song "In a Big Country". The M-129 has four preset channels for chorus, octave up, octave down and octave fifths, along with rate and depth knobs. The first channel can be remotely activated using any suitable on/off pedal and, therefore, is likely the channel that Adamson and Watson relied upon during live performances; and
  
• a Korg SDD-2000 Digital Delay.
  

• Pedalboard:
• a MXR Stereo Flanger;
• an on/off pedal for MXR M-129 Pitch Transposer; and
  
• an A/B switch pedal for switching between his clean and distorted amplifiers.

• Amplifiers:
• two Fender Dual Showman heads - matched with a pair of Fender 2X12 speaker cabinets. One Showman was set for a clean sound, the other set for a distorted sound. Adamson was also known to have used a H&H V-S Musician 100-Watt head and a Fender Stage 185.
  

• Guitars - almost too many to count, but here are the most notable guitars used by Stuart Adamson:
• a Yamaha SG2000;
• an ESP Stratocaster copy;
• a Gibson Les Paul Standard;
  
• a Moon Telecaster copy; and
• a Levinson Blade guitar.
  

• Miscellaneous:
• an Ebow.

2. Bruce Watson

• Rack mounted effects:
• a MXR M-129 Pitch Transposer; and
  
• a Korg SDD-2000 Digital Delay.

• Pedalboard:
• a Boss DD-2 Digital Delay pedal;
• a Boss OC-2 Octaver pedal;
• a Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble pedal;
• a Boss TR-2 Tremolo pedal;
• a Boss LS-2 Line Selector pedal; and
  
• a Frontline Regulated Power Supply unit.

Comments and corrections welcome.

Nick McCabe: Pedalboards With Verve

The Verve are a difficult band to pigeon-hole. The band's first album, A Storm in Heaven, features a wide variety of guitar tones ranging from the ethereal and feedback sounds heard on "Star Sail" and "Already There", to the overdriven rhythm tones on "Slide Away". While the later Urban Hymns album featured McCabe's signature delay-laden tones, the vast majority of the songs on this album are centered around orchestral arrangements and McCabe's acoustic tones. A self-confessed PedalNut, the only consistent aspect of McCabe's playing on the A Storm in Heaven, A Northern Soul and Urban Hymns albums is his willingness to explore the sonic capabilities of his effects, amplifiers and guitars. As a result, we thought it would be helpful to provide you with an album-by-album summary of the equipment used by McCabe on The Verves classic albums.

1. A Storm In Heaven:

• Pedalboard:
  
• a Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive pedal;
• an MXR Phase 100 pedal.

• Rack-mounted effects:
• a Watkins Copicat Echo Unit;
• a Roland RE-201 Space Echo Unit;
• an Alesis QuadraVerb+;
• a Roland GP-8 Guitar Effects Processor;
• a Roland GS-6 Guitar System; and
• an Eventide H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer - used during the recording of the A Storm in Heaven album.

• Amplifiers:
• a Mesa/Boogie Mark III combo amplifier; and
• a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus amplifier.

2. A Northern Soul:

• Pedalboard:
• a Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive pedal - often replaced with the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal; and
• an MXR Phase 100 pedal.

• Rack-mounted effects:
• a Watkins Copicat Echo Unit;
• a Roland RE-201 Space Echo Unit;
• an Alesis QuadraVerb+;
• a Roland GP-8 Guitar Effects Processor; and
• a Roland GS-6 Guitar System unit.

• Amplifiers:
• a Marshall JCM 800 100W Head;
• a pair of Marshall 4X12 Speaker Cabinets; and
• a vintage Vox AC30 2X12 amplifier.

3. Urban Hymns:

• Pedalboard:
• a Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive pedal;
• a Marshall Drive Master pedal;
• a MXR Phase 100 pedal;
• a Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer pedal;
• a Jim Dunlop Wah-Wah pedal - used on the song "Weeping Willow"; and
• a Boss FV-300L volume pedal.

• Rack-mounted effects:
• a Watkins Copicat Echo Unit;
• a Roland RE-201 Space Echo Unit;
• a Lexicon JamMan sampling and looping unit;
• an Alesis QuadraVerb+;
• a Roland GP-8 Guitar Effects Processor; and
• a Roland GS-6 Guitar System.

• Amplifiers:
• a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Head;
• a Marshall 4X12 Speaker Cabinet; and
• a vintage Vox AC100 Super Deluxe amplifier.

Comments and corrections welcome.