This is about Joe's gear and amp settings for when he recorded the album that Angel is on. TOTAL GUITAR #124 July 2004
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THE AEROSMITH ARSENAL
JOE?S GEAR PREFERENCES
Joe Perry believes in the ?better safe than sorry? attitude when it comes to guitars. According to guitar tech Toby Francis, when Joe comes to the studio he?s armed with a variety of instruments.
For
Permanent Vacation, Joe?s workhorse was a Guild T-250 (their Telecaster model) featuring EMG Tele (singlecoil) pickups. He also used a Guild G-43 acoustic, a Harmony guitar (a $50 cheapo built in 1957), and a Gretsch Silver Jet formerly owned by engineer Bob Rock (who bought it from Krokus).
The bastard of the bunch was an ESP Strat-style, dubbed ?the Spoon?. It?s essentially a parts guitar, featuring a Seymour Duncan JB pickup with a coil cutter in the lead position and cre-wound pickups in the front and middle, as well as being one of the few models Perry owns that has a tremolo (Kahler) fitted. The instrument is a throwback to another multi-breed called the Telerat, an early 70s black Stratocaster that has the finish removed. Joe loved the guitar?s sound so much, he decided to leave it unpainted (claiming the wood breathes differently) and consequently the Spoon is unfinished.
When it comes to amps, Perry experimented with new Marshalls, Boogies and Music Mans, before stumbling on the Bedrock. It?s a 50Watt amplifier built by a company in New Hampshire, and can reproduce all the sounds of the aforementioned units. Joe calls it a good ?translator? and used it for every track on the album. An approximate reading of the settings are show below.
In the studio, Perry ran two heads in stereo, with the cabinets being made by Bedrock and Terry Hanley Sound (Terry?s brother Bill was responsible for sound at Woodstock). The Marshall-like slant cabs were fitted with Vintage Celestion 25Watt reissue speakers, because Joe found that distortion can be reached quicker with lower wattage speakers.
To aid distortion, Perry runs a Proco Rat pedal . Other effects include a Yamaha SFX-90 and a Roland SDE3000 for delay. Perry was also checking out the new TC Electronics unit - if it measured up to Aerosmith punishment, it was going to provide the main switching and effects loops.
Joe uses 1.21 guage extra heavy picks imprinted with the band?s logo (they?re custom made since few companies carry them) and Gold Maxima or Guild Slidebender strings (.009 sets for the models with whammy bars).
Essentially, Joe is a purist and approaches an instrument or effect on a personal level. If he picks it up and likes it, he?ll play it. ?He?s concentrating more on tone and less on magic,? explains Francis. ?He used to just plug in, turn it all the way up and if it happened, it happened. Now he?s willing to sacrifice volume for tone. He even wears earplugs live.?
PERMANENT AMPLIFICATIONThis is the amp setting Joe Perry used to record the
Permanent Vacation album. Select your guitar?s bridge humbucker and choose a British mid-range, strong amp setting if you don?t have a Bedrock unit to hand (like, of course!).
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