Conference napalm::guitar

    Buy yourself a Vox AC30 TB...
    
    I don't think you need/want an effects processors, as Brain May
    apparently uses(d) (several) AC30's on 11.  
    
    jc

    Yup... you'll need a stack of four.

	Brian May's advice in GP a month or so ago was to buy yourself a
	RockMan. Though he didn't say you'd end up sounding like he does.

	Richard.

Brian was using 6 ac30's and ghod knows what in his rack when I saw him with 
G&R.

dbii

    Didn't he used to use some coin as a pick?
    
    Edd

    Brian's always used a lot of delay effects, depending on which exact
    sound you're looking for, you'll probably want one.
    
    I've heard a lot of people play through AC30s and none of 'em sounded
    like Brian.  I've always been convinced that the player is the biggest
    part of a person's sound.  I bet he'd sound about the same playing
    through a Marshall or pretty much any other amp.
    
    Greg

    
    
    Brian built his own guitar -- it only looks like a solid body.  There
    are apparently several resonant chambers within the body.  He probably
    needs multiple AC-30s to get the SPL needed to start those chambers
    ringing...
    
    

Coin?? Naw the guy the the mexican peso is Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top)

dbii

    Pretty sure Brian also uses a coin.  I don't remember the exact coin,
    except that it's a UK coin that's no longer minted or used (for money). 
    
    gh

   .... and Chris Squire uses a British "pence" piece as his plectrum of
   choice (on the bass, of course).  Not that that has anything to do with
   Brian May or his guitar sound.  :-)

   -- Sam

    From what I know of Brian's setup:
    
    Guitar -- homemade, built by father from wood in their home.  Guitar
    		has hand-wound pickups
    
    Amps -- 4-6 Vox AC30 amps
    
    FX -- Brian almost always uses a delay of sorts.  He used to use those
    		old, tune ECHOPLEX things, not sure what his current
    		choice of delay is?!  Brian also uses a homemade distorion	
    		box.
    
    Brian noted once that probably 80% of his sound comes from the fact
    that he uses a custom wiring setup of the single coil pickups on his
    guitar.  They are like wired out of phase or something.  In fact, if
    you remember when Dimarzio was marketing the BRIAN MAY pickups, you
    had to buy two of them together (not sold ind.).
    

Brian's effects have got to be digital these days, he did an extended and 
fairly boring pseudo-pyrotechnic display of every effect know to man during
the two shows I saw last year, the chromatic harmonizers were working overtime.

dbii

    I believe they have started to make a "Brian May" model guitar (not
    sure which company, but I have heard about it, and seen one in person
    in a music store, and also in a British guitar mag I got for
    Christmas; it might be Guild). Supposedly it has the 'weird' pickup
    wiring and 'resonant chambers' in the body, just like Mr. May's.
    
    						Cal C.
     

    Just some additional poofter:
    
    1. Guild has reissued their Brian May signature model which is close to
    what Brian's original guitar is like.  Not knowing what "real" guitars
    were wired like, supposedly Brian hooked up the pickups in an unusual
    manner which helps account for part of the sound.
    
    2. I forget the exact coin he uses, but I did read that he had some new
    ones made up with his head on the coin instead of the Queen's
    (sacrilege!)
    
    3.  I should think one AC-30 would be enough.  May I suggest that the
    usual stage setup for a big rock tour is usually designed for high
    volume and coverage over a wide area, rather than needing all that
    stuff just to get the sound.  
    
    4.  Surprised nobody mentioned that he overdubs many of his parts in
    "choirs" of guitars.  You can approach the effect live with delays and
    harmonizers, but the sound on records is a product of studio wizardry.
    
    5. As mentioned before, most of the sound *is* in his fingers.
    
    							Brian May-not

    ...not to mention that he's got great hair.

    
    >>3.  I should think one AC-30 would be enough.  May I suggest...
    
    Sure.  The reason he uses 4-6 is so that at least one is still working
    at the end of the show.
    
    							:^D

>3.  I should think one AC-30 would be enough.  May I suggest...

Well, I think he uses a different one for each delay/effects setup, so that
would mean at least 3 in use at some points of the show.

BTW, I believe the guitarist in Killer Queen (a Worcester-based cover band) 
uses a Les Paul and a Boss (ME-6?) effects processor to get his Brian May
sound (and does an awesome job of it!). If I think of it sometime, I'll
ask him if he wouldn't mind revealing his patches for us....

alan

    I gotta say, I think Killer Queen SUCKS!!  Talk about sacrelig...
    

> I gotta say, I think Killer Queen SUCKS!!  Talk about sacrelig...

I haven't seen them live yet, so I can't really say anything. I will say that
the guitar tones I hear coming from their practice space sound pretty close
to Brian May's tone, at least enough to be of interest to people here...

alan

    -1
    
    I must say, I have only heard them at that practice space as well.  I
    donno, the guitar player isn't too bad (esp. on tunes like Keep
    Yourself Alive), but on some tunes, like Stone Cold Crazy, the whole
    band just really misses the mark imho.

Re. -a few

    Brian uses a sixpence as a plectrum - or used to, bearing in mind that 
    the ones he had minted with his head on them aren't *really* sixpences.

    Also, regarding the '93 Guild Brian May, it's not a re-issue, it's a
    completely new model. The original 1984 issue (all 316 of them) was really
    only a copy. The '93 model is a replica with lots of custom made bits
    on it. I had a go with one on Saturday and very nice it was too (if
    somewhat light after my Les Paul :-)) and, by and large, they're all
    sold before they even reach the UK - there's only 1000 to go round.

Ross

    I've also heard that Brian May uses an old UK sixpence as a plectrum. I 
    hardly think it's the reason for his distintive sound, though!
    
    Sixpences are certainly smaller than your average pick - about half an
    inch in diameter. They went out of circulation about 10-12 years ago,
    if memory serves. There were two to the shilling and twenty shillings
    to the pound (all thoroughly useless trivia!).
    
    If you look at the latest edition of Ralph Denyer's "The Guitar
    Handbook", there's a photo of May playing through about 15 Vox AC30s!
    Possibly, it was taken at the Freddie Mercury benefit gig at Wembley
    Stadium, but there is an explanation as to why he uses so many
    (something about delayed signals if I remember rightly).
    
    Dom 

    > something about delayed signals...
    
    I guess!
    
    He probably gets a pretty good delay just from the fact that #15 is
    so far away...
    
    Edd

    
    	If you're close to Daddy's Junky Music in Nashua, NH, talk to
    Matt Boynton who is one of the managers there... He owns one of the
    new Guild Brian May guitars. He loves it.
    
    
    Brad
    

One of the original Brian May Guild guitars is for sale in the Want Ads,
the guy is asking $1200....

alan

For what it's worth Brian had 2 of those guitars in concert. I dunno if they
were guilds or his own homemade ones.

dbii

    I'd have to agree that the trick to Brian's sound is in his fingers,
    but there is definately something to be said about the AC30's. No
    other amp sounds like an AC30. I'd love to check out a Matchless
    amp (top-of-the-line AC30 clone).
    
    Mark
    

    About ten years or more ago Brian was on a Tommy Vance show (not Friday
    Rock show but I can't remember which it was). He said he used the 
    old sixpence because it was the only small coin that had a grooved edge
    he could scrape the strings with. I remember him saying that he used a 
    real silver one, not a later mixed metal one (hows that for trivia !).
    I tried one myself but the sixpence is a suprisingly thick coin and
    found it useless.
    However, some years later the British 5p was reduced in size and lo!
    a thickish - but not too thick, small metal pick with serated edge.
    I've used one almost since they were minted on electric stuff and its
    great.
    
    Back to May's sound. Its worth remembering he sometimes uses interval/chord
    combinations closly jammed with the single notes to create a
    'harmonic/choral' effect that is a sound combination which (in my
    opinion) far outways whatever the kit is. A great example of this is
    the part on We Will Rock You.
    Tony.

    Guild is now offering "Brian May" model picks. 2 models are 
    available; the 'Classic' (made of sterling silver) and the
    'ScrapeMeister' (made of mixed metal). The picks are authentic 
    reproductions of the famous grooved-edge British Sixpence 
    coins which are a key part of the Brian May sound. Each
    pick is stamped with a reproduction of Brian May's signature.
    
    The 'Classic' sells for $39.95 (3 for $99.95), and the 
    ScrapeMeister sells for $34.95 (3 for $89.95). 
    
    
    :-)

    re: .29
    >Guild is now offering "Brian May" model picks. 2 models are 
    >available; the 'Classic' (made of sterling silver) and the
    >'ScrapeMeister' (made of mixed metal). The picks are authentic 
    >reproductions of the famous grooved-edge British Sixpence 
    >coins which are a key part of the Brian May sound. Each
    >pick is stamped with a reproduction of Brian May's signature.
    
    >The 'Classic' sells for $39.95 (3 for $99.95), and the 
    >ScrapeMeister sells for $34.95 (3 for $89.95). 
    
    Which, I hardly need to add, is NOT the dollar conversion value of the
    traditional British sixpence ;-)
    
    I'll have to see if I've kept a few old ones - they could be my
    fortune:
    
    "Three genuine British sixpences. Will trade for a 1962 Les Paul or
    equivalent. Serious offers only". ;-) ;-)
    
    Dom

    re: sixpense prices
    
    OUch!!!

    Unreal !!! Try an old coins shop. T.

    re: last few ...
    
    it's a joke, son! I was just making fun of the outlandishly-priced
    Brian May model guitar that Guild put out. I should have been less
    subtle, I guess :-)

    Just out of interest really, but anyone know what make of strings
    the well-coiffured Mr. May uses ?