EFFECTS PEDALS

While the band downplayed their use of effects pedals in early guitar mag interviews, most of them had at least one or two stompboxes at their feet from '87 onwards. If you click on any of the band member's names at the top of the page, you can view their effects usage chronologically. Below is a table of pedals they have definitely used, with notes on who used it and when (based on gear mags, videos, or eyewitness accounts). In a separate table is a list of all the pedals that were auctioned on Reverb.com in October 2018, but not known to be used live by the band. I imagine some of these pedals were used live, or during recording, or possibly never at all, but you can view pictures of all these items in the Sold Gear subsection.

This page has 3 sections:

  • A summary of each member's effects separated by type
  • Table of effects known to be used / Table of effects auctioned in 2008
  • Photographs or video stills showing effects I need help identifying

     

    A HISTORY OF EFFECTS

    I figured I would give a quick rundown of Thurston, Lee, and Kim's pedal usage over the years. You can also click on their names at the top of this site to view their pedals year by year.

    THURSTON

    Thurston was the most likely to claim he had no interest in effects pedals interfering with his sound. He started building a small collection in the early 90s which grew to a finely-tuned six-pedal support system that lasted through the 2000s.

    For distortion, Thurston has always been pretty committed to the Turbo Rat, since the very early 90s. He originally augmented it with an unknown MXR distortion box. He added a Sovtek Big Muff around '93, and both remained on his board after that (the Rat finally got replaced with a Crowther Hot Cake in 2009).

    Thurston acquired a Mu-Tron Wah/Vol around '93 and it really helped shape his sound from then on, most notably at the end of "Washing Machine". This also remained a permanent fixture on his board.

    While he briefly used a Mutron Phasor II around '93, and the notorious Ludwig Phase II Guitar Synthesizer in '95 for "The Diamond Sea", an MXR Phase 90 became his primary phaser from '97 onwards. The Phase 90 is all over A Thousand Leaves.

    He also liked octave fuzz pedals - an MXR Blue Box and Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz both landed on his board circa '97 and remained until the end (although in 2009 the Blue Box finally got replaced by a Sitori Sonics Harem Fuzz). These were generally used to augment noisy harmonics or wildly shaken whammy bar shrieks, but sometimes they became critical to the songwriting: "Anagrama" revolves around the Blue Box's octave shaking, and "Female Mechanic Now On Duty" utilizes the same pedal's ground shaking potential in its final suite.

    LEE

    Lee was the most likely to take an interest in effects pedals, with five at his feet already in mid '87. Over the years he found some pretty interesting pedals to help shape his unique sound, rotating new pedals in every few years while maintaining loyalty to a certain few.

    For distortion, Lee originally used BOSS fuzzboxes like the DS-1 or HM-1 in the 80s, before briefly gravitating towards the Rat. In the early 90s, he began favoring tube-based distortion pedals like the Tube Works Real Tube ('91-'96 or so), the Ibanez Tube King ('97-'98), and the Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor, which became his permanent fuzzbox as of '99 or so. He's augmented the Tube Factor with a Valve Grinder, Big Muff, and Sparkle Drive before locking into the combo of Klon Centaur & BJF Honey Bee overdrives circa 2006.

    Lee is well known for his use of delay, and often had several delay units in his rig at once. In '88 he began using a Fender DGL-1 digital delay, which you can hear on "Silver Rocket" etc. This broke and was replaced by a DOD/Digitech PDS-1002 2-Second Sampling Delay in '91, which remained on his board for the next 20 years. In '92 he was using a DOD 680 Analog Delay, but circa '93 he discovered the Ibanez AD80 Analog Delay and never looked back, one of his favorite, most identifiable pedals. He briefly used a Line 6 DL-4 Delay Modeler for looping circa 2002 but that didn't last long.

    Lee used a Cry Baby Wah from '87 through '94 or so. You can hear it all over Sister, Dirty, etc. He seemed to stop right around the time Thurston adopted the Mu-Tron Wah/Vol.

    Lee generally had a phase shifter of some sort in his set-up, a Phase 90 or tc electronic phaser in the early-mid '90s. Around '95 he too was using the Ludwig Phase II Guitar Synthesizer, but also quickly fell in love with the Mu-Tron Bi-Phase, a giant pedal that's responsible for a lot of the sounds on A Thousand Leaves. After the Bi-Phase was stolen in '99, he stopped using a phaser. He did utilize a Danelectro Wasabi for some watery bits on Rather Ripped.

    Around '93 Lee discovered a Maestro ring modulator, which became responsible for some pretty wild sounds until its theft in '99. He replaced it with a Moogerfooger ring modulator, which had its own expression pedal. This remained on his board from then on.

    One of Lee's earliest pedals was a BOSS Compression Sustainer, which he used from '86 until '91 or so. He briefly used one again circa '98.

    Lee also started using the MXR Blue Box for ground-shaking rumbles circa 2002. It remained on his board until the end, as did an Electro-Harmonix MicroSynth that appeared in 2004, utilized on "New Hampshire".

    KIM

    For distortion, Kim began using an Aria MP5 Metal Pedal in '87 but had replaced it with a ProCo Turbo Rat by 1989. She stuck with Rat until 2004 or so, although she added an Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes in the mid-90s when she began playing more guitar. In 2004 she began using a Tube Screamer, which she replaced in 2009 with a Sitori Sonics Brownies & Cream.

    She used a Cry Baby wah from '87 through '91 or so. She used it on her bass, for "Catholic Block" "Eric's Trip" "Total Trash" etc. Thurston uses it for his bass part on "Beauty Lies in the Eye" too. She dropped the wah until acquiring a Mu-Tron Wah/Vol like Thurston's circa 2004.

    One of her favorite effects, which she started using on Dirty, is the Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz. She usually uses it for extra nasty distortion. It remained on her pedal board until the end.

    She's dabbled with phasers, including tc electronic, Moogerfooger, MXR, and BOSS. She's also tried BOSS, Ibanez, and Electro-Harmonix delays, rotating every couple of years. She used a volume pedal and tuner fairly consistently through the 2000s. She also used a Microsynth in the early/mid'00s.

     

    TABLE OF EFFECTS

    EFFECTS PEDAL Thurston Lee Kim COMMENTS
    ARIA MP5 METAL PEDAL 1987-1989
    ARION STAGE TUNER 1995-1998
    BJF HONEY BEE 2006-2011
    BOSS CS-2 COMPRESSION SUSTAINER 1986-1991 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    BOSS CS-3 COMPRESSION SUSTAINER 1998
    BOSS DD-3 DIGITAL DELAY 2002-2003 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    BOSS DS-1 DISTORTION 1988-1989
    BOSS GE-7 EQUALIZER 2002-2003 Used by Lee with his Korg Organ. Also used by Jim from 2002-2003. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    BOSS HM-2 HEAVY METAL 1987
    BOSS OC-2 OCTAVE Used by Jim from 2002-2003. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    BOSS PH-2 SUPER PHASER 2009 Also used by Jim in 2004.
    BOSS TU-2 CHROMATIC TUNER 2002-2011 Also used by Jim in 2005 and Mark from 2006-2009. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    CROWTHER AUDIO HOT CAKE OVERDRIVE 2009 Also used by Jim from 2003-2005. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    CROWTHER AUDIO PRUNES & CUSTARD Used by Jim from 2003-2005 and Mark from 2006-2009. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    DANELECTRO WASABI 2006
    DEARMOND VOLUME PEDAL 1989
    DOD ANALOG DELAY 1992
    DOD/DIGITECH PDS-1002 2-SECOND DIGITAL DELAY 1991-2011
    DOD FUZZBOX 1991
    DOD FX33 BUZZ BOX Used by Jim from 2003-2005.
    DUNLOP CRYBABY WAH 1986-1992 1989-1995
    DYNA SOAR 1997-1999 This homemade stompbox was deemed too loud to use as intended, so Kim adopted it as a slide on tracks like "Anagrama" and "Wildflower Soul" in 1997. It was stolen in 1999.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX #1 ECHO 2009 Used by Lee during The Eternal recording sessions.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX BIG MUFF 1995-2009 2002 Also used by Jim from 2002-2003. Several sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX DELUXE MEMORY MAN 2009 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX HOLY GRAIL REVERB Used by Jim in 2005. Two sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX HOT TUBES 1998-2009 Also used by Jim in 2003. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX MICROSYNTH 2004-2011 1999-2005 Two sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX SMALL STONE Used by Jim in 2002. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ERNIE BALL EXPRESSION PEDAL 2006-2011 This was an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal that was modified to use as an expression pedal with Lee's Moogerfooger ring modulator. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ERNIE BALL VOLUME PEDAL 2002-2005 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    FENDER DGL-1 DIGITAL DELAY 1989-1991
    HUGHES & KETTNER TUBE FACTOR 1999-2011 Several sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    HUGHES & KETTNER TUBE ROTOSPHERE 1999
    IBANEZ AD-80 ANALOG DELAY 1994-2011
    IBANEZ AD-9 ANALOG DELAY 2006-2011
    IBANEZ TS-9 TUBE SCREAMER 2004-2007 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    IBANEZ TUBE KING 1998 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    IN-LINE EFFECTS XE-751 ELECTRIC TUBE/HOT METAL 1986
    KLON CENTAUR 2005-2011 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    LINE 6 DL-4 DELAY MODELER 2002-2003 Also used by Jim in 2001 and 2004.
    LOVETONE BIG CHEESE Used by Jim in 2001.
    LUDWIG PHASE II GUITAR SYNTHESIZER 1995-1996 1995-1996 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MAESTRO RING MODULATOR 1994-1999
    MAXON OD-9 OVERDRIVE 2005 Used by Jim in 2002.
    MOOGERFOOGER 12-STAGE PHASER 2001-2003 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MOOGERFOOGER ANALOG DELAY Used by Jim from 2001-2005.
    MOOGERFOOGER RING MODULATOR 1999-2011 Also used by Jim in 2001. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MORLEY VOLUME PEDAL 1988
    MU-TRON BI-PHASE 1996-1999 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MU-TRON OCTAVE DIVIDER 1998
    MU-TRON PHASOR II 1993-1994
    MU-TRON WAH-VOL 1993-2011 2004-2011 Also used by Jim from 2001-2005.
    MXR BLUE BOX 1989, 1994-2009 2002-2011 1998-2001 Two sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MXR CARBON COPY ANALOG DELAY 2009 Used by Lee during The Eternal recording sessions.
    MXR JIMI HENDRIX OCTAVE FUZZ 1997-2009 1992-2009 Three sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MXR PHASE 90 1997-2011 1990-1992, 2001 1999 Also used by Jim in 2001. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MXR PHASE 100 2004-2005 Also used by Jim in 2003. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MXR PHASE SHIFTER 1991-1992 This is mentioned in 2 guitar mags, I'm pretty sure it's a Phase 90 based on video footage.
    OVERDRIVE ELECTRONICS VALVE GRINDER 1998
    PAUL COCHRANE TIM OVERDRIVE 2005 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    PROCO RAT 1989 One Vintage Rat sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    PROCO TURBO RAT 1991-2009 1989-2002 One was sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    RETROSPEC SQUEEZE BOX 1997 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    SANSAMP GT2 Used by Mark from 2006-2009.
    SIB! FAT DRIVE 2001 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018. Has settings drawn on tape.
    SITORI SONICS BROWNIES & CREAM 2009-2011 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    SITORI SONICS HAREM FUZZ 2009
    SOLEC PHASE SHIFTER 1993-1994? Used by Jim in 2005. Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    TC ELECTRONIC PHASE SHIFTER 1995 1998, 2006
    TUBE WORKS REAL TUBE DISTORTION 1991-1995 Also used by Jim in 2001.
    VOODOO LABS SPARKLE DRIVER 2002
    WALCO SIGNAL BOOSTER 2006-2009 Thurston ran a contact mic through this pedal into a separate amp for additional noise.
    ZVEX OOH WAH Used by Jim from 2004-2005.
    BLACK BOX UNKNOWN FUZZ PEDAL 1993-1994? Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018. Has settings drawn on tape, possibly used by Kim?
    EFFECTS SOLD AT REVERB AUCTION - USAGE UNDETERMINED
    ANALOGMAN A/B SWITCHER W/ TUNER OUT Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ANALOGMAN BI-CHORUS Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018. Has settings drawn on tape, possibly used live?
    ANALOGMAN KING OF TONE Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018. Has settings drawn on tape, possibly used live?
    ANIMAL PEDALS AMPLIFICATION PLAGUE DOCTOR Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ARION SAD-3 STEREO ANALOG DELAY Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    BESPECO VM12 EXPRESSION PEDAL Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    BOSS BF-2 FLANGER Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    BOSS DD-5 DIGITAL DELAY Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    BOSS GE-7B EQUALIZER Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    COLORSOUND WAH + FUZZ + SWELL Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    DIGITECH SYNTH WAH ENVELOPE FILTER Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    DOD 270 SIGNAL SPLITTER Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018. Possibly used by Lee with his Korg Organ.
    EBS OCTABASS TRIPLE MODE OCTAVE DIVIDER Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX DOUBLE MUFF Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX LITTLE BIG MUFF Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX POG Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    ELECTRO HARMONIX SIGNAL PAD PASSIVE ATTENUATOR Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    EVENTIDE SPACE REVERB & BEYOND Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    FENDER PHASER Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    HAMMOND INNOVEX CONDOR GSM GUITAR SYNTHESIZER Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MAESTRO MFZ FUZZ Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MICHI CUSTOM PHASOR / TREMOLO Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    MXR DISTORTION + Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018. Has settings drawn on tape, possibly used live?
    MXR DISTORTION 3 Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018. Has settings drawn on tape, possibly used live?
    ONE CONTROL GRANITH GREY BOOSTER Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    P TAPES OVERDRIVE Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    PRESCRIPTION ELECTRONICS YARDBOX Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018. Has settings drawn on tape, possibly used live?
    PROCO MODEL DB-1 DIRECT BOX Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    SITORI SONICS BABY BOOGERS Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    SITORI SONICS BASS FUZZ Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    SITORI SONICS REEL REPEAT DELAY PROTOTYPE Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    SONIC ALIENATOR FROSTWAVE DECIMATOR Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    NOISEBOX 4 SY NOISE BOX Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    UNKNOWN PEDAL Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    UNKNOWN RED FUZZ BOX OCTAVE EFFECT Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.
    WHIRLWIND A/B SELECTOR Sold as part of the Reverb gear auction in October 2018.

     

    PIX & MYSTERY EFFECTS

    Since this section launched in September 2019, I have been able to identify some of the pedals listed here. I've added notes where applicable. Special thanks to Travis Foltz!

    The earliest indication of Lee using effects might be this Jay Brown photo from July 20th, 1986 in Columbus, OH. He's shown kneeling next to an unknown box while he's banging his Minstrel with a mallet ("Expressway"). In December of '86, you can see him using a BOSS Compressor, Cry Baby wah, and a mystery pedal in between... This has been identified as an In-Line Effects XE-751 Electric Tube/Hot Metal distortion pedal.

    Lee was using 5 pedals during the July 21st, 1987 Pukkelpop Festival gig. Based on different angles at other '87 gigs, it appears that the first pedal is a BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal distortion, the third is a BOSS CS-2 Compression Sustainer, and the fourth is a Dunlop Cry Baby wah. I believe the second pedal is an Ibanez, possibly the CS9 Chorus. It's definitely his "water" effect. The fifth pedal may be a Pearl, possibly the AD-08 Analog Delay?

    In this still from the "Silver Rocket" video, filmed August '88, you can see that Lee was now using his Morley volume pedal, BOSS DS-1, and the Fender DGL-1 digital delay. Playing the same song a year later on the Night Music stage, he's now using a Dunlop Cry Baby wah, ProCo Rat distortion, and the Fender delay.

    Here's a pic of Kim's effects from April '89, and a cap from a November '90 video. She is using a Cry Baby and Turbo Rat. In September '92 you can see she's still using the Turbo Rat, but now has a Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz.

    Lee's set-up in '92 is pretty clear from a few pics, and line up with what he's said in interviews: Tube Works Real Tube distortion, Cry Baby wah, MXR Phase Shifter (looks like a single knob Phase 90 to me), DOD Analog Delay (looks like the 680 to me), and DOD/Digitech Digital Delay. I think the box in the bottom center of picture 2 is for switching channels on Lee's Mesa Boogie amp.

    Thurston performs in a bonus feature on the Space Ghost DVD and he is using a Mu-Tron Phasor II along with his Mu-Tron Wah/Vol and a Sovtek Big Muff. Thanks to scott v for the tip, and for pointing out that the Starfield Wild credits actually list every piece of gear used on the track (which is literally just Thurston's instrumental guitar track from "Starfield Road"): ProCo Turbo Rat, Sovtek Big Muff, Mu-Tron Wah/Vol, and "Phasertron" which must be the Phasor II seen in the Space Ghost footage (recorded as a tribute to Sonny Sharrock, who died in 1994). This would have been his set-up for the recording of Experimental Jet Set... and possibly '93/'94 era shows?

    The video for "The Diamond Sea" featured a handful of pedal shots. The first pic shows Lee's effects - his foot is obscuring what is probably his Tone Works Real Tube distortion, but you can see the tc electronic phaser, the Ibanez AD-80 analog delay, the Maestro ring modulator, and the DOD 2-second delay. I think that's Kim's Arion stage tuner in the middle of the picture...

    The next pics show Kim's effects from two angles - it looks like closest to her foot is the Turbo Rat, with a Cry Baby in the middle and a Hendrix Octave Fuzz on the far right. There's a 3-knob stompbox between the Hendrix and Cry Baby, and another between the wah and Turbo Rat. The 3-knob almost looks like her "Dyna Soar" pedal which she was using as a slide in '98 because it was too powerful for an actual fuzzbox. I believe the final picture shows a DI box and her Arion Stage Tuner. I actually think this chain might be, from left to right, the Turbo Rat, Hendrix Octave Fuzz, Crybaby, Dyna Soar, and Solec Phase Shifter. I think she used the latter pedal beginning in '93 before replacing it with an MXR Phaser (not sure if 90 or 100) at some point on the Washing Machine tour. I may be wrong though...

    In the April 7th, 1996 Dusseldorf footage, Lee is seen using a similar set-up, although I think by now he's replaced his Real Tube - is that first pedal a Big Muff? (Yes.) There's also an amp footswitch visible. Branching off to the right, he now has a footswitch for the (unseen) Mu-Tron Bi-Phase and a Ludwig Phase II Guitar Synthesizer to match Thurston's.

    As a side note, I'd be curious if anyone could identify the swirly painted pedal next to the tc electronic phaser in this picture from the back of Washing Machine. This looks like the left half of Lee's board, with the phaser, Ibanez delay, and amp footswitch. Is the Big Muff (or whatever) hidden under those cables, or is this swirly pedal what he was using beforehand? This was an early version of the Prescription Electronics Experience pedal.

    Thurston's pedals are visible at times in the Dusseldorf video, but still a little unclear. In this first pic I think you can see the Mu-Tron Wah/Vol and the Ludwig Phase II, is there anything else? In the other pictures, it looks like from right to left is his Big Muff, Turbo Rat, and an unknown pedal (with no knob)? It's a Jax FY-6 Fuzz Master.

    A couple months later on June 16, 1996 at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco, Thurston seems to pretty much just have the Ludwig Phase II, Wah/Vol, Big Muff, and Turbo Rat. Half of Lee's pedals can be seen, the rather extravagant half - his Maestro ring modulator, Mu-Tron Bi-Phase (with external footswitch), and the Ludwig Phase II guitar synthesizer. It looks like the DOD 2-second delay is right next to the ring mod.

    A year later on June 12th, 1997 they filmed a set for Sessions at West 54th, and there's some great shots of Lee's set-up. It looks like he now has an expression pedal for the Bi-Phase, the Maestro ring mod, the DOD delay, and the Bi-Phase itself. He's also using the Retrospec Squeeze Box, a compressor which was auctioned in 2018. He replaced this with a BOSS compressor for the '98 tour. I think there's just two effects between the Squeeze Box and the expression pedal, and I would assume the one on the right is the Ibanez AD-80 delay, and the one on the left would be his distortion of choice? Note also the amp footswitch...

    I wish I had more information on their effects circa 2000 - Jim had joined the band and seemed to rotate effects fairly regularly (regrettably I only had one chance to photograph their gear while he was in the band), and everyone else had rebuilt their line of effects following the July '99 gear theft. Unfortunately there isn't much pro shot footage from this era, aside from a low quality South American festival gig in October 2000. I grabbed some caps that I thought showed at least some pedal detail...for example, I can tell that Jim has a Line 6 pedal at the far left, with a wah style next to it, possibly an expression pedal for the Moogerfooger analog delay (is that what's underneath the stand for his synth?) but then it's just a blur of indistinct stompboxes. If you can identify any of them please let me know! Likewise for Lee, in the close up I can see his DOD delay and Tube Factor, but what's in between? Is it a Big Muff? And what's that 6-knob thing off on its own? The 6-knob device is a Bias BS-2 Drum Synth.

    I didn't photograph the band's gear between 2002 and 2006, but I was able to piece together most of their effects usage from a few videos recorded between 2003-2005. Jim was the hardest to nail down, so any help would be appreciated!

    In 2003, he appears to still have the BOSS OC-2 Octave and Mu-Tron Wah/Vol, then there's a gap and the next segment has a BOSS GE-7 Equalizer (?), what looks like an MXR Phase 100, and the Moogerfooger Analog Delay. Then there are three more pedals that I'm not sure about - one looks to be white with 2 (possibly 3) knobs, one is white with 3 knobs, and the other looks larger with some kind of graphic or pattern. I would assume one or more of these is a distortion pedal. The two white pedals are a Crowther Prunes & Custard and a Crowther Hot Cake.

    Lee's 2003 set-up is the same as 2002 only minus the Big Muff. Moving right to left you have the Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive, the DOD 2-second delay, Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor, Ibanez AD80 analog delay, MXR Blue Box, Line-6 DL-4 Delay Modeler, and the Moogerfooger Ring Modulator with its expression pedal.

    Kim and Thurston's 2003 pedals are unchanged from 2002. Kim is using her BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay, Moogerfooger 12-stage Phaser with expression pedal, Electro-Harmonix Micro-Synthesizer, Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz, Pro-Co Turbo Rat, Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes, a DI box, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, and BOSS TU-2 Chromatic Tuner. Thurston is using his classic Mu-Tron Wah/Vol, Sovtek Big Muff, Turbo Rat, Hendrix Octave Fuzz, MXR Phase 90 and MXR Blue Box line-up.

    In 2004, Kim has changed it up slightly, replacing her enormous Moogerfooger delay with what appears to be an MXR Phase 100. The Turbo Rat is also gone (a staple since '89!), an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer in its place.

    Lee made some adjustments by summer 2004 as well, dropping the Sparkle Drive and Line-6 looper, and adding a Klon Centaur and Electro-Harmonix Micro-Synth (used on "New Hampshire"). Thurston remains the same.

    I found it harder to get distinct images of Jim's effects from the various 2004 pro-shot videos. I think he still has the Mu-Tron Wah/Vol, and possibly the Moogerfooger delay, but can anyone pick anything else out? See 10/31/20 update for clarification on Jim's Nurse era pedals.

    A year later, everyone seems to be the same aside from Jim - again, the Wah/Vol and Moogerfooger are easily spotted, but what else? Is that a BOSS Tuner on the outskirts?

    I photographed the band's gear several times between 2006-2009 and that is covered elsewhere on this site. I was curious to see what they were using at the end, for the five South American gigs in November 2011. The band used two groups of equipment to battle shipping logistics, and the "B" group seems to have had reduced effects if Lee's board is any indication: compare the Santiago footage from 11/13 using the band's main gear, to the Sao Paulo video from the next night, the band's final show (and one of two shows using the "B" gear).

    Lee's main board seems pretty consistent with 2009 - DOD Delay, Klon Centaur, Tube Factor, Ibanez delay, Honey Bee, Blue Box, MicroSynth, and Moogerfooger ring mod (and AntennaBox!). His secondary board appears to be about 5 pedals and I'm not even sure what 2 of them are! The middle 3 are the DOD Delay, Ibanez Delay, and HoneyBee, but what are on either end? Maybe that's a Blue Box on the right, but the first one?

    Kim's set-up seems to be pretty close to 2009 - the Wah/Vol, Ibanez delay, Sitori Sonics Brownies and Cream, and probably the Hendrix Octave Fuzz, plus the Hot Tubes, DI box, and Boss tuner. I think the phaser and Memory Man are gone.

    I couldn't spot all of Thurston's pedals in 2011 footage, which is too bad since he actually did change up his effects in 2009. The Wah/Vol and Phase 90 are certainly still there. I'm not sure about Mark either, I can see hints of things but...

    ...that's where you come in! I always enjoy seeing pictures of the band's effects, so if you have anything you think might help, or you've managed to catch something in these videos that I missed, please let me know!

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