Frank Zappa's Gear!

[knittingram]

So, I really dig FZ! I have for a while but I haven't been able to find too much info on his recording gear. I know he was a Carvin guy, a U47guy and he used what ever guitars he wanted but what preamps did he use on his recordings.. ? Did he use the stock Carvin preamps, custom preamps or what? Also, what Carvin consoles did he have? I know he had the walls lined with them.. And lastly, what mods did he have inside of his guitars? I know the was basically a fuzz pedal in the and some eq boosts on toggle switches but what frequncies were the boosts at, etc? And there was also the wagnerian harmonic emacnipator (or whatever it was called..)

I know Jim Williams' AudioUpgrades.com did some mods for Zappa and some Zappa players.. Maybe he can shed some light?

[henryrobinett]

I'd like to know as well!

[macr0w]

I don't know about live but I believe he was a fan of Harrison consoles in the studio.

[henryrobinett]

And of course his Synclavier.

[Mark Kaufman]

...and his trusty pair of zircon-encrusted tweezers.




(Sorry, I'm a wino man...I can't help myself.)

[dbbubba]

When he died he had a Neve VR72 in The Utility Research Muffin Kitchen.
That was the big studio at his "house."

He also owned what was once Stevie Wonder's remote truck which was one of the Record plant remote trucks.
There was Neve 8068 mkII in it that was sold to studio in Nashville prior to his death.
That truck also had a few (2?) Carvin consoles mounted on the wall for auxiliary duties.

Prior to the Neve VR he had a Harrison.

I am pretty sure that he never tracked much through the Carvins, but with as big of a band as he had I can't see how he fit everything into the Neve 8068 mkII in the remote truck.
He had two SONY 3324 24 track DASH digital tape decks and I believe he took both out in the remote truck on most tours.
He also had an Ampex MM-1200 and a Studer A80 2" 24 track.

[Waltz Mastering]

Here's Dweezil in the urmk.. pretty cool vid

YouTube - In the Studio with... Dweezil Zappa

[BOWIE]

Bump for more replies. Great thread idea!

[John Eppstein]

Dunno about his studio gear or recent stuff. When I saw him live with the original Mothers in the late '60s he was playing a Hagstrom Swede through a Baldwin amp (like the one Willie Nelson has now), if that's any help.... He used to endorse Hagstrom for a while......

[knittingram]

Originally Posted by dbbubba

He also owned what was once Stevie Wonder's remote truck which was one of the Record plant remote trucks.

I thought it was the Beach Boys recording truck? That's what his biography books said.. maybe not..

Great info.. thanks guys..

[Harvey Gerst]

Frank was a major Acoustic Control endorsee as far as amplifiers, and his main guitar as I recall was a Gibson Les Paul with soapbar pickups and sometimes, an SG. He also owned two Acoustic Control Black Widow guitars.

[knittingram]

so what about samplers? I know before he died he sampled Ruth Underwood's Marimba? and they used a ton of samplers on the 84' and 88 tours.. Any Ideas?

Also, anybody have any specific ideas about the extreme eq's inside his guitars?

In a lot of the movies is shows the singers in the bands singing into pencil condensers taped to another mic.. Its been a while since I have seen 200 motels..

What other mics did he use on stage?

Anything that you might have seen in a concert or in one of his movies and recognized would be cool to know.. For instance, Terry Bozzio was playing an electric drumset in BABY SNAKES the movie, in the scene where they are scoring the movie.. And he uses some archaic synth during his big drum solo.. What are they?

What synths did Frank have in the studio?

[Barish]

Frank Zappa Recording History-Zappa's Music History and Recording Techniques

B.

[knittingram]

Originally Posted by Barish

Frank Zappa Recording History-Zappa's Music History and Recording Techniques

B.

YES!

[CapnMarvel]

The one thing I can add is that most of the guitars on Apostrophe and Overnite Sensation were tracked through a Pignose amp. A $30, battery-powered Pignose.

The Guitars Of Frank Zappa

[picksail]

From what I recall the mobile truck originally belonged to the Beach Boys.

Zappa's preference for the Harrison was because he received one of the very first SSLs, which he felt it wasn't ready for "prime time" so he went with the Harrison.

[Audio Hombre]

as a kid i seem to recall a pick of frank with a guitar shaped like an sg that said "ampeg" on the headstock.

[Mark Kaufman]

Originally Posted by Barish

Frank Zappa Recording History-Zappa's Music History and Recording Techniques

B.

What a great read.

[hank alrich]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

Frank was a major Acoustic Control endorsee as far as amplifiers, and his main guitar as I recall was a Gibson Les Paul with soapbar pickups and sometimes, an SG. He also owned two Acoustic Control Black Widow guitars.

When he played AWHQ he was using Strats, w/Jim Williams' mods.

[taturana]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

Frank was a major Acoustic Control endorsee as far as amplifiers, and his main guitar as I recall was a Gibson Les Paul with soapbar pickups and sometimes, an SG. He also owned two Acoustic Control Black Widow guitars.

he also used various strats including some kind of custom strat with a floyd rose tremolo in the 80's... i wonder what that was? that also seemed to be the current trend of guitars at the time... an example would be the valley arts custom strats...

[jsteiger]

I know Mark Linett (yrplace) worked for him back in the early 1970's. FOH I believe.

studioexpresso - producer Mark Linett

Maybe this thread will catch his eye and he will enlighten us a bit!

[knittingram]

Originally Posted by hank alrich

When he played AWHQ he was using Strats, w/Jim Williams' mods.

What does a Jim Williams' Strat mod consist of?