Billy Corgan's Pedalboard & Amps

William Corgan's tech details how four amps and four pedals help the guitar great paint with so many colors.

The concept album is a sequel to Smashing Pumpkins’ definitive three-LP masterwork Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, from 1995—which also brought them crushing into the mainstream. Acts two and three of Atum are scheduled for January and April 2023. But meanwhile, there are live shows … and all the gear it takes to recreate more than three decades years of the band’s signature sounds. PS: Special thanks to super-tech Trace Davis for his help with the fine points.

#guitar #smashingpumpkins #pedalboard

[Aaron-zhkj]

It seems people have some confusion about "why is he not using a big muff", etc. etc. Per multiple interviews over the years, Corgan and Butch Vig have said that he used a Big Muff in the studio to record the guitars for Siamese Dream, specifically an Op Amp circuit Big Muff, circa 1980's model I believe (That circuit had a very different sound than the normal, modern big muff EHX sells, and at some point they stopped using an op amp circuit and changed the circuit, which gave it a different sound). When The Pumpkins went to go on tour for Siamese Dream, in the beginning they tried using the big muffs live, and they said in gear related interviews they learned really fast that the big muffs were really lacking in mid frequencies, would not cut through a mix live, and the guitar would just become inaudible (I've experienced this phenomenon personally myself, when I was traveling with a band; the first time I went to kick on a big muff for a solo, the guitar just disappeared in the mix). That's when Corgan and James switched to using Marshall JMP-1 preamps, which actually ended up being the main rhythm guitar sound on Mellon Collie later.

Ever since, people for years have been trying to get that Siamese Dream sound of the op amp big muff, but it's been elusive and hard to get, because until recently, EHX had stopped using op amp in the big muff circuit. You had to either buy some clone pedal that some other company built of the original circuit or you had to buy a vintage big muff from those years on the used market for a lot of money. However, due to demand, EHX finally started making an op amp version of the big muff (the one Billy made a video with EHX to promote) so people could get that sound. In conclusion, in Billy's own words, you could count on one hand how many live shows they used the big muff on. If you know some basics of engineering and mixing, you'll know exactly what I'm saying, about that sound getting lost in a mix.

[colesanlo]

The fact thats hes getting the siamese dream tone out of a damn solid state is crazy.

[astrocreep]

Been using a laney lc50 mk2 for nearly 20 years now, greatest amp ever I love it!

[mountainpeakcloud]

Orange Rockerverbs are where it's at. I have the MKii, and it has a unique girth and dirt that only Orange can deliver.

[BagusWibisono]

I love a guy with his guitar rig so much

[Thesharkz]

What happen to the Line 6 FX board?? In another video Billy said he got rid of his vintage pedals for it because it was what he really needed.

[Bobby_Uterus]

That tech clearly had shit to do man! You could tell by his pace, he was a seasoned pro.

[maximeetsebastien]

We don’t have the same definition of “a modest pedalboard” :)

[jared]

Surprised he's not rocking his Salvation Mods rig.

[goodpeopleoftheworldunite]

Why is the expression pedal turned the wrong way?! It's 90° off 😢

[ATreeForFive]

Not so much info about the amps, nor how Billy use them… took a quick look on the pedals..man, what a disappointing interview

[howardsternssmicrophone]

I've seen a million of the rig rundown videos, and it's always extremely shocking to me just how little the guitar techs actually know. They're always saying stuff like "I think he uses this amp for that, not sure", or "I'm not sure what pickup he uses for this guitar". It's crazy to me, the guitar tech should know everything. I see it a lot on these videos though.

[redfurydubstep]

Wait…where does the warm blanket of fuzz come from??

[savoirfaire]

Billy must be struggling financially, given his Behringer pedal! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[minghansolo]

where's the op amp big muff man? I bought one cuz of the dude and the dude aren't even using it😂

[joslinnick]

It's funny how they left the British flag sticker on the Rockerverb.

[brandonkaiser]

This guy obviously hates his job. He was clueless the whole interview 🤣

[J.C...]

I thought a guy on here repaired one of their amps not long ago? It was some sort of power amp? It was a Mesa Boogie Strategy? 🤷

[hessex]

Kinda meh and him using a blatant copy of an octave divider when Mike Beigel is still alive and making these pedals.

[derekdawes]

If it aint broke dont fix it. But hey if you got money to burn why not.