June 2010 \ Features \ Axes Bold as Love: The Gear of Experience Hendrix Tour 2010

Axes Bold as Love: The Gear of Experience Hendrix Tour 2010

Chris Kies & Jordan Wagner

PG goes behind the scenes on the Experience Hendrix Tour to talk gear with the gods and demigods of guitar
Premier Guitar June 2010
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Brad Whitford

Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford chose Fender Stratocasters for the tour. He’s pictured here with a Mexican-made Standard.

For the tour, Whitford went with a setup he’s used for years. “Ever since I can remember playing, a 100-watt Marshall halfstack has been my frame of reference,” he said. “Being really young and listening to Eric Clapton in Cream—and, of course, Hendrix—made me think, that’s what guitar sounds like.’” Whitford drove the amp with a seafoam green Strat recently loaded with Duncan Antiquities. “You sort of have that journey that you go through, looking for whatever tone that you’re after. Then you realize that you just lost it. Everybody’s got a better mousetrap. I’ve gone through a lot of different stages with guitars and pedals, but I think the minimalistic approach is the best. The more naked it is, the more honest it is.” He’s even rethought wirelesses. “The last few shows with Aerosmith I stopped using it. Mentally, it’s hard to wrap my head around my guitar signal being some invisible thing in the air.”

Experience Hendrix has allowed Whitford to not only share the stage with his sons, but other performers he wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to do so with. “Usually the show closes with ‘Red House,’ and that includes Joe [Satriani], Robert [Randolph], and Billy [Cox],” he explains. “It’s been really fun playing with Joe, he’s such a great musician. It’s not one of those competition things with him—it’s all about the music.”


Two Fender Stratocasters belonging to the Whitfords: an American Fat Strat with Gold Lace Sensors and a Mexican-made Standard.


Whitford’s sons, Harrison and Graham, joined him on the Experience Hendrix tour this year. Here Harrison holds his seafoam green Fender ’62 Stratocaster reissue.


The Whitfords depended on the time-tested—and Hendrix-approved—Marshall Super Lead and a Marshall 4x12. The head is a reissue 100-watt model, and the cabinet is a 1960BX loaded with Celestion Greenbacks. It’s mic’d with a Shure SM57.


Whitford’s pedalboard features a Dunlop Crybaby wah, Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz, Fulltone Deja Vibe, MXR Carbon Copy analog delay, and an original Marshall The Guv’nor overdrive.

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Comments

 (15 comments) display by
UsernameComment
john nunez
on 10/27/2012 		we'll get outdated, he won't...
Ed C.
on 08/18/2010 		Can you imagine if Hendrix had today'd equipment and technology ?

Kudos to Living Colour and Ernie Isley and all the other
Musicians who keep Jimi's legacy alive.

Word !
David G.
on 07/06/2010 		Thanks for the great article. Enjoy everyone!
Chill out on the criticsm people. Sorry if you feel offended. The magazine is trying to make you all appreciate some unique and interesting musicians and show great tribute to the main man Jimi who changed the Axis of the musical universe for us all.
squier
on 06/17/2010 		This is a great article! The staff did a great recap of the gear and the actual performances. KWS, Living Colour, and Satch put on great performances. While legends like Hubert Sumlin and Billy Cox performed, I was most star struck by Chris Layton, being a big SRV fan. The most disappointing performance was Eric Johnson, but it was a great show and great article!
Vince
on 05/28/2010 		What the Hell?....No pictures of Ernie Isley's amps and gear???A guy that actually learned at the proverbial knee of Hendrix gets a couple of half-assed pictures of half of his two Strats with one partially obscured? Come on PG....
Rebecca - Web Ed
on 05/28/2010 		Regarding Doyle, he wasn't at the tour stop we went to so we weren't able to talk to him or get shots of his gear. We think he's great and definitely did not leave him out by our choice!
USmagsSuck
on 05/28/2010 		So the guy who actually channels Hendrix the best doesn't get any mention at all? Great job once again! Fail is your forte! Where is Doyle?!? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= obASwePIa4k
Mat Jochum
on 05/25/2010 		The Premier Guitar staff has obviously missed some things--Johnson's Super Vee Trem, Randolph's Fuchs switcher and probably more to come--but they did a tremendous job gathering all this sexy content for those that didn't attend the tour. Gear, gear gear is what we've come to expect from these guys and they delivered again with this feature.
Mike P
on 05/24/2010 		You guys failed to mention the Fuchs TDS artist footswitch on the pedal board. Robert was rocking a Fuchs TDS-150 throughout the tour (besides the Fender), which should have been noted as well.
Loser_Stone
on 05/22/2010 		Nice article, but the Premier Guitar staff failed to mention the Spidey Underoos beneath Vernon Reid's trousers. This is a significant component, not only to performance, but to mojo as well. This really speaks volumes to the performance and nature of Reid's stage strutting...something the editors of Premier Guitar inadvertantly missed.



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