Question by Connor Goatin: What was John Frusciante’s guitar rig in 1992?
What were they effect pedals he used to get his sound on Blood Sugar Sex Magik? For chorus and distortion? What amps did he use? Anything else I need to know? Thanks 🙂
Best answer:
Answer by Flea
Hi. It should be pretty easy to replicate that sound. There were no pedals of any sort except a Crybaby Wah that belonged to Jimmy Hendrix, and one of those Rat distortion pedals (lent by Thurston Moore who was in the rehearsal room next door) that was turned down on the amplitude just to ripple the fuzz out a little. The real distortion came through fifteen Marshall stacks, each slightly reconfigured to face different world religion locations by producer Rick Rubin. For example, one of the stacks was facing Mecca, another faced the stupa in India where Buddha gained enlightenment. From memory he was playing a Custom made Fender Jazzmaster with wood that was sourced from the rudder of Noah’s ark instead of the usual shitty mahogany you get on those early 60’s models. And the special pickups he added were customised from the same metal used to create Wolverine’s claws. For the chorus, he sidestepped the usual pedal type arrangements and ran the signal through one of the supercomputers used by NASA to land the Space Shuttle.
And of course, the motherfucker could really play guitar. Sorry if this doesn’t help you 😉
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Not sure if this will help answer your question. Here is some info on the equipment used on that recording as well as a link to his 2001 rig.
A major part of Frusciante’s sound comes from the tried and tested partnership of a Fender Strat, and Marshall half-stack. There are a few effects in-between the two, but that clipped, dangerously loaded-with-treble tone comes straight off the Strat’s single-coil bridge pick-up. It’s a sound that leaves little room for error.
Unsurprisingly, his main guitars are Fenders, and classics at that. His Strats come from ’62 and ’55, with rosewood and maple necks, respectively. He also has time for a Tele or two [one a ’63 Fender Telecaster Custom], not to mention Jaguars, all of which hail from the 1960s. The final guitar in his arsenal is slightly unusual, a [1950s] Gretsch White Falcon, loved by all manner of guitar players the world over.
The amplifiers for the Fenders are a Marshall Major 200 and a 2550 Jubilee, both going through 4×12 Marshall cabs.
The effects are pretty standard, adding colour to his tone, but the way John Frusciante sounds mainly comes from the way he plays, with just a little help from Leo (Fender) and Jim (Marshall)!
JOHN FRUSCIANTE’S RIG
*1962 Fender Stratocaster
*1955 Fender Strat
*1960s Fender Tele x2
*1950s Gretsch White Falcon
*Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble
*Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi
*Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion
*Marshall Major 200-Watt and two Marshall 4×12 cabs (Celestion speakers)
*Marshall Jubilee 25/50 and two 4×12 cabs
*Boss DS-1 Distortion
*Fender Silverface Showman
*Two 4×12 cabs
THE FRUSCIANTE TONE
Track: Under The Bridge
Album: BloodSugarSexMagik (1991)
An obvious choice, but just in case anyone thinks it’s an All Saints song, we’ll remind you that it isn’t! You could argue that his playing on other parts of this album are livelier, but here you get a clear indication of his tone. Listen to the daringly clear intro – how many of us would choose to saturate that with reverb? There’s a touch of compression that helps with evenness and sustain, then a twist of the volume knob brings in a slight crunch for the verse, while the chorus shows off his excellent rhythm skills that take much from Hendrix, albeit nailed with more modern groove. And while we’re on the subject of chorus, listen to how the sound changes as he brings in the chorus pedal as the choir comes in, taking away some of the clean bite and replacing it with a supportive musical wash.
http://guitargeek.com/rigview/576/