Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Cure Reflections gear report

Great report from Greg, about the gear the band used last night:

Observed from row 6 (J) of the stalls.

Robert:
- 3 Jazzmasters (1 sunburst for 3IB and associated encore songs, 1 white for 17S, 1 black for Faith and associated encores) Each guitar has an 'M' sticker on it. None have matching headstocks or 3rd 'Top 20' pickup. They all looked pretty pristine so maybe newly purchased?
- 1 Fender Bass VI black with matching headstock (looks like the one used in Trilogy with fewer stickers on it now)
- 1 red 2ble cutaway epiphone for JW encores (suspect this is the guitar he bought to record Lovecats with, and I believe is seen during this song in Cure in Japan 84 video but it's been awhile since I watched that)

2x Roland JC-120 amps for guitars and one for Bass VI. Usual array of Boss pedals. Guitar sounds were all wonderfully authentic unsurprisingly.

Simon:
- 2 Guild basses just like Michael Dempsey's. Very nice touch! 1 walnut w/ black pickguard which he used for all 3IB associated material and a black one for backup.
- 2 Fender Precision basses both black with black pickguards and maple necks. Almost certainly the original ones. The backup one had a white pickup cover.
- 2 Gibson Tbirds (his usual black one and a sunburst one for backup). Used for JW encores only.

2x Ampeg SVT heads and 2x Ampeg 4x10 cabinets instead of his usual 2x 8x10 cabinets. The bass was huge and full and rich sounding all night particularly with the Guild and Fender basses interestingly.

Boss pedals.

Roger & Lol:

Each had only a single keyboard rather than the double keyboard setup the Cure have used since 85. Manufacturer and model taped over, maybe Roland D50? Either way the sounds were all very authentic and MIDI from some ext source no doubt. Particularly impressive were the sounds Roger played during a Reflection, Secrets and The Final Sound. Both main keyboard rigs were placed in line with the guitar backline so set back from the guitarists for Faith although Roger had another keyboard setup inline with Robert and Simon for all of 17S which then was removed after that set.
(Update from Roger: "we were playing Kurzweil PC2xs and no midi all internal sounds that I programmed! Very difficult but what Robert wanted, some of the sounds were closer to the originals than ever!")

Hope this is interesting to technically minded COF readers! (Thanks Greg!)

33 comments:

  1. Greg, thanks for the attention to detail!! So much more enjoyable and pertinent to read than the usual reviews (meaning the media)!!!!! But, do you know what type of harmonica Robert was using :) ?!?!?!

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  2. And don't forget the tambourine Roger used! : )

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  3. oh my!!!! Good one Craig!!!!

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  4. Thanks Greg, I hope the rigs stay this way, from your report it seems to have made an tremendous difference. This makes me want the DVD even more. Every song, both takes!

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  5. Any saxophones for 'Give Me It' tonight? I think RS made it pretty clear tonight's encore will be "The Top" in it's entirety.

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  6. Thanks Greg! I was hoping someone there would be able to post this type of info.

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  7. Was about time for Robert to go back to the Fenders. That Schecter bass sound was awful as well.

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  8. I noticed the JC120's in the pictures and all of the "old" gear. I really appreciate the details they went through to capture the sound of the band and the equipment they used during that time.

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  9. Thanks, Greg! My inner-geargeek is satiated for the moment.

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  10. Love the info, Thanks for sharing greg! Interesting info even for non gear geeks like me!

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  11. That Sunburst Jazzmaster he was playing looks like the American Vintage reissue of the '62 Jazzmaster, the very same one I use. It has all the trademarks of the reissue, which is still a top of the line guitar.

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  12. thanks for that info greg! incredible detail.

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  13. Roger sends this update about the keyboards: "we were playing Kurzweil PC2xs and no midi all internal sounds that I programmed! Very difficult but what Robert wanted, some of the sounds were closer to the originals than ever!"

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  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. Man I would love to hear The Top in it's entirety. It's a fave of mine and probably one of the mos underrated Cure albums ever. Hope it's true.

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  16. I think next it should be...
    Pornography, Japanese Whispers, The Top...
    then The head On The Door, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Disintegration...
    then Wish, Wild Mood Swings, Bloodflowers...
    finally The Cure, 4:13 Dream, ???

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  17. ugggh, to have seen simon play that precision p bass LIVE with that setlist. tons of my favorite simon pics have him with THAT bass

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  18. So glad they chose to go back to the original instruments for this one. It wouldn't have been the same if it were all Schecter + Tbird again.

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  19. Totally agree with Jerry D. The Top is such an underrated album and Birdmad Girl has to be one of their best songs. Would love to hear it live. I'm also partial to Wild Mood Swings (the album that is :-)). Trust me - keep playing it and you will grow to love it (okay, except for a couple of clunkers the skip button was invented for).

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  20. True, The Top is one of the band's most underrated gems. It's not as consistently brilliant as some of their other albums, but to me the title track is right up there with songs like The Figurehead. I do so hope they will play The Top (the song) live again sometime, but it hasn't been on any setlist since Simon's return in '85 as far as I'm aware.

    Then again, magic is currently happening in Sydney, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

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  21. Roger told me that most of Roberts guitars for this show were brand new.

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  22. I feel the same way about The Top, one of my favs! Would love to see it played live, maybe they will today! Wishful thinking but you never know!

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  23. I agree, while these albums may have been fun to see performed, they don't compare to The Top. Now that would be worth the price of a trip and ticket. We'll go to that one for sure. Can't wait, it's the most beautifully obscure album The Cure has created.

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  24. Very cool. I hope that they continue with these instruments and drop the Schecters for good.

    Bring back the vintage hollow body guitars for Bestival and how about Porl with a decent guitar again too...

    The Top is phenomenal...agreed.

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  25. Love all the gear details - thanks a lot.

    I thought the Guild basses were a nice tip of the hat to Dempsey also.

    Also agree that it is awesome to see the Fenders and JC120's back in the mix.

    Not sure if has been mentioned anywhere else, but just have to comment on the drumming. Incredible!!! I'm a bit over the amount of sh*t Jason cops from so called fans. (I defy anyone to drum 3 or, in this case, 4 hour shows). Last night, he was tight, and literally didn't miss a beat, if you pardon the pun.

    Not sure if it had anything to do with the room and/or the acoustics, but that cavernous Cure drum sound thats been dampened in recent years was back in full force.

    Funny to think that at this point, Jason has been the Cure drummer for almost twice as long as Boris, as 3 times as long as Lol.

    Hope Roger stays in the band for future plans - you can tell he loves being there.

    Lol added the X factor with extra percussion and keys. Time heals all wounds I guess.

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  26. I'm 95% sure the picture on the back of Simon's P bass was an old one of Michael Dempsey.

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  27. Thanks for that, Quentin. I was wondering who that was in the photo.

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  28. Just a side note.. I was sitting with jason, Simon, and few others at hotel after the backstage party.. We sand simon happy bday again and as we finished simon made a toeast to jason.. saying "for the record, jason is the best drummer he has ever had!" he makes all my mistakes go away!"..
    My friend and I second that..
    I left shortly after that since Robert wasnt around.. I had no one to really talk to and I felt a bit out of place.. Still trying to fathom that I was indeed sitting with part of THE CURE!!!!

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  29. Is Jason still playing Brady drums? Did anyone notice?

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  30. if you watch the dvd someone made of these concerts, especially the 2nd night, you can almost clearly identify all the pedals Robert is using, it's in 2 pedalboards. Did I see a Boss analog delay?... Also it seems that Simon was using 3 (at least 2) pedalboards, one for the bass pedals other for the usual Boss and the other I'm not sure what it is, maybe amp switches.

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  31. FYI: the red Epiphone is a Casino & looks to be a newer one... Casinos are bomb-ass guitars because they are completely hollow (no wood in middle) which is VERY rare now - with their single coil P90 pick-ups, NOTHING being made today sounds like these guitars. even w/ being made in china - they sound abfab - even unplugged, they sound abfab... yeah, the Fab4 had it right

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