Gear History
A history of the different equipment the band has used.
Welcome to the Ash gear section at walking barefoot. I know that a lot of people are often asking questions about the different pieces of equipment that Ash use and how they achieve their different sounds. Hopefully this page will answer some of these questions. (Please note this page hasn't been updated in years and is unlikely to be updated again in the future, it is here to serve as a history of Ash's previous equipment.)
We have arranged this page into various sections so that it is easy to find what you are looking for. The main categories deal with the bands live set up and includes: guitars, amplification, effects, and miscellaneous (this section deals with bits and pieces that don't fit in elsewhere). The final sections include a recording section, detailing the equipment used to record Ash's albums, and a video/tv appearances section. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this page and that this article will answer some of the questions that you have.
Please any corrections or additions. Thanks to Mark and James for there help with this update.
Navigate To: Guitars | Amps | Effects Pedals | Misc | Recording | TV/Video's
Section 1: Guitars
Tim: Without doubt Tim's favourite guitars are Gibson. He has used several different Gibson's right from the Trailer era tours to the present. On tour Tim plays the bulk of the songs on a Wood stained 1982 Gibson Flying V, fitted with a '58 zebra-coil PAF pickup in the bridge position and a stock pickup in the neck position. Tim obtained this guitar in 1997, and has used it constantly live since.
As well as this Tim also has a '67 White Flying V. Although it's not an old 1960's one it's a re-issue. Tim also has a Red Flying V and a Black Flying V both are as far I can tell the same model as the White one, and both as far as I can tell with standard pick ups. Although Tim's used all sorts of colours for different TV appearances (see below).
Wheeler's prized possession, is his 1960 Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty, fitted with three PAF pickups. It was brought on the road for a few shows on the Nu-Clear Sounds tour. Tim bought this guitar for nearly £7,000 hence the reason Wheeler no longer uses it live, he lives in fear of damage or theft. Tim also used a Guild for a few shows, on the Nu-Clear Sounds tour, this was bought in Australia, as Tim wanted something that sounded similar to a Gretch, to replace his old one, a Gretsch Silver Jet which he used on the 1977 tour, mainly for Goldfinger. A battered 1990 Gibson Les Paul Standard with a white pick guard was also used on the 1977 tour. The Trailer tour was served by a Gibson SG junior.
Tim has used a few other guitars along the way, including a very battered Fender Telecaster, which was yellow with a white pick guard, which he used at the London Astoria in Jan 2000 for the new songs 'Walking Barefoot' and 'Shining Light'. Tim also used a Gibson ES-333 at some point as seen in the 1977 booklet.
Mark: His set-up is quite straight forward and has been fairly consistent throughout the bands live career. Mark is still using his two Gibson Thunderbird basses, used since the very first Ash tours. One is nicknamed eziekel, and has an eziekel sticker on it, the other has dmh written on the back. Both according to Mark are knackered.
Mark also has another Gibson thunderbird nicknamed "transformer". All are in vintage sunburst. All to my knowledge have stock pick ups, and are not customised. A note to make however, Mark only uses three strings on his bass, as when the band first started he kept breaking the G string and in Downpatrick they only sold complete sets at £20 each.
Charlotte: When Charlotte Hatherley left her previous band Nightnurse she had to give her Yamaha SG2000 back as it belonged to the band's manager. A search for another one that played as well proved in vain, so she plumped for a Cherry coloured Gibson SG Junior after seeing Foo Fighter Dave Grohl play one on TV.
This is used on almost every song live and I think Charlotte has two of these, with different pick up's in each. She has also got another SG Junior, which is black/ebony with a p-90 pickup. This guitar seems to be new (2003 model we think) whereas her two red SG ’s are apparently from 1964. On previous tour Charlotte has also been using a orange Fender Telecaster with a white pick guard.
Charlotte also used a Silver Gretch, similar to the the one Tim used to have, on a couple of songs on the December 2001 UK tour, and a Fender Telecaster as seen in the There's A Star video was used on a couple of shows for 'Candy'. I'm sure Charlotte used a Gibson Les Paul and/or a Guild on the Nu-Clear Sounds Tour.
Section 2: Amps
Tim has switch amps like a kid in a sweet shop over the years but has stuck with his current setup for the past three years. This includes a Mesa Boogie Triple rectifier with a 4x12 Mesa cab. He also normally has a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier and/or a Retroverb as a back up, as at live shows. Tim's previous set up included a Marshall 6100 head with a 1960A Cab which was used on the 1977 world tour. While a Matchless HC30 head and cab was used along with a Marshall JTM45 on the Nu-Clear Sounds Tour world tour. Tim has also used a Orange head and cab in the past.
Charlotte's amp set up on the Meltdown tour consists of an Ashdown Fallen Angel 180H head and Fallen Angel 4x12 cab, along with a Fender twin reverb amp. On all prior Ash tours Charlotte used a Marshall 6100 anniversary head with a 4x12 Marshall 1960A cab. Charlotte used to also have another head either a 6100 or JCM 900 which you would see on top of the other, this was a back up and never switched on.
Mark: Has used a Ampeg SVTII-PRO head, with a 8x10 Ampeg cab since the bands very first tours.
Section 3: Effects Pedals
Tim's pedal set up is fairly simple with a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah pedal, for Lose Control, and Cherry Bomb amongst others. A Electro Harmonix Micro-synth, a green rhino distortion pedal, a boss volume pedal and a Mooger Fooger MF-102 phaser, as well as the channel switcher from his amp.
Mark: He is well served with a Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive distortion pedal.
Charlotte: Her pedal set up consists of a Boss TU-2 chromatic tuner, a Boss GE-7 Graphic equalizer, a Line 6 Delay, a Modulation Modeler, a FM4 Filter Modeler, a MXR DYNA compression, an Electro harmonix micro-synth, and a channel switcher from the amp. According to Guitar Player Magazine (September 2003 issue): Charlotte also uses a Maestro distortion, and a Vex fuzz factory. Charlotte also uses some of the Marshall guitar effects, probably the Vibratrem pedal.
Section 4: Miscellaneous
Rick: Forgive the little info I have on Rick's equipment, but I know very little about drums. Through what I'm told I understand Rick uses DW drums, he has a couple of these kits in different colours. He has used both sabian and ziligan symbols. According to Rick himself: "I've got an 18" floor tom for the John Bonham type kit".
Tim: Uses a capo at fret 6 for Walking Barefoot and fret 7 for Renegade Cavalcade. We believe he uses a 10 strings.
Charlotte: has also started using Keyboards on some of Ash's newer material such as 'Sometimes' and 'There's A Star'. Charlotte is a classically trained piano player. I think she may use Roland but I'm not a 100% sure. We believe she uses a 10 strings.
Section 5: Recording
Thanks to James for the following info on the equipment used to record album number four, based on studio footage of Ash recording the demo for new song Orpheus. It looks like the Guitar Tim is using in the recording is a '56 Les Paul gold top with Two P-90 stock Pickups. It's not actually from 1956 it's a re-issue but It's still very expensive, I'm guessing he bought it in the US because that's where there recording the new album. It also looked like he had quite a few Les Pauls in that video. They're in back of Mark. I also noticed a Tech 21 amp in back of Tim, I think it's the PW-60 model.
Tim used his prized 1960 Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty, fitted with three PAF pickups on every track on Nu-Clear Sounds and most of Free All Angels. While Charlotte used her Gibson SG Junior and Gibson Les Paul, and Mark Hamilton used his trusty Gibson Thunderbird. Any acoustic work on Nu-Clear Sounds was carried out using a Martin and/or an Ovation.
Amp wise 1977 was powered almost exclusively by Marshalls. Hatherley employed a three-channel Marshall 6100 Anniversary to maximum effect on many tracks on Nu-Clear Sounds, and Wheeler gave his 1965 Marshall JTM45 plenty of work too. However in search of new tones for the mellower songs a Matchless HC30 got the call, as well as many of Fender's finest including Bassmans, and a Deluxe, amongst other things. Mark Hamilton used his trusty Ampeg setup to see him through the recording of 1977 and Nu-Clear Sounds
In terms of distortion Hamilton is well-served for his Boss distortion, while Wheeler became quite a connoisseur of the whole genre during the making of Nu-Clear Sounds. Fortune Teller alone has got seven different distortion sounds going through it. One of his most used toys was an old Big Muff, found in Czechoslovakia. Speaking of it use Tim said "It's completely rusted, but it rocks big time. I used it on Burn Out. I had the distortion full on while sustaining notes, and then I kept moving it about so I could get these funny harmonics.". Completing the pedal round-up, a Jim Dunlop Crybaby did most of the wah-wah workouts, whilst honourable mentions must be go to the Lovetone Meatball Hatherley took a fancy to ("perfect for crazy solo noises"), and an Echoplex hired in for use in Death Trip 21. As well as a few Marshall effects pedals.
Section 6: TV Appearances & Video's
Tim uses a Blue Fender Mustang in the 'A Life Less Ordinary' video, a Silver Gretch in the 'Oh Yeah' and Goldfinger video's, and a cherry coloured Gibson SG, in the 'Angel Interceptor' video. Tim's 82' Gibson Flying V is used in the video's for 'Envy', 'Burn Baby Burn', 'There's A Star', 'Clones', Oprheus', Starcrossed' and 'Renegade Cavalcade'. Finally a 1990 Black Gibson Les Paul is used in the Girl From Mars Video. Tim has used a White Flying V for performances on TOTP, and a black Flying V and a music awards ceremony performance. The blue guitar used near the end of the 'Love & Destruction' documentary is a Dipinto Mach IV.
Charlotte uses her Gibson SG in the 'Envy', and 'Burn Baby Burn' video's, a very expensive Gold coloured Gibson ES 295 in the Candy video. Finally a Fender Telecaster is used in the There's A Star video.
Mark The bass Mark plays in the Goldfinger video is a Rickenbacker 4003 in Fireglo colour and in the Candy Video he's using some kind of Fender bass.
A lot of the info here is gathered from The Guitar Player Magazine as well as from Mark and James the Ash equipment guru's.
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