Foo Fighters Equipment

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Equipment Information Center

Dave Grohl

Nate Mendel

Taylor Hawkins

Franz Stahl

Pat Smear

Dave Grohl

It was a known fact that before Dave was a drummer, he was a guitar player. His first guitar was introduced to him at the age of 10. It was a Silvertone until he dropped it. He also was practicing the drums with pots and pans (actually it was a chair, pillows and huge sticks). His parents could not afford a set of drums. Drums ruled almost all of Dave's career until his project, Foo Figthers brought him back to the world of guitars. He practiced a little when he was in Nirvana with Kurt's guitars. As you may notice, Dave mainly uses guitar from Gibson. On the latest album, The Colour and The Shape, he heavily uses a RD Standard along with a P-90 equpped Les Paul gold top, a Trini Lopez Deluxe model (a Sixties hollowbody)and other types of Les Pauls and a 70/80's SG custom.

Studio

        Amps and Preamps:
        50-watt Marshall Stack or
        Mesa Boogie preamp and a Crest power amp (similar to the setup used in Nirvana's tour)
        Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
        Marshall JCM 900
        Marshall MS 2 (microstack: belt loop amp)
        Sound-0-Round (Another belt loop amp from the Sixties)
                note: the belt loop amps were attached to a microphone which was connected
                to the Marshall Stack. (i.e. guitar -> belt amp -> mic -> big Marshall)
        Vox AC30
        Ampeg
        an old Kustom

        Effects:
        ProCo Rat
        Turbo Rat
        Ibanez delay
        Digi-Tech Whammy pedals
        The belt loop amps (which creates the Foo Fighters growl like sound)
        Heil Talk Box (used in the first Foo album)

Tour

Guitars:
Mid-70s Gibson Explorer (Seen on Letterman when he played Everlong)
Gretsch Country Club
80s Gibson SG Custom (Seen on Letterman when he played Monkey Wrench)

Amps: 
Mesa Dual Rectifier head with Mesa 4x12 speaker cabinets

Pedals:
Whirlwind A/B selector
Boss OS-2 overdrive/distortion
Boss Tremolo

Nate Mendel

Nate once said he wanted to join a band but had no idea of what instrument
to play. A friend suggestioned a bass guitar because it was easy to learn. 
He never played in a band with that guy.

Bass: 
Fender Americian Standard Precision
Ampeg AEB-1, Reissued (seen in the Late Show performance)
Fender PJ (Its a Jazz bass with a Precision Pickup in the mid position).

Amps:
Not sure. I know it is an Ampeg brand. Nate could be endorsing Ampeg.

Taylor Hawkins

Taylor plays with DW hardware and pedals, Zildjian cymbals, Pro-Mark sticks and
Remo heads. He also uses DW kick drum pedals. The picture below may not be
accurate.

Drums: Orange County Drum and Percussion	Cymbals: Zildjian
1 - 24" x 20" Bass drum	A - 15" A Rock Hi-Hats
2 - 14" x 7" Snare	B - 19" A Medium Crash
3 - 12" x 8" Tom	C - 20" A Medium Crash or Medium Thin Crash
4 - 16" x 16" Floor Tom	D - 24" A Medium Ride
5 - 18" x 18" Floor Tom	E - 22" A Crash/Ride

Franz Stahl

Franz prefers the natural distortion and overdrive from his amps. He uses
effect pedals for texture.

Guitars:
Mid-70s Gibson Les Paul Custom (Red and Black; both really beaten up)
'78 Gibson LP gold-top Standard with Bill Lawerance pickups (yellowish)

Amps:
Mesa Dual Rectifier head with Mesa 4x12 speaker cabinets

Pedals:
Channel Selector for the Dual Rectifier
Boss EQ
Boss Super Chorus
Vox wah-wah

Pat Smear

Pat Smear has an obession with a Swedish guitar maker, Hagstorm. During
the 80's, he went crazy with Hagstorm solidbodies. Unfortunely, the company is
no longer manufacturing guitars. But Pat Smear might buy the rights to Hagstorm
name and actually produce his beloved guitars. Pat is not much of a gearhead. He
is really into cheap solidbody guitars. He also has fetish for Gibson copies,
mainly Les Pauls and SG's. Pat's Amps and Effects are similar to Dave's.

Resources:
Guitar World, August 1997
DRUM!, Sept/Oct 1997
Maximum Guitar, ??? 1997

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