Ace Frehley

Ace Frehley's Explorer was an Ibanez 2459 "Lawsuit". Paul Stanley gave him at some point in the Spring of 1976. Ace hasn'y any Gibson Explorer. The Gibson Explorer used on Paul Lynde Show's Halloween Special in October 1976, was a real Explorer that Gibson provided for the show.

Ace used these amps in the early years of KISS and they can be seen in this picture.

"The only pedal I used was the Zoom G3 [pulls pedal out of duffle bag]. I’ve been using Zoom stuff for a long time. It’s quick and you can dial up sounds fast. It’s like having three boxes in front of you." "I like the tape delay effect and the Big Muff sound, because I used a Big Muff years ago. In general though, I try to stay away from effects as much as I can."

Mentioned in this January 2005 Guitar World interview and two Premier Guitar interviews.

Guitar World, January 2005, pgs. 45-46 "Ace Frehley" (a Russian translation can be found here)

What effect are you using on the solo in "Strange Ways"? I love that sound.

—Roy "Snake" Helvenstine Jr.

That was a heavy distortion unit–probably a Big Muff or a Fuzz Face–and a Marshall amp on 10. I usually performed my solos from the control room, with my amp out in the studio. But for "Strange Ways," I stood in front of the amp, which is how I got all the crazy feedback.

(...) You have a great sound. What pickups do you use, and what is in your pedalboard?

—Vince Applegate

I don't have a pedalboard because I trip over them with my boots on. I have a rack under the stage that my roadie controls. It has different gear in it at different times, although it always has an MXR graphic equalizer, a Big Muff and a power booster. The last few tours I also had a Line 6 Pod. But the real key to my sound is that I always blend three sounds: usually my rackmount, my Marshall and another Marshall with a sealed cab and a Celestion 12-inch speaker with a mic inside. On the last leg of the most recent tour, I started using a Peavey 5150. I use DiMarzio Super Distortion custom-made pickups.

Premier Guitar, "Ace Frehley: Navigating with the Spaceman", March 11, 2010

According to the man himself, Ace’s rig both onstage and in the studio has always been relatively straightforward:

“On the early Kiss records, I used my tobacco sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard with a rewound hot pickup, through a Marshall stack or old Fender tweed amp, on most of the studio recordings. I used an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff to overdrive them sometimes. Later, I got a cherry sunburst Les Paul Custom and an old ’59 Les Paul Standard, which dominated my studio recordings in the late ‘70s. My 1978 solo album, Ace Frehley, really shows off what a Les Paul guitar can do in the studio. I recorded almost the whole album exclusively with my 1959 vintage sunburst Les Paul. I use Gibson Les Paul Customs live because they’re simply the best guitars for loud rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve always said, ‘Just plug a Les Paul into a Marshall amp and turn it up to 10!’ It’s a no-brainer.”

Premier Guitar, "Ace Frehley: Cosmic Space Invasion", September 2, 2014

What sounds are you using from the G3?

I like the tape delay effect and the Big Muff sound, because I used a Big Muff years ago. In general though, I try to stay away from effects as much as I can.

Ace and his guitar tech gave a 2010 interview detailing his rig and gear.

Ace Frehley "I used to play an Epiphone when I was about 18, 19, kind of like the Steve Marriott model he used in Humble Pie."

Created in 1979 by Steve Carr, this guitar was used on tour for primarily songs like "New York Groove", it was only usually used for one song during concerts because the battery pack could only keep enough life in it for roughly five minutes.

Ace Frehley used the Epiphone PR7E Acoustic guitar during the Kiss Unplugged show in 1996. This performance marked one of the rare occasions he played an acoustic guitar live before the 2000s, as evidenced by a user-uploaded photo on AceFrehleyLesPaul.com.

Ace Frehley with KISS-- San Bernardino, California, January 18 1975, this is most likely his Les Paul Deluxe and the lighting on stage is making it appear white. Regardless this is not a Les Paul "Custom" as there is no inlay on the first fret and no diamond logo on the head stock.

Ace is seen using the Danelectro Daddy O. Overdrive in this video to drive the Marshall in the background, as well as keep the volume low enough to talk during the interview, as the amp has no Master Volume control.

Ace has a long standing relationship using Gibson Les Paul guitars and this is his first signature model from 1997.

Ace Frehley used this guitar in a music video for the song "I Love It Loud". Actually did not play on a studio recording

Ace used this pedal for solos with Kiss, as described on a placard in an exhibition display that can be seen in this photo sourced from fansite Ace Frehley Les Paul’s “Ace Without A Les Paul” page. It is also mentioned in this March 1997 Vintage Guitar interview.

Exhibition card

ACE FREHLEY OCTAVE EFFECT USED DURING GUITAR SOLO WITH KISS

Vintage Guitar, March 1997, “Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley”

What kind of outboard gear are you using?

Very little. Right now, I’m using some DDL for the smoking guitar effect in the guitar solo. I used to use a Mutron Octave Divider, but now I find I like the Zoom better. It has reverb, compression, phasing you name it, it does it! I got it in a pawnshop. It’s one of the floor models, but I think I’m going to get the rackmount version for the tour so my roadie can control it. To me, the less effects I can get away with the better. I don’t understand why guitar players have a rack with 20 different things in it. Just plug a Les Paul into a Marshall, put everything on 10 and go for it!

Ace Frehley used a Gibson Les Paul Junior during his early days with Kiss. A user-uploaded photo provides evidence of this usage.

Ace Frehly can be seen playing his signature Washburn in the "Into the Night" music video, at 2:09.

Rare picture of Ace Frehey with white stratocaster

Ace Frehley used an Ovation Breadwinner on the 1st KISS album. He also played an Epiphone Coronet during his Honey/Molimo days before KISS.

In this photo, Ace is playing his Gibson Flying V.

The source picture clearly shows Ace playing the guitar, this appeared during KISS' 1978 Japan tour and was only used during these Japanese shows.

"For a while, I exclusively used Gibson .009–.046 sets, but for the last couple of tours, I’ve been using heavier strings. I’m using .010s now."

In this video, you can see Ace was using his double neck SG. It may only made for Ace with cherry burst. He only used in Kiss reunion tour. Also used in "Fractured Mirror"

Ace Frehley is associated with the Gibson Ace Frehley 1959 Les Paul Standard, featuring a 'Dirty Lemon Frehley Burst' finish, vintage-spec plastics, and Custom Bucker and Burst Bucker #3 pickups, as detailed on Gibson's website.

Ace and his guitar tech detailed his rig and gear in a 2010 interview.

In this interview with Ace, the gear column mentions he used the "Budokan" during the recording and tour of Space Invader.

Ace Frehley is associated with a 1975 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar, as evidenced by a photo from Abalonevintage's collection. This image, featuring guitars owned by Kiss, includes the Les Paul models that were once critiqued for their design flaws by a Strings and Things owner. Despite their quirks, these guitars were received enthusiastically by the band when they visited the Memphis store, illustrating their connection to Ace Frehley and Kiss.

Ace Frehley playing on black Gibson Les Paul Custom with Dimebag Darell and Mick Mars. 90s

Ace Frehley played with this stratocaster at the wedding of Peter and Debra Criss

Ace used this on the Rocket Ride guitar solo in 1977. This photo is of a pedal autographed by Ace, and more details were seen here.

Halfway down the page you can see a photo of Ace playing a Greco MR800 or MR1000 on tour in '77.

A better photo of his mini-ex where you can see the headstock and logo.