Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls

Adrian wanted to get the sound he got in his home studios. When asked by Kevin Shirley the producer what he used Adrian replied, ‘The Blackstar HT-5’. So on a weekend trip home to UK Adrian brought back his trusty HT-5. Adrian used the powerfully fitting tone of the HT-5 to help record the rest of the The Book of Souls album.

Back in 2008 when Blackstar was still in its infancy Blackstar sent Adrian Smith a HT-5 mini stack. Adrian then went on to use this and a Series One 100 head to record some of the guitars tracks on the album The Final Frontier. When it came to recording Iron Maiden follow up album The Book of Souls in 2014, upon request, Blackstar sent Adrian a Series One 1046L6 and a 104EL34 to the Guillaume Tell Studio in Paris, France. As well as using both of these amps to record some of the guitar tracks on the new album, Adrian wanted to get the sound he got in his home studios. When asked by Kevin Shirley the producer what he used Adrian replied, ‘The Blackstar HT-5’. So on a weekend trip home to UK Adrian brought back his trusty HT-5. Adrian used the powerfully fitting tone of the HT-5 to help record the rest of the album.

Back in 2008 when Blackstar was still in its infancy Blackstar sent Adrian Smith a HT-5 mini stack. Adrian then went on to use this and a Series One 100 head to record some of the guitars tracks on the album The Final Frontier. When it came to recording Iron Maiden follow up album The Book of Souls in 2014, upon request, Blackstar sent Adrian a Series One 1046L6 and a 104EL34 to the Guillaume Tell Studio in Paris, France. As well as using both of these amps to record some of the guitar tracks on the new album, Adrian wanted to get the sound he got in his home studios. When asked by Kevin Shirley the producer what he used Adrian replied, ‘The Blackstar HT-5’. So on a weekend trip home to UK Adrian brought back his trusty HT-5. Adrian used the powerfully fitting tone of the HT-5 to help record the rest of the album.

Adrian Smith pictured here with his Jackson USA Custom Shop Adrian Smith X-Stroyer Model, used during the "Book Of Souls" tour, and "Legacy Of The Beast" tour

Dave used a Victory amp and Les Pauls for recording the majority of Book Of Souls, primarily this 2002 1960 Series Iced Tea Les Paul Classic with a Seymour Duncan '59 neck pickup and a JB in the bridge, and a Gibson Axcess Standard Les Paul with Floyd Rose

Here's what Victory say:

Could we be more proud? Probably not. British rock icons Iron Maiden released their superb new album, 'The Book Of Souls' on September 4 2015. The tones are simply immense, so imagine our delight when we discovered that guitarist, Dave Murray had used a Victory V100 head and V412 cabinet in the sessions. He's also planning to use them in the next round of Iron Maiden touring.

Here's what Victory say:

Could we be more proud? Probably not. British rock icons Iron Maiden released their superb new album, 'The Book Of Souls' on September 4 2015. The tones are simply immense, so imagine our delight when we discovered that guitarist, Dave Murray had used a Victory V100 head and V412 cabinet in the sessions. He's also planning to use them in the next round of Iron Maiden touring.

This is the drumkit that Nicko used for The book of souls world tour. Its a Sonor SQ2 with custom Eddie beachwood shells and golden Hardware. He explains what it is @ 0:40