The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore

An image pulled from spfc.org (Smashing Pumpkins Fan Club dot ORG) with the following caption:

BC w/ the Marshall head, labeled "SOUL", and slant cabinet, Marshall logo modified to say "Mars"

Some supplemental tidbits taken from a notable blog, Ain't No Sleep When You're Living The Dream:

KB to Billy Corgan: What are your memories about the amp?

Billy Corgan: When I first bought the amp in 1989 from this stoner guy, I thought it sounded ok but I think I was more excited to just be playing thru a Marshall. I realized after a time that I wasn't that crazy about the sound so I asked Mike to look at it and see what he could do. After he changed the tubes to the KT88s the amp just sprang to life, and it was the body of the amp that I used to drive insane amounts of distortion into to get 'that sound'. Butch Vig and I were so sold on the sound of the amp that outside of a few select parts, I would say that 98pct of all guitar parts on the first two albums were done thru this amp/speaker combo. In order to change the sound, the Stratocaster parts would be recorded through a shure 57 on the bottom right speaker, and the Les Paul parts would be recorded through a Sennheiser 421 on the top left speaker. This subtle difference between what speaker we would use created the sense of playing thru a different amp set-up even though obviously I wasn't.

Featured in this December 16, 2022 Laney blog article.

After purchasing a Laney LA100SM Head on the 2nd hand market and searching for a Laney LA412 Cabinet, Billy Corgan reached out to our family-run company, based in the West Midlands UK, to get more of “that God-like power” as he so puts it.

Of course, we were happy to help him out!

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In addition, Billy also has two Laney LA412 cabinets which he has fallen in love with, so much so that he has pushed aside the same cabinets he had been using since the early 90’s Siamese Dream days.

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WHICH LANEY AMPS IS BILLY CORGAN CURRENTLY USING ON TOUR IN 2022/2023?

Billy’s current Laney amp setup includes two 100-watt Laney LA100SM Super Modified hand-wired tube guitar heads alongside a variety of other amps. Billy also runs all of his amplifiers through Laney LA412 4 x 12″ Celestion G12H loaded cabinets.

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“I’ve always chased vintage Laney cabinets. I don’t know if anybody knows the market but you cannot find vintage Laney cabinets anywhere. I’ve looked and they are nowhere!

I saw that Laney had put out these cabinets (LA412 4 x 12″) and they all sold. I was able to find a used one and the minute we put it in the recording chain, Howard Willing (record producer, engineer and mixer) whom I’ve worked with for years since ‘97 starting with the Adore album and Smashing Pumpkins, looks to me and says “well I like that better!” so immediately the vintage Laney cabinet superseded the same Marshall that I’ve been using since Siamese Dream.

It kicked it out of the recording line. So all those amps have been put away and I started using that Laney cabinet. For the first time since ‘93, I’m using new cabinets on tour. I’ve literally used the same cabinets since 93’ and now I’ve replaced those with the Laney vintage cabinets.”

"Kurzweil K2000r auctioned a few years ago on eBay by Official SP Memorabilia. Used by Billy Corgan in studio with the Smashing Pumpkins from Mellon Collie to Machina. You can definitely recognized the presets used on those classic SP albums, especial on MCIS and Adore. This was mainly used for pads and classical instruments : the synth strings on To Forgive, Appels + Oranjes, Blank Page, the strings on Tear, the oboe on Lily, the fx and pads on Beautiful...if you're a Smashing Pumpkins fan, you'll hear them at some point and discover other ones while browsing the K2000r presets.

The K2000R is n very good condition but shows obvious signs of wear (see pictures) due to years of following the Pumpkins in various recording facilities all around the world."

Billy can be seen playing a Fernandes JG series on Later with Jools Holland on Ava Adore.

In an eBay auction listed on the official Smashing Pumpkins account from October 19 to October 29, 2011, a "1996 Ernie Ball Music Man Baritone Bass Guitar" was sold for $1700. The listing confirmed that this instrument was used by D'arcy Wretzky on the 1998 Adore outtake "Waiting". The auction included a hardshell case, noted minor scratches on the back, and provided the serial number #97705, indicating it was manufactured on May 1, 1996. Additionally, a certificate of authenticity signed by Billy Corgan accompanied the sale.