Joanne Shaw Taylor

"I have my two staple guitars. One is a 1966 Esquire, which I’ve had for years and years—it’s my first guitar. When I was 15, I bought it in London on Denmark Street [a historic stretch of road known for its music shops and recording studios]. At the time I was real scared that my dad was going to beat the hell out of me for taking a train down to London at 15 and buying a ridiculously expensive guitar with all my pocket money. But I got it cheap because the previous owner had attacked it with a knife. It had a gaping hole near the neck, so I had a guitar tech dig it out and add a humbucker there. That made it kind of my dream Telecaster."

“I've got a 1991 Les Paul Classic, stock. That's been one of the main ones, but I've also got my 2007 Lemon Drop Les Paul Standard. I'm a little 'disabled' as a female as I don't have the largest hands in the world, so all my Les Pauls have the 1960s-profile necks. They're not chambered, but I do buy ones that are as light as possible. They're not your big 10lb boys! And when you're dragging them round an airport every day, Les Pauls seem to get heavier. But I love them."

"Those are my main three guitars. I’ve got a bunch of odds and sods, the kinds of things I go into pawnshops to find. They’re dirt cheap and I like them. I’ve got a Squier 51—Fender’s answer to a Telecaster/Strat hybrid—that’s worth about 100 bucks. I installed a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates and pimped it out a little bit."

"How about strings and picks? I’m a devoted fan of Ernie Ball strings— always have been. I use the Skinny Top Heavy Bottom sets, gauged .010–.052. I tune down a half-step—mostly for my voice, because I have a slightly lower register— and I used to play with .011s. But then I grew up and realized I have female hands and I’d have to stop playing in 10 years if I continued using big-boy strings. I don’t have Jimi Hendrix’s hands!"

"I use three pedals from Mojo Hand FX—a Recoil Delay, a Colossus Fuzz, and a Rook Overdrive, which has replaced my Tube Screamer."

"Other than that, I have a Way Huge Aqua Puss delay, which I use for slapback, and an MXR Dyna Comp, one of the old models. These pedals give me pretty much everything I need."

"I have a ’90s Ibanez TS9 and an Ibanez TS808 modified by Robert Keeley that I use as a boost. I also used a Jim Dunlop Crybaby wah on “Heavy Heart” and a T-Rex Tremster tremolo on “Going Home.” I don’t use a lot of effects, mostly because no matter how many different things I try, I always come out sounding the same."

"I did. Mike had a bunch of toys, so it was a time of experimentation. That octave fuzz is a Death By Audio pedal called the Octave Clang, which I love. When we cut that track Mike said, “What are you thinking of for the solo?” After hearing what J.J. did on the drums, I said, “I pretty much want it to sound like guitarmageddon.” He handed me the Octave Clang and told me to plug it in. After a few notes I said, “Yeah, that’s it.”"

"Mike had an old Rat distortion pedal I used for “Maybe Tomorrow,” which has probably the weirdest solo on the album. We had a vintage Boss chorus pedal, a vintage MXR chorus pedal, and a Dimebag Darrell wah-wah—my favorite wah— hooked up for that."

"Mike had an old Rat distortion pedal I used for “Maybe Tomorrow,” which has probably the weirdest solo on the album. We had a vintage Boss chorus pedal, a vintage MXR chorus pedal, and a Dimebag Darrell wah-wah—my favorite wah— hooked up for that."

"Other than that, I have a Way Huge Aqua Puss delay, which I use for slapback, and an MXR Dyna Comp, one of the old models. These pedals give me pretty much everything I need."

“I've got a 1991 Les Paul Classic, stock. That's been one of the main ones, but I've also got my 2007 Lemon Drop Les Paul Standard. I'm a little 'disabled' as a female as I don't have the largest hands in the world, so all my Les Pauls have the 1960s-profile necks. They're not chambered, but I do buy ones that are as light as possible. They're not your big 10lb boys! And when you're dragging them round an airport every day, Les Pauls seem to get heavier. But I love them."

"I used a reissue Fender Bassman that’s a couple years old, a 1988 red knob Fender Twin Reverb, and some Fender Custom Shop amp that a local guitar player lent to me. We ran them all together."

She explains Joe Bonamassa put her onto a source for an Albert Collins Telecaster. She plays it often on stage.

"I use three pedals from Mojo Hand FX—a Recoil Delay, a Colossus Fuzz, and a Rook Overdrive, which has replaced my Tube Screamer."

"I use three pedals from Mojo Hand FX—a Recoil Delay, a Colossus Fuzz, and a Rook Overdrive, which has replaced my Tube Screamer."

"I think it was a J-45. So that’s what I played on those two songs. It was just funny that he found his dream acoustic guitar and some kid had put his name across it in giant orange letters. Karma. So Gordon is just an acoustic guitar, but you have to call it by its proper name."

"I have a ’90s Ibanez TS9 and an Ibanez TS808 modified by Robert Keeley that I use as a boost. I also used a Jim Dunlop Crybaby wah on “Heavy Heart” and a T-Rex Tremster tremolo on “Going Home.” I don’t use a lot of effects, mostly because no matter how many different things I try, I always come out sounding the same."

In a photo from Premier Guitar, Joanne Shaw Taylor's pedalboard prominently features an Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer, highlighting its role in her setup.

In this video interview, Joanne Shaw Taylor says:

Vibe Machine I'm using on a couple of tracks because we used it on the album. One of them is the new single actually The Best Thing. Just adds a bit of vibrato, basically.

"I have a ’90s Ibanez TS9 and an Ibanez TS808 modified by Robert Keeley that I use as a boost. I also used a Jim Dunlop Crybaby wah on “Heavy Heart” and a T-Rex Tremster tremolo on “Going Home.” I don’t use a lot of effects, mostly because no matter how many different things I try, I always come out sounding the same."

In this video, Joanne Shaw Taylor says:

Supa-Trem, which is kind of new to me, but I've come back to it a bit over the years, but it is my favorite stock kinda tremolo. I mostly use it for certain rhythm songs. I don't use it too much for lead. Umm, but yeah, it just kinda adds another nice texture, particularly to rhythm, you know, for trying to fake a Leslie sound. And short of dragging a leslie around with you, if you're looking for a pedal option, that's probably one of my favorites.

At 2:04 in this video from Guitarist, Joanne Shaw Taylor discusses her JHS Pulp N' Peel V4:

Uh JHS. This is new to me. This is a delay pedal, sorry, compression pedal that we've just recently added this week. Just kind of warm up my tone a little bit, but absolutely loving it so far.