Billy Corgan

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.

"The unique guitar sound in the song was achieved by using a small Crate practice amp"

• "The Everlasting Gaze" Wiki

"This Marshall JCM 800 (2204) Master Model 50W MkII Lead is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

According to Corgan, this was one of four Marshall heads that he kept mounted in a rack in the studio.

This Marshall head no longer has a handle on top, and it's got a lot of worn-in dust and dirt, but it has no major cosmetic or structural issues outside of that. Corgan's settings are still marked on the control panel.

This 50W head still sounds fantastic, with clean pots and controls that work as they should. Plenty of clean headroom with the low input, and classic Marshall crunch when wanted.

This amp head currently does not have a power cable with it."

"This Orange OR120 is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

This was purchased around the time of Siamese Dream, and was used on the Siamese Dream tour and Mellon Collie tours as a boost. Billy would run a fuzz pedal through this head so he could get an extra boost for volume. It was, by all accounts, hellaciously loud. That said, it wasn't used particularly for solos, but rather as an upper overtone. With the gain dimed on his Marshalls, this would be an extra harmonic overtone over the top. Again, that sounds deafeningly loud, and the stuff of most guitar players dreams.

Cosmetically, this cab is in pretty good shape. It has the tape residue (on the left side) and handful of small scuffs you'd expect from a touring amp. The input jacks have a bit of tape stuck above them, and the control plate has a few tiny nicks. There is dirt worn into the tolex, but nothing grotesque. Structurally, it is solid, with no cracks and perfect corners still. The tube complement seems to be all-original still.

Both inputs and all controls work as they should, with clean pots. This amp can be decliciously clean and articulate at low volumes - it doesn't have to be a face-melter. But slowly turning up the volume and hearing the saturation build will make you smile every time. This is a historic, road-tested, insane rock amp for the serious collector or large venue player. This is 120W with adjustable 4, 8, and 16 ohm settings.

The power cable is attached on this amp head."

During a Rig Rundown with Premier Guitar, Billy Corgan says [@ 2:50] about his Mesa Boogie Strategy 500 Power Amps:

"Those are run, one channel at a time, to my Strategy 500's which date back to the mid-90's. Those are the power amps I used on Melancholy and The Infinite Sadness as well as the touring rig I had back then."

Four were sold on Corgan's official Reverb.com shop.

#1:

This Bogner Uberschall is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

This is the amp that is on all of the Zeitgeist album. You can see the markings on this unit that signifies that this was the main unit of the four he had—the others are available for sale as well, and were backups. He had two on the Zeitgeist tour, playing two heads through two cabinets each. Then, because you want redundancy, he added two more Ubershall heads as backups.

As you can imagine, this was a MASSIVE sound, especially considering that Billy's guitars were typically tuned in C-sharp Standard during this era.

This was the main amp used in the studio to record Zeitgeist, and it also went on tour with Corgan. Remarkably, it shows almost no sigsn of wear. The tolex is still unblemished, and it is structurally perfect.

This is a slightly older iteration of Uberschall than the other three Corgan had. This was his first, and somehow it has a very different character than the others. The lead channel is more open, with a more aggressive progression of gain. This is, hands down, one of the best amp heads to ever come through the Reverb office, even if only for the glorious lead channel. Everything works as it should.

Weight: 45.4 lbs. (20.6 kg)

#2:

This Bogner Uberschall is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

This Bogner was the second amp in a pair. He had two on the Zeitgeist tour, playing two heads through two cabinets each. Then, because you want redundancy, he added two more Ubershall heads as backups.

As you can imagine, this was a MASSIVE sound, especially considering that Billy's guitars were typically tuned in C-sharp Standard during this era.

This amp is extraordinarily clean, with almost zero signs of wear. It is in near-mint condition.

This two-channel head with a Master Volume can be earth-shattering, but it is also highly shapeable and tameable. The clean channel is mellow and warm, while the lead channel offers a smooth progression of syrupy drive, all with the bass response these amps are known for. Everything works as it should.

This amp head currently does not have a power cord included.

Weight: 48.6 lbs. (22.1 kg)

Backup 1:

This Bogner Uberschall is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

According to Corgan, this was a backup Bogner head used on the Zeitgeist tour. He had two main Ubershalls on the Zeitgeist tour, playing two heads through two cabinets each. Then, because you want redundancy, he added two more Ubershall heads as backups.

As you can imagine, this was a MASSIVE sound, especially considering that Billy's guitars were typically tuned in C-sharp Standard during this era.

Being a back up head, this amp is extraordinarily clean, with almost zero signs of wear. It is in near-mint condition.

This two-channel head with a Master Volume can be earth-shattering, but it is also highly shapeable and tameable. The clean channel is mellow and warm, while the lead channel offers a smooth progression of syrupy drive, all with the bass response these amps are known for. Everything works as it should.

This amp head currently does not have a power cord included.

Weight: 50.8 lbs. (23.1 kg)

Backup 2:

This Bogner Uberschall is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

According to Corgan, this was a backup Bogner head used on the Zeitgeist tour.

Being a backup head, this amp is still very clean. Some dust and one tiny speck of residue on the top, but otherwise excellent cosmetic condition.

This two-channel head with a Master Volume can be earth-shattering, but it is also highly shapeable and tameable. The clean channel is mellow and warm, while the lead channel offers a smooth progression of syrupy drive, all with the bass response these amps are known for. Everything works as it should.

This amp head currently does not have a power cord included.

Weight: 51.2 lbs. (23.2 kg)

Around 3:00 in this Rig Rundown with Premier Guitar's Rebecca Dirks Billy Corgan goes over his rack including the Randall RM4 modular preamp.

"This Fender Vibrolux Reverb (Custom Shop) is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

Given the lack of road wear, this amp was likely used for recording and writing.

This Vibrolux is in great condition, with not real blemishes or signs of hard road life. You can still see Corgan's settings marked with silver marker lines on the dials. The tolex and grill are in fantastic shape.

This is a 40W 2X10 designed by the Fender Custom Shop. Both inputs on both channels work perfectly, with all the pots in good working order. The reverb and tremolo sound delicious. This amp will ship with the original footswitch included. This appears to be all-orignal without replacement parts or mods."

This ADA MP-1 is owned by Billy Corgan

Own a piece a Pumpkins history! This was one of two that was used on The Smashing Pumpkins' debut album, Gish.

I would run it into a Marshall head. That was my main sound from '89 or '90 through '92" - Billy

billy can be seen playing a p bass through a svt classic in this image.

In this interview, it says, "He still had his Marshall 1960A cabinets, but Corgan shifted to a Mesa Boogie Strategy 500 and a Marshall JMP-1 preamp (Corgan also notes that he used an Alesis 3630 to drive extra gain into a Marshall)."

The sidebar to this interview with Premier Guitar magazine lists some of the gear Corgan used while recording the Smashing Pumpkins' Cyr album. It includes a 70's Supergroup amp head.

"This Diezel VH4 is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

According to Corgan, this amp was used on the Machina tour in an isolation cabinet offstage to layer with his stage amp.

This has some sticker labels on it, but the tolex itself is in good condition, with no major blemishes. Overall, mostly clean cosmetic condition.

Master volume pot is very scratchy. All other channels and controls work as they should.

Power cord is not included."

It was also used on the Zeitgest tour.

"This Marshall 2204 Master Model 50W MkII Lead is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

This was part of Corgan's rack of four Marshall heads that he had in the studio to provide classic Marshall tones or particular harmonic layering within a track.

This head is missing the handle on top and has a handful of scuffs and scratches, as well as some tape labeling it for Corgan "BC" and a "1" sticker on the side. It is otherwise clean, with no major blemishes.

This 50W Marshall head is a joy to play, with warm, thick, articulate cleans on the low channel and endlessly satisfying crunch on the high channel. All pots and controls work cleanly and reliably.

The power cable is attached on this amp head."

In this rig rundown Billy shows off the Preamp modual he uses for his amp tone. This was custom made for him by the company salvation mods. This module was based off the original RM4 by randall amps. inside this module he has afew preamps based on amps he has used both live and in studio with Smashing pumkins

This Diezel Herbert is owned by Billy Corgan.

In a Rig Rundown video by Premier Guitar, Billy Corgan discusses his custom J-Watt Preamp by Salvation Mods, inspired by the amplifier used by Jimmy Page on many Led Zeppelin records.

For his clean tone, Billy uses a selma pre amp. this pre amp was modeled by a company called salvation mods. it is modeled after the selma amp billy uses

"This Vox Pathfinder V1/V101 is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

This is not known to be a studio or touring amp for Corgan, other than it was part of his personal collection.

Aside from from fraying at the edges of the grill cloth and some worked-in dust, this amp is in great condition. It still has the original two-prong cord, and appears to be original in all other ways. At some point the speaker cover had come loose, but has since been glued down.

This amp is a blast to play, with a warm, satisfying tremolo and pure Vox clean tone. There are no functional issues with it. Perfect bedroom or studio amp. Input #2 currently needs work, as it is finicky with the signal."

Visible at 6:50 running into his Strategy 500, Billy was seen using this at Pinkpop 94.

"This Vox Westminster V118 Head is from the private collection of Billy Corgan.

This was not used in the studio or on tour to Corgan's recollection. It was a part of his personal collection.

Cosmetically, this Vox head is looking good for its age. There's dust worn into the tolex, and there are a couple tiny nicks. There is one large tolex tear on the bottom left corner. Vox gave these head plastic corner covers. As a result, 5 of the 8 have cracked off. It is otherwise clean. Structurally, there are no issues.

This is a 120W solid state amp head that Vox put out in the mid-1960s. The bass input channel works fine, with both controls operating cleanly. The guitar input side, however, has a dirty volume and treble pot that need addressing. The pot is particularly scratchy and cuts out below 2 with volume. The amp itself sounds great, with an operation Top Boost switch."

This article from Premier Guitar magazine discusses the release of a signature amplifier Corgan developed with Brian Carstens.

Billy has a marshall randy Rhodes pre amp in his rack. This was based on the rhodes marshall head that he owns. this pre amp was made for him by a company called salvation mods

Billy uses a Deisel vh4 preamp in his live rig. this was made for him by a company called salvation mods. it is based off the deisel vh4 amp he used in the past

At approximately 30:35 in this Youtube podcast Billy says that he used the Roland JC120 to record the clean guitar sounds on Gish. Around 42:50, he goes on to mention that the JC120 is used with a Leslie rotor effect to create the sparkling clean sounds on songs like Rhinoceros.

Billy has a vamp pre amp in his live rack. This amp has a fuzz mod in it.

In a Premier Guitar Rig Rundown video, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins showcases his Mars Preamp by Salvation Mods, which is part of his live rig. This custom preamp is based on the Marshall "Soul" amp, which he has used in several performances with the band.

In this June 11, 2012 article from Guitar World, Corgan discusses his amplifier tone stating:

AMPS

[BC]: "Experimenting with different amps is one of the hardest things for a guitarist to do. It's virtually impossible to walk into a music store and crank up one amp, let alone a bunch of them. I recommend that young guitarists with a lack of amp experience buy rack-mountable amps and preamps because their sounds are generally very consistent and easy to tailor to different applications. I used an ADA MP-1 preamp for all of "Gish." I'd written the songs on that unit, and I couldn't imagine them being played any other way."

"If you end up with a tube amp, make sure the tubes are working properly. Also, if possible, experiment with different power tubes. I'm a huge fan of using KT-88's in my Marshall. Most people prefer EL-34's, but I hate them. The "Gish"/"Siamese Dream" guitar sound has so much to do with KT-88's, which add a round, fat bottom to my sound."

"Before buying any amp, be nosey. Talk to as many guitarists as you can, get different opinions and see what other people like and don't like. I've always done that, and it's always been helpful."

In this instagram post by Billy Corgan himself you can see he’s using the Orange Rockerverb MKiii 100 in studio below his Carsten Grace amp. You can clearly see this is the Orange Rockerverb MKiii 100 and the power light is on. He also posted the same photo on Twitter.

Can also be seen here being used live with several other amps. Billy’s guitar tech showing his amps and guitars used.

https://youtu.be/s2jExoNQWnU

7:15 - 11:06

Corgan used four Valve FX units live during the tour for Machina, as can be seen in this September 2001 photo taken by guitar tech Mike Vegas and on this page of a contemporary Japanese magazine. Vegas' photo was [uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on August 20, 2008](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Billy-corgan-guitar-rig.jpg (July 14, 2009 Flickr mirror by Aaron Kronis of Stamina Music, who used to update Vegas' website guitartechnician.com.

Corgan listed all four units on his Reverb.com shop in 2017 (Listing 1 ("#1", "OFFSTAGE FX PRE", "MIDI 6"), Listing 2 ("#2", "OFFSTAGE FX PRE", "MIDI 6"), Listing 3, Listing 4 ("ONSTAGE FX PRE", "MIDI 3")).