Bob Mould

Two of Bob Mould's Stratocasters can be seen in this photo, on ACL's website.

This Gibson Flying V knockoff was Bob's main guitar throughout much of his Hukser Du career.

Him and J playing Freak Scene.

Husker Du - Live Camden Palace 1985

One guitar that I bought, I bought when I was in Boston producing the Zulus' album. It was a Yamaha APX-12. It's one of those plastic-backed 12-strings with a stereo pickup in it. And that's the acoustic that you've heard on all these records for years.

Pictured here is Bob Mould's Blackstar 100, posted to ACL's website.

Bob Mould uses a Marshall JMP 100 watt amp, according to ACL's website.

Bob Mould uses Roland JC-120 amp heads, according to Guitar Geek.

According to Guitar Geek's rig diagram, Bob Mould plays through a 2x12 Fender Concert combo amp.

According to this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, Bob indicates that he runs his amp through a Blackstar slanted 4 x 12 cabinet.

The signal from the compressor was fed to two Yamaha G-100 solid-state heads running Marshall and Sonic 4 X 12 cabs - equiped with Celestion speakers. These in turn were slaved into a pair of Fender Concert valve amplifiers with stock JBL 12" speakers.

Sometime after the release of Metal Circus in the Fall of 1983 Bob converted to a Stereo Setup. A Fender Silverface Twin can be seen on top of Bob's Yamaha G100 head in this video. An earlier video from 1983 shows just the G100 stack. A silverface twin also shows up in a video from a set at 7th Street Entry in 1981.

A Yamaha G100 Head can be seen running a single Ampeg V4 cab for this entire set.

In this photo of Bob Mould's pedalboard, on ACL's website, his Aphex Punch Factory can be seen.

Bob Mould uses an Electro-Harmonix Nano Freeze pedal, according to ACL's website.

In this photo, on ACL's website, Bob Mould's Flashback Delay pedal can be seen.

Bob Mould uses an MXR Distortion + pedal, according to ACL's website.

According to ACL's website, Bob Mould uses a Boss NS-2.

In this photo, on ACL's website, Bob Mould's Voodoo Lab Iso 5 can be seen.

Bob Mould uses a TC Electronic Line Booster pedal, according to Guitar Geek's rig diagram.

According to Guitar Geek's rig diagram, Bob Mould uses a Roger Mayer Octavia pedal.

According to this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, Bob has been using a signature distortion pedal made for him by Tym Guitars of Australia.

According to this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, Bob indicates that he uses Wampler's Ego Compressor.

By 1985 he was also using an Ibanez Stereo Chorus pedal and an Electo-Harmonix Small Clone Mini-Chorus. For the recording of Metal Circus (and subsequent recordings) a harmonizer was fed directly into the recording desk. Later on a rack mounted harmonizer was used on stage. By 1987 a Roland SDE-1000 digital delay had also been added to Bob's stage gear.

By 1985 he was also using an Ibanez Stereo Chorus pedal and an Electo-Harmonix Small Clone Mini-Chorus. For the recording of Metal Circus (and subsequent recordings) a harmonizer was fed directly into the recording desk. Later on a rack mounted harmonizer was used on stage. By 1987 a Roland SDE-1000 digital delay had also been added to Bob's stage gear.

But back to those layers of guitar—can you take us through the song “Hold On?” I used a number of small variations with the amps, and that’s where I really got into the layering. I had three different half-stacks out there—two Blackstars and an old Hiwatt, with each head going to the same cabinet. So I had six different rhythm guitars essentially doing the same thing. I’d get three different tones with each guitar, miked close with a [Neumann] U 67 and a Coles [ribbon mic] about 10 feet out from the cabinet. And then each tone was spread across three tracks, so I had 18 tracks of guitar.

But back to those layers of guitar—can you take us through the song “Hold On?” I used a number of small variations with the amps, and that’s where I really got into the layering. I had three different half-stacks out there—two Blackstars and an old Hiwatt, with each head going to the same cabinet. So I had six different rhythm guitars essentially doing the same thing. I’d get three different tones with each guitar, miked close with a [Neumann] U 67 and a Coles [ribbon mic] about 10 feet out from the cabinet. And then each tone was spread across three tracks, so I had 18 tracks of guitar.