Brian May

BRIAN MAY's 1982 SYSTEM

The second stage system that I designed and built for Brian May during the Queen years was, from the Guitar:

Pete Cornish Line Driver (on Guitar strap): 100ft special cable with power for Line Driver Pete Cornish Treble Boost Pete Cornish Treble Boost #2 with bypass switch Foxx Phaser with bypass switch Pete Cornish Line Driver and Hum Loop Buster to Clean Amps (3 X AC30 - Normal Channel) Foxx output also to MXR DDL II (#1) then 3 X Delay #1 Amps via Line Driver and Hum Loop Buster Foxx also to MXR DDL II (#2) then 3 X Delay #2 Amps via Line Driver and Hum Loop Buster Foxx also to Roland CE-1 (seriously modified by Pete Cornish) then 3X Chorus Amps.

The above all built in two units - a pedalboard on stage and a large rack unit off stage (behind the AC30s) as was pictured in the August 1986 copy of Guitarist (USA) - check it out.

N.B. Brian May always used the volume control on his guitar to reduce the drive into the Treble Boost for quiet numbers and the second Treble Boost was used for solo boosts. Oh - and the “Cry Baby” in his pedal board is the “Foxx Phaser” speed control. The other pedal is for controlling the Eventide Harmoniser (part of the P.A.) for certain solos.

Brian May's treble booster pedal can be spotted in this Premier Guitar video at (9:08) in his rig.

At 12:46 Brian May uses the TC Electronic PolyTune Classic Pedal in his pedalboard.

A Queen tech talks through their live setup, including Brian May's Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby Wah Wah and the flat EQ settings that he prefers. The pedal can be seen in this video at (10:12). EDIT: This is just a control pedal for the Cry Baby DCR-2SR rack module, as explained in the video.

Brian May uses the TC Electronic Stereo Chorus Flanger pedal, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on Imgur.

Brian uses a TC Electronic G-System, according to TC Electronic's website.

Brian May uses a KAT STB (Strap Treble Booster) in his signal chain between the guitar and the Sennheiser wireless pack. His tech says that "it has to go there, before the wireless".

Pete Malandrone talks about it at 5.18 in the video.

Brian May uses the fOXX Phaser pedal in performances such as "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" live on TOTP and the studio version of "We Will Rock You." This is demonstrated in the YouTube video "AmpliTube Brian May - Tones That Will Rock You" by ikmultimedia.

At 6:58 in this video, Brian May is shown using the Peterson 400 Strobe Tuner to tune the Red Special. Brian would use this tuner to tune each of his guitars before shows, also shown in a 1982 interview with MTV.

In his interview with Guitar World, Brian May says on page 42 in the August 2024 issue:

I’ve tried modelers, and there are some very good ones now. There’s a great simulator; it’s a pedal (Catalinbread Galileo) that really does a very good job of simulating my sound.

Pete Cornish made many treble boosters for Brian May from 1975 until the early 1990s.

The information below is from Mark Reynolds and is based on what Pete Cornish told Mark during a number of telephone discussions which occurred over several years:

“Pete Cornish first started doing electronic work for Brian May in 1975. Pete was called in to help Brian with his gear because he was getting bad noise issues during rehearsals. Outside the place they were rehearsing was a giant radio mast and this was the cause of the radio frequency noise problem."

Brian May and his longtime technician combined all three versions of treble boosters he has used since the 1970s into the BMG Treble Booster Classic pedal, as confirmed by BrianMayGuitars.