Brian May

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.

Brian May is playing his red special with Vox MV50 Brian May SET in this video.

Brian May is playing his red special with Vox MV50 BM in this video.

Celestion speakers have been an important part of my sound since day one. Nothing else sounds like a Celestion Blue.

Brian May performs a demo performance of Vox amPlug Brian May in this video.

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.

Brian May is playing his red special with Vox AP-BM Set in this video.

In a live performance of "Love of My Life" in Baltimore on October 5, 2023, Brian May played a Gibson J-200 12-String guitar, as seen in a video shared by jenhortonwho on Instagram.

During certain 2005 concert dates, May has been known to use custom-molded silver-nylon Herco picks, presumably using the corse grip on one of the rounder shoulders of the pick, due to his decades-old preference of the notched side of a British Sixpence coin.

Brian May's iconic sound with Queen is closely tied to the Vox AC-30 Custom Classic amplifier. As detailed in Guitar.com's feature "Artist Collection: Brian May's AC30-powered Queen Backline Up Close," this amplifier has been a staple in May's gear lineup, contributing to the distinctive tones that define Queen's music.

During Brian May's 1998 tour, he used the Fender Deluxe Leather Wide Strap. This strap, along with another wide black strap, was part of his gear setup for an extended period before switching to a different strap. A user-uploaded photo from 2002 also shows Brian using this strap during a rooftop performance.

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."

Premier Guitar’s rig rundown shows he favors bluebacks in his AC30s at 28:08 and the C2X comes from the factory with them.

In this video from Gibson, Brian May introduces his signature SJ-200 12-string guitar. He says:

Yeah, the idea for this came when I needed a 12 string on tour. The one that I'd been accustomed to was pegging out and wasn't quite performing right and I was getting to the point on stage where I felt I needed something different in terms of a 12 string and the guys at Gibson very kindly said, "Okay, we will make you something special that you can use on on the tours." One of the things I asked for was the octaves to be placed around the other way from the way it's normally done, because I like to pick upwards and I like to hear the top notes when I'm doing it as opposed to the high octave coming through because then I can play tunes on it.

If you look at this guitar the the beauty of it uh and the beauty of the sound but look at the science in this guitar look how much technology and craftsmanship has gone into this, and look, they were able to put the the universe here in some figurative way. And look what's right here in the middle the planet Mercury is here, and that's a little nod to a friend of mine. Obviously, Freddie is always with me because he was like a brother and the relationships in Queen lasted longer than any of our marriages was a big, big, big thing and it still is. We still carry Queen around with us this even though we don't have Freddie.

Brian May used the Kurzweil K250 in the recording of "One Vision" and most of the album A Kind of Magic. It is believed that this instrument originally belonged to Freddie Mercury, who used it on his 1985 solo album Mr. Bad Guy. An image from the recording session of A Kind of Magic supports this information.

According to the about page on Carpinteri Guitars;

In December 2012 I sent an email to Brian May saying it would be an honor for me to build a guitar for him. I also attached to the email a picture of the guitar of how it was once finished. The guitar was a mix between his Red Special and a Telecaster I thought it should be nice to play songs like 'Crazy little thing called love' on it. With great amazement, he replied after three days saying he liked my guitar and as a real gentleman he wanted to pay for it. I refused because the guitar was a gift from me to show him my gratitude for the person who was the main inspiration of my job. Brian received the guitar in August 2013 and sent me a picture of him with the guitar in his arms. That was one of the most beautiful days in my life.

In the music video for the Flash Gordon theme, Brian May is seen playing the Oberheim OB-X, as evidenced by the image provided.

In a video posted on his official Instagram profile, Brian May showcases a remixed version of Queen's "Funny How Love Is" using Avid Pro Tools.

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.