David Gilmour

Used as David's main amp from 1969 until 1987 and then reunited in 1994 and is still in use. According to Gilmourish, "During the Division Bell tour in 1994, David’s rig consisted of overwhelming six Hiwatt heads in two separate racks, – not mentioning all the spares he travelled with." Afterwords, he returned to using three heads.

"David is using a pair (and one extra) Hiwatt DR 103 amp heads. They are his original 1974 Hiwatts, with OLD tubes (well used but still work fine, as tested by Pete Cornish). He is running them through WEM 4x12" cabinets with Fane Crescendo speakers in one and the other has celestion 75s (clean speakers which don't sound so good alone but along with the Fanes he gets an awesome tone)." - Analogman website.

Documented extensively by Kit Rae in part 2 of his "David Gilmour Tone Building" subpage "Amplifiers and Speakers".

David's WEM speaker cabinets are typically loaded with Fane Crescendo 100w 12" speakers. They are a perfect speaker to blend with the Hiwatt sound, and out of all of David's gear, the Hiwatt/Crescendo combo could be said to define the core foundational tone heard in most Gilmour performances. The Crescendos have a distinct bright tone that accents the upper mid range. The sound is very detailed and cuts straight through in a band mix. The bright mid range is almost too bright with certain amps, like Marshalls, but works well with a Hiwatt and most Fender amps. It is perfect with mid-scooped pedals like the Big Muff and B.K. Butler Tube Driver.

"One of the first jobs I did in the band was to go out and buy him (Gilmour) some new Hiwatt amplifiers. I went down to Hi-Watt in Kingston (in 1974) and saw Dave Reeves and bought two 100 watt heads which are still in Dave's rack today. He had WEM 4x12 cabinets with Fane Crescendo speakers in, identical to the ones he uses now…" - Phil Taylor, Guitarist Magazine Jan 1995

"I have two new 100-watt Fender Twin Reverb heads running to two 4xl2 cabinets each-two WEM cabinets with Fane Crescendo speakers and two Marshall cabinets with Celestions." - David Gilmour, Guitar Player, Nov 1984

Fane Crescendo speakers were made by the legendary British loudspeaker company Fane throughout in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. In the 1970s Fane made speakers for Selmer, Watkins (WEM), Simms-Watts, and Dave Reeves of Sound City and Hiwatt fame, which is likely where Pink Floyd was first introduced to them. Fane produced a massive number of speaker models with many different options, so there is not one "Fane" sound, and the Crescendos sounded very different to other Fanes. There were also several different Fane Crescendo models with various speaker frame designs and labels. The original Crescendos were 12" 100w, 15" 100w, and 18" 150w models, all available in both 8 ohm and 15-16ohm. Two common types of 12" Crescendos were made in the 1970s - type 'A' general purpose speakers, with aluminum dust caps, and type 'B' or 'B/L' for bass and organs, with plastic treated linen dust caps.

The type of 12" Crescendos David Gilmour has used since the early 1970s are type 'A', with the identification code 122326 ink stamped on the speaker frame. These had large ceramic (anisotrophic ferrite) magnets, 20,000 gauss flux density, 2" voice coils with fiberglass formers, and 3" diameter aluminum dust caps with a round, felt diffuser mounted in the center. Aluminum caps were popular with many speaker manufactureres in the 1970s. They accented more of the upper mid range than paper or cloth dust caps, adding a unique, jangly top end to the Crescendo sound. They brought out much more detail in the top end than paper or cloth, but some found the sound too harsh. They work very well with the Hiwatt frequency range however. These silver dust caps can be seen through the grille cloth in David's 1994, 2006, and 2015/16 tour speaker cabinets. It is not clear if David has always used type A Crescendos with silver dust caps, but they can be seen in several of his WEM cab photos from 1973 and 1974, so he has probably always favored this speaker. Little is known about the speakers in David's combo amplifiers, but Phil Taylor revealed in a 2015 interview (Feb 2015 Guitarist Magzine) that David also uses Fane Crescendos in his Hiwatt SA212 combo studio amp.

That Hiwatt SA212 (and, therefore, the Fane Crescendo) was also used on The Endless River, as mentioned by Phil Taylor in this February 10, 2015 Music Radar interview about the contents of Astoria and Medina.

Left to right: 1958 FENDER Tweed Twin, 1976 Yamaha RA200 Rotary speaker with Alembic preamp, 1970s Hiwatt SA212, Alessandro Redbone Special, Leslie Model G27 cab

“These were David’s main amps on The Endless River,” comments phil Taylor on the beautiful array of vintage and modern amps in the studio’s live room. “He also used the Leslie Studio 12 cab with the Allesandro Redbone Special 55-watt model.”

(...) The Hiwatt SA212 combo is a staple of Gilmour’s recording rig. powered by a brace of el34s, it is fitted with Fane crescendo drivers.

First seen used in August 1980 during the "Is There Anybody Out There?" Tour. It was seen on Phil Taylor's sketch on the arrangement of David Gilmour's live rig in Vernon Fitch’s “Comfortably Numb: A History of “The Wall” Pink Floyd 1978-1981”. It was used as a "FUZZ" effect with a dedicated dummy load with a remote footswitch. The switch and amp can been seen in his "About Face" Tour Rig in 1984 and was used right up until the 1989 Venice Tour. These MESA/BOOGIE Mark I heads were made-to-order and can be customized with EQ or Reverb. In David's case, his unit was a 60W rather than the 100W (the dummy load is rated up to 80W as seen), along with the a multi-voltage selector (his unit was ran at 110V as seen in Phil Taylor's sketch).

Used extensively throughout David's career ever since it was purchased in 1969 along with his Hiwatt amp heads. Loaded with 4 original Fane Crescendo speakers.

David began using the Rivera- Designed Twin Reverb II’s in 1984 for his About Face Tour. Used on the Columbian Relief Concert in 1986 into the ‘86 White City Tour with Pete Townshend as part of the Deep End Band. David implemented the TRII’s on the first leg of the Delicate Sound of Thunder Tour in ‘87 until they were changed out for his Hiwatt DR-103’s in the ‘88 tour’s second leg.

A couple of Fender Concerts were sold at auction for $77,500 as part of Christie's The David Gilmour Guitar Collection auction. The listing has the following description:

FENDER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, FULLERTON, CIRCA 1982 AND 1983 A PAIR OF GUITAR AMPLIFIERS, CONCERT One bearing the serial number F332178, stamped on the chassis, the other stamped F210503 18 ½ in. (47 cm.) high, the cabinet; 23 ¾ in. (60 cm.) wide; 11 in. (28 cm.) deep

The Fender Concert amplifier was part of the II Series line produced by Fender under Paul Rivera from 1982 to 1986, among the last amplifiers to be made at Fullerton. The amps were designed with both a clean and mid-boost gain channel to compete with the Mesa Boogie Mark Series amps that were popular at the time. A stereo set up of the two Fender Concert amplifiers was first incorporated into David Gilmour’s session rig in mid-1984 and used during recording sessions at London’s AIR Studios for Paul McCartney’s 1984 soundtrack album Give My Regards to Broad Street. With his 1984 Candy Apple Red 57V Stratocaster (lot 56) fed into the two Fender Concert amps, Gilmour performed a memorable solo on the McCartney ballad No More Lonely Nights, requesting that his session fee be donated to a charity of McCartney’s choice. The Concert amps made a notable appearance at the legendary Live Aid concert in London’s Wembley Stadium on 13th July 1985 when David Gilmour performed a set as part of Bryan Ferry’s band, which included the songs Sensation, Boys and Girls, Slave to Love and a cover of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy. Numerous photographs and live film recordings exist of the performance, showing a total of four Fender Concert amplifiers stacked on top of four Fender speaker cabinets on the stage. The concert amplifiers remained in Gilmour’s session and stage rig through 1985, used during recording of Pete Townshend’s 1985 solo album White City: A Novel and for live performances with Townshend’s short-lived supergroup Deep End in October and November 1985, including a live performance on cult British television show The Tube on 11th October and two nights at London’s Brixton Academy on 1 and 2nd November in aid of Townshend’s Double O charity.

As documented on Gilmourish and on Spare Bricks, one of the Fender Concert amps was also used on A Momentary Lapse of Reason, particularly for the intro of "Sorrow".

intro; the guitar was recorded with a Big Muff into a Fender Concert combo and fed through Floyd’s Quad PA system at the LA Sports Arena.

Meanwhile, Kit Rae notes that Gilmour used four different Fender Concerts for Live Aid.

A modified version of the rig was used on July 13th, 1985 when Gilmour played a set of songs with Bryan Ferry's band for the Live Aid benefit concert in London's Wembley Stadium. Keyboardist/guitarist Jon Carin was a member of Bryan Ferry's backing band at this time, and he would later work extensively with Pink Floyd in that same period. David can be heard on Slave to Love and John Lennon's Jealous Guy. He used four Fender Concert combo amplifiers stacked on top of four Fender speaker cabinets. The lower cabs do not appear to be mic'd. As sated above, the clean channel of the Concerts sounded very much like a black face Twin Reverb.

This tube preamp was based on the early silverface Fender Dual Showman Preamp stage that provides a clean sound. David has used this in conjunction with his early Leslie 144, but soon replaced it as his go-to preamp for his Yamaha RA-200R to bypass the solid-state preamp built in. This preamp is discussed in detail here on a well-known site about David's gear.

"As I mentioned, he likes his initial signal to be very clean. To achieve this he uses a mid-Seventies Alembic F2-B bass preamp and the power stage of six 100-watt Hiwatt heads. The Alembic F2-B is a very straightforward unit -- it has a bright switch, volume, bass, middle and treble controls. We, however, have altered it just a little bit. We put an extra tube in the preamp secton to give it a little more drive, lowered the impedance in the output and changed the capacitor in the bottom end to eliminate some of the lows, because it was very boomy through closed-back cabinets." - Phil Taylor, David Gilmour's guitar tech

"That one was the old black Strat I mentioned earlier, through a Hiwatt combo. I've got a very old Fender tweed Twin - a lovely sounding amp - but I couldn't make it work for that track so I went to the Hiwatt instead."

In the documentary "Classic Albums: Pink Floyd – The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon," David Gilmour is shown using a Fender '65 Twin Reverb amplifier around the 10-minute mark.

"And that in combination with the internal distortion on the Gallien-Krueger was how I got that particular sound." About the song Sorrow.

There is a photo about Face touring rig pictured in David's home studio in 1986. And two more sources. http://www.gilmourish.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/aboutface_rig.jpg The About Face touring rig pictured in David's home studio in 1986. The actual 1984 touring rig was slightly smaller as the inlay picture shows. 1. 2 MXR Digital Delay System II, 2. 2 MXR Digital Delay System I, 3. 2 Conn ST-11 Strobo Tuners, 4. 3 Fender Twin Reverb II heads, 5. Mesa/Boogie amp, 6. Gallien-Krueger 250 ML MK II, 7. Schaffer Vega wireless system 8. Boss SCC-700 board,(from top left) SD-1 overdrive, GE-6 equalizer, CE-3 chorus, CS-2 compressor, HM-2 distortion, DD-2 digital delay, DD-2 digital delay (right side) CE-3 chorus, GE-7 equalizer. Inlay picture from Utrecht, Holland April 5 1984 (top left to bottom right): MXR Pitch Transposer, MXR Digital Delay System I, MXR Digital Delay System II, Schaffer Vega wireless system, Boss CE-2, Boss HM-2, Electro Harmonix Big Muff ram's head (circled) and 2 Fender Twin Reverb II heads. Found on: http://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=22

And: http://www.kitrae.net/music/David_Gilmour_Tone_Building_1_1.html And: http://sparebricks.fika.org/sbzine08/sections/ggg.html

In the article, we can see that he uses the Hiwatts.

Used on The Endless River, as mentioned by guitar tech Phil Taylor in this February 10, 2015 Music Radar interview about the contents of Astoria and Medina.

Left to right: 1958 FENDER Tweed Twin, 1976 Yamaha RA200 Rotary speaker with Alembic preamp, 1970s Hiwatt SA212, Alessandro Redbone Special, Leslie Model G27 cab

“These were David’s main amps on The Endless River,” comments phil Taylor on the beautiful array of vintage and modern amps in the studio’s live room. “He also used the Leslie Studio 12 cab with the Allesandro Redbone Special 55-watt model.”

(...) The Hiwatt SA212 combo is a staple of Gilmour’s recording rig. powered by a brace of el34s, it is fitted with Fane crescendo drivers.

David has been using this since 1978 when he was recording for The Wall. Even to this day, you can spot the Yamaha in his rig to add the Doppler Effect to his sound.

It is mentioned by jesse that David Gilmour has not one but two lazy 20 combos

"Not much is known about the gear used for the About Face sessions. David began making demos in early 1983 then recorded sessions in Paris beginning in July 1983 and later in England. Most of the tracks were cut live with a full band, with additional multi tracking added later. David has stated he used a vibrato pedal for the synthesizer-like rhythm on Until We Sleep, running in time with the drum tempo. He also said he used a Rockman headphone amp for the outro solo on Blue Light, but that was only because they decided in the mixing stage to add a solo. David had no amplifier in the studio, so they plugged the Rockman straight into the mixing board. The Rockman was a miniture solid state amplifier simulator designed by Tom Scholz (of the band Boston) in 1982. It included two clean modes and distortion tones, along with a built in stereo chorus and echo. It could be played using headphones or plugged directly into a mixing board."

Used on The Endless River, as mentioned by guitar tech Phil Taylor in this February 10, 2015 Music Radar interview about the contents of Astoria.

Left to right: 1958 FENDER Tweed Twin, 1976 Yamaha RA200 Rotary speaker with Alembic preamp, 1970s Hiwatt SA212, Alessandro Redbone Special, Leslie Model G27 cab

“These were David’s main amps on The Endless River,” comments phil Taylor on the beautiful array of vintage and modern amps in the studio’s live room. “He also used the Leslie Studio 12 cab with the Allesandro Redbone Special 55-watt model.”

I was looking at the effects that David Gilmour uses on this site ( https://equipboard.com/pros/david-gilmour/mxr-digital-delay ), and noticed in one of the photos he was using a Yamaha preamp head which I happen to own, is quite rare, and unmistakeable.

First used during his 1984 "About Face" Tour, David has combine his WEM Super Starfinders with the new Marshall 1960B Straight Face Cabinets loaded with Celestion G12T-75's. It was seen used again in 1986 during the "Deep End" Tour with Pete Townshend and the Columbian Relief Concert. Used again for the "Delicate Sound of Thunder", 1989 Venice Concert, 1990 Knebworth Concert, 1994 Division Bell Tour up until "Rattle That Lock" Tour where the cabinet was kept but was switched out with Fane Crescendos.

In a studio photo featured on Gilmourish, David Gilmour's amplifier setup includes a Gibson GA-20T Ranger. Positioned to the right of the Yamaha Leslie, this 1x12 tweed amp is identified as a Ranger, distinguished from the smaller Lancer or 1x10 Titan models. Although it's unclear if this particular unit is a tremolo model, it shares the core design of the GA-30 Les Paul model with a slightly smaller cabinet.

Used on The Endless River, as mentioned by guitar tech Phil Taylor in this February 10, 2015 Music Radar interview about the contents of Astoria.

Left to right: 1958 FENDER Tweed Twin, 1976 Yamaha RA200 Rotary speaker with Alembic preamp, 1970s Hiwatt SA212, Alessandro Redbone Special, Leslie Model G27 cab

“These were David’s main amps on The Endless River,” comments phil Taylor on the beautiful array of vintage and modern amps in the studio’s live room. “He also used the Leslie Studio 12 cab with the Allesandro Redbone Special 55-watt model.”

Used on The Endless River, as mentioned by guitar tech Phil Taylor in this February 10, 2015 Music Radar interview about the contents of Astoria.

Left to right: 1958 FENDER Tweed Twin, 1976 Yamaha RA200 Rotary speaker with Alembic preamp, 1970s Hiwatt SA212, Alessandro Redbone Special, Leslie Model G27 cab

“These were David’s main amps on The Endless River,” comments phil Taylor on the beautiful array of vintage and modern amps in the studio’s live room. “He also used the Leslie Studio 12 cab with the Allesandro Redbone Special 55-watt model.”

One of the main amps used by David Gilmour during Pink Floyd's 1968 LP A Saucerful Of Secrets

Mentioned in this February 10, 2015 Music Radar interview with guitar tech Phil Taylor about the contents of Astoria.

A vintage Magnatone 260 combo joins the Hiwatts and Fenders in the live room, further evidence of the regard in which amps by the US company, recently revived, are held.

Used for The Division Bell and The Endless River, as reported by Gilmourish. The Rover was the basis for Gilmour’s Doppolas speakers, which replaced it on tour.

The Doppolas

David had been using a Maestro Rover rotating speaker on the Division Bell sessions and this inspired Phil Taylor and Paul Leader to design the Doppola speakers that featured on the 1994 tour. These were custom built rotating cabinets with two 6″ 100W speakers in each powered by – and running in conjunction with – the Hiwatts. Leslie cabinets or the old Yamahas might have seemed the obvious choice, but Gilmour was after a slightly different sound and something a bit lighter to carry around.

The Maestro Rover

The Maestro Rover rotating speaker is a small rotating cabinet mounted on a stand, featuring a 6″ 35w speaker and controls for volume, speed and a foot control for switching the unit on/off. The Rover was reportedly employed by David during the Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions in 1972, although no footage can confirm this.

The Rover was featured in David’s 1993 setup for the Division Bell and Endless River recording sessions. The rig consisted of a duplicate combination of Fender Bassmans and Hiwatt SA212 amps, with the Rover standing on top mic’ed for stereo.

Seen first used in 1985 during the Bryan Ferry set on Live Aid, David has used the Fender 112OB Extension Cabinets seen below his Fender Concerts. Used again in 1986 along with Pete Townshend during his "Deep End" Tour. It is speculated that it was also used during the Momentary Lapse of Reason recording as a Fender Concert was used for the intro of "Sorrow".

The Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp can be seen in David Gilmour's rack during the Knebworth concert. Gilmour had previously had Mark I and Mark III heads in his rack and more than likely moved to the Studio Preamp around 1989 after the Venice concert.

Kit Rae documents Gilmour's use of the Studio Preamp on the Knebworth page of his David Gilmour Tone Building site.

David Gilmour used a Fender 'Silverface' Twin Reverb (1972-1976) during the recording sessions for "The Dark Side of the Moon," as confirmed by Kit Rae on the "David Gilmour Tone Building" page.

David Gilmour used a Fender 'Silverface' Dual Showman Reverb amplifier during the recording sessions for "Wish You Were Here," as confirmed by Kit Rae in "David Gilmour Tone Building."

David Gilmour began incorporating the Fender '59 Bassman LTD into his live rig around 1991 and continued using it for session work through the early 2000s, as confirmed by Kit Rae in the resource "David Gilmour Tone Building" on Kitrae.

David Gilmour used the Mesa/Boogie Mesa Boogie Mark III Simul-Class 3-Channel 75-Watt Guitar Amp Head from 1985 to 1988 for overdrives during the Delicate Sound of Thunder tour, as confirmed by Bjorn on Gilmourish.