Ed O'Brien

In this Fender video interview, Ed O’Brien discusses his Fender Vibro-King combo amp: “I start with the guitar. So I start with a true guitar, one that speaks to me. So it’ll be a Strat probably. And then make sure I’ve got a good amp. So on the last tour, I used Vibro-Kings, and in my humble opinion, it’s the finest big amp out there. I’d had a setup that I hadn’t changed for years and years, since the very beginning, since 1992. I A-B’d it, the Vibro-Kings, with - I had a day in our studio - and to me, I was just like, ‘this is the one.’ And the reason I sort of went for it was because I remember watching Live 8, that was 2005… and Pete Townshend’s guitar sound was just off the scale. To me it was the finest sound there. And I just thought, ‘OK what’s he playing?’ And, 'OK, he’s got a Clapton Strat. And what’s that thing? It’s called a Vibro-King,' I’d never heard of a Vibro-King. I was intrigued, and it works great with my setup, because it’s great if you go straight into it. But also coloring it with effects and stuff like that works great.” (5:43)

In this photo, an Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man can be seen on Ed's board.

In this photo, Ed O'Brien can be seen with a Les Paul Goldtop.

Behind Ed, at 0:05 minute mark, there is Fender Twin Reverb.

Throughout the video you can see Ed using the Mesa Boogie Mark V Head.

Middle row on the right in the left pedalboard we can see Ed's Diamond Tremolo TRM-1. Source.

As if one pedalboard wasn't enough, Ed has 2 (shown here) and you can see the Diamond Opto-Compressor effects pedal in the right pedalboard at the top. This comes from an article from Austin City Limits on the gear of Radiohead.

Ed's tech shows his pedalboard, which has an Infinity Looper on it.

Ed's tech shows his board, which has an OTC-201 on it.

"This pedal is visible in photos from the recording of In Rainbows, but it is not immediately evident on any recordings."

Listed under O'Brien's gear on The King of Gear.

Ed O'Brien on That Pedal Show "This is the first time I've used a compressor and I love it!"

This photo is taken from Rock Werchter 2017 and shows the amp used by Ed onstage. Ed also added details about the amps in an excerpt from this article:

Lately I’ve been using Audio Kitchen amps - I’ve got two Big Chopper heads and a 1x12 cab: they’re just amazing!

A Strymon TimeLine can be seen at 0:36, on Ed's pedalboard.

In this article that discusses the process of making O'Brien's debut solo album, "Earth", he shows the pedalboard that he uses for live performances.

One of them is Boss EQ-200 which is on the right side of Strymon Timeline. Ed says this about the pedal, quotated from Pedal Crush book which in turn reposted by thekingofgear admin here:

I’m excited about the new BOSS programmable EQ pedals. The EQing of sound in the studio is key. I love the idea of a pedal that can store EQ settings that you can change mid-song… or even mid-note! I like those places in between, and the movement between each setting.

A Korg Pitchblack Chromatic pedal tuner is one of many pedals Ed uses per this article from Austin City Limits.

Ed O'Brien is seen using a Mesa/Boogie Mark III Amplifier during Radiohead's performance of "Creep" at the MTV Beach House in 1993, as captured in a video by shreddycap on YouTube. Note: The initial submission mistakenly listed the Mesa/Boogie Mark V Amplifier instead.

To the left of Ed you can see his two Mesa Boogie Trem-O-Verbs. You can also find these amps on "The King Of Gear:"

"Ed has used two of these Mesa Boogie combos since before Pablo Honey. Ed’s two originals, used on Pablo Honey and The Bends, were stolen in 1995, but he quickly purchased two new ones. Those two were used until 2009.

Originally, Ed would set one of the amps to heavy distortion, and the other quite clean, using a Boss LS2 to switch between them. On Creep, he used the a tremolo pedal with the clean amp for the verses, then switched to the tremolo-less distorted amp for the choruses.

Ed currently owns two, “both from 1995-6, they are slightly different but both run with standard Boogie 6L6 / ECC83’s.” Mic’d with a Shure SM57 until circa 2006, then with a Sennheiser 609.

For reference, Ed’s Mesas will be designated as such:

Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb No1 Clean 1992-1995 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb No2 Distortion 1992-1995 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb No3 Clean 1995-2009 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb No4 Distortion 1995-2009"

Used on Radiohead's 2012 tour for "The Daily Mail". Can be seen at 2:52.

In this photo, a Line 6 DL4 pedal can be seen on Ed O'Brien's pedalboard.

Listed under O'Brien's gear on The King of Gear.

Part of Ed’s 2014 theGigRig pedalboard.

-2014 Settings: Tone 11, Bass 8, Volume 11:30, Gain 11:45, Voicing Open.

In this video, at 0:16, an MXR Flanger pedal can be seen on Ed's pedalboard.

Kevin Cochran takes us behind the scenes of Radiohead's gear when they came through Austin, TX in this article from Austin City Limits.

Ed's pedalboard (the right one) contains a Lovetone Big Cheese effects pedal. Source.

In this video, Ed's tech shows his board, which has a SDD-3000 on it.

In this video you can see Whammy 5 in his pedalboard.

"Ed mainly uses the pedal like a guitar-synth, with his playing controlling the pitch of the pedal’s VCO. It’s best heard on I Might Be Wrong, where Ed loops notes played through the Ring Stinger to create the synth-like textures at the intro and near the end of the track."

Listed under O'Brien's gear on The King of Gear.

Visible in this photo of O'Brien's 2017 The GigRig "studio" pedalboard.