Greg Sage

MXR Distortion+: Greg used this distortion pedal only as a "gain pedal" on the first two Wipers records. By this, he means he kept the drive at the lowest possible setting and the volume at the highest possible, in order to drive his Ampeg Gemini/Fender Bassman into distortion without coloring the signal very much. He dropped it in favor of simply manipulating his guitar's volume knob from "Over The Edge" and onward.

Ampeg Gemini: Greg recorded the first three Wipers records with 1965 Ampeg Gemini. Due to its fragility, and extreme weight, Greg never toured with it (though it can be seen in the background of this photo.) However, this amp's tremolo (which Greg set extremely low, to use as a semi-choral effect) and heavy reverb was essential to the guitar tone and tecnique on those records.

Greg Sage used a Fender Tweed 4x10" Bassman amplifier instead of the Ampeg Gemini during the earliest known Wipers concerts, as noted in a Reddit post by user Tazmily228.

This is a Live Photo of Greg Sage using this amplifier. You can see the Gemini amp with 4 switches (one being blocked by the microphone) that are only that close together on the VT-22 Model. Unsure of how often he used it, but it’s rumored he used an Ampeg Gemini on the first 3 Wipers Albums. As far as which model was used on these records, that is uncertain.

Echoplex tape delay: Greg had several of these and besides the Distortion+ it was the only "effect" he ever used. It is, with no doubt, the key to his guitar sound and style. Without it, he would be missing his natural "huge" solo sound and his ambient guitar playing would be at a miss. His Echoplexes were early solid-state models that he modified to accomidate a footswitch

In this image, Sage can be seen with a Black Left-Handed Gibson SG Special.

The fact that this is an SG Special is evidenced by the fact that it has Dot Inlays insted of Block Inlays and is fitted with two P-90 pickups insted of standard Humbuckers. This Guitar is also fitted with a Bigsby B5 Tremolo.

Marshall amps: Usually a Plexi, or a JCM800 (as seen here.) Greg's main touring amplifiers in the later years were rented Marshall heads, which he ran with a singular 4x12 cabinet. Greg hated these amps because they sounded very generic and colorless to him, so he ran his homemade preamps into them.

A binson echorec 2 is clearly seen on the cover of the Wipers box set.

This is a Live Photo of Greg Sage using this amplifier. You can see the Ampeg amp with 4 switches (one being blocked by the microphone) that are only that close together on the VT-22 Model. Unsure of how often he used it, but it’s rumored he used an Ampeg on the first 3 Wipers Albums. As far as which model was used on these records, that is uncertain.

On Greg's own website: 1966 Ampeg B-12

Very road beaten, but my most favorite amp. I have made many modifications to this over the years, but I have kept the heart of it in it’s original design. The sound of this amp is so rich and beefy, no 12ax7’s, It uses hard to find high current tubes that have punch. It was originally a single 12 inch speaker with a horn. I made a new face board and made it a 2-12 speaker cabinet. The 2-12’s would not fit horizontally due to the cabinet size.