Henry Kaiser

Kaiser "has amassed an immense collection of guitars, amplifiers, and effect pedals" to achieve "sonic diversity". A favorite of his is a Klein electric with Alembic pickups (Wikipedia)

"I used a Ram’s Head Big Muff for maximum distortion. I generally play clean or totally fuzzed out. The Dumble Overdrive Special amp introduced me to a wider spectrum of distortion and I pretty much stuck with the amp’s distortion and clean sounds."

"One thing I love about it is that it is gated, but with the gate detection before the distortion, thus a listener never hears the gating. (I first heard this idea of gating in the old ADA MP-1 rack preamp.)"

"[Barber Tone Press] allows me to change the mix balance between a compressed signal and the uncompressed signal, thereby allowing transients to break through, while the sustain continues underneath," says Henry Kaiser, in this article.

"When 1998 rolled around, I encountered the now-discontinued (but new at the time) Tech 21 Comptortion pedal. As my pal Glenn Phillips recently pointed out, this pedal sounds like it was designed to sound like me. To this day the CompTortion is a must-have for me anytime and anyplace that I play. Frequently, I use it direct with nothing else in the studio. One thing I love about it is that it is gated, but with the gate detection before the distortion, thus a listener never hears the gating. (I first heard this idea of gating in the old ADA MP-1 rack preamp.) The CompTortion is also the only really fuzzy distortion pedal that I know of that seems to find unique sounds from whatever guitar I plug into it. I have way too many guitars, and this pedal makes me sound like I have twice the actual quantity…" says Henry Kaiser, in this article.

"[Old World 1960 Compressor] is two parallel optical compressors with super hi-fi sound, and a compression style like an old Teletronix LA2A compressor," Henry Kaiser says, in this article, about his Essential Effects, by Premier Guitar.

"Finally, an amazing and pricey compressor from England is the Origin Effects Slide Rig. This pedal emulates the wonderful sound of Lowell George on Little Feat’s Dixie Chicken album, simulating the sound of two Urei 1176 compressor channels in series…" says Henry Kaiser, in this article, about his essential effects, by Premier Guitar.

According to Vertex Effects, Henry Kaiser powers his pedalboard with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus.

This photo of Henry Kaiser's pedalboard, found on Vertex Effects, shows that he uses an Eventide PitchFactor.

In this photo of Henry Kaiser's pedalboard, found on Vertex Effects, a Tech 21 Liverpool pedal can be seen.

An Electro-Harmonix Killswitch can be seen in this photo of Henry Kaiser's pedalboard, found on Vertex Effects.

A TC Electronic Flashback Delay pedal can be seen on Henry Kaiser's pedalboard in this photo, found on Vertex Effects.

On Vertex Effects, this photo of Henry Kaiser's pedalboard shows that he uses an Xotic Robotalk.

As shown on Vertex Effects, Henry Kaiser uses a Manlay Sound Ronno Bender.

"Nowadays the tiny Neunaber Wet Mono Reverb seems to be the magic reverb for me. It’s a handcrafted reverb, designed by one man instead of a team or committee, to provide many different sounds with a single preset, with variable decay and mix. That one preset covers everything that I ever need, and the pedal works equally well in front of an amp, and also in an amp’s effects loop," says Henry Kaiser, in this article, by Premier Guitar.

"I like playing kind of blues rock soloing... using this kind of reverse effect and it displaces me in time from the moment, and I get odd rhythmic placement and lines I wouldn't normally get, and it's almost like playing with another person"

"The old MXR Dyna Comp was the first tool that I used for this. I think I got one very soon after it first appeared on the market. I always placed a volume pedal after it so that I could control the dynamics of what I heard, that way I could make the loud notes quiet and the quiet notes loud."

"I used a Ram’s Head Big Muff for maximum distortion. I generally play clean or totally fuzzed out. The Dumble Overdrive Special amp introduced me to a wider spectrum of distortion and I pretty much stuck with the amp’s distortion and clean sounds."

"I discovered the Chandler Tube Driver in the ’80s and stuck it in front of both amps. When 1998 rolled around, I encountered the now-discontinued (but new at the time) Tech 21 Comptortion pedal."

"Tech 21 came up with two more pedals in recent years that I love the sound of: the American Woman and the Liverpool."

"(Whoops ... I almost forgot the Crazy Tube Circuits Starlight, a really terrific fuzz pedal from Greece.)"

"I used the effects loop of a TC 2290 that bypassed the harmonizer’s return, but not the send to it. Then when I wanted to sound backwards, I could kick the effect in instantly," says Henry Kaiser, in this article, by Premier Guitar.

"Eventide brought out the Eclipse harmonizer in 2002, and I used that model for this effect for many years…" says Henry Kaiser, in this article, by Premier Guitar.

"This led me to taking a 160X DBX compressor that was designed for the studio and sticking it into the effects loop of my old transistor Acoustic 114 amp that I was using back in 1977."

"I think it was one of the very first amps with an effects loop, and I probably became one of the first players to use studio gear in that loop, such as the DBX compressor and a Lexicon Prime Time digital delay."

"He was using an MXR Pitch Transposer rackmount harmonizer to do momentary pitch shifting with the unit’s footswitch. I had one of those MXR units, and I immediately adopted Glenn’s innovation for my own use."

"After a few years with that clunky MXR, I gave up on it and used a modified ADA PitchTraq to provide the same effect for me."