Issei Noro

In the Yamaha ART “BACKSTAGE” article “CASIOPEA 3rd billboard Live Tokyo”, Issei Noro’s floor setup is shown using a Line 6 POD HD500X.

The article describes Noro’s new Line 6-based system and specifically lists his floor equipment as “MFC10, HD500X”. This confirms that the Line 6 POD HD500X was part of Noro’s live rig during this CASIOPEA 3rd Billboard Live Tokyo setup.

The HD500X appears to have been used alongside his Yamaha MFC10 MIDI foot controller as part of his stage control and guitar processing system.

Issei Noro used a Yamaha CPX-15A electro-acoustic guitar with Pegasus, his acoustic duo project with Tetsuo Sakurai, around 2010. The guitar visible in Pegasus footage appears to be the Egyptian-themed Compass Series version, commonly listed as the Yamaha CPX-15E / CPX-15EA “East,” featuring an Egyptian Sandburst finish, Egyptian-style rosette, and hieroglyphic fingerboard inlays. In a 2010 HMV Japan article about Pegasus, Issei Noro is listed as using a Yamaha CPX-15A electro-acoustic guitar. The guitar seen in Pegasus footage matches the Egyptian-themed Yamaha Compass Series CPX-15E / CPX-15EA “East,” with Egyptian Sandburst finish, Egyptian rosette, and hieroglyphic-style fretboard inlays.

Issei Noro is listed as using a Yamaha PG1 rack preamp starting with Sun Sun in 1986.

The post says Noro sent the Yamaha PG1 directly to the PA, marking his move away from a conventional guitar amp setup for the main front-of-house sound.

Issei Noro is listed as using a Yamaha E1010 in the effects section of his gear history in ozzyoon's blog.

A noroism Instagram archive post about Issei Noro’s 1979 setup states that his early signal chain ends into a Polytone Mini-Brute II amplifier. The post describes this as a very simple setup during Casiopea’s early days.

Year: 1979

Color / Finish: Black

According to a post on noroism's Instagram, the Maxon Overdrive appears in the signal chain from the Eyes of the Mind (1981) era. The exact model isn't specified, but the design in the illustration seems to point to the Maxon OD-808, which Noro had been using since 1979.

A noroism Instagram archive post about Issei Noro’s 1981 Eyes Of The Mind-era setup lists a Boss Touch Wah in the signal chain, placed after the Maxon Overdrive and before Yamaha effects.

A noroism Instagram post sharing a November 1985 Guitar Magazine archive page describes one of Issei Noro’s guitars as a prototype that can be considered an early Yamaha SG-3000 type.

A noroism Instagram post about Issei Noro’s October 1987 post-Platinum setup states that the overdrive sound came from a Peavey Audition 30, described as a small amplifier bought the day before the recording. The same source notes that it was not used in the later December 1986 Perfect Live 10th Anniversary setup.

A noroism Instagram post about Issei Noro’s October 1987 post-Platinum setup lists a Yamaha D-1500 digital delay routed through the Yamaha PSE-40A / ESY101 system. The unit also appears again in the 1991 Full Colors-era rack diagram.

A noroism Instagram archive post about Issei Noro’s 1991 Full Colors-era equipment states that he apparently used an Ibanez LS-10 to switch between electric guitar and acoustic guitar signal paths. The same post shows a complex stereo rack setup using a main line mixer and multiple effects loops.

An Instagram post documenting Issei Noro’s 1991 Full Colors-era signal diagram shows a Boss TU-12 Chromatic Tuner connected from the Yamaha PG1 effect/send path.

A noroism Instagram archive post about Issei Noro’s 1991 Full Colors-era equipment describes a complex stereo rack setup using a mixing desk, with multiple effects loops routed back to a main line mixer. The Yamaha MV802 is shown as the central mixer in the signal diagram, feeding both the PA and the stage monitoring system.

An Instagram archive post quoting Guitar Magazine states that Issei Noro used a Yamaha SG1000 as the basis for one of his fretless guitars, describing it as “made by removing the frets from a Yamaha SG1000 and refinishing it.”