James Iha

James can either be seen with a black one (pictured) or his other favorite, a Silverburst as seen here

In this photo, found on this fan site, James Iha can be seen playing a Fender Telecaster.

James Iha can be seen playing a Epiphone Doublecut ET-270 in this photo.

In this video of a Smashing Pumpkins concert in Dusseldorf, Germany, Iha can be seen using a black Rickenbacker 360 during their performance of "1979" (around 1:00:33 in the video). A nice profile shot of the Rickenbacker can be seen before they play the song from about 1:00:18 to 1:00:22 in the video.

2-pickup solid-body electric guitar, introduced in 1966. Used by James in the Rocket video, also appears in the back photo of Pisces Iscariot (behind the CD). Teisco also made a K-3L and K-4L model with 3 & 4 pickups, respectively.

In this video Billy Corgan says, "We had the issue where we were both playing Marshall JCM800s", refering to James Iha and himself.

James is seen playing a Jazzmaster in the music video of 'Zero'.

James used a Fender Twin Reverb amp on MCIS, which was used on some tracks for the cleaner tones.

A Gloss Red 1994 Gibson Flying V was used by James in the MCIS era. One of the most notable photographs of James with this guitar was on the cover of Guitar World magazine from December 1995. In that photograph, you can see James has an Electro-Harmonix Small Stone (Version 2) taped to one of its horns.

For some different distorted tones, James has used a Mesa TriAxis all-tube pre-amp, which has 8 pre-amp modes, MIDI control, etc.

For more mid-ranged gained out tones, they use an Orange Overdrive 120 head & cab. James has used it live as a poweramp for his rack.

In this photo, taken at Iha's 2012 performance in World Cafe in Boston, Iha can be seen playing the black Guild Starfire V.

in this video, at the timestamp 0:25 Billy Corgan talks about how he and James bought their big muffs together

According to this page, James used a Fender Bronco during Gish and Siamese Dream era.

"We started using new effects. We’re both using Fractal Axe-FX IIs. We wanted to get some of the original sounds back, but also see if we could make things bigger, crazier, or more exaggerated than the original effects," says James Iha, in this article.

James began using a Digitech Whammy II in his live setup starting with the touring for MCIS. In an April 1996 interview with "Guitar School" magazine, Billy states "...there is a bunch of Whammy on the record. James uses a Whammy for his solo in Zero."

James also said the following in a December 1995 interview with The Guitar Magazine (TGM) magazine "We tried to be a bit more obtuse, varied, and interesting. Like on XYU I was using a whammy pedal and I kept getting these intermittent breakups-like dang-dan-dan-dan-dang-dan-dan-dan-dang-fllllplplplplplsh! You just step on the pedal and it destroys the sound! It's like a tape machine going haywire or something."

In this photo, Iha can be seen playing the Gibson SG Junior.

In this video, James playing Tele Deluxe

One of the guitars James is using on the current Pefect Circle tour is a Yamaha Revstar. Based on the photo (4th from left) in this Premier Guitar rig rundown its a well worn, top of the line RSP20CR in brushed black with the pickup covers removed.

James Iha has used various Gibson SGs throughout his career. Notably, a black Gibson Custom Shop SG Custom Reissue VOS was employed during the Siamese Dream tour and the Machina tour for C-tuned songs. A TV Yellow model, part of the 30th Anniversary series limited to 300 units in 1991, featured in the "Cherub Rock" video and was sold by Iha in July 2010. Additionally, a red SG was seen during his 2012 solo tour promoting "Look to the Sky." This information is documented on spfc.org.

An "electronic-bow" for guitar. James uses this small hand-held device on many of the Pumpkins songs, usually combined with a digital delay. The way the effect works is that it is placed over the string on the pickup of the guitar and it vibrates the string and keeps the note sounding. The EBow is most easily noticable on "Sinfony", which is entirely EBowed, and on "Stand Inside Your Love".

On the photo of James with his Gibson Flying V, EHX Small Stone (Version 2) can be seen taped to one of guitar's horns.

James is seen using a Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man at 1:52, in this promotional video for "Perfect".

at 5:27 he mentions occasionally using ultex picks.

In a 2018 performance of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" on The Howard Stern Show, James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins is seen using the RJM Music Mastermind GT-16 MIDI Foot Controller.

In this video at 0:53, Iha can be seen filming the music video for "Perfect" while playing a White Tremolo-equiped Jackson Rhoads.

The guitar was barely seen in the "Perfect" video, with only one shot visable at 2:17, and a couple other shots of the neck/headstock shortly after.

James played a Fender Electric XII (12-String) guitar with a rosewood dot inlay neck for the song "Try Try Try" during the final Smashing Pumpkins tour in 2000. Dot inlays (opposed to block inlays) were only used from 1965 to mid-1966 for this model of guitar. The color appears to be Lake Placid Blue that has aged over time (yellowed) into an interesting green color common for older models.

James uses an Eventide H3000 Harmonizer live. It is the effect they used live on The End Is The Beginning Is The End for the super high squeely notes. It was the first "intelligent"/diatonic pitch-shifter ever when it came out in 1986.

In this photo, Iha can be seen playing the Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar.

Seen here behind Pumpkins' bassist D'arcy Wretzky, the harmonizers were used as an improvement over the previously (studio) used H3000s by both Corgan and Iha.