Joe Satriani

Used by producer John Cuniberti on Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock:

"Satriani and crew spent three weeks mixing at The Plant, where Cuniberti bypassed the SSL altogether to mix exclusively 'in the box.' After three weeks, they moved to his home studio, affectionately dubbed Digital Therapy Labs, which offers a Pro Tools HD3 system and enough plug-ins to allow him to use the same techniques as he would during a traditional mix session.

'I haven't changed the way I mix,' he says. 'I use the Waves API bundle for most of the EQ, the Altiverb reverbs — with those I can get my EMT plates, my echo chambers, my halls — and various compressors depending on what's called for. All of that is bused to a Neve 8-in/2-out summing box I built and then to an SSL stereo compressor. Joe and I have grown up with Neve, API and SSL consoles, so we couldn't divorce ourselves from them.'"

"But I'll tell you what I started doing about two years ago, is recording DI and using software guitar amplification, primarily because I thought if I put in a performance that's a once-in-a-lifetime performance on this particular song, I'm going to want to keep it. And I don't trust doing it here at home. But if I record it direct, it'll sit there in the session and then when we get to a real studio and we've got the real band recorded with microphones and a big room, we can re-amp that performance, and re-record it. And that's what we did quite a bit for the Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards record. There are quite a few songs that I had recorded using SansAmp or Guitar Rig, but they were all recorded DI. I would monitor those software patches at home, and then when we got to Skywalker, we either used a combination of those software guitar patches, or we would send the DI out into Marshall amps and different speakers and mic them anyway we want based on what we had captured from the band."

"I've used BFD and Battery the most, but I try not to get too crazy with those things for two reasons. Number one, if you get too much into the sound of a drum suite program, it will affect how you produce the rest of your instruments around that, which can be a mistake. It's not a real drummer in a real room and, unless you're doing dance music or something like that, most likely it's going to sounds really different when a real drummer goes to interpret your material.

The other thing that's a real problem is drummers hate it when you give them demos that are completely explicit, because they're listening to the demo and obviously they are trying to imagine what they're going to do over it. And very often drummers have said to me just give me two and four and that kind of thing. Just give me a click or a basic pattern that repeats so I can forget about it and I can imagine what I think I want on top of it."

"I've used BFD and Battery the most, but I try not to get too crazy with those things for two reasons. Number one, if you get too much into the sound of a drum suite program, it will affect how you produce the rest of your instruments around that, which can be a mistake. It's not a real drummer in a real room and, unless you're doing dance music or something like that, most likely it's going to sounds really different when a real drummer goes to interpret your material.

The other thing that's a real problem is drummers hate it when you give them demos that are completely explicit, because they're listening to the demo and obviously they are trying to imagine what they're going to do over it. And very often drummers have said to me just give me two and four and that kind of thing. Just give me a click or a basic pattern that repeats so I can forget about it and I can imagine what I think I want on top of it."

"I like M-Tron from GForce."

Featured in this video.

According to this Premier Guitar interview, Satriani used the Sansamp extensively on Engines of Creation.

Do you have a favorite can’t-live-without-it guitar processor that you used on this project?

It was most likely the SansAmp plugin. I still enjoy using the SansAmp designs, both their plugins and rackmount preamps. Eric [Caudieux] and I would use it here and there to spice guitar sounds up a bit. Sometimes, as in “Until We Say Goodbye”, it was the guitar sound!

Used on the song “Catbot”, as written in Satriani’s personal notebook.

Melody Guitar: MCO #1, Vox Big Bad Wah, Tech 21 SansAmp, Recti-Fi Plug-in

In this Premier Guitar interview, Satriani describes Recti-Fi’s role in “Catbot” in depth:

That starts with a pretty standard plug-in that turns your guitar into a wah-wah pedal, but it gets into a plug-in called Rectify [sic], which basically destroys the sound. But it was a little bit humorous. I was thinking that if you have an electronic cat, like they do in Japan, where people have dogs and cats that are actually little robots [laughter], what if it got out, and it’s roaming down the street with the other cats, and they’re all looking at it like “Wow, is that a real cat?” Of course, the catbot goes to talk and meow and it comes out all weird sounding!

Used on "Midnight", as stated in this February 1, 2017 Music Radar interview.

"I used a little Casio CZ-101 to record the flute, if you can believe it.

“But Bongo Bob, he's such a creative guy, he totally got my whole imagery of a secret ceremony in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the night. And, so, he started to create all the funny percussion, and John was totally cool with trying to get that little CZ-101 Casio keyboard to sound like some sort of dream orchestra. It sounded very much like an old-school Moog synthesizer. It was the cheapest imitation you could ever get. I miss that keyboard. I played it until it broke."

"I couldn't do without the JS1200. This one is a bit modified because we put a sustaining pickup. I use that on a couple of songs on the new record. Live I'm using it for the song 'Why' in just the regular single-coil tone. The 'Wind in the Trees' solo act uses the sustainer, and you can actually pick to sustain in the low, mids or high frequencies. That's fun to play with - it's very liberating. Of course, the neck and the body are identical to the 2400, so the playability is there. It has the same neck that is one the 1000s. It's a great guitar and it's beautifully red."

"This is one of the two prototypes that I had when developing the JS2400. So 24 frets instead of the usual 22, extra cut away. It has a new single coil pickup by DiMarzio and a Mo' Joe here in the bridge position. It pretty much functions like the JS1000s, except in this particular case without all the particular stuff I mentioned, the body is older and it's got a Bubinga stripe in the neck, and it's orange! I wanted to get it to look like this '73 Camaro that was painted in a hugger orange color. We decided not to put in the white stripe. But in the end it came out looking like Halloween candy. We just figured not many people would want to buy an orange guitar, but because it's older wood than I usually use it has just maybe 2% extra warmth to it or something. It doesn't cut as well but it's a little fatter sounding. It was done down at the LA custom shop. I think we made the right decision in sticking with bass wood and taking out the Bubinga stripe. I think it ultimately is a bit more musical sounding. Now, the problem that I've always found with 24-fret guitars is that when you take this whole ensemble here of pickup and pickup ring and you put it on here, it actually winds up moving your prime position back towards the bridge, not where it was originally placed. The tone suffers. That neck pickup sound, I think, is so important for all guitar players. I certainly use it a lot in my music. I just thought, 'Well I'm not going to give up my sound just for those two extra frets.' So I brought it to those guys to see what could we do to solve that problem. The realization is that you don't need a whole lot of wood after that last fret. Usually they put in a generous amount for another fret being there then you add the ring to this and this whole section would be back here - completely different tone. So this allows us here to get this pickup here right where a Humbucker's range of picking up the sound would be. It really makes the pickup function incredibly well. It sounds like a high-powered Strat; you can dial it down, put the high-pass filter in there and you do get a very beautiful Strat tone."

"This is a new idea that we've had at Ibanez, which is try to bring the Ibanez line to a more affordable level. This is really important. Of course, we're always struggling to get the same quality that I demand from those guys because I want to be able to play these things. One of the most important things is the neck and the feel. This is a three-piece maple neck with a Bubinga stripe through it. We've got the benefit now of having the Bubinga stripe adding a stronger tone and complete stability, which is really important. The fretboard is Rosewood, and it's kind of what I really prefere for all of my playing because it has that fantastic sound. Again, the balance between the bite and the warmth is an important thing, especially with all the melodies and solos that I'm playing on stage and in the studio. I think that ultimately it makes for a guitar that lasts longer and feels the same all the time, decade after decade. Of course, the frets are 6105 - I really like those. The edge of these frets is really nice, we give it that nice edge treatment. So whether you're playing some crazy acrobatic guitar or just playing some chilling chords it's going to feel comfortable. We've got the EDGE tremolo bridge - my favorite - for ease of use, for stability and tuning, and a great tone that you get out of all these kinds of bridges. One more thing I want to say about the bridge is that, of course, if you want you can get the Ultralite Tremolo Arm on here also if you like that style. Either one will work and they sound great, of course. The body is Basswood, just like the old JS1000s, which is great because Baswood has got a fantastic balanced tone and it's got a real singy tone as well. It's got one of those real successful marriages between the body's contour shape and the sound of the wood itself. In the neck we got the DiMarzio Chopper pickup, which I've been using for several years now. it's got a great whop to it, a great clarity when you're playing through a clean amp, and a lot of power when you got the gain up. The bridge pickup, the Mo' Joe, which is something I've been using a lot, it's just beepier, it's got a smoother combination between the mids and the bases - I think more power. I just love the pickup, and the two together are just really a powerhouse. So there you have it: it's affordable and it sounds awesome too."

"The new JS2410 in Muscle Car Orange - this is a great color. I have found it to be very inspirational in the last couple of years as I've been working on it, and we've been perfecting the colros of both the body and the pickups. You're probably wondering why I came up with this orange color. Well, this goes back to a couple of years ago, I was at a Chickenfoot rehersal at the studio and right across the street there's this place where they're working on cars. I walked in there and there's this beautiful '73 Camaro in this color with a lot of chrome coming out of the hood, and I look at it and I took a picture of it and I thought 'That looks just like a guitar if you're staring down from the bottom up.' I then thought to myself , 'We've got to get this thing going,' so I e-mailed it right away to the guys at Ibanez's custom shop. That started the long journey of trying to replicate this color. There's a lot about this guitar that's new and innovative for the JS line. The body itself is an Alder body. I was looking for a body that would give me a bit more punch and maybe the ability to cut through the mix a little bit more. Alder is the perfect wood for that. It has a Rosewood fretboard. The frets are what I've always used, the 6105s, because I really like them. The Prestige fret edge treatment is very important for ease of playing so that you can play like crazy or you can cruise - either way it's always going to be comfortable. The neck is a three-piece Maple neck. The addition this time is the Bubinga stripe. We've added it in there for a couple of reasons. Coming from a players view, I was looking for a little bit more clarity, a little bit more strength from chunky rhythms to singing melodies and searing leads. I'm always looking for just a little bit more presence. I really think we've hit on something with this Bubinga stripe running right through the neck. Of course, it adds a lot of stability, which really helps anytime that you've got 24 frets. We've got the EDGE tremolo bridge, which is still my favorite. I just think this things sounds the best and the action on it is just really beautiful. I really do like it. It also comes with this really cool thing, we call it the Ultralite Tremolo Arm bar. This is something that we were working on for an extremely long time trying to figure out the boing out of the whole vibrato system and trying to make it feel better when you're playing. So it's a little bit larger, but the whole thing about it - the angle of it, the length, its weight, and the fact that it's very light - it just behaves more like the way you really want one of these tremolos to behave. It's a great thing to have now. It also comes with a new pickup, a DiMarzio Satch Track pickup. What I was trying to do here was, since I've notice that there are a lot of things that you want to get out of a neck pickup on a guitar like this, and part of the problem many times is going from a clean sound to a sound that's got a lot of gain. Something happens to the low end. So what it does is it cleans up the low end and makes it a bit more punchier exactly when you need it, even though you're playing a guitar like this. As for the bridge pickup, with this thing here, people who have had my 2400s know that I really like playing the DiMarzio Mo' Joe pickup. It's got, I think, just a bit more chunk, and that's exactly what I was looking for a fuller low end, a fuller mid range to balance out some of those really quirky qualities that the pickup had. So this guitar really sounds fat. In the new record you'll be able to hear this very guitar because it's featured all over it and you'll see how massive it sounds. It's really a great sounding pickup. And with the two together, like I said, I think we've reached a higher level of matching neck pickup and bridge pickup."

"Just recently tuned, this is the beautiful JSA Acoustic. This guitar, what we tried to do with this guy was, to make a beautiful-sounding acoustic guitar we didn’t put any extra holes anywhere. So it's a fully functional acoustic guitar. It's really great on stage because it allows me to get that total acoustic tone and playability without getting any crazy feedback, squeals, and all that. And it's so black! How much blacker can you get?"

"Look at this finish - it's beautiful! It took us quite a while to find the right tones for this color, but I think this thing looks fantastic on stage. This guitar has the JSA body shape and the top is the solid englemann spruce top. That, of course, creates that beautiful sound. It's very responsive, great tone sounding wood. The JSA20 has got solid Rosewood on the back and sides - it's a beautiful pattern. The neck is a mahogany neck. The JSA line has a very comfortable neck for players of the electric guitar; I think they'll feel right at home. And you can play up way the neck - the intonation is fantastic! That transition from electric guitar to acoustic in the middle of a show is a piece of cake because of the way we built the neck and the feel of the fretboard. That's a very important point for me. In the JSA20, we've got the Fishman Acoustic Matrix pickup system and also the Fishman Aura Pro preamp, with presets by me. Of course, it's got an Onboard tuner, which is really cool. This is something that has been a new change for us in the JSA line. I thought that they built this guitar so good that I don't mind them putting a little hole up here and sticking some electronics there. That was my first concern with the original JSA, but I think that we've evolved the design of the guitar. So now we have this unit in it that sounds fantastic. We've got chrome Grover Tuners on it. They're fantastic, very accurate and got great tension on them. It also has Abalone rosette and body binding. The bridge and the fretboard are ebony. I've always liked that look as well as the sound. I think these guitars actually come strung up, so they use D'Addario EXP strings - which are the best!"

"It was a Hagstrom III, white with a black pickguard – a very cool guitar. It had the smallest, most-narrow, finished neck I’ve ever played. I used it for a year and a half, and played my very first shows on it. - Do you still have it? - No. But on a Chickenfoot tour a couple years ago, a fan who knew I’d been looking for one brought one to a show for me."

"That has an interesting bit of modification – a Sunrise pickup, which I used quite a bit on a couple of records. I asked Gary to replace the bridge and put on one of those two-piece saddles. We used it for “Starry Night” and so many songs where there’s an acoustic bed. Me and my son, ZZ… it’s our favorite acoustic in the house."

"The goldtop. When Mike Pearce brought that to me, I fell in love because of the way it sounded. But I also loved its look; it’s exactly my kind of guitar – totally beat-up look. Mike said, “I think this belonged to Steve Hunter,” which that added to its caché.It looked right and came in a case that had “Steve Hunter” on it. We were just psyched, because Steve Hunter is part of our rock-and-roll DNA. I was gonna get the guitar, anyway, just because it was a beautiful piece."

As seen on his official website, Joe has a classic 1957 Gibson Les Paul Junior in his collection.

As seen on his official website, Joe has a classic 1958 Gibson Flying V in his collection.

As seen on his official website, Joe has a classic 1958 Gibson ES-225 in his collection.

"That is such a great player. I walked into Chris Cobb’s shop, Real Guitars, in San Francisco, one day, not thinking of buying anything. But there were two ’60s Strats – a ’64 and a ’61 – on consignment. I couldn’t believe it, I’d been looking for something like them for 10 years. So then and there, I bought them. Then Chris said, “If you’re in the mood for buying stuff, I’ve got my Special here.” He brought this thing out, and I could not believe it. I’d owned some nice ones, but they always fought me, as a player. This one, though, is amazing. Talk about mojo! I couldn’t believe how great it sounded and how easy it was to play. He had bought it from an old rock-and-roll player who told him he was the only owner. My neurosis kicked in, and I had to have it. So that was an expensive afternoon, as I walked out with three cases!"

"I struggled with that guitar. It’s one of those where you open the case, look at it, smell it, and fall in love. But if I can’t figure out how to play good music on it, eventually it starts to bother me that I’ve got this expensive guitar and there’s 100 guys out there who could play beautiful music on it. Instead, it’s in my closet. That really bothers me. It and the Cherry Red Special are on the list labeled “Maybe I should sell them and find another Hagstrom III or something…” (laughs) Who knows?"

Satriani has been making heavy use of this ’58 Fender Esquire since recording the 1992 album The Extremist.

Satriani used this ’59 Gibson ES-335 on “Somethin’ Gone Wrong,” from Chickenfoot III.

"The Cherry Red double-cutaway. I got that at Gruhn’s, in Nashville. I loved that guitar up until two weeks ago, when we did the photo shoot. I was like, “How come I haven’t played this recently?” So I plugged it into Sam’s half-stack there in the studio, and I just didn’t get anything from it. I was like, “Oh no,” which is the beginning of the reverse neurosis, where I tell myself, “I have to get rid of this because…”

"This guitar has “it.” You know how when you plug in a Strat, switch on the neck pickup, and play the G string at the 12th fret, you know right away if it’s got that beautiful tubular tone? Not too skinny, not too bright, but not dead. I plugged it in, played two notes, and I went, “Oh, this is it.” The ’61 sunburst Strat does not have that lead-guitar thing, but it has better rhythm sound than this one. That’s why I got both. I thought, “For one or two or three songs, these are gonna be the perfect guitars.”