Joe Satriani

"The JVM410, I have three clones of each other. These are modified by Santiago Alvarez, the Head Engineer for Marshall - also a really good guitar player. He's been working on these things for me for over a year. We've kept the basic design of the 410s, which is four channels and three modes for each channel, so you do get a lot of flexibility. Any working guitarist out there is going to love the fact that it's pretty much got the history of Marshall tones in one head. I'm using about four different settings right now. So I'm using a clean channel, one for a sort of overdriven 800 tone, then two settings in an overdrive channel. My gig is mainly playing melodies and solos full time, so I don't do a whole lot of rhythm work during the show. What Santiago is able to do with the existing 410 is get rid of a lot of the inherent compression that was a little more popular a couple of years ago. So now it's an ultra punchy, super dynamic amplifier. We got it way more quiet, and we got rid of the reverbs and we put it four noise gates - one for each channel. We reshaped the resonance and the presence controls so that they would be a lot more friendly for me. Basically I didn't want the presence to be so harsh and I wanted the resonance to be a little more flexible, let's say, not so overwhelming in the 100-hertz area. Other than that, I'm using just one head during the show and two cabinets. We keep a half step back for guests: John Petrucci was playing through that one the other night in New York City. A spare head is always available just in case something gets finicky with this one. All the heads go into that to keep the power regulated. For the tubes, I don't think we change anything about them, they're EL34s 12AX7s. I don't think in the last twelve months we ever tried anything else, like 6L6s or KT80s. We've kept the EL34s for the whole thing."

In this Guitar Player interview, Satriani states that he “ha[s] a few original Peavey 5150s”. The article goes on to share signal chains from Satriani's personal notebook, which reveals that the 5150s were used on "Smooth Soul" and "Forever and Ever".

“Smooth Soul”

Melodies: MCO#1, Peavey 5150 Solo: KSR Orthos Rhythm Guitars: Gibson Custom Shop goldtop, Korg G4 Rotary Speaker, Fender ’59 Tweed Twin, Wells amp into Fender Deluxe

(...) “Forever and Ever”

Intro/Outro Guitar/Rhythm Guitars: JS25ART #47, Mezzabarba M Zero Melody: MCO #1, Peavey 5150 Solo: JS25ART #47, Peavey 5150

Another one of Satriani's Peavey 5150s was sold on Reverb.com via Bananas at Large.

A December 20, 2002 post in this Les Paul Forum thread by user Bluesbreaker59 mentions that Satriani purchased a MKIIC+ from him.

When I had my Mark II C+, it had the original STR 420's in it, which from what I was told by my Boogie dealer, is the holy Grail of Mesa tubes. However they ceased production on them, so I don't know how hard they would be to find. When I finally had to replace them, I just bought brand new Boogie 6L6 tubes and they sounded good, just not spectacular like the old 420's. Just my opinion.

When I sold my Boogie, the guitar shop put it on Ebay and got contacted by one of Joe Satriani's people, because I guess he, Petrucci, Kirk Hammett and a few select others are trying to hoard all the Mark II C+ 's in the world. I got $800, for it, the guitar shop got $1800, so if I were you I'd definitely hold onto that amp, and not let those shredders have it, they don't deserve everything.

"I eventually got into a band with a guy who had a stack made by Lafayette, which was an electronics shop, like Radio Shack, on the East Coast. I believe his was tube. And our bass player had a Heathkit amp, where you buy the parts and build it yourself. Eventually, I wound up with a Fender Bandmaster."

Acquired shortly before the recording of What Happens Next. It was used for “Righteous”, “Headrush” and “Forever and Ever”, as taken from Satriani’s personal notebook.

“Righteous”

Melody Guitar: MCO#1, Marshall JVM410HJS Intro/Outro: MCO #1, Electro-Harmonix Microsynth, Strymon El Capistan, Marshall ’71 50-watt Rhythm Guitars: Fender Custom Shop ’69 Strat (gold sparkle), ’63 Fender Deluxe, MCO #1, Mezzabarba M Zero, Gibson Flying V, Vox Big Bad Wah

(...) “Headrush”

Melody Guitar: MCO #4, Mezzabarba M Zero, Marshall ’71 Super Lead Rhythm #1: Fender Custom Shop Tele (red sparkle), Xotic SP Compressor, BOSS CE-2 Chorus, Lazy J J80 combo Rhythm #2: Ibanez T-style with Evertune, Korg G4 Rotary Speaker, Xotic SP Compressor, Lazy J J80 combo Solo: MCO #1, Marshall JVM410HJS

(...) “Forever and Ever”

Intro/Outro Guitar/Rhythm Guitars: JS25ART #47, Mezzabarba M Zero Melody: MCO #1, Peavey 5150 Solo: JS25ART #47, Peavey 5150

2008 and 2016 models, both with the “Dexter Satch Mod”, are listed for sale on Bananas at Large’s website. The second one can be found here.

Listed for sale on Bananas at Large.

KSR Handwired GEMINI 100 2.5 Channel, 100W, Multi-Mode Guitar Amplifier (Pre-Owned)(Joe Satriani Collection).

Joe Satriani is the world’s most commercially successful solo guitar performer, and now you can own gear from his private collection!

Handbuilt and voiced for Joe Satriani

Listed for sale on Bananas at Large's website. It was used on Satriani‘s eponymous 1995 album, as seen throughout the documentary Reel.

In this video from Musician's Friend, at 2:42 Joe says about the amp head "it’s got a clean channel and it’s got a crunch, and it’s got a you know ultra."

"For amps, I use my Marshall JVM410JS signature head. It’s comfortable having your own signature gear to plug into and wrap your fingers around. These days I have the most input into the gear, which makes for the least resistance."

Shown on KSR’s official artist page. Satriani acquired his Orthos MKII shortly before the recording of What Happens Next and used it extensively on the album. His personal notebook details the amp’s use.

“Smooth Soul”

Melodies: MCO#1, Peavey 5150 Solo: KSR Orthos Rhythm Guitars: Gibson Custom Shop goldtop, Korg G4 Rotary Speaker, Fender ’59 Tweed Twin, Wells amp into Fender Deluxe

(...) “What Happens Next”

Melody Guitar: MCO #1, Re-amped with KSR Orthos and Tech 21 SansAmp Power Chords: ’63 Fender Deluxe

(...) “Super Funky Badass”

MCO #1, Re-amped with KSR Orthos Breakdown Rhythms: Fender Custom Shop ’69 Strat (gold sparkle), Electro-Harmonix Mel9, Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe, Strymon El Capistan

“Invisible”

Melody/Solo/Intro/Outro: MCO#1, KSR Orthos, Wells Amp into Fender Deluxe cab Intro/Outro: JS25ART #47, Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, KSR Orthos Rhythm Guitars: MCO #1, Dunlop EchoPlex Preamp, Wells amp/Fender Deluxe Cab

Joe Satriani collaborated in the design of the 3rd Power Amplification DRAGON DRGN 100 Head and used this amplifier during the Van Halen tribute tour with Sammy Hagar in 2024, as confirmed by 3rd Power Amplification.