Joe Satriani

Used, albeit minimally, during the production of Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock:

"Turns out about half of the guitar parts on the record came from those demo sessions, as well as all of the keyboard parts. Everything else was recorded at The Plant Studios in Sausalito, Calif., in the facility's historic Studio A, which offers a 1,200-square-foot tracking room with a circa 1972 sunburst pattern on the sidewall and a much newer SSL 9000 K sitting in the control room. (...)

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."

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."

Visible during Satriani’s October 19, 1992 live performance of “Big Bad Moon” for the Guitar Legends Hard Rock Concert (particularly at 16:17, during the harmonica solo it is used for). The 520D is also visible in the documentary Reel, which follows the making of Satriani’s self-titled 1995 album. The one in Reel was also used for harmonica (as evinced by the harmonica attached to it) and may be responsible for the distorted vocals on “Look My Way”.

"Engines of Creation is a techno record. I wrote the music digitally, which meant using a keyboard instead of an acoustic guitar, and emailed MIDI files to my partner, Eric Caudieux. He used Logic Audio Platinum from Emagic for digital processing and sequencing."

"Now, with Engines of Creation, Satriani launches a new era of creativity — built with PowerBook and Power Mac computers, keyboards, guitars, and effects."

"Now, with Engines of Creation, Satriani launches a new era of creativity — built with PowerBook and Power Mac computers, keyboards, guitars, and effects."

"Satch goes wild with gear and musical experimentation on Engines of Creation. The album's techno edge, sequenced rhythm tracks, and heavily tweaked guitar parts proved challenging in rehearsals. But because of his open-minded approach, and a willingness to let bassist Stu Hamm and drummer Jeff Campitelli re-purpose parts they could pull off live, Satriani has brought the way-out-there sounds back to Earth on his current tour. Here's a brief rundown of what he's using on stage.

Guitar.com: Did you have to bring any special gear with you to re-create sounds off the newest album?

Satriani: We tried. We used things like Moogerfooger pedals and Electro-Harmonix Micro Synths and Bass Micro Synths. You know, Hafler Triple Giant preamps. We used a lot of fun gear on the record. It's very pedal oriented. But I found in rehearsal that this stuff, when you turn it up really loud, it doesn't really hold up, and it doesn't project as much. And I thought, 'You know, I don't want people in the 30th row to be looking at some guy's head while he stares at his feet stepping on pedals all night.' So I said, 'I'm gonna do what I've always done; I'm gonna do what Hendrix proved could be done. I'm gonna make a really trippy record, then go out live with a really loud amp and a couple of pedals, and go for it.' You just make the music new again. You keep it simple.

So I found that I could use a Fulltone Ultimate Octave to replace a lot of the stuff that I used in the studio. And there is still one section in 'Borg Sex' that Eric uses the Electro-Harmonix pedal for, but he's hoping to replace it with the Fulltone pedal. The Fulltone pedal is a more straight-ahead pedal; it sounds exactly the same every night. The Electro-Harmonix are really unique, but they seem to sound different every night. And that can be a problem."

"The PAF Joe™ is the latest neck pickup we developed for Joe Satriani. Joe wanted a neck position humbucker that combined the best qualities of the PAF Pro® with those of a late 50s Gibson® humbucker. Joe describes this tone as being 'tubular'. Through the use of Virtual Vintage® technology, clear-sounding low frequencies are blended with warm-sounding mids and high frequencies, which makes the PAF Joe™ equally good for chords and single notes. Joe first used it throughout the 2003 G3 tour."

"Joe Satriani has used FRED® as his main bridge pickup for years. In 2005, Joe asked us for a hotter and bigger version to replace the FRED® in his new Ibanez® guitars. The new model called the Mo’ Joe™ is all about tone and definition. Its name says it all. It has more power than FRED® but it doesn’t sacrifice clarity or dynamics. Additionally, all the harmonics that made FRED® so good are all there ready to jump out at the touch of a guitar pick. Having more output makes the Mo’ Joe™ a perfect match for the PAF Joe™ in the neck position. The combination delivers great versatility and control from rhythms to solos."

it states on the website he uses this pickup

Around 2:07 Joe Talks About this

"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."

Used on the "Surfing to Shockwave" tour.

“When you’re doing [guitar-driven] instrumental rock, you’re looking to get a lot more frequencies out of the guitar because you have a lot more room to fill,” [FOH engineer Michael "Ace"] Baker notes, saying that he uses a 57 on Satriani’s amp “to make sure that everybody hears all the notes, [while] the Shure [KSM313/NE] ribbon mic gives me all the body and the warmth that I want to make it sound big and full. I try to make it sound for the audience like it sounds three feet away from the amplifier.”

Used on the "Surfing to Shockwave" tour.

Clair Global supported the tour with DiGiCo SD10 consoles for FOH and monitors (including wedges, side fills, and subs) and a Shure/Sennheiser microphone package. “We use P.A. du jour every day, so I never know exactly what I’m walking into,” [FOH engineer Michael "Ace"] Baker says. “Some [systems] are wonderful; some are interesting and we figure out how to make it work. But the venues that we play are all chosen pretty well. Many of them are places that we’ve played before.

Satriani is a featured spokeperson for the AXE I/O, as in this video.

For sale in mint condition on Bananas at Large’s website.

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!

As stated in an official press release in the Fractal Audio forums.

Welcome the incredible Joe Satriani to the ever-growing list of top-name players using Fractal Audio Systems products. We’ve been working with Joe for some time after being introduced by a good mutual friend. Here’s what he had to say about the Axe-Fx II XL+:

“Fractal Audio’s Axe-Fx II is a tone-generating powerhouse. I’ve been using writing, recording and live performance. It always delivers the goods. We have several units with us on the “Shockwave to Surfing” *[*sic]Tour. Mike Keneally and I both have them integrated into our rigs. They’re rock solid, and sound great every night. The shows wouldn’t be as fun and exciting without them.“

Used as one of three rhythm guitars on “Righteous”, as taken from Satriani’s personal notebook.

Rhythm Guitars: Fender Custom Shop ’69 Strat (gold sparkle), ’63 Fender Deluxe, MCO #1, Mezzabarba M Zero, Gibson Flying V, Vox Big Bad Wah

In this Guitar World interview about What Happens Next, Satriani specifies the Flying V to be from the Gibson Custom Shop.

I had three guitars that pretty much did everything. I had my number one Ibanez MCO—that’s the prototype for the orange JS2410—and then its brother, the DMCP. My Ibanez JS25ART guitar sounded pretty great on everything. Those were the main ones. There were some bits where I used a Custom Shop ’69 Strat, and I paired that with a Custom Shop Flying V. Funny, though, I still can’t figure out how to sit down with a V. [laughs]

Guitarist Joe Satriani's use of the RJM Music Effect Gizmo is highlighted by its listing on Bananas at Large’s website, showcasing this piece from his private collection.

Listed for sale on Bananas at Large’s website.

Listed for sale on Bananas at Large’s website.

Listed for sale on Bananas at Large's website.

Joe Satriani's Strymon OB.1 Optical Compressor and Clean Boost Pedal, from his private collection, was sold on Reverb.com through Bananas at Large.

Joe Satriani's Dunlop JD-4S Rotovibe pedals were sold through Bananas at Large on Reverb, indicating their inclusion in his private collection.

Sold on Reverb.com via Bananas at Large.

A P12P with a date code of 2200925 (it was made in the 25th week of 2009) and a serial number of P12PC6641 was sold on Reverb.com via Bananas at Large.

Joe Satriani's private collection included a Strymon TimeLine Multidimensional Delay Pedal, as listed on Reverb by Bananas at Large.