John Sykes

For much of the Whitesnake '87 album and first Blue Murder album John used 2 Mesa Boogie Coliseum heads. These amps have a Mark III pre-amp section but use six 6L6 power tubes--giving the amps180 watts each

For the last ten + years of Thin Lizzy tours or Sykes tours, John has been plugging his Les Paul straight into one 50 watt JCM 800 Marshall head running in to one Marshall 4x12 (or one of his custom-made made 4x12's)

Seen standing with his Les Paul Custom model during the tail end of his Blue Murder era.

During John Sykes' Blue Murder era, the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head (Multi-watt) is visible in his flight case, as shown in the referenced image.

For speaker cabinets, John uses Marshall 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie metal grill "Half Back" 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie 4x12 Recto cabinets and some custom made 4x12 cabinets.

Above is John's 1959 Les Paul Sunburst. This Les Paul is pictured on the cover of the "Loveland" CD. It was also used for most of that recording. For those who are interested in Les Pauls, it doesn't get much better than this guitar! This model and year of guitar is about the most collectible guitar there is and this is a fine example. It doesn't have the most extremely figured maple top but it plays and sounds fantastic. John used this guitar for several shows a few years ago. However, he started wondering about the sense of subjecting a guitar of such value to the rigors of the road and switched back to his main black Les Paul Custom.

According to his official website, John Sykes used both standard Mesa Boogie Mark III and Mark III Coliseum heads.

For much of the Whitesnake '87 album and first Blue Murder album John used 2 Mesa Boogie Coliseum heads. These amps have a Mark III pre-amp section but use six 6L6 power tubes--giving the amps180 watts each! John also owns several Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+'s, Mark III's and some rack mounted Mesa Dual Recto heads. Other Mesa Boogie equipment includes a Tri-Axis preamp and a Strategy 500 Power Amp.

It's mentioned as one of the strings & picks he uses on his official website.

According to the site he used use Dirty Fingers pickup in the bridge position.

For speaker cabinets, John uses Marshall 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie metal grill "Half Back" 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie 4x12 Recto cabinets and some custom made 4x12 cabinets.

The rack setup used during the later Blue Murder days included a Mesa Boogie Dual Recto head, a Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis Preamp, a Mesa Boogie IIC+ head, a Mesa Boogie Strategy 500 Power Amp, a rackmounted Dunlop Crybaby, a Lexicon PCM 41, a Lexicon PCM 70, and an H&H V800 Power Amp.

As listed and seen in John's flight case from his Blue Murder era.

John Sykes has used a Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar since 1978. Initially, it featured Gibson Dirty Fingers pickups in the '80s, which were later replaced with Gibson Classic 57 pickups in the '90s. This setup is illustrated in a user-uploaded photo on Gstatic.

For speaker cabinets, John uses Marshall 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie metal grill "Half Back" 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie 4x12 Recto cabinets and some custom made 4x12 cabinets.

John often uses this guitar for recording clean guitar sounds. For example, he used it for the much of the Whitesnae recording of "Is This Love".

It's mentioned as one of the effects he uses on his official website.

John uses Ernie Ball Strings -- "Regular Slinkys" or "Reinforced Plain Steel" gauged at .010 to .046.

The rack setup used during the later Blue Murder days included a Mesa Boogie Dual Recto head, a Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis Preamp, a Mesa Boogie IIC+ head, a Mesa Boogie Strategy 500 Power Amp, a rackmounted Dunlop Crybaby, a Lexicon PCM 41, a Lexicon PCM 70, and an H&H V800 Power Amp.

Another new addition is this Joe Satriani Model Ibanez. What makes this special is that it was given to John by Joe after Joe had used it for a tour.

John has acquired some new guitars over the last year or two and we'll get some pictures of them up soon. Out of the new additions, this one is his favorite--an EVH Frankenstein.

It's mentioned as one of the effects he uses on his official website.

As listed and seen in John's flight case from his Blue Murder era.

As listed and seen in John's flight case from his Blue Murder era.

As listed and seen in John's flight case from his Blue Murder era.

As listed and seen in John's flight case from his Blue Murder era.

"The rack setup used during the later Blue Murder days included a Mesa Boogie Dual Recto head, a Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis Preamp, a Mesa Boogie IIC+ head, a Mesa Boogie Strategy 500 Power Amp, a rack mounted Dunlop Crybaby, a Lexicon PCM 41, a Lexicon PCM 70, and an H&H V800 Power Amp."

As listed and seen in John's flight case from his Blue Murder era.

"The rack setup used during the later Blue Murder days included a Mesa Boogie Dual Recto head, a Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis Preamp, a Mesa Boogie IIC+ head, a Mesa Boogie Strategy 500 Power Amp, a rack mounted Dunlop Crybaby, a Lexicon PCM 41, a Lexicon PCM 70, and an H&H V800 Power Amp."

During his time with Whitesnake, John Sykes used the Kasha Rockmod I Tube Preamp, as noted in the Worthpoint listing.

The use of the Yamaha E1010 by John Sykes is confirmed in the Whitesnake "Slide it In" Ultimate Special Edition booklet.