Jonny Buckland

"Jonny's guitar used during the Parachutes / Rush Of Blood era of touring." - From Coldplay's end of decade clearout sale catalog where they auctioned off their gear.

In this photo Jonny can be seen playing Korg KONTROL49.

Throughout this video, Jonny can be seen playing a Danelectro DC 59. This is the only time Jonny's ever used this guitar.

Here Jonny can be seen using the Sennheiser SK 9000 with the Digital 9000 System during the One Love Manchester concert in june 2017. From 3:22 and on you can get a good view at the wireless system he uses.

Mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“I’ll record acoustic guitars with two small–diaphragm condensers — Telefunken M60s or Neumann KM84s — pointing at the 12th fret at a 45–degree angle, and possibly an ambient mic; something crusty like a Coles 4038 is good. Electric guitar cabinets have an SM57 and a Royer on them, and the bass cabinet an SM7. I always take DIs of the bass and electric guitar as well, just in case I want to later embellish these and play them through an amp again."

Rik Simpson: “ “I’ll record acoustic guitars with two small–diaphragm condensers — Telefunken M60s or Neumann KM84s — pointing at the 12th fret at a 45–degree angle, and possibly an ambient mic; something crusty like a Coles 4038 is good. ”

Jonny using the E-Bow during a performance of "Spies" at the 2000 Bizarre Festival (Can be seen at 1:30)

Jonny Buckland uses the Wisycom MPR50-IEM in-ear monitor system, as detailed on Wisycom's official website.

In a recent Coldplay livestream on Instagram, Jonny can be seen using a single-pickup Epiphone Casino to play their song 'Yellow.'

In their 2003 eZine, Jonny lists a "Rickenbacker 12-String" amongst his equipment.

"Jonny Buckland has been using the TC Electronic 2290 Dynamic Digital Delay since 2003, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on Imgur."

In 2003, Coldplay published a list of the equipment their members used. Jonny's list included the DTR-1 tuner.

At 0:30 in this video, Jonny Buckland can be seen playing a red Fender Jaguar.

In this video of Coldplay performing an acoustic version of "A Message", Jonny Buckland's acoustic guitar is a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe Studio in a natural finish. If you pause the video between 6:47-6:49, it can be seen that the headstock looks to say "Gibson". Additionally, the fretboard inlays, saddle, and the pickguard going to a point all match the details of a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe Studio.

In the photo from Coldplay's performance at the Royal Albert Hall, Jonny Buckland is seen with the JazzMutant Lemur Multitouch Modular Controller.

Mentioned in this article from the official Sensaphonics website.

One of the hottest arena/shed tours on the road this summer was Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. With a large stage set-up for sheds and arenas, in-ear monitoring was a critical element to the band’s success. As they have for the past several years, the band members were all on Sensaphonics custom earphones via Sennheiser wireless systems.

However, there were a few key changes for this year’s tour. All four band members have upgraded from the classic ProPhonic 2X-S to the Sensaphonics 2MAX. “Most of the backline crew also have Sensaphonics IEMs,” says [monitor engineer Chris] Wood. “We have found the drivers to be very reliable. I can’t recall having a problem in the eight years we have used them.” A few wedges can still be seen on stage, but are used mainly for backup.

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Guitars: EMI Chandler TG1, Lexicon PCM42, API 525, API 5502, Roland Dimension D SDD320, Watkins Copicat

"Normally I send each side of a stereo guitar to my EMI Chandler TG1 panned left and right and coming back on the console, but I didn't in this case, so I must have felt that it sounded bad. It might have taken away from the tightness of the guitars. They had already recorded it very tightly. So instead I didn't add anything to their stereo chorus verse guitar. I also had a mono verse guitar, which I sent to a PCM42 delay set at 224ms and panned to the opposite side, and every time the guitar strums it goes over to the right. On the acoustic guitar I did what I normally do, which is to send it through my acoustic patch, an API 525 going into an API 5502. That's a great combo and I have been using that for years. It makes the acoustic guitar very natural and full and gives it great presence without it sounding processed. In this song it's not very evident, because the acoustic guitar isn't very important, but, for example, on Parachutes the acoustic is very important, and I used the patch back then. There was no insert on the solo guitar. I did have a Dimension D SDD320 chorus on it, which spreads the sound naturally, and which went to a Watkins Copicat Echo unit with a fairly short delay. Otherwise it's totally dry, no reverb, hardly any EQ. Again, it was so well recorded that it didn't need a lot of work."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Guitars: EMI Chandler TG1, Lexicon PCM42, API 525, API 5502, Roland Dimension D SDD320, Watkins Copicat

"Normally I send each side of a stereo guitar to my EMI Chandler TG1 panned left and right and coming back on the console, but I didn't in this case, so I must have felt that it sounded bad. It might have taken away from the tightness of the guitars. They had already recorded it very tightly. So instead I didn't add anything to their stereo chorus verse guitar. I also had a mono verse guitar, which I sent to a PCM42 delay set at 224ms and panned to the opposite side, and every time the guitar strums it goes over to the right. On the acoustic guitar I did what I normally do, which is to send it through my acoustic patch, an API 525 going into an API 5502. That's a great combo and I have been using that for years. It makes the acoustic guitar very natural and full and gives it great presence without it sounding processed. In this song it's not very evident, because the acoustic guitar isn't very important, but, for example, on Parachutes the acoustic is very important, and I used the patch back then. There was no insert on the solo guitar. I did have a Dimension D SDD320 chorus on it, which spreads the sound naturally, and which went to a Watkins Copicat Echo unit with a fairly short delay. Otherwise it's totally dry, no reverb, hardly any EQ. Again, it was so well recorded that it didn't need a lot of work."

Mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“I’ll record acoustic guitars with two small–diaphragm condensers — Telefunken M60s or Neumann KM84s — pointing at the 12th fret at a 45–degree angle, and possibly an ambient mic; something crusty like a Coles 4038 is good. Electric guitar cabinets have an SM57 and a Royer on them, and the bass cabinet an SM7. I always take DIs of the bass and electric guitar as well, just in case I want to later embellish these and play them through an amp again."

Used on "Hymn for the Weekend", as mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“The guitars have the Soundtoys PanMan to give them some movement, and also some corrective EQ from the Pro–Q 2, and the UAD SSL E Channel strip, which is one of my go–to plug–ins, because it sounds so similar to the original SSL, a desk I was brought up on. There’s also an eBow guitar hook at the end of the song that has the Wavesfactory TrackSpacer plug–in, which side–chains the guitar to the vocal, so it clears the space when the vocal is present.

Jonny uses a Gibson Les Paul Standard in performances of Violet Hill on the Viva La Vida tour and Mylo Xyloto tour, he can be seen using it at 0.25 of this video

In this performance of Til Kingdom Come, Jonny can be seeing using a Gretsch Country Gentleman. This is quite rare for him to use this guitar for that song, since his main guitar for that song is his Fender Telecaster Thinline.

In this photo from 2009 we see two Homebrew Electronics Powerscreamers in green. Jonny has used these pedals extensively live, beginning around Coldplay’s 2005 Twisted Logic Tour.

In this photo from the Mylo Xyloto sessions we see Buckland recording with a Moog E1. This guitar is known for its unique onboard sustaining technology and was likely used in creating the soaring lead tone on Princess of China.

In this photo from the "C" Stage during The Music of The Spheres tour in Zurich, July 2023, Johnny's guitar tech is prepping his guitars pre-show. His "C" Stage rack is visible under the stage, containing a couple of Neural DSP Quad Cortex units, a Boss TU3S Chromatic tuner, and a Radial Tonebone BigShot ABY pedal.

In this photo from the "C" Stage during The Music of The Spheres tour in Zurich, July 2023, Johnny's guitar tech is prepping his guitars pre-show. His "C" Stage rack is visible under the stage, containing a couple of Neural DSP Quad Cortex units, a Boss TU3S Chromatic tuner, and a Radial Tonebone BigShot ABY pedal.

Mentioned in this article from the official Sensaphonics website.

One of the hottest arena/shed tours on the road this summer was Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. With a large stage set-up for sheds and arenas, in-ear monitoring was a critical element to the band’s success. As they have for the past several years, the band members were all on Sensaphonics custom earphones via Sennheiser wireless systems.

However, there were a few key changes for this year’s tour. All four band members have upgraded from the classic ProPhonic 2X-S to the Sensaphonics 2MAX. “Most of the backline crew also have Sensaphonics IEMs,” says [monitor engineer Chris] Wood. “We have found the drivers to be very reliable. I can’t recall having a problem in the eight years we have used them.” A few wedges can still be seen on stage, but are used mainly for backup.

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Guitars: EMI Chandler TG1, Lexicon PCM42, API 525, API 5502, Roland Dimension D SDD320, Watkins Copicat

"Normally I send each side of a stereo guitar to my EMI Chandler TG1 panned left and right and coming back on the console, but I didn't in this case, so I must have felt that it sounded bad. It might have taken away from the tightness of the guitars. They had already recorded it very tightly. So instead I didn't add anything to their stereo chorus verse guitar. I also had a mono verse guitar, which I sent to a PCM42 delay set at 224ms and panned to the opposite side, and every time the guitar strums it goes over to the right. On the acoustic guitar I did what I normally do, which is to send it through my acoustic patch, an API 525 going into an API 5502. That's a great combo and I have been using that for years. It makes the acoustic guitar very natural and full and gives it great presence without it sounding processed. In this song it's not very evident, because the acoustic guitar isn't very important, but, for example, on Parachutes the acoustic is very important, and I used the patch back then. There was no insert on the solo guitar. I did have a Dimension D SDD320 chorus on it, which spreads the sound naturally, and which went to a Watkins Copicat Echo unit with a fairly short delay. Otherwise it's totally dry, no reverb, hardly any EQ. Again, it was so well recorded that it didn't need a lot of work."

Used on "Hymn for the Weekend", as mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“The guitars have the Soundtoys PanMan to give them some movement, and also some corrective EQ from the Pro–Q 2, and the UAD SSL E Channel strip, which is one of my go–to plug–ins, because it sounds so similar to the original SSL, a desk I was brought up on. There’s also an eBow guitar hook at the end of the song that has the Wavesfactory TrackSpacer plug–in, which side–chains the guitar to the vocal, so it clears the space when the vocal is present.

Jonny Buckland of Coldplay uses the Shubb F1 FineTune Capo, as seen in a Facebook post by Shubb Capos. The image shows Buckland and Chris Martin working on material with the capo, identifiable by its distinctive U-shape at the back of the guitar fingerboard.