Keith Murray

In a reddit AMA by We Are Scientists, Keith Murray is asked, "Keith, What year is the telecaster you play? I've always been curious just for the hell of it."

He replies, "It's an American Vintage '52 Reissue. I love it. I own many other guitars, but none have ever held enough allure to replace the tele."

In this live performance of We Are Scientists performing the song "After Hours" at indieATL Sessions, Keith Murray can be seen playing a cherry Gibson SG electric guitar.

In this email exchange with Keith Murray of We Are Scientists from May 2016, he confirms that his combo amp is a Bad Cat Hot Cat 30.

Middle row to the right of Keith Murray's pedalboard, his Electro-Harmonix Small Stone Phase Shifter can be seen. In an interview, when discussing his pedalboard and signal chain, he says:

Then it [MXR Carbon Copy] goes into, um, an unused Electro-Harmonix Small Stone? [at Brendon] is that the name of the phaser pedal? Which I used to use on a couple of the Brain Thrust Mastery songs–doesn’t get used now. We don’t even touch the tunes that it used to be on.

EDIT June 2016: In this email exchange with Keith Murray, he points out a correction for his Equipboard, that "the pedal listed as a Small Stone is actually a Small Clone chorus pedal."

Bottom row of Keith Murray's pedalboard, a Boss DD-7 Digital Delay Pedal can be seen. From a 2010 interview, he confirms it's a DD-7 when talking about the order of his pedals:

Oh. Ok. After that [Boss tuner and EHX Micro POG], then it goes a Boss DD-7 delay pedal, then it goes into, uh, an MXR Micro Amp...

At the top of Keith Murray's pedalboard in this photo, his MXR M-133 Micro Amp Pedal can be seen (turned sideways). In a 2010 interview he confirms the signal from the Boss DD-7 feeds into the MXR Micro Amp:

Oh. Ok. After that, then it goes a Boss DD-7 delay pedal, then it goes into, uh, an MXR Micro Amp, then it goes into an MXR Micro Delay, then it goes into…

Bottom row, to the right, next to his Boss tuner, Keith Murray's MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay can be seen on his pedalboard setup. In this 2010 interview, he mentions it, calling it an "MXR Micro Delay." On the same pedalboard he also has a Boss DD-7 delay:

Oh. Ok. After that, then it goes a Boss DD-7 delay pedal, then it goes into, uh, an MXR Micro Amp, then it goes into an MXR Micro Delay, then it goes into...

Middle row on the left on his pedalboard, Keith Murray's Zvex Super Hard On can be spotted. In an interview he discusses his signal chain in order, and the Super Hard On is the last pedal he references:

Into a–I’m not done answering this one! Into a Z-VEX Box of Rock, which is the primary distortion pedal, into a Z-VEX Super Hard-On.

In this photo of Keith Murray's pedalboard, his Frantone Vibutron pedal can be seen in the top left corner.

From this email exchange with Keith Murray of We Are Scientists from May 2016, he confirms that while touring in Europe, his amp of choice is a 1966 Selmer Zodiac 50 MkII, "to balance out the tones."

In this email with Keith Murray of We Are Scientists from May 2016, he explains when he uses his 1967 Selmer Super Zodiac 100:

"In Europe, I use a 1966 Selmer Zodiac 50 MKII to balance out the tones; in the States, I sometimes use a 1967 Selmer Super Zodiac 100, when the rooms are big enough for a two-amp assault."

In this email exchange with Keith Murray of We Are Scientists from May 2016, he says:

"I've also put a Death By Audio Fuzz War on the pedal board but haven't really been using it live. It's all over the record, though, and is sick as hell..."

His reference to "the record" is for their 2016 album Helter Seltzer.

In this screenshot from an Instagram story, Keith Murray can be seen playing a Fender Jazzmaster in Olympic White finish. Possibly vintage because of the yellow tint of the finish.

In this video of We Are Scientists performing "After Hours" at Guitar Center, Keith Murray's acoustic guitar can be seen. In this email exchange talking about his gear, he confirms the acoustic guitar he uses for live work is a Gibson J-45. In the video, the guitar can be seen from 0:23 and onwards.

In this photo of Keith Murray's pedalboard, the pedal on the lower right is a Boss TU-3 tuner. He confirms usage of a Boss tuner in this interview from August 2010 (originally found here on wearescientists.wordpress.com). In the interview when talking about his effect chain in order, he starts off by saying, "I’ll try to give you the signal chain in order: Boss tuning pedal, into an Electro-Harmonix Polyphonic Octave Generator Micro..."

In this photo of Keith Murray's pedalboard, the pedal in the middle is the Electro-Harmonix Micro POG. In this interview from August 2010 originally found on wearescientists.wordpress.com, he talks about first getting the full size EHX POG, and then the smaller Micro POG:

Keith: I’ll try to give you the signal chain in order: Boss tuning pedal, into an Electro-Harmonix Polyphonic Octave Generator Micro–

Mahsa Borhani: Which, you said that you found this pedal recently while you were record–writing songs in [Athens]?

Keith: No, well, I bought it in the middle of the Brain Thrust Mastery tour,

Mahsa: Ok.

Keith: I bought the, not the micro, the full, like, you know, theatre, full,

Chris Cain: The home appliance.

Keith: The home appliance, yeah. I bought it and had it on my pedal board for about six months–it’s a gigantic pedal–um, and it really made me angry, for a long time. But yeah, didn’t come into play until Barbara.

A ZVex Box of Rock can be seen in the lower left corner of Keith Murray's pedalboard, which he says is his main distortion pedal. From an interview where he discusses his pedals:

Into a–I’m not done answering this one! Into a Z-VEX Box of Rock, which is the primary distortion pedal, into a Z-VEX Super Hard-On.

EDIT June 2016: From an email exchange with Keith Murray, he says, "the Box of Rock always has the boost channel on (and the distortion channel is almost always on and cranked to maximum distortion at all times)."

In the upper right corner of Keith Murray's pedalboard, the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus power brick can be seen, which he's using to power the pedals in his setup.

In this video of We Are Scientists at BTR Live Studio, Keith Murray can be seen playing a Gibson ES-345 electric guitar in a cherry finish. It has silver hardware and a trapeze tailpiece. The parallelogram neck inlays and Varitone switch identify it as a ES-345. A great look at the entire guitar can be had around 4:00 into the video, as the camera moves down to show the ES-345's body.

EDIT May 2016: In an email exchange with Keith Murray, he confirmed the year of his Gibson ES-345 to be 1966.

In an Instagram story from June 2025 posted by We Are Scientists, Keith Murray can be seen holding a Fender CN-140SCE in Natural finish, and it can be assumed he'll be playing it for an acoustic performance for Dautschfunk.