Mdou Moctar

Visible in the background throughout this October 17, 2018 D'Addario & Co. "Guitar Power" interview. It is also mentioned in this November 6, 2020 Twitter post, which specifies its use on Mdou Moctar Mixtape Vol. 7, in addition to this May 18, 2021 Guitar World interview.

Twitter, November 6, 2020

Vol. 7 consists only of recordings made in Niger. These recordings showcase more of the songwriting process as we experiment with new ideas at weddings and as we sip tea for hours, blasting guitars through tiny Roland cube amps.

Guitar World, May 18, 2021, "Mdou Moctar: 'I really like the Stratocaster sound. Whatever tone I need, I can have it in that guitar'"

Circa-2019, he would use a pair of Roland Jazz Chorus 120 combos, with a pedalboard populated by a Boss OD-3, the Hoof fuzz and Bellows overdrive from EarthQuaker Devices, plus an Electro-Harmonix Bad Stone and a Boss DD-6 delay that would be run in stereo.

Pedals remain a new frontier, with phaser, chorus and delay all favorites. Moctar will return from tour with different items of gear, but at home digital modeling amps such as the Fender Mustang and Roland Cube offer all-in-one solutions for processed guitar tones.

Visible throughout "Live in Niamey, Niger" starting at 2:58. It is also mentioned in this May 18, 2021 Guitar World interview.

Circa-2019, he would use a pair of Roland Jazz Chorus 120 combos, with a pedalboard populated by a Boss OD-3, the Hoof fuzz and Bellows overdrive from EarthQuaker Devices, plus an Electro-Harmonix Bad Stone and a Boss DD-6 delay that would be run in stereo.

Pedals remain a new frontier, with phaser, chorus and delay all favorites. Moctar will return from tour with different items of gear, but at home digital modeling amps such as the Fender Mustang and Roland Cube offer all-in-one solutions for processed guitar tones.

In a November 2018 Instagram post, Mdou Moctar is seen using a Fender Silverface Champ (Vintage Combo) amplifier.

On the Ilana (2019) tour, Mdou Moctar is using a (or two) Roland Jazz Chorus 120. The amplifier can be seen at 0:06 in this video from a concert at the Star Theater in Portland, Oregon (4/13/19).

Used for the studio recording of "Takoma", as stated by producer Mikey Coltun in this May 28, 2024 Guitar World interview.

What effects did Mdou use for the sessions?

“In terms of pedals, we had a TC Electronic PolyTune 2 and an EarthQuaker Devices Acapulco Gold. I had the latter modded for an internal trim pot to not blow amps – Mdou tends to just turn the knobs on pedals all the way up so I needed to find a boost, but not too much, since the EarthQuaker pedal has a lot of headroom.

“There was the Union Tube & Transistor Shiny pedal, our signature [Champion Leccy] Rockstar Fuzz V1 – this pedal is almost always on as his preamp for slight crunch – and the Boss PH-3 Phaser and a Boss DD-7 for slapback delay.

“I took a few different DI signals from Mdou. There was a clean guitar without pedals, DI with pedals, and a DI with an amp simulator, which was just used for headphone monitoring. With the clean DI, I did use a few different Analog Man pedals such as the King Of Tone and Astro Tone Fuzz through an old Vibro Champ – that’s what you’re hearing on Takoba.”

Used for Funeral for Justice as stated by producer Mikey Coltun in this May 28, 2024 Guitar World interview.

What details can you share about Mdou’s amp setup?

“[Mixing engineer] Seth Manchester and I reamped Mdou’s guitar through a Soldano SLO-100 and a Traynor 4x12 cab. This amp is made for Mdou. Since Mdou doesn’t play with a lot of dynamics and it’s pretty much just hard fingerpicking on the bridge pickup, there tends to be a lot of bright sizzly highs and not enough clarity. The SLO just scoops all the unwanted high frequencies out. For mics, we used a Neumann U 77 and Coles 4038, like, 3ft to 5ft away going into API preamps.

“After reamping, I throw a Space Echo [RE-]201 on the left and right sides for a bigger sound. There were no Roland JC-120s on this record – however, on some songs like Oh France, I used a Roland Chorus Echo [RE-]501 for that chorus sound.

“The chorus on the 501 is a bit different than the JC-120 – it’s more similar to the Roland battery-powered Cube chorus, which is widely used throughout all of West Africa and one of Mdou’s favourite amps.”