Prince

Prince is frequently associated with the Boss OC-2 Octaver, as highlighted in the article "Prince: The Unsung Guitar Hero" on Proguitarshop. This suggests a preference for Boss effects in his performances.

Prince can be seen in this photo playing a Danelectro Longhorn Bass.

Unsure if he has ever commented on this But he clearly used it in the Billboard Awards 2013

Prince had an old Yamaha CP-70 grand in the basement of his Kiowa Trail home studio (similar to the CP-80 model, used live), recorded with an AKG 414 microphone. Heard on the rehearsal take included on the Piano and a Microphone 1983 album.

This image comes from this article from Pro Guitar Shop where they write "Along with his love of Boss effects, Prince is a regular user of the Digitech Whammy, Dunlop Crybaby Wah (though he has been known to use a Colorsound Wah as well), and Line 6 MM4 modulation modeler."

"The only bass effects on the record are a Zoom 9030 (usually on its "slap wah" setting) and a Danelectro Fab Tone pedal for fuzz."

Earlier in his career (I believe) he was playing through Soldano SLO-100 heads and he has also been seen playing Orange AD140HTC heads with Orange 412 cabinets.

Prince is frequently associated with the Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, as highlighted in the article "Prince: The Unsung Guitar Hero" on Pro Guitar Shop. This suggests his preference for Boss effects in his guitar setup.

In a YouTube video by Roy Canuti titled "Prince - Johnny B. Good - Acoustic," Prince is seen using a Breedlove Atlas Stage D25/SRE acoustic guitar. This model is known for its stage-ready design and unique voice, built on the original Breedlove concert body shape with solid tonewoods, making it ideal for live performances.

“This is a very rock-oriented record, so we worked a little harder on the distortion tones,” says Buff, when asked about the guitar-recording process for Rave. “There were a couple of tracks where we just plugged straight into an amp—typically a Peavey Delta Blues 1x15 or a Tech 21 Trademark 60—but The Artist also had his complete guitar system in the studio so that he could use all his pedals. I’d often mic the [Dutch-made, Celestion Vintage 30 loaded] Koch 4x12 or Peavey 5150 4x12 cabinets with a Shure SM57 and an Audix D2 placed on two different speaker cones. Sometimes we used a room mic to capture some depth—usually something fancy like an AKG C12A, a Neumann U67, or a Neumann U47 FET.

Prince was seen using the Vox Series 77 guitar during his performance at the Billboard Music Awards, as captured in a user-uploaded photo.

Prince used the Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler for his Bass pedalboard you can see it in a picture taken from one of Prince’s music studio in Paisley Park. He also used this pedal for his keyboards/synths you can spot it in some concert footage when Renato Neto is playing along with some Boss effect pedals.

Prince was known for his iconic Cloud Guitars, which he had custom-made and painted in various colors, including white, baby blue, dark blue, black, yellow, and peach. A user-uploaded photo from Apmcdn captures one of these distinctive guitars, highlighting Prince's unique style and preference for vibrant instruments.

Prince used a Mutron Bi-Phase on the Prince tour, and the For You and Prince albums.

Prince liked to used the Yamaha RX-5 digital drum machine for his 1987 album Sign O' the Times. For example, he used both the Linn LM-1's cabasa, kick and tambourine combined with the Yamaha RX-5's snare to create the drum beat for the album's title song.

This photo features Prince playing his Fender Custom Shop "Goldfinger" Stratocaster, distinguished by its unique golden pickguard.

Sylvia Massey, sound engineer on Diamonds and Pearls, randomly brought her Gemini2 in one day, and she had a slew of other guitars for Prince to choose from. She was horrified when he picked it up as she hadn’t prepared it for playing but he loved the thing and used it on several tracks. In her words, a highly under-rated studio must-have.

In an interview, Susan Rogers mentioned that Prince was hesitant to adopt new gear, preferring equipment he was familiar with. He favored the Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifier, and multiple photos from his Paisley Park studios show several LA-2As in use.

Prince used the Mesa/Boogie Lone Star 2x12 Combo Amp during his project with 3rd Eye Girl, as discussed on prince.org.

"Other basses include an old Guild Pilot and a gold-colored Ibanez Soundgear."

"The Artist plays bass on nearly all of the Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic tracks. (Rhonda S. appears on two songs.) For most of his parts The Artist used Graham’s Moon bass with Bartolini pickups; when the Moon was unavailable he used the Warwick Eye Bass. Engineer Hans-Martin Buff ran the signal into an Avalon U5 active DI, either a Demidio or Neve mike preamp, a Summit Audio compressor, and sometimes an API 550 EQ. The Artist rarely mikes a bass amp in the studio. The only bass effects on the record are a Zoom 9030 (usually on its "slap wah" setting) and a Danelectro Fab Tone pedal for fuzz."

These are the most recognizable guitars in Prince’s stable but he has also played a Les Paul Jr. covered with fake fur, a Lake Placid Blue Stratocaster, Dark Blue Telecaster with flowers, a George Benson autographed Ibanez archtop, and Auerswald Model C guitars equipped with sustain bows.

Built by David Rusan and Barry Haugen, this guitar was made in 1989 for Prince. In this Rolling Stone article, his guitar tech explains, ""This Yellow Cloud guitar was Prince's main guitar & used in most of his early videos & touring performances & album recordings. From around 1988-1994," Prince's former guitar technician Zeke Clark wrote for Heritage Auctions in a letter of authenticity. "In 1994 he broke the neck of this guitar at a French T.V. show. After returning to U.S.A. I repaired neck & installed the first Floyd Rose set up Prince ever played. And then used in recording more albums, up until the symbol guitar was born. After the symbol guitar he wanted 24 additional cloud guitars made to be sold at his outlet store."

Prince used the Oberheim OB-Xa as his go to Analog Synth on 1999 and Purple Rain. It's even responsible for the "Church Organ" intro on Let's Go Crazy, and it is all over "The Beautiful Ones" and the posthumously-released "Father's Song". The picture included is from around late 1984 during the Purple Rain era, of Prince playing at Lisa Coleman's synth rig.

source: http://blog.zzounds.com/2016/05/02/prince-musical-instruments/

Purple Rain was the first album to introduce digital synths in Princes music. It was Yamaha dx7.

According to Duane Tudahl's Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions 1983 and 1984 book, Prince only used the Yamaha DX7's preset sounds, and hardly ever got around to programming it. Probably because it was rather difficult to program, unlike the Oberheim. Summer 1984 was the only period in his whole career that he used the DX7 the most, on several of the songs he was recording. Including all over The Family album and Around The World In A Day. Later albums it appeared on included Parade and Sign O' The Times.

According to this interview with Rogers from Tape Op magazine, when she first started working with Prince, "the first thing I was asked to do was pull the old console out of his home studio, install his new API, and fix his tape machine, which, at that time, was the Ampex MM-1200."

Plus, as per Duane Tudahl's Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio sessions 1983 and 1984 book, "Little Red Corvette" was the first song Prince recorded on the Ampex MM1200 24-track on May 20, 1982.

Prince's Ampex MM1200 was used for the Warehouse sessions in August 1983, which produced "Let's Go Crazy" and "Computer Blue".

In the official music video for "Manic Monday," Prince is seen adjusting his pedalboard, notably using the Boss DM-2 Delay. This pedal also makes a brief appearance in the "Purple Rain" movie when Prince is playing his Boss Flanger BF-2.

Prince started to use the Fairlight CMI around 1985 he wrote a song titled Tibet which used a handful of samples from the Fairlight CMI. He used the synth a lot for The Sign ‘O’ The Times Album and continue to use them for a long time. He later had two of them fixed around 1996 according to an interview on http://www.fortheloveofthefairlight.com/tag/prince/

"When he picks up a bass onstage, he favors his white Warwick Thumb "Eye Bass" (so named because of the eye painted on the front), a white fretless Warwick Thumb, or his custom Lakland with a fist-shaped headstock. "

One brand that seems to have made an impression on him is Mesa Boogie. He has been seen playing several models of Mesa Boogie amplifiers throughout the years such as the Heartbreaker, Nomad, and Lonestar as well as a Strategy 500 power amp paired with a Soldano/Caswell preamp.