Robben Ford

In this Vintage Guitar Magazine article, Robben Ford says this about his 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop: Q: "And you’ve got a couple of Les Pauls." A:"I have a ’55 that I’ve used a bit, like on “In The Beginning” and “I Can’t Stand The Rain” [Tiger Walk]. The variety of tones that come out of that guitar on that song is amazing. Really colorful instrument. I also have a ’57 goldtop that Larry Carlton gave me on long-term loan. It’s an amazing guitar."

In this Vintage Guitar Magazine article, Robben Ford says this about his 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop: Q: "And you’ve got a couple of Les Pauls." A:"I have a ’55 that I’ve used a bit, like on “In The Beginning” and “I Can’t Stand The Rain” [Tiger Walk]. The variety of tones that come out of that guitar on that song is amazing. Really colorful instrument. I also have a ’57 goldtop that Larry Carlton gave me on long-term loan. It’s an amazing guitar."

In this Vintage Guitar Magazine article, Robben Ford says this about his 1963 Gibson ES-355: "I also have a ’63 355, but a 335 has a bigger tone. It’s a better-sounding guitar. A 355 is very specific and has that honky, midrangey thing. Because it’s got all that hardware and machinery in it, the guitar isn’t able to resonate like a 335 – at least that’s what I would say. I fell in love with the 355 just visually, when I was 12 years old, and I always wanted one. I finally got one, but the only place I was ever able to use it was when I was out with Phil Lesh. To me, the 355 is the most beautiful-looking electric guitar ever made."

In this Vintage Guitar Magazine article, Robben Ford says this about his 1958 Fender Stratocaster: "Everybody was playing Strats in the ’80s, and it was a good recording guitar, a good rhythm guitar. That’s why I even started fooling around with one – more for accompaniment. But I finally sold my ’58 dot-neck 335, and bought a ’58 Strat, tobaccoburst. That’s what I played with Miles Davis and later David Sanborn and my own gigs to some extent."

In this Vintage Guitar Magazine article, Robben Ford says this about his Gibson L-5: "I bought the Gibson L-5 I used with Charlie and the Ford Band just because I wanted a jazz guitar. My mother co-signed a loan for me, and I got it at Sherman & Clay, in San Francisco. It was brand-spanking new, and it was never a great guitar. Somehow while I was working with Spoon, I kind of figured that out, and I wanted something else."

In this Vintage Guitar Magazine article, Robben Ford says this about his Guild Starfire III: "My first real good electric was a Guild Starfire III with a single sharp cutaway."

In this youtube video at 23:30, Robben Ford can be seen using a Boss TU-12. Ford was using this item to perform his song, “Freedom”, at his Onhe Filter gig in 1997.

In this YouTube video at 23:30, Robben Ford can be seen using a Ernie Ball 6160 250K Volume Pedal. Ford was using this item to perform his song, “Freedom”, while playing some swellings on the solo. Robben Ford's live performance tooked place at his Onhe Filter gig in 1997.

In an interview with Vintage Guitar magazine, Robben Ford discusses his use of D'Addario EXL110 Nickelwound Guitar Strings, 10-46 gauge.

At 14:39 in this episode of That Pedal Show with Robben Ford, a clear shot of Robben's 2024 pedalboard is show with the Silver Spring Reverb visible in the upper left hand corner of the frame.

At 1:15:25 into this That Pedal Show interview with Robben Ford, Robben demonstrates the Argo from Mythos, which is on his pedalboard.

At 1:17:52 into this interview on That Pedal Show, Robben Ford demonstrates the Harmonious Monk on his 2024 pedalboard.

At 1:19:22 Robben Ford discusses his use of the Jam Boomster. In this episode of That Pedal Show, he states he prefers this boost with his telecaster, saying:

You know what that really worked a lot with was the Tele... I like it with the Tele because the Tele has that extra brightness. And that thing really works great.

Dan from The GigRig shows Robben's pedalboard where he has this effect .

In an interview conducted by Budda Guedes, Robben Ford is visibly using the Mad Professor Electric Blue II pedal. This is confirmed at the 13:11 mark of the video, where he presents his live pedalboard configuration. At 14:50 into the video he turns the Electric Blue II on and demos what it sounds like. He has all the knobs at 12 o'clock except Tone is rolled to 2 o'clock. Robben says:

I like that setting, sounds a little dark right now, but I really like that setting.

In this YouTube video by the Guitarist magazine Robben Ford shows and plays the Mad Professor Simble Overdrive Mk2 on his touring pedalboard. At 13:19 into the video he explains his use of the pedal and at 13:53 he plays through the pedal. Robben says: >You see, it still says Zen here. I had the Zendrive pedal on here and I used the Zendrive for many, many years, and I just got the where I needed to hear something different you know.