Steve Vai

"I used to have what was the size of refrigerators for racks with all sorts of gear because back then there was only one thing that did the chorus, one thing that did delay, and one thing that did phase. So then multiple processors came along and most of them sounded like crap to me. They were like toys. The people weren't really putting in the technology into them. A lot of times this is like a playground for the intellect of a geeky designer. So you get gear that's impossible for a musician to figure out and doesn't sound good. I went through a lot of that for many years. And then I found this. Well, I mean I didn't find it - it found me! It's a very popular device. Out of any device I've ever used - any effects processor - for my ear this seems to have the most transparency which means its sounds the most like just plugging directly to the front of an amp which is really nice. It's extremely powerful! It's almost like rocket science. I mean, you have to learn how to use it. I mean you can just plug it in and and put up some settings and it's good, but when you start getting into all the parameters of it you can give yourself a hernia with just pushing buttons, haha. That's basically what I use. Now I don't necessarily use it very much on the record because when I record I like to get a very direct signal and then I put various processors from inside, but I did use it on some stuff. This is my rig to use live," says Steve Vai about the Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx II Guitar Effects PreAmp Processor.

We spotted a Eventide H3000-D/SX UltraHarmonizer in Steve Vai's studio rig.

Steve Vai's studio rig contains an Eventide H3000S UltraHarmonizer.

"These are like summing mixers that he hand-builf for me. So when you come out of ProTools or your digital workstation you get this very clean kind of separation of tracks that then you can bust down to stereo," says Steve Vai about the Inward Connections Mix690 Summing Mixer, a system that he uses in his studio rig.

In this video, Steve Vai's pedal rack is shown to consist of a Sound Sculpture Switchblade GL switching system.

"This here is a very cool piece of gear, the Compex EQ Compressor. They're very old and hard to find, but very functionable and friendly sounding. This is the compressor type that was used on When the Levy Breaks," says Steve Vai about the ADR Compex F760X-RS Compressor which he uses in his studio setup.

During the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used a harmonizer in his offstage rack (nicknamed WOMANIZER).

An Eventide DSP4000 UltraHarmonizer is used by Steve Vai in his studio setup.

"I started to have custom gear built because then it functions the way you really want it to. Steve Furlong from Inward Connections builds this stuff. This is probably one of the cleanest stereo mastering equalizers I've ever used, and I've used this on everything when I mix," says Steve Vai about the Inward Connections DEQ-1 Mastering Equalizer which he uses in his studio rig.

During the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used an SDR1000 for reverb in an offstage effects rack.

"These Pultec Eqs are very old, very sought after and sre probably around $7-8,000 each. When I got them years ago they were cheaper," says Steve Vai about the Pultec Program Equalizer EQP-1A which he uses in his studio equipment setup.

"This is really a wonderful piece, this Radial. It's because it's a spliter box. So many times I've tried to find splitter boxes that don't load down the signal or change the quality of the amplifier signals. This is th best I've found so far," explains Steve Vai about the Radial Engineering JD7 Injector Guitar Signal Distribution System which he uses in his studio rig.

During the Fire Garden tour, Vai used 2 reverbs in his effects rack.

For the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used one of these multi-effects units as part of his offstage effects rack.

In this video, Steve Vai is shown powering up his newly acquired Fractal Axe-FX III.

In this video, Steve Vai's backline is shown to consist of an Eventide H9000.

"This is the switcher for the Axe effect system. With my foot controller you've got the chorus, the whammy pedal, delay, reverb, drive, and there's all this stuff. Now I'm not sure exactly how many banks, but there's five presets for each bank. It is like a bunch of little stomboxes. Another thing I love to fetish is guitar effects stompboxes. It's like a guilty pleasure that guitar pleasures love," says Steve Vai about the Fractal Audio Systems MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller.

"These are really cool analog choruses because plugin choruses just don't make it for me," says Steve Vai about the TC Electronic 1210 Spatial Expander Stereo & Chorus/Flanger which he uses in his studio rig.

"These are really great compressors," says Steve Vai about the Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifier which he uses in his studio setup.

An AMS DMX 15-80S Digital Delay is used by Steve Vai in his studio rig.

"These are great AMS reverbs and harmonizers. These are very old. They have a sound that you just can't get anywhere else. They have a snare, a kind of nonlinear snare sound that so many people like to use. Everyone tries to mimic it, but this is the device for it," says Steve Vai about the AMS RMX16 Digital Reverberation System which he uses in his studio rig.

"These compressors here, they're always coming on the market and you need to keep an eye for them. I kind of sometimes trade gear for them. My engineers are always looking for this kind of stuff for me," says Steve Vai about the Universal Audio 1176 LN Compressor which he uses in his studio.

During the 1996 Fire Garden/G3 tours, Vai used a Harmonizer in his effects rack.

During the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used a PCM-70 in his offstage effects rack.

During the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used 2 of these delays in an offstage effects rack.

For the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used this digital delay as part of his offstage effects rack.

During the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used this harmonizer as part of his offstage effects rack.

During the Europe leg of the 2005 Real Illusions tour, Vai had a Ground Control Pro on his onstage pedalboard to control his reverb, chorus, delay, and pitch effects.

"Steve Furlong also built me the Vac Rac tube limiter which in itself is hard - tube limiters have a particular analog sound so they're pretty different than like brick walls and limiters. I really prefer the sound of that stuff," says Steve Vai about the Inward Connections Vac Rac Series TSL-3 Tube Limiters which is used in his studio.

"These are also called lunch pails because you can just take these various 500 series that people make and just kind of stuff them in here," says Steve Vai about the API 500V 10-slot Lunch Pail.