William Reid

In this photo, William can be seen playing an ES-330.

Picture shows 1991 rig of William Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain

William can be seen playing a Hofner Verithin in a live MTV performance from the Honey's Dead era (1992). Colour? Black of course.

"William had a vintage Gretsch Tennessean guitar that was a horrible coffee-table color," Jim explained to Select magazine. "A classic guitar, you know? Dave Gilmour walks past and sees William with a pot of black paint, painting this wonderful vintage Gretsch guitar black. Ruining it. When he sees this, he [looks horrified] and hurries away. Probably to tell Pete [Townshend]. I wish I'd had a video camera."

William playing Sept. 16 2012 live at Riot Fest

William has been quoted in more than one article plus live footage of saying he uses a Fender Twin (along with a Mesa Boogie and a Marshall on 3 different channels in the studio) for the high reverb and stompbox user friendliness.

William Reid has consistently used a Boss OD-1 Overdrive since early Mary Chain days. Currently it seems to be used in conjuntion with a Boss EQ as a solo/boost (controlled by his Boss ES-5 Effects Switching System board).

William Reid has had a Boss DD-3 delay in his rig for ages, though there's not a lot of evidence of it in JAMC recordings or shows. He can be seen kicking it in during the ring-out of an MTV live performance for a bit of colour during the noise at the end of a song.

"We'd literally only been playing guitar for a few months," Jim admits, "so it was a case of, 'Unless we turn that pedal up to the max, then people are gonna know we can't actually play. But with that thing [ie, William's Shi Ei Fuzz Wah pedal], you just kicked it once and it went 'Kkkkkrrrrzzzzz!' It didn't matter if you were playing the right chord, no-one could hear that stuff." - Q Magazine interview, February 2017

Previous Reid pedalboards featured multiple Shin-Ei fuzz units, which he presumably stacked for maximum fuzz saturation. However, in recent years he seems to be using a ZVex Box of Rock (supposedly a dimed JTM45 emulator). It's unclear where this sits in the effects chain.

The Boss ES-5 can be seen in these photos of William Reid's pedalboard.

A Boss OD-3 can be seen on William Reid's pedal board.

A Boss GE-7 can be seen on William Reid's pedalboard.