Steve Lukather

At 12:40 in this rig rundown video Steve Lukather's guitar tech shows the Bombastortion on the pedalboard.

Steve Lukather is featured in a video by Bogner Amplification, showcasing his use of the Bogner Ecstasy 101B Amp Head.

Steve talks about his rig on GuitarPlayer (http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/steve-lukather-celebrates-toto-ringo--a-new-solo-album/23753)

Steve's official site (http://www.stevelukather.com/artist/gear.aspx)

Steve Lukather was endorsing Rivera Amplification from 1995/1996 until early to mid 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20011214065049/http://www.rivera.com/rivera.rog3.luke.html https://web.archive.org/web/20020213043630/http://rivera.com/prod_lukeseries.htm

From his website: http://www.stevelukather.com/news-articles/2000/11/willie-g-moseley-steve-lukather.aspx

Quote: Vintage Guitar: What gear did you use on Mindfields? Steve Lukather: My MusicMan, plus a few vintage things here and there, like a Les Paul on Mysterious ways, but I would also layer things with different guitars. MusicMan made me a great “bastard” guitar – it’s got an Eddie Van Halen body, a Luke neck, and DiMarzio single-coil pickups on it, Telecaster-style. My amp is one I designed with Paul Rivera, called a Bonehead. That’s the only amp I used on the whole record. It’s a three-channel amp, and we got a patent on the subwoofer system. I like a lot of low-end on a guitar. It’s really versatile; great clean sound, great mid-crunch, great full-on shred, and everything in between.

One of Lukes favorite guitars.

"Built July 3rd, 1978, this cybernetic ax (VA Robot) is the first instrument Mike McGuire crafted for Lukather. The originally tobacco-sunburst body is of mahogany, attached to a maple neck fitted with an ebony fretboard. Electronics by EMG".

http://www.stevelukather.com/media/84498/pastgear.pdf

From 1984's Starlicks Steve Lukather instructional video and given the year in question, one can appreciate that he utilized the MESA/Boogie Mark II c+ Simul-Class short head as a preamp and two MESA/Boogie Mark II c+ Colisseum (180W) as power amps for his Bradshaw stereo rig/rack.

http://www.hendrixguitars.com/Images/Mesa%20steve%20Lukather.jpg

Steve Lukather used a Fender Princeton Reverb, modified by Paul Rivera Sr., as his "go-to" amp during his early session work from 1976 to 1982. This is detailed in The Guitar Column article titled "Steve Lukather's Paul Rivera Modified Fender Princeton."

used on one of his solo albums but still prefers tubes.

According to Strymon's pedalboard feature, Lukather uses the Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer pedal.

Lukather (July 2002) "I went back to where I was with my gear circa 1990-91, but with subtle improvements. BRADSHAW baby! That pre-amp for me is better than the Rivera and was the sonic blue print for the Bonehead. I hadn't played thru my CAE-3+ in 5 years and when I plugged my Bradshaw in, it blew my mind. I then broke out my VHT power amps... and yes again... warmth, tone... I rest my case. I still have my PCM 70's... vintage now and some cool Line 6 stuff. Very small and compact and it sounds better than ever! I used this rig on my new Xmas record coming fall 2003. As for the new Toto record I used a stock 1/12 Marshall combo plugged direct and all EFX used are from the console. I did this for 2 reasons. One is to dispell the myth that my GEAR plays for me and not the other way around. Second I wanted to see just how many DIFFERENT sounds I could get with this simple amp and my most loved MusicMan guitars which are also stock. When you listen you be the judge."

Lukather (April 2002): "I use a Roland keyboard volume pedal but it's pretty much whatever you like that feels good. The pedal is early in the chain so that when you fade out the delays keep going and you're not fading out your entire sound. You guys gotta understand, I am NOT a tech kinda guy. Bob Bradshaw designs all my stuff. He has since 1984. I am putting together a brand new rig as I write this. I tell him what I want and he does all the brain work to make it happen and he pretty much knows what I want." Amplifiers: the VHT classic power amp for the dry clean through the mid channel and the VHT stereo effects amp for the stereo effects through the left and right channels. Pre-amp: Custom Audio Electronics 3+ (CAE 3+, Bob Bradshaw) with three sound switches: clean, dirty and very dirty.

Steve Lukather is shown with his 1987 James Tyler Studio Elite Jimburst, featuring custom Tyler electronics and a Floyd Rose tremolo. This guitar, affectionately nicknamed "Puffy," is a distinctive part of his collection.

This is the new 'Luke' model, made by Music Man. It is the third model that Steve Lukather has designed with them.

In his own String Theory, he play along with his signature Luke III in Emerald Green Sparkle finish!

As for my rig, it is pretty much all analog now—no MIDI, just pedals on the floor that I can swap out and reconfigure without having to call a scientist. I run two Bogner Ectasys, getting distortion from the amps. In front of the amps, I have an Xotic SP compressor, a Jam WaterFall pedal I use for a wide, Hendrix-y vibrato, a TC Electronic Flashback delay set for a fast slap, and a Strymon Lex rotary speaker simulator for getting cool, Beatles-y Leslie sounds when I’m playing with Ringo.

At around 10:40, Lkather's guitar tech praises the sound and the size of this pedal.

At 11:55 in this rig rundown video Steve Lukather's guitar tech shows the Boss "500L" volume pedal on the pedalboard.

"Nothing sounds like the Tonebone Trimode. It has become an incredible asset to my sound" (Steve Lukather)

At about 11:09 you can see 2 Digitech Hardwire DL-8 Delay/Looper pedals on the board.

Photo from last Live Toto Tour 2015/2016 He uses Gurus Echosex 2° and Optivalve Compressor

According to Strymon's pedalboard feature, Lukather uses the Strymon Brigadier pedal.

This guitar has been used by Luke since 1983 and lasted until his deal with Music man in 1994.

"On May 12th, 1984, Lukather walked out of the Valley Arts Guitar Center carrying this quilted birdseye maple sunburst, outfitted with EMG SASA pickups and a Floyd Rose vibrato system".

At 2:23, he said: "I just remembered that pink pack my whole life". And it shows this Paradigm Super Slinky box.

Steve Lukather used a 1974 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe during live performances in the 1970s, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on Gstatic.

At 11:22 in this rig rundown video Steve Lukather's guitar tech shows the Luke booster on the pedalboard.

In a photo from the early '80s, Steve Lukather's pedalboard features an MXR M102 Dyna Comp, as shown in a Pinterest post by Kobe Panda.

Steve Lukather is pictured playing an Ibanez Rocket Roll II electric guitar, noted for having swapped the standard pickups for humbuckers, as shown in the source provided by Deckspeak.

Steve Lukather uses an original 1959 Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, as noted in Vintage Guitar® magazine by Wolf Marshall. The article mentions that this guitar likely once had a Bigsby vibrato system.

Here you can see Luke use this guitar in the video for "Live for today" from 1981.

Steve Lukather seen here giving his JAM pedals Delay Llama+ the thumbs up.

Steve Lukather uses the DiMarzio DP254/DP255 Transition Pickups, which are his signature model. These passive pickups feature a flat EQ, as highlighted in a YouTube video by Larry DiMarzio titled "DiMarzio Transition Guitar Pickups for Steve Lukather."

Steve talks about his rig on GuitarPlayer (http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/steve-lukather-celebrates-toto-ringo--a-new-solo-album/23753).

On Steve's official site (http://www.stevelukather.com/artist/gear.aspx) you can see his brand new pedalboard.