Steve Rothery

Steve's main live and recording guitar from the late 80s to late 90s, still used live for less recent Marillion material. He discusses this guitar in the 2022 guitarguitar interview.

Rothery can be seen using the guitar in this performance of "Easter" (De Montfort Hall, Leicester, 24 April 1990), and in this performance of "The Space..." (Royal Albert Hall, London, 17 October 2017).

In this interview, Steve Rothery says, "In the old days, we’re going back a few years, from our second album, Fugazi, through pretty much to probably Radiation, the two amps I used were a Marshall master volume head on a 4x12 for the crunch sounds, sort of heavy chordal sounds, and a [Roland] JC 120 which I used with various effects: digital delays, BOSS chorus, BOSS DS-1 distortion for solo sound… And that was kind of what I used to use for that clean picking arpeggiated sound."

In a YouTube video titled "Steve Rothery Squier Strat Demo," Steve Rothery demonstrates his use of the Squier Standard Stratocaster.

"Are you still using the Roland JC-120? Yes, for the older songs, but for the last three albums I’ve been using the Groove Tubes Trio preamp and Groove Tubes power amp, through a Marshall 4×12 loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s."

Then there’s my Lexicon MPX G2, which is a greatsounding unit by not very well thought-out; it has 300 presets but only 50 user presets—great idea, guys. I still have my Roland GP-16s, and I also used the Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere quite a lot, as well as the TC Electronic 2290.

In 2022, Rothery replaced MPX G2 units with Chase Bliss CXM 1978 reverb pedal. According to 2022 guitarguitar interview:

Then I switched to using the Blade with a Groove Tubes Trio preamp and a Lexicon MPXG2. My third one finally died, I think, so I’ve had to replace elements! I’m using stompboxes to give me those elements, including something I just bought from one of your branches, actually!

In a user-uploaded photo, Steve Rothery's Universal Audio OX is visible atop his amp rack, positioned on a Marshall head.

Marillion's Steve Rothery is also using a Bi-Chorus, also heard on with other band The Wishing Tree

Steve Rothery is using a Steinberger M series double neck guitar in this picture.

"It’s not that large a palette that I tend to draw upon. There are certain sounds that I love. I use a GigRig G2 at the front end normally when I’m writing and recording, and I’ve got a selection of stompboxes at the front end, like a Prince of Tone or King of Tone, Jester Overdrive, Analog Man Mini-Chorus, Keeley tremolo, and an Electro-Harmonix POG and Pitch Fork."

According to Premier Guitar's article, Rothery uses the Farida A-SR, which is his signature acoustic guitar.

This is a creative new tool in the world of guitars. Extremely veristile in 32 distinct ways: Blend of Midi 13 pin, Piezo Acoustic with onboard EQ and 2 humbuckers on top of all the customn features that make JDG Guitars so special.

We are extremely happy at JDG, that Steve Rothery, famed guitarist for Marillion, has chosen JDG for his first line of instruments and his signature guitar. The SR model is the result of close work with Steve resulting in a guitar that embodies the tonal qualities Steve is known for (singing sustain, articulate note bloom and uncompromising tone).

Steve also specified piezo saddles with on-board preamp, and full midi capabilities.

"It’s not that large a palette that I tend to draw upon. There are certain sounds that I love. I use a GigRig G2 at the front end normally when I’m writing and recording, and I’ve got a selection of stompboxes at the front end, like a Prince of Tone or King of Tone, Jester Overdrive, Analog Man Mini-Chorus, Keeley tremolo, and an Electro-Harmonix POG and Pitch Fork."

In this interview, Steve Rothery says, "In the old days, we’re going back a few years, from our second album, Fugazi, through pretty much to probably Radiation, the two amps I used were a Marshall master volume head on a 4x12 for the crunch sounds, sort of heavy chordal sounds, and a [Roland] JC 120 which I used with various effects: digital delays, BOSS chorus, BOSS DS-1 distortion for solo sound…"

According to the 2007 GuitarOne interview with Rothery (link missing), he used Roland GP-16 during most of the Marilion career > Then there’s my Lexicon MPX G2, which is a greatsounding unit by not very well thought-out; it has 300 presets but only 50 user presets—great idea, guys. I still have my Roland GP-16s, and I also used the Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere quite a lot, as well as the TC Electronic 2290.

Also mentioned in the 2022 guitarguitar interview.

Yeah, that was the setup all the way through to - and including parts of - the marillion.com album. Some of the effects have changed, like I used a (Roland) GP-16 for a while, but it was mainly a TC 2290 delay with a DS-1 and a Roland Chorus, into a quadraverb for all of the Marillion stuff up until about 1997-98.

According to Premier Guitar's article, Rothery is the user of the Blade RH4. He used Blades from 1991 onwards, according to 2022 guitarguitar interview:

No, they’re absolutely fine! My two main guitars are that one and every album from 1991 onwards is my (Levinson) Blade Strat, an RH-4. Again that is just one in a million. You can’t get a bad sound out of it, it’s incredibly versatile, incredibly stable and those two guitars are what I do 95% of my live work with.

According to the Premier Guitar's article, Rothery uses the Blade Texas Pro.

"And then, in the loop of the Pitcher, there are Strymon delays and reverbs. Sometimes I run both independently, which gives me a very wide spread."

Strymon BigSky is further mentioned in the gear list.

"Within the loop of the 2290 I have other things, like the Rotosphere and an AdrenaLinn pedal, and that goes into a Lexicon reverb. And then, in the loop of the Pitcher, there are Strymon delays and reverbs. Sometimes I run both independently, which gives me a very wide spread."

Steve Rothery has been associated with the Yamaha SG2000, a guitar he acquired before joining Marillion. This is evidenced by a 2022 interview with guitarguitar.

Mentioned on Marillion's official website.

In this interview, Steve Rothery says, "I usually like a [Shure] Beta 57. Mikey uses various microphones like a Sennheiser MD 421. But it’s gotta’ sound great at the amp, I think that’s the thing."

In this interview, Steve Rothery says, "[Also in the rack is] a BOSS CE-300 rack-mounted chorus. I’ve tried loads of other chorus pedals and I always come back to the sound of this. For me, the best chorus sound you can get is to try to find one of these second-hand on eBay. I think they stopped making it probably about twelve years ago, but I think it’s got great character."

It’s not that large a palette that I tend to draw upon. There are certain sounds that I love. I use a GigRig G2 at the front end normally when I’m writing and recording, and I’ve got a selection of stompboxes at the front end, like a Prince of Tone or King of Tone, Jester Overdrive, Analog Man Mini-Chorus, Keeley tremolo, and an Electro-Harmonix POG and Pitch Fork. I like to use analog on the front end. Then it comes into the Groove Tubes Trio with a TC 2290. Within the loop of the 2290 I have other things, like the Rotosphere and an AdrenaLinn pedal, and that goes into a Lexicon reverb. And then, in the loop of the Pitcher, there are Strymon delays and reverbs. Sometimes I run both independently, which gives me a very wide spread.

Also mentioned in the 2022 guitarguitar interview. Rothery mostly retired the unit, and is instead using Free the Tone Flight Time delay pedal.

Yeah, that was the setup all the way through to - and including parts of - the marillion.com album. Some of the effects have changed, like I used a (Roland) GP-16 for a while, but it was mainly a TC 2290 delay with a DS-1 and a Roland Chorus, into a quadraverb for all of the Marillion stuff up until about 1997-98.

Then there’s my Lexicon MPX G2, which is a greatsounding unit by not very well thought-out; it has 300 presets but only 50 user presets—great idea, guys. I still have my Roland GP-16s, and I also used the Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere quite a lot, as well as the TC Electronic 2290,

It’s not that large a palette that I tend to draw upon. There are certain sounds that I love. I use a GigRig G2 at the front end normally when I’m writing and recording, and I’ve got a selection of stompboxes at the front end, like a Prince of Tone or King of Tone, Jester Overdrive, Analog Man Mini-Chorus, Keeley tremolo, and an Electro-Harmonix POG and Pitch Fork.

Also mentioned in the 2022 guitarguitar interview

Then the way my signal flow works is I use a Gig-Rig pedal - a G2 or a G3 - to control how hard the input of the preamp is being driven, and then boosting the level to compensate for that if you’re kind of cleaning up.

"It’s not that large a palette that I tend to draw upon. There are certain sounds that I love. I use a GigRig G2 at the front end normally when I’m writing and recording, and I’ve got a selection of stompboxes at the front end, like a Prince of Tone or King of Tone, Jester Overdrive, Analog Man Mini-Chorus, Keeley tremolo, and an Electro-Harmonix POG and Pitch Fork."

According to Premier Guitar's article, Rothery is the owner of the Blade Delta Classic T2.

According to Premier Guitar's article, Rothery uses the Groove Tubes Trio Preamp. Also mentioned in the 2022 guitarguitar interview.

According to Premier Guitar's article, one of his Marshall cabinets is loaded with Celestion Greenbacks.

According to Premier Guitar's article, one of his Marshall cabinets is loaded with Celestion G12L-35.