Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) guitar rig
Jonny Greenwood, lead guitarist for Radiohead, has recorded some of the most instantly recognizable guitar tones of all time, with the outro solo on Paranoid Android, from the OK Computer album, a shining example.
Greenwood's guitar rig is a relatively traditional one, for someone that has carved out their name as creating futuristic, trippy tones.
Guitar wise, Greenwood favours Fender Telecasters for the most part. He's often seen playing either a Fender Telecaster Plus, or a Fender Telecaster Standard, both modified with custom kill switches, and fitted with Lace Sensor pickups. He is said to use a Blue Lace Sensor pick-up in the neck position and a dual Red Lace Sensor pick-ups in the bridge position. The dual Red Lace Sensors are wired up like a traditional humbucker. These guitars featured heavily on Radiohead's earlier work, with a Fender Starcaster, a bizarre looking guitar from the 70's getting some heavy use for Kid A and Amnesiac.
 |
NEW!!! Lace Sensor Blue Pickup, White |  |
 |
US $63.99 | 9h 20m |
String wise he favours Dean Markley Signature Series 10-46 strings.
He has also been seen using the following at times:
 |
Vox AC30 Top Boost, Made in England, British TB6 | |
|
US $1,850.00 | 1h 25m |
In the earlier years he used a Fender Twin Reverb for clean tones and a Fender Deluxe 85 (a solid state amp from the 80's) for distorted tones. Now days, his amplifier line up features a Vox AC30 for clean tones, and a Fender Eighty Five (solid state) for distorted tones. His entire effects chain is sent through the Vox AC30 except the Shredmaster.
The picture below shows Greenwood with a Telecaster and his pedal boards at his feet.
 |
VOODOO LABS PEDAL POWER 2 UNIT | |
2 Bids | US $45.00 | 3d 8h 54m |
His most recent pedal board is actually split across two boards. Each board is powered via a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power unit. The boards are pictured below.
The right board features the following:
 |
Akai Headrush Echo/Delay E2 | |
|
US $199.00 | 22h 7m |
The left board features the following:
 |
DOD FX25 Envelope Filter. Vintage 440 auto-wah | |
|
US $60.00 | 10d 20h 59m |
The silver footswitch (a Vox Silver Egg footswitch) that sits just below the second board is used to switch on and off the Roland Space Echo RE-201 unit. The Space Echo itself is not technically a pedal, but a vintage tape machine the produces delay and reverb effects. Greenwood has used the RE-201 extensively across numerous Radiohead recordings for heavy delay/echo effects that tend to modulate slightly. You can hear the RE-201 on tracks such as Subterranean Homesick Alien, Airbag and Exit Music. I have read recently that he has replaced the RE-201 in his live rig with a BOSS RE-20 Space Echo due to technical issues that you'd associate with older tape machines.
 |
BOSS RE-20 ROLAND SPACE ECHO GUITAR PEDAL | |
1 Bid | US $150.00 | 15h 1m |
Greenwood has also used a Pro Co RAT Turbo RAT Distortion during 'The Bends' era as well as a Mutronics Mutator which has been used in the studio (with the DOD440 acting as a substitute live.
If you haven't given Radiohead a listen yet, I'd highly recommend checking out OK Computer
Filed under: Guitar Rigs of the Stars | No Comments