3rd May 2016:

Report and photos from WWRY guitarist James Barber:

WWRY Australia James Barber guitar rig. Photo courtesy of James Barber

WWRY Australia James Barber guitar rig with Vox AC10 ‘feedback amp’.Photo courtesy of James Barber

James sent me a link to this ‘Media Call’ youtube clip from WWRY Australia, it shows the great sounds and playing that he and Simon Croft deliver each night.

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20th April 2016:

‘Extra Boost/Drive’ pedal designed for the WWRY guitar rig. This new pedal is for solos, especially for lifting the level and sustain of the out-of-phase pickup solos in such songs as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ etc. This pedal makes those out-of-phase pickup sounds really stand out in the mix and scream.

WWRY Australia James Barber guitar rig

The WWRY Aust guitar pedal chain goes like this:

Guitar > Fryer Treble Booster Super > Boss Line Selector LS-2 >

The LS-2 splits off the guitar signal to 2 amps, the Vox AC30 and the Vox AC10.

(In one of James photos above you can see the small AC10 tilted back towards the guitarist to provide ‘feedback effects’ during parts of the show where this is needed for ‘live vibe’. The feedback amp is volume pedalled-in for these parts)

Vox AC30 line: JD Wah Wah > Boss Chromatic tuner > JD Volume pedal, Boss CE-5 Chorus > Fryer Extra Boost/Drive > Fryer Mayday overdrive/distortion > Vox AC30 head which is located near the guitarists and the guitar tech. AC30 head has a small cooling fan placed close by to draw heat away from the valves in order to extend the valve life. AC30 speaker cabinet is located some distance away and is mic’ed up in an enclosed box.

Vox AC10 line: Boss Chromatic tuner > JD Volume pedal > Vox AC10

(I will check with guitar tech Billy Hibben about whether I have the effect pedals above listed in the right order, he put it all together and knows it back to front)

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17th April 2016:

‘We Will Rock You’ Australia 2016 guitar rig:

17th April 2016 WWRY Aust guitar rig

The new Australian WWRY production begins its season on 28th April 2016, and because there was not time available for rebuilding the Vox AC30 C2 amps like I did for many of the WWRY productions during 2003-2008, we needed to take a different approach.

Along with WWRY guitar tech Billy Hibben, we have put together a pedalboard setup that will allow them to run the AC30s at lower overall volume levels but still get the desired overdriven full volume characteristic Brian May ‘Queen’ guitar/amp sound.

17th April 2016 WWRY Aust guitar rig pedalboard trials #1

On the pedal board we are using the Fryer Treble Booster Super and Mayday pedals to achieve the distorted overdriven Vox AC30 Brian May sound at the lower amp level settings, with a new ‘Extra Boost’ pedal near the end of the pedal chain (large silver box at left) to help lift level and sustain with the out-of-phase Trisonic pickup settings used on some BM guitar solos such as Bohemian Rhapsody etc.

The 2 volume pedals on the board are to control AC30 signal level and ‘feedback amp’ signal level. They are using a Vox AC10 amp placed very close to the guitarists for feedback effects which happen a few times during the show. This feedback amp is required because the AC30 speaker cabinet is placed in an enclosed large box and mic-ed up, this is located quite a distance from the guitarists and obviously not available for feedback effects.

Having the Mayday pedal as part of the WWRY pedalboard is aimed at producing greater reliability and longer life from the Vox AC30’s EL84 power valves because the amp can be run at about 1/4 volume (see pic below). Doing the overall guitar pedal/amp setup like this also means it is a substantially cheaper option for the WWRY production company rather than having the guitar amps completely rebuilt to custom specs.

AC30 C2 normal channel settings WWRY Aust 2016