Michael Landau - Gear Inventory

Michael Landau has just revised his web site and the good news is he has provided the inside scoop to all the gear he uses. I know tone is "all in the hands" but this is still very helpful for those of us wondering "How did he get that tone?" According to the "Gear" section on his site, here's what he has in his arsenal:

Live pedal board setup (all pedals are before the amp in this order)
Maxon SD-9
Lovepedal COT 50
Real Mccoy Wizard Wah
Arion Stereo Chorus (in mono, true bypass mod)
Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe
Boss Volume Pedal FV500H
Line 6 DL4

I sometimes use a Lexicon MPX-1 in the effects loop of the amp with a Suhr Mini Mix for reverb and delay, or I take a speaker line out of the amp into a Palmer PGA-4 Speaker Simulator into the Lexicon MPX-1 into a Marshall Valvestate 8008 power amp into 2 Custom Audio 2x10 cabs with Celestion Vintage 10 speakers. These 2 cabinets have the wet sound only.

Amps I use live:
Custom Audio OD100 Classic Plus
Dumble Slide Winder head
Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 with Eminence Tonespotter speakers
'64 Pro Reverb with Eminence Tonespotter speakers
'64 Super Reverb with Dumble Ultra Phonix mod
Kerry Wright 4x12 open back slant cabinet with Celestion Heritage Series G12-65's
Kerry Wright 2x12 open back cabinet with Celestion Heritage Series G12-65's

Studio setup:
I mic the cabinet with a Shure SM57 through a Chandler LTD-1 mic pre, that signal is fed to the line in on the Custom Audio Interface. The rig was designed by Bob Bradshaw @ CAE.

The effects rack has the following:

Tri Stereo Chorus 618
Eventide H3000 D/SE Harmonizer
Lexicon MPX-1
Two Line 6 Echo Pro's (1 in line, 1 in the Custom Audio mixer)
TC G-Force processor
Two Lexicon PCM 42's (left and right)
Boss SE-70
Custom Audio Super Tremolo

I use this setup only for recording because the line level processing is after the dry cabinet (in other words, I insert the rack effects between the dry cabinet and the recording console)

Amps I use for recording:
Dumble Slide Winder head
Custom Audio OD100 Classic Plus
Suhr Badger 18 watt
'64 Deluxe Reverb with Dumble Ultra Phonix mod
'67 Plexy Marshall 100 watt Super Bass head
Phil Jameson custom 30 watt head
Kerry Wright 4x12 open back slant cabinet with Celestion Heritage Series G12-65's
Kerry Wright 2x12 open back cabinet with Celestion Heritage Series G12-65's
Bogner 4x12 straight cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30's

These are the guitars I use live and in the studio:

'63 Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster.
'68 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster with Suhr SSV in bridge.
'69 Black Fender Stratocaster with Suhr FL's neck and middle, Suhr SSV in bridge,
Suhr Silent Single Coil System.
'63 Gibson SG.
'68 Gold Top Les Paul with Seymore Duncan Antiquity Humbuckers
'52 Telecaster
Suhr Stratocaster with Suhr FL's neck and middle, Suhr SSV in bridge,
Suhr Silent Single Coil System.
'97 Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster with Suhr FL's neck and middle,
Suhr SSV in bridge, Suhr Silent Single Coil System.
Suhr Telecaster with Suhr S-90 in neck, Suhr Classic Tele in bridge.
Tyler Stratocaster with EMG pickups

D'Addario strings (10-46 or 11-49)
Dunlop Nylon 1mm picks
Belden 9778 cable

Learn more at www.mikelandau.com

Product Review: Boss CE-2 vs. Arion SCH-1

Welcome to this 1980s Chorus Pedal Smack Down. In the red corner we have the undisputed king of chorus, the heavyweight champion, Boss CE-2. And in the blue corner we have the challenger, the plastic prince, the Arion SCH-1. Let the battle begin.

The Boss CE-2 needs no introduction. This little sky blue box quickly became the go to chorus in the ‘80s and was used by David Gilmour, Andy Summers and literally thousands of others. Dig out any ‘80s album and that heavily chorused guitar is most likely running through a CE-2. The Arion SCH-1 on the other hand was certainly not as popular when it was launched, but over the years it has built up a good reputation and devoted following, especially for its ability to fake a rotating Leslie speaker. This unit is used by some of today’s leading players like Michael Landau and Scott Henderson.

I was looking for a classic ‘80s chorus stompbox to add to my board and after a lot of research I narrowed it down to these two units. I couldn’t decide which one to buy so I picked up one of each on eBay: a 1980 CE-2 made in Japan, black label, silver screw version and a black made in Japan SCH-1 (not the later gray version or the newer SCH-Z). Here are my impressions:

• Boss CE-2 – It’s immediately obvious why this unit is so popular even today. It delivers a wonderfully rich and smooth sound – almost like there is a compressor buried in the circuit somewhere. It does give your tone a slight volume boost when engaged and is not completely transparent – it does affect your tone, but the result is still very impressive. It always sounds very lush, warm and full, never metallic, making it very easy to dial in usable tones. And with the Rate control cranked it can get into slow Leslie-land. As you would expect from Boss, it is housed in a virtually indestructible metal casing and even after 30 years the on/off control is a thing of beauty and still functions perfectly. It has Rate and Depth controls only. It would be nice if Boss had included a volume control and my only other gripe is I wish the Rate control had more range for faster speeds.

• Arion SCH-1 – Manufactured by Prince Tsushinkogyo Limited, this unit does not have the build quality of the Boss CE-2. It has a plastic case, fragile plastic knobs that are prone of falling off and a battery compartment cover that is also liable to go missing. Despite the construction issues, the actual chorus circuit is very nice indeed, which is why you sometimes see these units rehoused and upgraded with new pots and even a true bypass switch. In addition to Rate and Depth controls, the SCH-1 includes a Tone control which is useful. However, this chorus pedal sounds much colder and more sterile than the CE-2 and perhaps sounds “more ‘80s” than the Boss unit – you can get some very obvious ‘80s chorus tones (good if you are playing in a cover band) whereas the CE-2 is much more subtle. Where the SCH-1 really excels is the rotating Leslie simulation, in part because the Rate (speed) control can be set much faster than the CE-2.

To my ears, the Boss CE-2 is clearly the better unit and is more polished and professional. It just sounds much more natural and warm. It’s so good that you almost want to have it running all the time. The Arion is a decent unit, especially for Leslie simulation, but it just doesn’t sound as rich on the other settings and it is harder to dial in respectable tones as it can get metallic quite easily. If you can pick up a Japanese CE-2 for under $150 it is money well spent considering the tone quality per dollar.

Pedal Boards of The Stars - Michael Landau

Michael Landau is a killer guitar player with amazing tone. Check out his solo album "Tales from the Bulge" or his work with Karizma. Here's what he uses on his current board:

• Maxon SD9 Sonic Distortion (for heavy distortion)
• Roger Mayer Voodoo 1 (for light distortion)
• Boss Volume Pedal
• Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe
• Geoffrey Teese "Real McCoy" Wah Wah
• DLS RotoSIM - A rotary speaker simulator. For years he has been using the Arion SCH-1 Stereo Chorus to get a Leslie sound, but this seems to have been replaced with the $299 RotoSIM.

The other units on the left side of the board are channel switches for his amps and he also has a Boss tuner.