by Kevin Dooley
Bill Frisell may be the biggest gearhead in jazz. He is a jazz guitar maestro known for experimenting with effects and incorporating many different genres with jazz. With the amount of gear he’s used I could only expect Kurt Rosenwinkel to match him in terms of gear. Bill has gone without effects on just as many sessions as he does without effects. He likes to keep things musical. Read more to find out Bill Frisell’s Gear.
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Guitars:
In this video, Bill talks about his current guitar, guitars he’s owned and about his effects. He mainly uses telecasters and feels “most at home” on telecasters.
Guitars he uses or has used:
- Fender Telecasters
- One of them is a Fender Telecaster Relic with Suhr Pickups
- Fender Stratocasters
- Fender Mustang – his first guitar
- Fender Jaguar – his second guitar
- Fender Jazzmaster Custom
- Fender Esquire Guitar (1950s)
- Gibson SG
- Gibson LG-2 Acoustic
- Gibson ES-175
- Anderson Guitars (hollowbody / archtops)
- Collings Stateman LC (guitar in video) – with TV Jones Filteron Pickups and a Bigsby Tremolo
- Collings Waterloo Acoustic Guitar
- Klein Guitars – funny looking guitars that he doesn’t use anymore
- Jay Black Custom Tele
- Rick Kelly Tele
- Yanuziello Guitars
Amps:
Bill usually uses a Fender Deluxe Reverb when performing live. He uses a vintage Gibson GA-18 and other amps at home.
- Fender Deluxe Reverb
- Fender Princeton Reverb
- Carr Sportsman Amp (amp in photo above)
- Gibson GA-18
- Jack Anderson 1×12
Effects:
His pedalboard in the video in the beginning is more or less his current setup.
Effects he uses or has used:
- Aguilar Audiolex
- Boss TU-2 Tuner
- Boss DD-3 Delay
- Catalinbread Katzenkonig Distortion
- Crazy Tube Circuts Ziggy Overdrive
- Digitech PDS-8000
- EHX Freeze
- EHX Micro POG
- EHX Pocket MEtal Muff
- EHX 16-Second Delay (discontinued)
- Guyatone VT-X Vintage Tremolo
- Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer
- Jam Pedals Wahcko + Wah
- Jam Pedals Delay Llama
- Jam Pedals Chill
- Jam Pedals Tube Dreamer
- Lexicon MPX 1000 Reverb
- Line 6 DL4 Delay – one of his favorite delays
- Maxon FL-9 Flanger
- Maxon PH-350 Rotary Phaser
- Maxon VOP-9 Vintage Overdrive
- ProCo RAT Distortion
- Roland GR-300 Synth
- Strymon Flint Tremolo
- Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2
- TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
- TC Electronic Polytune Mini
- T-Rex Room-Mate Reverb
- Way Huge Electronics Ringworm Ring Modulator
- Wright Sounds Fuzz Stang
- Zvex Fuzz Factory
- Zvex Super Ringtone
Other:
Sources: Premiere Guitar Interview, Guitar World Interview, Guitar Player Interview