Chris' Gear: The Boston Era
Guitars:
As the band prepared to move to Boston, Chris upgraded his guitars, effectively retiring the original ones. He still had them, and the occasionally made appearances on stages and records, but overall they were supplanted by these ones.
1991 Japanese Fender ‘72 Telecaster Custom Reissue
A faithful workhorse for over 30 years, Chris bought this due to the resemblance to a Telecaster frequently used by Keith Richards in the early 80s. It’s been played so much that the circuit has been rebuilt at least twice, and it’s the only guitar Chris ever needed to have refretted. Like all of his gear from pre-2000, this went through a fire at the beginning of the millennium. The damage from this fire and the chipped and cracked paint make it look like it actually is from 1972.
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Ca. 1980 Hondo II 748 “Lawsuit” Les Paul
Purchased from Jamie, this became Chris’ default Gibson style electric in the Boston era. However, it was severely damaged in the fire and the initial attempts at restoration were unsuccessful. After multiple years in storage alongside its black doppelganger, it was rebuilt in 2022 to resemble a Les Paul Junior with the addition of humbucker sized P90s. It also has the “screaming junior” mod which bypasses most of the circuit for a slightly higher output and really pushes the front end of an amp to get that “snarling” tone that juniors are so famous for.
As with the blue Strat, this guitar has been modified with versatility in mind. In addition to the P90s, there are also a few flavors of humbuckers, both full sized and mini, that can be swapped out without the need for a soldering iron.
Late 80s Harmony H802 [similar model pictured]
Intended as a replacement for Boda, this was another free guitar. While initially used in the unaltered sunburst finish, it was eventually covered in checkerboard contact paper and had a third pickup taken from an Kawai hollow body added to the bridge position. The only released recorded appearance of this guitar was in Jamie's hands on "Stand By Your Man". Like a few other instruments, this did not survive the fire.
“Frankenstein” Superstrat
Cobbled together from a Cort body, bridge, and pickup with a Harmony neck and a mishmash of Ping and Dixon tuners, this was yet another free guitar. By the time it got used for “Welcome To Hell”, the neck had been swapped out for the original one from Jamie’s black strat and a coil split was installed. The body did not survive the fire, though the neck did and was later sold on Reverb.
The neck when sold.
1978 Guild S60-D
This was Robbie's guitar, but Chris ended up absorbing it into his collection. Initially used on Narcissism for "Pro-Zak", it was later dedicated to "Ultimate", which involves a custom string setup for a unique tuning. All performances of this song in the Boston era, both in the studio and on stage, were done on this guitar.
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Amps:
Marshall 5010 30 Watt Master Lead Combo
Carried over from the Narcissism days, though now paired with another combo (see below).
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Fender Bassman 60
The Marshall on the top, and the Bassman on the bottom.
The same bass amp Paul used to use at gigs, Chris bought it and added it to his guitar rig after a coat of green paint, some replacement knobs, and a new grill cloth. This rig can be heard on "Towel" and most of the Boston era demos. It ultimately died in the early 2000s, after a few speaker replacements.
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Marshall 3210 100 Watt MOSFET Head
A more powerful amp from the same series as the original Marshall, this was originally paired with the 30 watt combo and the Bassman wired as speaker cabs. More. was recorded with this setup (including the green M&M dispenser atop it).
Effects:
As with the guitars, Chris' pedalboard was upgraded with the move to Boston. Some were taken directly from the old board, while others were entirely new.
A/B Switch
Used to select between two different guitars plugged in. As you can see, this guy liked to swap out his guitars.
Dunlop JH-1 Fuzz
Formerly used by Robbie, this is an incredibly basic two transistor Fuzz Face circuit. Chris painted it to look like a smiley face.
DOD 555 Distortion
See description in the Narcissism Era section.
Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi 7C
To quote Chris: "the green Russian big muff is my all-time favorite pedal of all time". As a result, every pedalboard he's built since 1994 quite literally starts with this and the phaser, and goes from there. And just like that PS-1A phase shifter, this has been relegated to home/studio use only.
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Maestro PS1-A Phase Shifter
See description in the Narcissism Era section.
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DOD FX65 Chorus
When the APE-1 was retired, individual pedals took the places of the effects it was used for. Since the most frequently employed effect from that unit was a chorus, this was a necessity on the new board.
DOD FX75B Flanger
Repainted red by its previous owner, Jeremy Wilkins of Ernie’s Disease, and bought at the same time Chris bought the Bassman 60 from his brother, Jason.
Dunlop Crybaby Wah
See description in the Narcissism Era section.
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DOD DFX9 Digital Delay
Since the second most used effect on the APE-1 was delay, this was also a requirement for the next layout. This one has a much longer delay time, cleaner repeats, and a “hold” function that acted as a primitive looper, and was sometimes used when playing “Ultimate” live to create a drone under the whole band.
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"The Solo In A Box" (not pictured)
After trying nearly every commercially available product to boost his solos and finding all of them inadequate, Chris hit upon a brainstorm: since at that point in his career he was only using the speaker from his 30 watt Marshall, the guts could be employed as a boost in front of his 100 watt head.
He built a switch box that allowed him to do exactly that, and it worked amazingly well; save for one time that it overloaded the 100 watter and it needed time to recover (it was ultimately undamaged).
Due to the tremendous amount of juice being used, this is not recommended. In fact, it would probably destroy a tube amp, so the fact that his rig was solid state was a benefit.
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Strings and picks:
Dean Markley 9-42 electric, Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky on the "Lawsuit" Les Paul, single strings (two 9s, two 24s, and two 42s) of whatever brand the store carries for "Ultimate", Martin 12-string extra light acoustic, Martin Ball End Classical
Dunlop Tortex .73mm standard