Queen's Brian May 2023 US Tour Rig and Gear Rundown
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2023
- Hello everyone.
In todays video I catch up with Brian May's guitar tech Pete Malandrone and we run through Brian's rig and gear for the upcoming 2023 US Tour with Queen and Adam Lambert.
We go through every part of Brian's current rig, discuss the back up mini rig and I get to play the original Red Special at full volume through Brian's custom KAT Amps - eek.
GEAR USED
- KAT RED-18 Strap-Mounted Treble Booster
- Shure ADX1 Body Pack Transmitter
- 2x Sennheiser antennae (A 1031-U Omni-directional & A 2003-UHF Passive Directional)
- Kikusui PCR1000MA Compact Power Supply (set to 230V AC 50Hz)
- Shure UA844SWB-E Antenna/Power Distribution System
- Shure AD4D AXT Digital Wireless Receiver (with spare)
- Shure SBRC Rack Mount Charger
- Bettermaker Mastering Equalizer
- Mike Hill Services Custom Switching System
- Cry Baby DCR-2SR Rack Wah
- KAT MIDI Switcher for TCs
- TC Electronic G-Major/2 (with spare)
- KAT Rack Mounted Digitech Brian May Pedal
- 3x KAT BM AC30 Special, separated by KAT acoustic panels
- KAT Deacy Amp
Massive thanks to Brian May, Pete Malandrone and Nigel Knight for helping me get this done.
Nigel Knights website - www.deacyamp.com is THE PLACE to shop for Brian May Electronics.
Shoutout to www.astrings.co.uk as why not! Remember if you sign up as a Podcast Patron you received discount at www.astrings.co.uk on Brian May related items.
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The Red Special Guitar Podcast
I just met Mr. Pete Malandrone last night at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles CA. I was A truck loader. 30 Semi’s. Transferred into Steel Cargo containers going to Japan 🇯🇵. I was loading Brian Mays personal Rig Gear & Pete was watching us. He was so very pleasant & such a Great Guy He handed me 2- Queen Guitar Picks. I will Forever Be So Grateful. Thank You Pete !!! Cheers 🥂 & Great Wishes for Asian Tour. My name is Mike Dobbs at MickCotton BBQ on RUclips. I worked till 4:30 am. Great Gig For The Best Band 🇬🇧🇬🇧🥂🏴 God Save The Queen RIP Freddie 🌸🌺
Hi Mick, thanks for your comment. Pete is a great chap! Pretty cool story loading Brian's rig.
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcast Thank You So Much 😊. Cheers 🍻 🇬🇧🏴
Fantastic video Jon! Here's the exact models of the units shown for anyone who's interested:
- KAT RED-18 Strap-Mounted Treble Booster
- Shure ADX1 Body Pack Transmitter
- 2x Sennheiser antennae (A 1031-U Omni-directional & A 2003-UHF Passive Directional)
- Kikusui PCR1000MA Compact Power Supply (set to 230V AC 50Hz)
- Shure UA844SWB-E Antenna/Power Distribution System
- Shure AD4D AXT Digital Wireless Receiver (with spare)
- Shure SBRC Rack Mount Charger
- Bettermaker Mastering Equalizer
- Mike Hill Services Custom Switching System
- Cry Baby DCR-2SR Rack Wah
- KAT MIDI Switcher for TCs
- TC Electronic G-Major/2 (with spare)
- KAT Rack Mounted Digitech Brian May Pedal
- 3x KAT BM AC30 Special, separated by KAT acoustic panels
- KAT Deacy Amp
Great information David - do you mind if I add it to the description?
Having Pete as a friend is having a good laugh from time to time. But the man has so many resources to get you as a musician out of a sticky spot it is allmost unbelievable. No wonder Brian has him on the team!
That man is great!
Pete is a legend!! That is all
When you played "Was it all worth it" I almost have a heart attack. You've made it man, that's a childhood dream right there. Playing that riff on the original Old Lady. Cheers to you!
Thank you 🤩
Plot twist - Brian actually just uses that little white Vox practice amp mic'ed with an sm57. The rest is all for show;)
Shh 🤫 it’s a secret
That amp sounds like actual shit though.
I have 2 of those. Very nice.
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcastI’m calling BS on that!!
@@evanward4303I also have 2. 🤘✅
Pete is great, and it sounds like BM is incredible to work with.
Funniest part… they can’t take the original Deacy out, but the Red Special is out there every gig!!
Made me smile too 😂
I don't think it's so much that they "can't" take the original Deacy out more that they won't. They have a like for like spare that sounds exactly the same so why risk the original? Brian has like for like spares of the RS but the difference is that he doesn't have to FEEL the Deacy amp, he just has to hear it.
What a great guy Pete is, always generous with his time and great value for it, nice job Jon 👏
Pete is such a helpful and most wonderful chap.
What a brilliant and Nice Rig Rundown! It’s more Informational then the past Brian May rig rundowns…
Definitely Deserves the title 😎
Ahh the old rig rundown video.. not current and not accurate anymore - shame 😳
This is so amazing. Being a Queen fan for over 40 years now, this offers brilliant insights.
Queen seems like a band (obviously :-) ), a great workplace and a family.
I couldn’t agree more. We are so lucky to get to speak to Pete and see what’s going on behind the scenes
I love queen, and I never really cared about Adam Lambert... But Adam singing for Queen, oh my. Our Freddie would be proud!
Looks like a very practical rig. Everything is there for a reason, no wastage apart from having all the spare amps on stage.
Hell of a responsibility for Pete! What an asset to Brian.
They have a refreshing attitude to something so priceless
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcast Classic 'old school'. love it.
This is absolutely fantastic! Bravo 🤘
Always loved seeing interviews with Pete... knows his stuff and has a decent sense of humour too
He’s alright.. 🤓
Thanks to both of you!!!
Our pleasure!
Jolly entertaining - Pete Malandrone is a legend - who wouldn't want him in the wings looking out for you?
Thank for watching Neil
Great video Jon. You made the most of a once in a lifetime opportunity. All the best. Doug 💜😀
Thanks Doug. Glad you enjoyed it. See you next week :-)
Absolutely brilliant video John, Pete is a gentleman and imagine getting to play the actual Red Special, mind blowing. Well done sir, keep up the good work :)
Many thanks Marcus. Glad you enjoyed it. Playing the Red special was very special :-)
Great John can’t wait, fantastic access you have to the red special world 👍🏻👏🎸
We are in a great position to be involved now, which is awesome for everyone in the community 😊
one of the most interesting and informative guitar-related videos i've seen in ages. Brilliant. Thank you!
Wow, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
Absolutely brilliant...
Thank you for watching
Love hearing / seeing these behind the scenes style vids and interviews. Cheers Jon!
Go Bri, Go Pete, Go Nigel and Go Andy!!
Thanks Jason :-)
Absolutely absorbing. Fantastic insight, and what a privilege to play 'that' guitar!
Thank you, it was a very special day for sure
What an awesome interview/rig rundown! Playing the Old Lady herself must have been a dream come true! Great stuff
Thanks for watching. It was a great day for sure 👍🏻
What a super awesome guy! So personable..engaging...and obviously loves his work. What a great rig rundown...well done!!
Thank you kindly!
fantastic !!! lovely ,we all love pete
Many thanks!!
amazing video, always great to see Pete!
Glad you enjoyed it, Pete is an awesome chap
Thanks guys xxx
You are welcome
Iv never heard of this podcast but this was a fantastic interview! Well done
Thanks for tuning in
What a great video, very informative 👏
Glad you think so!
Great rundown. What a pleasant guy; the kind you’d love to have a beer with and just listen to his stories. Killer stuff 🤘
He certainly is
This is great. Really interesting vid. Cheers to you and Pete!
Thanks Iain
Thanks guys, thank you Pete !! You are the man !!
Thanks for watching
Awesome rundown. Fascinating to hear the details about the stuff Pete does and not just this plugs into that
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was really interesting, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
What a fantastic video. Hats off! 🤘
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great rig rundown, and very entertaining.
Nice to see Pete & Nigel still chipping away making the rig more reliable.
Glad you enjoyed it
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcastive become a patron today. love it 😊
Mind boggling complexity. Be interesting to have a rig rundown on Brian's gear for the '74 Rainbow or '75 Hammersmith gigs - where the sound was great.
This was a brilliant video ,so informative well done
Glad it was helpful!
Such an Amazing Rundown. Very detailed and informative. Well Done Jono 😎
Thanks Andrek! 😊
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcastcan't wait to watch this tomorrow. looks fab! what was it like playing the original red special, did you play through the kat amps or the studio 1 ampe?
Great video, thanks.
Glad you liked it!
Cracking video.
Thank you for watching
20:58. The angled wooden block for working on string changes is ingenious. I like the detail this rig run down goes into. It shows the range of tasks the guitar tech is faced with during rehearsal and gigs. Thanks
Thanks for watching 👀
Absolutely wonderful video. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Next year I'll be on the road 50 years, and starting off Queen were my No.1 band, and still are to this day. My career as a bass player, was influenced by John!!
Pete is such a lovely chap, and very witty.
Any chance of you doing a similar video of the bass set up?
Sending blessings from Ireland ☘️❤️☘️
Hey there, the Red Special really is my bag but never say never
This is incredible thank you so much!
You're so welcome!
Wow, my childhood up close, mr . Mays guitar , unbelievable, thanks .
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks Jon, this was so fascinating
You are more than welcome sir. Nice to get to share my experiences and fortune with the community. Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for being one of the original Patrons 😃
I adored Brian's solo in Nashville with the Dvorak Symphany bit. It was beautiful and unexpected. I also kept thinking, wow, that marvelous man in not afraid of heights. I imagine he was safe and secure, but still. And Pete is truly wonderful.
I totally agree!
unbelieveable. Very informative video. Thank you.
You are most welcome
Loved it. Very nice atmosphere
Thanks a lot!
Passion for gear, I love Pete for that, great guy! Mr. May is blessed with him 🤘
Couldn't agree more!
Killed it once again Jon, So glad Pete and Brian are happy to allow us into the circle now :)
We are very lucky Kyle, as am I. Glad you enjoyed the video though :-)
Thanks for being a Patron too. You guys rock!
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcastthis is brilliant;)
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcastthe real guitar looks in great shape. how was it to play?
Thanks Jon that was unreal,super fantastic cheers , hope to meet some time 👍🏻👋🎸
Thanks for watching it and glad you enjoyed it
Yes.. Valves or Tubes.. 😄😄👍👍🇪🇸🇪🇸🎤🎤
😬
I love that he still uses the TC G Major 2's I Have one in my personal rig... and you can't get them anymore so i treasure mine !
It’s a great bit of kit
Brilliant, a very practical rig.
I agree
The guitar looks fantastic.Andrew has even fixed the chips on the last fret.
He has done a great job on it
Obviously a brilliant guitar tech. The level of detail on this walk through was really great. Suggestion - how do you know how to trace tywrapped cables? You label each end and you create a schematic drawing and glue it to the inside back of the rack (or in a notebook). Apologies if I am being a smarty pants like that other critic. On the other hand, it's your rack! Do what you think is best and what works.
That was awesome !
Glad you liked it!
Quality 😊👍🎸
Many thanks!!
Fascinating !
Glad you enjoyed it
Dang! That was just fun!
Glad you enjoyed it :-)
I'm so happy for you that he let you play it through Brian's actual rig. What a dream!
It was actually a dream for me to have Jon playing it.
Knew it!! The whole thing was a cunning plan just so you could hear me play..
Brian is lucky having Pete on the job. Great guy!!!
100% agree
absolutely great, wekk done
Thank you
Oh boy. It will change the tone tremendously. I don’t have a better idea thought.
It sounds pretty awesome in person
Awesomeness 👏👏👏👏👏👍
Thank you 👍
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
Great video. The Digitech rack that he has, I own the body of that. I bought it off Nigel a few years back to replace mine as the pedal broke.
Thats really cool :-)
I share part of his rig!! 🤣@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcast
I would have played" it's late" first as well, I have so many favorites ; But that one is the "Queen" !
I happen to have one of those little white Vox amps.. it's in my studio right now, I use the ext. spkr. to a V30 in a small cab and it sounds amazing..I record with it all the time.
The one you can see is actually a donation from a member of the community to the Red Special guitar meet-up raffle. All proceeds go to the Save Me Foundation.
I have #000824, Mfr. 2003-02.. I wouldn't part with it for anything!@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcast
I have one too, I was wondering what it’s used for. My guess is to practice between shows
#005023 here, 2003-06 (not sure if 06 would be the week, or month).
great!!! greetings from Brazil!!!
Hello there! Thank you for watching
Great stuff :)
Glad you think so!
More Werther's Originals for Pete, he really likes them. If you are going to a Queen gig then he just loves it when fans chuck them in his direction. Throw a bag and you may get one of Brian's old strings 😆
Get Pete those sweets, he will put them in his special sweet box
I would love to see a video of all of Brian's guitars in his collection.
That would be great wouldn’t it?
Kool Kat Pete !
He’s ok 😂
Nice one!
Thanks!
Thank you for that fantastic video! Did he told you anything about the micing they use live?
We didn’t go through that, that is handled by the sound guys
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcast Thank you for your answer. Do you have anything related to recording techniques on your channel? I think this is a very underrated topic and you don't really find specific info about Brian's techniques in the studio/live. I would absolutely love to learn more about micing and mixing Brian May styled guitars as i think this is also a big part of his sound
@@lucas_bndrI seem to recall seeing a video where they mic’ed his live amps with Sennheiser 421s. I don’t recall if other mics were involved. I saw a photo of him tracking the Deacy amp with a normal SM-57.
SAME TECH
Awesome
Thanks for watching
Brilliant that....👌
Thanks Steve
Friend of mine does pro audio for film & television in the southern US, the volume of RF voodoo magic gear he needs, just to reliably work, is astounding.
It's a real problem that need proper solutions. The world is becoming increasingly full of RF interference
Deacy gave Brian THE SOUND!!
A lot of happy accidents
My favorite guitar tech and I have seen a shit ton of rundown.
You could number your cables brother lol
Pete knows what he is doing
Oh, my... Gonna be very interesting
It’s a great insight in to Brian’s live rig if I do say so myself
Great video . What was the speaker like thing that he pulled out of the red case ?
Replica Deacy Amp made by Nigel Knight at KAT www.deacyamp.com
Pete is a cool guy.
Yes he is
Nice one 👍🏻
What Pete says about the “messy rig”, is spot on. For someone who has worked in I.T for 15 years, tidy network racks look nice but are a right bastard to find where a fault lies.
100% accurate
It’s a hell of a lot easier to fault find on a tidy rig. This is a BS excuse for laziness.
@@JonnyFG no its not. When cables are all tied up it makes it a lot harder and also a lot more time consuming.
@@JonnyFGas Pete said he has to fault find quickly and tidy wires are great but you try that on a dark stage in a rush. Hence the mess of wires. Also the audience don't see it and even if they can I doubt people are that interested in neatness of a few wires.
Great video Jon. Just wondering about the digitech rack. Are the electronics identical to the pedal version as in does it have the inbuilt treble booster. If so what was the gain set at as presume the signal it’s getting already has the treble booster from the strap.
Hi there, as fas as I know it's just the pedal moved to a rack. I think you can see the settings on the front panel if you pause the video.
Lucky you!
Yep it was a good day
Years ago I joined a band that owned/operated a rehearsal & pre-production studio (we recorded onto an MSR16). The cymbals always sounded like trash-can lids to me. One day I read an article about Ted Templeman's Van Halen cymbal sound. He'd swipe out the bass & mids, turn the level up & find the most annoying high frequency then sweep it ALL the way out, just like this approach. In an instant we had VH cymbals. We just stood there thinking it CAN'T be that ez, but it was.
Here’s a guitar nerdy question 😂 How does Brian have the sixpences onto the strap? Also this rig rundown was really great, honestly better than the premier guitar one. Loved it!
He has a picstick on his strap. Thanks for the comment and I am glad you enjoyed it 👍🏻
Great fun rundown. Has Brian or Pete ever looked into developing a hum cancelling version of the Burns pickups?
Not that I know of, I don’t think Brian would have his iconic sound with hum cancelling pickups though
His main sound with the bridge and middle in phase is a hum cancelling combination right? So he sort of has it already.
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcast That's why it would have to be developed. DiMarzio and Duncan seemed to do OK doing that for Yngwie Malmsteen and keeping the single coil tone.
@@RubenStuvelingya, and the neck and middle out of phase are humbucking
Funny to hear Pete complying about the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam so specifically. I guess they'll choose a decent city in The Netherlands on the next European tour and will be playing Ahoy' hall then?
WOW!!! I "think" Pete certainly earns his money! That's a lot to remember & do.
There is more to it than most think
Unbelievable amount of tech for Brian’s Red Special! Lovely old girl! 😊
Do you know what an effing privilege it is to even touch his guitar never mind play it!!!! I wonder what museum it’ll go to in the future?
It was an absolute honour to be invited up to record this video and share it with you all. Thats a really good question, what do you think should happen with it?
@@TheRedSpecialGuitarPodcastare you releasing bonus footage of this on the discord chat?
Question I've always been curious about: in that store room do Pete and Brian still have all the old stuff like the Pete Cornish boards and pedals and the rangemasters etc? Must be fascinating to pick through.
Good question! I think they do.
I thought the hairdryer was going to be so Pete can give Brian a shampoo and set during the drum solo.
Nice to see the two of them at the cricket the other day hob nobbing with former PM.
Many Pete in a shirt and tie with trousers on jokes were made off camera 🎥
There has to be a reason why there is so much noise. Are the effects units going into the input of the two outside amps? Cause they should be going into a loop returns instead.
Take a Suhr line out box from the centre amp into post effects then those into the effects return on his outside L+R amps. (I know his amps do not have loops), this would be a game changer for noise on the L+R amps though. Note* The centre amp would still be the main tone generator
You should tech for him 👍
To do what Brian does and have it sound like he does would not work like that
There's always an internet expert who thinks the people doing this for several decades don't understand what they're doing...
These Vox amps don’t have an effect loop :)
@@martijn_ytthese aren't built by VOX their built by Nigel knight of knight audio technologies who's filming the video. I have the BM rig too but digitally. Basically I use a heavily modified BMG red special with parts modified to be like the real one, the sixpences, kat plush treble booster, line 6 pod go (half a helix with my presets that are copied of the live rig here, all the fx out of the TC unit reconfigured exactly) I also have replicated the KAT ac30 amps which are normal channel only with one volume knob and celestion blue and g12h anniversary speakers with 421 mics.
i would love to see Rogers gear!
Not really my podcasts thing but that would be a great watch
Love the edited in Maystar on the bridge in this pic. Nicely done!. 🤩
That was a nice little touch by Andrek Hernandez :-)
This is really interesting. I didn't catch the model and manufacturer of the guitar wireless though. Sennheiser antenna's lead me to believe that they are Sennheiser rigs but the rack units look a bit like Shure. Can someone clarify?
There is a full written description of the rig in the description of the video