Very interesting. Obsessive, but interesting. Nice to see Robert isn't stuck in the 80s with the analog versions but has updated many of his Boss pedals to digital ones.
@@Medic911LA I just thought it was a shame as you have such an impressive collection of guitars and have studied the sunject well but i was having real trouble hearing what you were saying. cheers
Yeah we picked up that trick from Robert’s board. He also has some notes taped to the top edge of his Schecter guitars. Wouldn’t work so well on a Jazzmaster since the top edge is rounded which makes me think Robert had A LOT of input in designing his signature Schecter guitars. The top edges have a very flat surface. If you look closely at later shows where he is playing the schecters, there are strips of tape with notes. Thanks for the comment and hope you enjoy our channel!
Prince used Boss pedals extensively too, I believe. Also Steve Vai, who figures that if one goes wrong on tour, any major music store in any city in the world will most likely have a replacement in stock. Not so if you're using some obscure boutique brand.
Great video. It’s amazing that Smith uses ordinary Boss pedals instead of vintage or boutique or rack mounted units. So refreshing actually instead the of the crazy obscene setup of someone like the Edge.
I've played guitar for as long as I have listened to The Cure, don't think I was even a teen then, it is nice to hear about Robert Smiths guitars and gear. I've always considered him a guitarist and not just a song writer. Guitarist get noticed for their sound, so equipment becomes an interest, The Cure definitely has a guitar driven sound, a sound that is more individual rather than a variation.
Hey, I watched your video and I enjoyed it a lot. Nice done ! Everything that was shown seems to be correct in some way. I am a huge Cure fan since childhood and also like to play a song of them from time to time. The biggest problem is usually finding the same tone. If possible, could you show me the setup for the riffs and solo of "The Loudest Sound" and play a bit to show the resemblance. The riffs are almost clean but with a special twist on it, the solo lightly distorted but with something special at the low end. So if you find time...
I remember him telling us off for not dancing at Newcastle City Hall in the early 80s. I was four rows from the front and felt like his wrath was directed at me lol. You weren't allowed to go down the front and dance in those days at that venue. The rule probably still exists I'd guess.
Yeah, specifically bc a lot of the Cure material was written on Roland Jazz Chorus 120s, which has the same chorus circuit as the Boss CE-2, which is the pedal he uses.
I am waiting for my Squire Bass VI to come back from set up. My 80s rig will sound good with it I think will be using my 80s Ibanez Flanger & Tube Screamer plus maybe my space Echo.
@@theobscure1938 Maybe you can answer this question. Is the only difference between the RS1000 acoustics the electronics and top graphic? In other words, are they the same guitar? I don’t know if I want to spend double just for a nice pickup system. Thanks
@@PhilTiki there are 2 Schecter Robert Smith acoustics available. One has the solid white Star RS 1000 and the one with the outline of the star (RS Busker). The busker has no electronics in it at all. If you are not looking for an electric acoustic, then the busker is a great guitar.
@@theobscure1938 Yes. My question was, are they the same guitar? Did they take a Busker, give it a different paint job and put electronics in it to make it a Stage or is the Stage a totally different build?
This just popped up on my recommends and I am shocked and pleased to see they use such working man's gear. I would have guessed they used a lot of vintage and boutique stuff. I wouldn't blink if I saw those pedal boards at a bar band gig this weekend.
I guess most touring artists want gear that's dependable and easily replaceable. You're screwed if your unique pedal with magic dust inside fails. Of course you can buy a pile of those pedals in stock but why bother when you can get almost identical sounding gear from basically any music store off-the-shelf. There's also a ton of used Boss pedals available if you happen to depend on some certain model and the newer ones don't quite cut it, but I guess a big artist might just send an email to Boss office to ask if they still have a few available.
If you watch the Reeves Gabrel’s TC Electronic footage with his tech demonstrating his effects you see in the background RS pedalboard with a different layout of effects. He seems to lose the eq and has added a flanger last in line. The eq pedal is in a separate board with either a noise gate pedal or the LS2 pedal
Yes that was a 2015 show where he had a different board- he does not have the EQ- on the middle board- he has tuner, blues driver, sd1, delay, phaser, and flanger. Our video focuses on 2016-current but it would be interesting to see the boards from each year.
@@theobscure1938 Did you take a look at RS’s guitar vault whilst you were close enough to take pictures? Did you get a backstage pass? Some guitars have lyrics attached to the top as small reminders...
I do have a photo of the RS pedalboard with a different phasor setting. From left to right using the clock face method 9 12 12 11. Not sure what songs use this setting but it’s worth trying.
Your right,this is what we grabbed from my photos of 2016-2019 board. He has the PH-3 on “fall” setting and couldn’t see that he changed it but possible for other songs in set list at different times, he changes it.
@@theobscure1938 RS has got more than one pedalboard in reserve so I guess he can pull out different boards depending on the set list etc. He also has a tour flight case full of drawers and one is full of spare pedals
This is his 2016-current board. You are absolutely right, he did use electric mistress and So many other pedals for recording. We were able to get pics of the stage set up including the amps, pedals, guitars and routes of all cables during 2016-current shows and this is what we found. Any brand you use, you will be able to get The Cure tone.
I'd bought one of those Woolworths guitars while at school and it hung around the place pretty much unloved from the day I bought it because soon after a neighbour gave me 'permanent loan' of a bright orange US Strat that I loved. Out on a pub crawl one evening I stumbled into a (young) Cure gig and was astonished to see the guitarist (Smith) playing the Woolworths guitar and sounding amazing. I remember waking up the next morning with a bit of a hangover looking at my Woolworths guitar and wondering if what I'd seen the night before was true. Had I watched someone gigging one of these guitars. I'd forgotten all about it till I saw a video story on RU-vid of Robert Smith's old guitar.
This is the 2016-current board. He uses the Lehle 3@1 as shown in this video to connect 2 guitars to the boards. (The regular Schecter electric. The VI and the acoustic)
@@theobscure1938 Ok. However I suppose the boards are not connected is series to each other, right ? Or maybe they are. Actually it stuns me seeing he's using these nice analog pedals. So why do The Cure sound so digital in live concerts these days (years) ?? I suppose it all has to do with the mixing system, the soundsystem and speakers used in the venue. I don't know. (Maybe it's the Roland Cubes.)
He also used an Ovation Breadwinner (1979-84), a Fender XII, a Vox Teardrop (1982-84), mostly with The Banshees, but also sometimes with The Cure. He also used various acoustic guutars, including mostly 12 string Ovation. And Gretsch semi-acoustic guitars from Wish to Bloodflowers.
Hiya, just one little correction (I hope you don't think I'm being an arsehole about it!), Robert used the Gretsches (starting with a Tennessee Rose) after Wish which was done with two Gibson Chet Atkins including the tour. The Gretsches came after that. They're all fantastic guitars though! : )
How do you get your signature 6-string bass sound? It has always gone through the same three Boss pedals -- a digital delay and a chorus, with a touch of noise gate to cut off the delay. And I always play through the same early-'80s Peavey Ultra head and 4x12 cabinet. The 6-string bass sound is the one thing that has stayed the same since the Faith album in 1981. I've never changed the setup, because I always thought it sounded really good. It's like a cello for me -- a really perfect sound. On the Peavey, the middle is rolled off completely, the bass is half up, the treble is full up, and the presence is set at about half. This really reflects my character, but things are invariably set to 0, 5, or 10 on my amps. I never go for anything in between, because that's fussing about, and it never gets you anywhere. The pedals are always set so that they look right. That sounds a bit stupid, but, in a strange way, it works. There are four knobs on the delay, and they're all set at 12 o'clock -- apart from the knob on the far right, which is set slightly off from 12 o'clock at 800 milliseconds. That's an unfortunate design -- Boss obviously didn't have me in mind when they made that pedal [laughs]. On the chorus, the left-hand knob is at ten o'clock, and the right-hand knob is at two o'clock. It's symmetrical. This isn't insane you know! If you've played enough, you sort of know what something is going to sound like by looking at it.
There is a video of Reeves Gabrels pedal board on RU-vid. At 3:25 you can see that pedal board you are referring to. That’s the chorus, an unknown white Boss pedal (noise gate, another eq??) and the Lehle 3@1. We show the Lehle 3@1 on our video what he uses to switch between his guitars.
He might use one of the delays along with the VI board, but he definitely has a separate boost, SD-1 and flanger for the VI. We will be doing some tone matching videos soon including the vi
Thanks very much for taking the time to record and share this. Question: when playing "A Forest" do you use the small board with the the delay and two flangers on its own, or in addition to the main board? Thanks again!
@@trip5156 that’s what I do as well. I also use the chorus on my JC120. You will notice there is no chorus on Robert’s board. He puts the pedal directly into the amp and it’s an always on for live shows- he says this in a few interviews
We also found out that Robert has an always on chorus pedal taped down with gaffer tape behind his row of Roland amps. This is according to Josh Scott JHS pedal show on record time. He chose Kiss Me!
