Obscured by Clouds 1972

Read more: settings and setups

1972 would be dominated by Eclipsed. The new suite premiered in January that, throughout the year and extensive touring, would be developed into Dark Side of the Moon. However, a new soundtrack, Obscured by Clouds, was written and recorded in France in February and March. Several of the songs would be performed on the 1972-73 tours.

Obscured by Clouds is interesting because it was a was a short session and David Gilmour would use most of his stage gear. Including the pedals, which now featured a UniVibe and Power Boost. It’s an album without much overdubs or studio trickery and an important documentation of David’s tones for the era.

1972 also saw David experimenting with new guitars and performing numerous modifications to the Black Strat.

Effects recording sessions and live performances

Colorsound Power Boost
Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (BC108)
Vox wah wah
Univox Uni-Vibe
DeArmond volume pedal
Binson Echorec II

This predates David’s first pedalboard that he got in early 1973. All the pedals was laying on the stage floor and used as stand alone units during the recording sessions.

Images taken of the stage setup suggest that the guitar was fed into the Colorsound Power Boost, followed by the Fuzz Face, Vox wah wah and the DeArmond volume pedal. It’s unclear where in the chain the Binson and UniVibe was placed, although it’s safe to assume that both were placed after the gain pedals and wah wah.

The UniVibe doesn’t appear to be present on the shows in January 1972 but it can clearly be heard on the shows at Rainbow Theatre in February, indicating that it was added to the setup sometime between these dates.

David Gilmour recording bass, using Roger Waters’ Fender P Bass, during the Obscured by Clouds sessions at the Chateau d’Herouville in France February-March 1972. The image reveals much of David’s setup for the sessions.
1. Binson Echorec II, 2. Hiwatt DR103 with WEM speaker cabinet, 3. Uni-Vibe with foot controller, 4. Colorsound Power Boost, 5. Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (silicon transistor), 6. the Black Strat, 7. Martin D-35.

Guitars and amps recording sessions

Fender Stratocaster The Black Strat
– 1969 black alder body, white pickguard and a maple neck with a large headstock. The guitar was fitted with an XLR socket in addition to the jack for optimising the signal to the fuzz pedal. The XLR/jack was selected with a custom mini switch installed on the guitar.
Fender Stratocaster
– 1971 model with black alder body, white pickguard, maple neck with a large headstock (bullet truss rod) and Fender pickups.
Martin 1969 D-35 acoustic steel string guitar

Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads
– with Mullard 4xEL34s power tubes and 4xECC83s pre-amp tubes
WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets
– with 4×12 Fane Crescendo speakers with metal dust caps
Leslie 147 rotating speaker cabinet

David also played bass guitar, using Roger Waters’ Fender P bass, and the EMS VCS3 synth for the sessions.

(left) David Gilmour sometime in late 1972 playing the 1959 sunburst Stratocaster now sporting the original maple neck from the Black Strat, which now featured the sunburst’s 1963 rosewood neck.
(right) David Gilmour playing his custom made and shortlived double neck. See details below.
David Gilmour pictured at the Rainbow Theatre in London, UK, February 1972 with the typical stage rig for the period. Binson Echorec II on top of the classic three Hiwatt DR103 heads (one spare). Visible on the floor, a Colorsound Power Boost and Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (silicon transistor).

Guitars and amps live performances

Fender Stratocaster The Black Strat
– 1969 black alder body, white pickguard and a maple neck with a large headstock. The guitar was fitted with an XLR socket in addition to the jack for optimising the signal to the fuzz pedal. The XLR/jack was selected with a custom mini switch installed on the guitar. The XLR was removed in late March. A 1963 rosewood neck replaced the stock maple neck in June 1972.
Fender Stratocaster
– 1971 model with black alder body, white pickguard, maple neck with a large headstock (bullet truss rod) and stock Fender pickups. The guitar might have been used for slides possibly with an open Em tuning (E B E G B E) for One of These Days.
Custom double-neck Stratocaster
– This was a guitar David made from a mahogany piece and the necks from The Black Strat (maple) and the 63 sunburst Strat (rosewood) to be able to play both normal guitar and slide on the same instrument. The lower neck had higher action on the strings for slides. The guitar was used during the spring US tour in 1972 but later abandoned (Detroit, USA, April. 4. 1972).
Fender Stratocaster
– Sunburst 1959 body with a white pickguard and Fender pickups with the maple neck from The Black Strat after swapping it with the rosewood neck in June 1972. The guitar might have been used for slides possibly with an open Em tuning (E B E G B E) for One of These Days.

3 Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads
– with Mullard 4xEL34s power tubes and 4xECC83s pre-amp tubes (one head was a spare)
4 WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets
– with 4×12 Fane Crescendo speakers with metal dust caps
Leslie 147 rotating speaker cabinet
2 Fender Twin Reverb 80W (blackface) amplifiers
– Brighton, UK, June 28-29 1972

Acknowledgements and credits
Obscured by Clouds (album 1972), Obscured by Clouds (2016 remix), Rainbow Theatre London UK (live recording February 1972), In the Flesh by Povey/Russell, The Black Strat – A History of David Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster by Phil Taylor.