PULSE 1994

Read more: settings and setups

PULSE and the 1994 world tour sees David using the most complex rig to date the period and it also marks the return of many of his old effects and amps. During the early 90s the grunge movement rediscovers Big Muffs and analog pedals and David also seem to be inspired by the resurgence of the classic pedals.

The decision to perform Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety also meant going back to the album and replicate sounds for authenticity. Despite the grand scale of the stage rig David would rarely used more than 3-4 pedals at once allowing the guitar and powerful Hiwatt rig to shine through.

Effect pedals, racks and additional units 1994 live performances

Pedals were placed on top of the racks. All effects are controlled by the Bob Bradshaw foot board.

Boss CS-2 compressor
MXR Dynacomp
Ibanez CP-9 compressor
Boss MZ-2
Pete Cornish P2
Chandler Tube Driver (#1 clean boost)
ProCo RAT II
Boss GE-7 (assigned for RAT)
Pete Cornish SS-2
Boss GE-7 (assigned for SS-2)
Sovtek Big Muff (Civil War model)
Chandler Tube Driver (#2 overdrive)
Boss GE-7

Additional units placed aside the Bradshaw foot board

Jim Dunlop/Heil Talk Box
Digitech Whammy 1
Ernie Ball volume pedal
Ernie Ball expression pedal (modified volume pedal for Whammy)

Effect signal flow including additional units and racks
Boss CS2 > MXR Dynacomp > Ibanez CP9 > Digitech Whammy I > Boss MZ2 > Pete Cornish P2 > Chandler Tube Driver #1 (clean boost) > ProCo RAT + Boss GE7 > Pete Cornish SS2 + Boss GE7 > Sovtek Big Muff > Chandler Tube Driver #2 (overdrive) > Electric Mistress > UniVibe > Boss CE2 > Demeter Tremulator > Boss GE7 > Alembic preamp > Ernie Ball volume pedal (guitars and lap steels) > MXR Digital Delay System I > TC2290 Digital Delay > Lexicon PCM70 Digital Delay > signal splits in stereo > Dynacord CLS222 Leslie Sim > Boss CE2 (left channel) > amps.

Left side of the top rack pedal board. L-R: Boss CS2, ProCo RAT, Pete Cornish P2, Boss GE-7, MXR Dynacomp, Ibanez CP9, Boss MZ2, Chandler Tube Driver.
Right side of the top rack pedal board. L-R: Pete Cornish SS2, Sovteck Big Muff, Chandler Tube Driver, 3 Boss GE7.

Note: Pete Cornish modified most of David’s effects for both correct level and impedance matching. He also included several custom features for improved tone and usability, such as changing capacitors to hight temperature, low leakage, types and changing transistors and resistors to low noise types.

– All effects has specially designed separate power supplies to prevent currant interfearance.
– The Boss GE-7 EQs are modified by Cornish to give a flatter response at zero or flat and a better overall signal.
– The Ernie Ball volume pedal is modified with a 10k pot to reduce high end signal loss.
– The Cornish Soft Sustain is an early version of the current SS-2 including a Boss GE-7 EQ with the sliders on top of the box. This feature was never used.
– The UniVibe has been modified into a rack unit with a 2-mode switch for fast and slow settings with individual speed controls.

Effect rack 1 (left)
Furman PL-8 power conditioner and light controller
– used only for lighting the rack
Pete Cornish routing system
Pete Cornish Acoustic Preamp with D.I.
(Unknown unit)
Alembic F-2B tube preamp
Peterson R450 Strobe tuner
EMO Power Distribution System

A graphic illustration of the Pete Cornish routing system in the left side rack. The system allowed for multiple effect combinations controlled with the Bradshaw foot control board.
Image used with permission from Frederic Peynet.

Effect rack 2 (right)
Furman PL-8 power conditioner and light controller
– used only for lighting the rack
TC Electronics TC-2290 Digital Delay
– main delay unit
Uni-Vibe (modified for rack)
DigiTech ISP-33B Super Harmony pitch shifter
– controlled with a customised Ernie Ball pedal
Lexicon PCM-70 digital effects processor
– multi tap delay for Binson effects
MXR Digital Delay System II
(ventilation grill)
Phil Taylor rack unit with customised effects (left to right)
– Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress
– Boss CE2 chorus (labeled mono chorus)
– Demeter Tremulator tremolo
– Boss CE2 chorus (labeled left chorus)
Dynacord CLS-222 Leslie simulator
(ventilation grill)
Samson UR-5 UHF Dual wireless receiver
Peterson R450 Strobe tuner

Top units of the right side effect rack: TC Electronic 2290 Dynamic Digital Delay, UniVox UniVibe (modified into a rack unit by Phil Taylor), Digitech ISP-33B Super Harmony pitch shifter, Lexicon PCM-70 effects processor (for delays), MXR Digital Delay System II, Phil Taylor custom effect rack including Electric Mistress, Boss CE-2 (mono), Demeter Tremulator, Boss CE2 (left) and below a Dynacord CLS-222 Leslie simulator.
Pete Cornish and Bradshaw systems

David’s system was built to be as user friendly as possible with the cleanest possible audio signal, using only quality components to eliminate hums and RF interfearance.

The Pete Cornish routing system in the left rack, is basically 24 send/returns controlled via the Bradshaw footboard, which was modified by Cornish (same board as used in 1987-90). It had individual on/off switches for all send/returns and a microprocessor which calls up presets from the rack units.

Guitars and amps 1994 live performances

Fender Stratocaster
– 1983 57 reissue, candy apple red alder body with white pickguard, maple neck, EMG-SA active pickups (with EMG-EXG expander and SPC midrange presence controls) and shortened tremolo arm.
Fender Stratocaster (spare)
– 1983 57 reissue, candy apple red alder body with white pickguard, maple neck, EMG-SA active pickups (with EMG-EXG expander and SPC midrange presence controls) and shortened tremolo arm.
Fender Stratocaster (spare)
– 1983 57 reissue, blonde alder body with white pickguard, maple neck, EMG-SA active pickups (with EMG-EXG expander and SPC midrange presence controls) and shortened tremolo arm. Brought on as a spare and never seen used.
Fender Telecaster
– 1952 reissue, butterscotch blonde ash body, black pickguard and maple neck. D drop tuning for Run Like Hell.
Fender Telecaster
– 1952 reissue, butterscotch blonde ash body, black pickguard and maple neck. Regular tuning for Astronomy Domine.
Jedson lap steel (red)
– Fitted with a EMG-H pickup. Open Em chord tuning (E B E G B E) for One of These Days and High Hopes.
Fender Deluxe lap steel (blonde)
– Blonde, stock pickups. Open G chord tuning (D G D G B E) for Great Gig in The Sky (replacing the blonde Jedson).
Gibson J-200 Celebrity acoustic steel string guitar
– EMG and Crown picups with separate outputs.
Gibson J-200 Celebrity acoustic steel string guitar
– EMG and Crown picups with separate outputs. D A D G A D tuning for Poles Apart.
Gibson Chet Atkins Electro Classical nylon string guitar
– High Hopes.

David with his two main guitars for the tour – the candy apple red 1983 Fender ’57 reissue Stratocaster with EMG SA pickups and the Fender ’52 reissue Telecaster. David had two identical Telecasters, one for Run Like Hell with drop D tuning and one in regular tuning for Astronomy Domine.
David pictured with a Gibson J-200 Celebrity acoustic steel string and the red Jedson lap steel that were used on High Hopes and One of These Days with an open Em chord tuning.

Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads
– With Mullard 4xEL34 power tubes and 4xECC83 pre-amp tubes and modified by Cornish to just use the power amp stage (master volume and presence controls) and for linked normal and brilliance inputs. One amp is dry and the other has a Boss CE-2 chorus signal. The third head is a spare.
3 Hiwatt STA-100 Slaves amp heads
– With Mullard tubes. These amps had no preamp stage. One was powering the Hail Talk Box with a dummy load, and the other two powered the Doppola rotating speakers.
Alembic F-2B tube preamp
– Main preamp for the rig.
2 WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets
– with 4×12? Fane Crescendo speakers.
2 Marshall JCM 800 400w cabinets
– with 4×12? Celestion G12M speakers.
2 Doppola rotating speakers
– with 2×6? 100W speakers in each.

David stage setup during the Division Bell tour.
L-R: Mic stand with monitor mixer and a Heil Talk Box, the Bradshaw foot control board with two Ernie Ball volume pedals (one used as expression for the Whammy effect), far on the back is the main effects rack with the pedals on top and Cornish routing system in the left side of rack. Behind David has his stereo setup with the Doppola rotating speakers, Marshall and WEM cabs.

Guitar and amp setups

David used Dunlop Tortex and Guild heavy gauge picks. All electric guitars are strung with GHS Boomers strings (customised set 0.10-0.48) and acoustics with Ernie Ball Earthwound Lights strings.

WEM and Marshall speaker cabinets are mic’ed with Shure SM57 and Neumann U-87 microphones and Doppola rotating speaker cabs with Neuman KM-86. David is also seen using Sennheiser microphones for the main speaker cabs.

Acknowledgements and credits
PULSE (album 1995), PULSE (concert film 1995), Guitar Shop Magazine (1996), Guitarist Magazine (1995), Guitar World Magazine (1994), Guitarist Magazine 2003), emginc.com. Thanks to Frederic Peynet, Grace Hudecek, Rafal Zychal, John Roscoe and Richard Mahon for help with research. See feature for other references.