Read more: Settings and setups
Animals was partly written and rehearsed during the 1974 Dark Side of the Moon tour, with the rest of the material written during the 1976 recording sessions. It was a creative period followed by a massive tour but it was also the start of the band breaking up.
Animals is very much defined by David Gilmour’s raw and aggressive guitar tones. It was a big change for a more modern approach. Much due to the newly acquired Big Muff. David’s guitar collection also expanded around this time with the acquiring of the #0001 Stratocaster, the 1950s Gretsch Duo Jet and the 1955 Fender Esquire among others.
Pink Floyd toured from both Europe and North America from January to July 1977 performing Animals and Wish You Were Here in their entirety.
Pete Cornish pedal board and additional effects recording sessions
Pedal board effects listed as in chain
Pete Cornish Tone pedal
Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (BC109)
Pete Cornish Custom Fuzz P-1
MXR Phase 100
Univox Uni-Vibe
Dunlop Cry Baby
MXR Dynacomp
(send/return for additional effects)
Pete Cornish volume pedal
(send/return for delays)
MXR Noise Gate/Line Driver
Additional units
Binson Echorec II
Heil Talk Box (Pigs recording sessions)
Overdrive unit (possibly a Colorsound Power Boost for Pigs and Sheep recording sessions)
Big Muff ram’s head (possibly a stand alone unit, David’s original Big Muff, used for recording sessions)
Pete Cornish pedal board and additional effects 1977 live performances
Pedal board effects listed as in chain
Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (BC109)
Pete Cornish Custom Fuzz P-1
MXR Phase 100
Univox Uni-Vibe
Colorsound Power Boost
Cry Baby wah wah
MXR Dynacomp
(send/return for EH Big Muff and EH Electric Mistress)
Pete Cornish Tone pedal
Pete Cornish volume pedal
(send/return for delays)
MXR Noise Gate/Line Driver
Pedals added prior to the tour, lying on top of the board, connected via send/return
Electro Harmonix Big Muff Ram’s Head
Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress V2 18V
Additional units
Binson Echorec II
MXR Digital Delay System I
Morley EVO-1 Echo Volume (European shows only)
Conn Strobo tuners
The pedalboard was designed by British pedalboard maker Pete Cornish in March 1976. It is likely that it was used for the recording sessions although David also used stand alone pedals and effects like the Big Muff and Binson Echorec.
According to Pete Cornish’s own documents, the board was slightly modified and updated just prior to the tour, with additional effects and routing. It also underwent an update in October 1977 right after the tour. The board was later used on David’s debut solo album in 1978 and as the main stage board during the Wall tour in 1980-81.
The board has two inputs for guitars (input is selected with an on/off selector pedal). The signal is then split into a Conn Strobo tuner and a master bypass. The signal travel through the effects and then to three outputs for amps, either in solo or combined.
– The Pete Cornish Custom Fuzz P-1 is often listed as PC Big Muff and PC Fuzz.
– The Cry Baby wah wah has a custom made reverse switch to reverse the input/output connection for seagull/Echoes effects.
– The Pete Cornish Custom tone pedal was a modified Cry Baby chassis with a Fender Telecaster tone circuit. The pedal, or its circuit, was moved from front to next to the volume pedal in the chain just prior to the 1977 tour.
– The MXR Dyna Comp was placed after the effects. Compressor pedals was fairly new at this point and the intention might have been to compress the effect signal as you would do in a studio setup by compressing the recorded input signal. The compressor would late be moved first.
(right) David Gilmour pictured in Cleveland, Ohio, June 25th 1977 playing a sunburst Stratocaster (photo by Robert Alford). There are no documentation on this guitar but it appears to be a prototype or test guitar from Schecter, with a Fender 50s era maple neck and a Schecter F400 pickguard loaded with F500T single coils. Possibly for David to try these pickups.
(right) A close up of the 1977 stage rig, with a Binson Echorec II on top of the two Hiwatt DR103 heads and on the right rack, an MXR Digital Delay System I, the Alembic F2-B preamp, a Yamaha PE 200A 200w amp and the Marshall 1959 Super Lead (apparently with the logo removed). You can also just spot the neck of the 1959 Telecaster Custom to the far right.
(photos by Rich Zimmerman)
Guitars and amps recording sessions
Fender Stratocaster The Black Strat
– 1969 black alder body with a black pickguard, 1963 rosewood neck and Fender 1971 neck and middle pickups and a DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup
Fender Telecaster Custom
– 1959 model with three colour sunburst alder body, rosewood neck and fitted with a custom Stratocaster neck pickup. Tuned down one step (D G C F A D) for Dogs.
Ovation Legend acoustic steel string guitar
– Dogs recording session, tuned down one step (D G C F A D)
Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads
– with Mullard 4xEL34 power tubes and 4xECC83 pre-amp tubes
WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets
– with 4×12 Fane Crescendo speakers
Yamaha RA-200 revolving speaker cabinet
Note: David used a Telecaster for the Dogs and Sheep recording sessions. Although the 1959 Fender Custom was used on the tour while performing Dogs, David might also have used the 1955 Fender Esquire Workmate for the sessions. The 55 Esquire is also seen at the Olympia Exhibition Hall, London, UK, rehearsals in January but there are no sources indicating that it was either used or kept as a spare for the tour.
1. Hiwatt DR103, 2. Marshall Super Lead, 3. Binson Echorec II, 4. Conn Strobo tuner, 5. the Black Strat, 6. 1955 Fender Esquire, 7. 1959 Fender Telecaster Custom, 8. Yamaha rotating speaker cabinets and 9. WEM speaker cabinets.
Guitars and amps 1977 live performances
Fender Stratocaster The Black Strat
– 1969 black alder body with a black pickguard, 1963 rosewood neck and Fender 1971 neck and middle pickups and a DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup
Fender Telecaster Custom
– 1959 model with three colour sunburst alder body, rosewood neck and fitted with a custom Stratocaster neck pickup. Tuned down one step (D G C F A D) for Dogs.
Jedson lap steel (red)
– Shine on You Crazy Diamond 6-9 with open G tuning, D G D G B E
Stratocaster
– Sunburst body, with Fender 50s era maple neck and a Schecter F400 pickguard loaded with F500T single coils. Only seen used in Cleveland June 25th 1977.
2 Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads
– with Mullard 4xEL34 power tubes and 4xECC83 pre-amp tubes
Marshall Super Lead 1959 100W head
– with 4xEL34 and 4xECC83 tubes
Alembic F-2B tube preamp
– Powering the Yamaha
2 Yamaha RA-200 revolving speaker cabinets
2 Yahama PE 200A 200w heads
– 2 on the European leg but only 1 for the US leg of the tour
4 WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets
– with 4×12 Fane Crescendo speakers
It is not known how the amps were used, set up and routed. It appears that the Hiwatts were the main amps, with the Marshall added either as a spare or in combination with the Hiwatts for tone variation and colouring.
The Alembic F-2B would typically be used as a preamp for the Yamaha rotating speakers. More for EQ and colouring, rather than powering.
It is not known how the Yamaha PE200A preamps were used. These were 2 channel preamps, with EQ sections for both channels and reverb and tremolo for channel one. They were possibly used as preamps for the two Yamaha RA200 rotating speaker cabinets.
Acknowledgements and credits
Animals (album 1977), Echoes in the Gardens (live recording Boston USA June 1975), Animals Tour Debut (live recording Dortmund Germany January 1977), Welcome to the Machine (live recording NY USA July 1977), Guitarist Magazine (Relics 1995), Guitar World Magazine (2006), Guitar World Magazine (1993), In the Flesh by Povey/Russell, thanks to Grace Hudecek, Richard Mahon, John Roscoe, Rafal Zychal and Pete Cornish for help with research. See feature for other references.