Genesis Equipment - Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Studio Session Equipment

I thought I would start a diary of the equipment and recording techniques used by Genesis in recording The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Below, find my rantings on what I think I know about the recording sessions. Much of this info is already known and spread out all over the internet, some of my information comes from my own findings and some of this info comes from a very reliable source. The problem being that I can't reveal which is which because of confidentiality but I will share some of the more interesting stuff I have learned about the tracking and mixing of the original LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY.

Overview

This is my attempt at documenting how I think the Lamb was recorded back in 1974. Much of this information has come from research and my own experimentation of recreating The Lamb in Midi as well as some interviews with key personnel involved in the project back in 1974.

The tracks were written at Headley Grange, an estate that was previously a prison/insane asylum (made famous by LED ZEP and Jimmy Page's occult beliefs) and recorded in Wales using the Island Studio mobile. Additional recording and mixing was done in London at Island's Basing Street studio.

This album was produced by Johnnie Burns who had been with Genesis since the Foxtrot days and actually manned the soundboard for quite a few classic Genesis tours.

So, in no particular order, I present to you my findings on the equipment used in recording this marvelous EPIC effort by GENESIS.

If you have any factual corrections or find any errors, I would appreciate you sending me an email and I will make corrections in trying to create the definitive site of the FACTS of the LAMB.

Steve Hackett

From what I can gather, Steve used the following equipment for the recording of the Lamb. At this point in his career, Steve was expanding his artistic horizons in music and used The Lamb to experiment with many NON-TYPICAL sounds.

Amplifier: H&H 100 watt transistor amp, model IC100. This amp sounded very unique for a solid state amp and helped Steve get the basis of "THAT SOUND" you hear on The Lamb. This same head was used for Selling England as well. I think (since confirmed) that Steve used a 4x12 HiWATT cabinet. However, in the studio, he also used a stock 1970's FENDER CHAMP amp for certain sounds (he used this amp all over the tracking of FOXTROT). The Fender CHAMP is a small amplifier with low wattage and a very small speaker.

Electric Guitar: In the studio, Steve used the 1957 Gold Top Les Paul.

Nylon Acoustic: I believe he already started using his Yari Alverez made in Japan

Effects:

- Echoplex tube tape echo unit

- Synthi Hi Fli: This was the first multi effects unit and only a handful of these were ever manufactured. The Hi Fli is THE MOST sought after vintage effects for collectors and I have seen Hi Fli's go for as high as $6000 on ebay. A few other classic guitar heros played around with this FX unit including David Gilmore (on Dark Side) and Richie Blackmore of Deep Purple fame. The only usage on the album that I can clearly identify is the guitar solo in "Counting Out Time". I also have my suspicion that the Synthi was used on a few other tracks for the tremolo/vibrato sounds used in songs like "The Lamb" and "Back in NYC".

- Steve also had a custom pedal board built by Pete Cornish which included a Schaller volume pedal, an MXR 90 phase shifter, a Coloursound Octivider, a Cry Baby wah wah pedal and a couple of FUZZ boxes, the Marshall Supa Fuzz and the Shaftesbury Duo Fuzz (manufactured in Japan by an OEM and sold in the UK as the Shaftesbury).

Reverbs: This effect was added at the board during mixing. Genesis used a couple of EMT 140 Plates and while mixing, all of the instruments were sent to one of these reverb busses. So, Steve's guitar reverb shared the reverb of other instruments during mixdown.

My Steve Hackett Pedal Board

Over the years, I have been able to recreate Steve's Pedal board and FX. However, my budget prohibits me from purchasing a SYNTHI HI FLI. Who knows, maybe someday (if I ever locate one and I have some extra cash just laying around)?

I was able to find an original vintage Coloursound Octivider on ebay and purchased this from a guy in Japan. For the Marshall Supa Fuzz, I contacted JMI for I saw that they faithfully recreated this unit using 100% authentic original parts and electronics that were used back in the 70s and they only made 100 of these which are now considered highly collectable as well (but not as rare as the original Marshall Supa Fuzz). The Shaftesbury Duo Fuzz was also recently faithfully reproduced by a Company called WATTSON and for copyright reasons had to change the name of the effect from a Super Fuzz to The Classic Fuzz but this pedal is made and sounds exactly like the Shaftesbury. I was also able to purchase the "classic" Dunlop Crybaby wah wah pedal which is still available today in large supplies. Add to this an MXR 90 SCRIPT and a 70s Schaller volume pedal.

For the tube tape Echoplex, I replaced this with the TTE (Tube Tape Echo) from Fulltone.

This pedal board sounds SPOT ON for Steve's sounds.

Steve Hackett Amplification

I have found and purchased an H&H IC100 amp. I found an old post of some chap selling his H&C IC100S amp from about 5 years ago. I contacted him and he told me he sold this years ago but that he had an H&H IC100 COMBO amp that he might be willing to sell. The rest was history and it arrived in three days from the UK. I had it shipped DHL air and it arrived in pristine condition.

I then had the amp serviced by my tech guy here in Raleigh, NC and made sure the voltage selector was working properly before testing the amp out. It works perfectly and the built in sustain and tremelo sound marvelous.

I then found a 1970's HiWatt 4x12 cabinet with Purple FANES on ebay from a guy who lives in Maryland. We met halfway in Richmond, VA where I picked up the cabinet and now have the H&H amp/Hiwatt combination that Steve used for The Lamb.

Below find a picture of this setup. I am in the process of having the combo amp converted into a HH IC100 head only (you can buy the hardware required from a shop in ENGLAND that still sells parts for the old H&H amp line). A guitar player who lives up the street from me is going to build himself a 2x12 speaker cabinet and I am going to give him the 2 purple fanes inside the combo amp.

Genesis Equipment - Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Studio Session Equipment

Links

Blog Archive

Overview

Steve Hackett

EMS Synthi Hi Fli

Steve's Pedal Board

My Steve Hackett Pedal Board

Steve Hackett Amplification

Studio Amp