Equipment

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Back in the days of the band's beginning: Our sound man, Kevin Elson, was REAL particular about getting a good sound. I can't recall ever having a feedback problem. All we had were 2 Eliminator cabs on each side and maybe 2 Phase-Linear Amps to power them. We didn't mike our instruments...the P.A. was strictly for vocals. Don't think we had a monitor system either.

Amp-wise, Collins & Rossington used Marshall stacks and I used an experimental amp called a Peavey Roadmaster. (It wasn't til after I left that Peavey sponsored Skynyrd's backline.) The Marshalls were just about cranked to capacity. Billy used a Wurlitzer electric piano thru 2 Eliminator cabs...can't recall what amp head he used. There was no Steinway piano or Hammond organ.

I used a Marshall on ALABAMA. A Fender Twin Reverb on mostly everything else except some solos ("...MCA" was also a Marshall). I'll pretty much play through any 50 watt amp.

Back in the early 70s, me (when playing bass) and Leon used an Ampeg SVT with 8-10" speakers (maybe 100 watts). Not much of a bass system compared to what Leon used up til the time he died...3 Crown amps! About 2,000 watts! He said he needed that much for "cleanliness." Also the Ampeg SVTwas a great guitar amp!

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For picks, I used shells, quarters, plastic picks...anything I could find.

About a year before I left the band (June '75), a sound company joined up with us and then we started miking all the amps & drums...having a monitor system was quite a luxury.

Let me just remind you that the first time I saw CREAM at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. (1967), both Clapton & Bruce were playing through two Marshall stacks each. The sound system (for vocals ONLY) consisted of ONE Fender dual showman cabinet on each side of the stage. 2-15" speakers on each side! Needless to say, Jack Bruce was pretty much drowned out. How did we EVER put up with such lousy sound in those days?

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Nobody in the band used a Peavy amp for recording...that must have happened after I left. The other guys used only Marshalls while I used a Fender Twin and sometimes a Marshall.

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Q - What amp settings did you, Gary, and Allen use?


Just take your left hand, start at the left side of the Marshall head and roll your hand across all the knobs until they're on full. That'll take care of Allen & Gary.

My settings are different for every amp and are 'to taste'...of course.

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Q - I've always wondered if there was a standard for LS recordings as far as the type of mics and placement for recording the guitars. Seems I read somewhere long ago that there were two mics used for Ed. One close to the cabinet and a second some distance away.


For basic tracks, usually one mic per amp was used. For overdubbed solos, usually two mics were used (a mic on the amp and a room mic for ambiance). Everything was recorded at the highest volume allowable.

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Q - How many watts where the amps you guys used?


I've never liked 100 watt or 160 watt amps. There comes a point when your stage power takes away the job of your sound man. I always preferred hearing a bit of me in the side-fills. If you don't let your sound man totally control the sound out-front, then send him home.

I never used a Marshall with the band onstage. When I started with Skynyrd, I used two Fender Quad Reverbs. Not enough pre-amp juice for those wimpy Strat pickups. Then the PV Roadmaster amp I used (a prototype) was a 50 watt. GREAT AMP.

On the Tribute Tour I used the Mace but with only 4 - 12's. It was an ok amp. Then Paul Reed Smith gave me some solid state amps that I used from '89-'95...they were 70 watts and, to this point, the best amp I've ever played through. Literally HUNDREDS OF SHOWS and never a problem. Loud with plenty of tone & overdrive. Those tone knobs offered such a WIDE SWEEP...incredible. The R&D just about bankrupted that company and they never went to market. I loved mine.

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Replacement pickups, when needed, are always Seymour Duncans. Stock Fender pickups (on the 50's & 60's guitars) are preferred over everything else. But when they go out, Duncans are the best.

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Leon played my '64 Fender Jazz Bass on much of that record. (Second Helping) I played bass on a couple tunes on that album and I'm sure that was the bass I used too. Leon did acquire an original '52 Precision Bass during this period, but it didn't record as well as the Jazz Bass. Later, shortly after I left the band, Ronnie ordered Leon to break that Jazz Bass on stage. Broke it into a zillion pieces. Guess he was mad...maybe at me!

*Note from Zap - I was AT that show when it happened in NYC. Leon flung the broken bass out into the audience, and part of it hit a girl in the face & cut her up some. (Skynyrd Roadie) Joe Barnes insists that this incident occurred in Boston, but I never saw Skynyrd in Boston, and I KNOW what I saw. I told this story to Artimus and he did not contradict me as to where it happened, he DID however tell me that the girl Leon hit kept writing him letters telling him how much she liked him!

Skynyrd Roadie and Forum Member Joe Barnes has always disputed that this took place in NYC, instead claiming it happened in Boston ... Finally, we have "the rest of the story"

From Joe Barnes ...

I want to clear up something that has been a little bone, in a friendly way, between ZAP and me. This is the story of Ed's bass and how it got smashed.

For the folks from the old forum, you may have noticed that ZAP referred to me "geographically challenged" in a few of his last posts talking about this new forum. This is because ZAP claimed that he saw Leon smash a bass in New York City and I claimed that Leon had smashed a bass in Boston. The particular bass in question was a bass that belonged to Ed. When Ed left the band suddenly in Pittsburgh, he took his guitars but left this bass and Leon used it regularly.

Now ZAP says NYC and I say Boston, the truth is that we are both right. Before I tell what happened, let me provide a little background.

When the band received the Peavy endorsement, I built a bass rig for Leon using 6 individual 1 x 15 cabinets with an assortment of JBL D140's and Cerwin Vega 15's and 2 - 4 x 12 cabinets with JBL K120's this was powered by a PV bass head pre-amp into an electronic crossover into 2 BGW power amps. Each channel powered 2 cabinets. The crossover was set at about 100Hz so the 15's were working as sub woofers and the 12's carried the rest. The amps, by the way were recommended by our old sound company guy, Bullit. Thank God I was off the hook for that.

This rig sounded great. It was loud, clean and bone rattling, kidney stone shattering powerful. At 4 ohms, each channel was producing 700 watts. It worked great too, at first. It turns out these amps just were not up to the rigors of the road. I started having more and more problems. This culminated in both amps failing simultaneously at, where else?, the end of Freebird!

Now for the old timers here that saw the original band, you guys will remember the adrenaline pumping intensity of the live show. They planned their set to grab your attention at the very start of the first song, drag you around for a few songs, slow down a little in the middle then start turning up the heat bringing things to an explosive boil at the end with Freebird as the finale. The movie and the live album come close but the live show was electric.

Now the most important part of my job, and the rest of the band crew, was to make sure that there were no equipment failures AT ALL during the show. We were pretty damn good at it too. We ran a tight stage. Every thing, every cable or power cord was taped or secured so they couldn't be pulled out accidentally. Every light or PA cable on stage was taped and covered so no one could trip. Everything was clean. We used a lot of duct tape. When anything did happen, it was during Freebird.

Now besides Freebird being the song that things happened in, we had a real history in Boston. The first time we played Boston, it was opening for the WHO at Boston Gardens. During the ending to Freebird, one of the WHO's roadies kicks out the cord to Allen's amp. The next time in Boston, some guys at a bar wanted to fight and followed us out of the bar, their mistake. The next time, we were thrown out of this deluxe, very old hotel because someone started a fire in a fake fireplace, the whole floor filled with smoke and got a three alarm response.

So with all that background, here's what happened. The Boston show was in this theater. The band had done their magic and the crowd was all worked up and they were playing Freebird and were deep into the ending. At the same time, Allen is pulling on his whammy bar and he pulls it out of it's base. The only thing that held it in was string tension on a knife edge hinge. Then both of Leon's power amps fail. Pandemonium takes over the stage. Billie, Gary and Arty keep playing while Allen and Leon start smashing their guitars on the stage. It was really quite a show. When it was over, they both threw the remaining pieces out into the audience. I had to run out and managed to salvage the pick up and the whammy bar, both very rare pieces, from Allen's guitar but had to let them keep the other pieces they won.

Now some people have tried to argue that Ronnie told Leon to smash the bass because it was Ed's and Ronnie was still pissed at Ed. I don't think Ronnie knew or cared that it might have been Ed's bass and to the extent that Ronnie gave Leon any indication or encouragement it was just to let Leon know to go ahead and just do it.

Now this just pushed everything over the edge. I hadn't been happy with what was happening with those amps and I finally got permission to get 4 Crown 300's to replace them. We still had one (1 of 2) more show in NYC before these new amps would be delivered. Guess what? It happened again, at almost the same spot at the end of the Bird and Leon smashed ANOTHER bass. This is the show that ZAP saw.

Now I have to confess that at first I could not understand why ZAP kept insisting about the NYC show. The Boston show was a slam dunk for me. How could I not remember that show? The NYC show was fuzzy because of all the other stuff going on. The off day before the show in NY, we found another Firebird I for Allen and I spent all day at the hall setting it up with the whammy bar, installing the P90 at the bridge, routing and installing the mini-hb at the neck and then wiring everything up and then setting up the guitar.. The next day, I was putting together the new power amps for Leon. I was busting my butt doing all of this and the whole shit storm became a blurry memory. It's took me a while to put the pieces back together about what happened but that's the story about smashing basses.

[ekforum]

From member "Firebird" here is a comprehensive equipment reference list;

Allen Collins:
www.scribd.com/doc/23991124

Ed King:
www.scribd.com/doc/23991125

Gary Rossington:
www.scribd.com/doc/23991126

Leon Wilkeson:
www.scribd.com/doc/23991128

Steve Gaines:
www.scribd.com/doc/23991131

Other Skynyrd Players (Billy, Artimus, et al):
www.scribd.com/doc/23991130

Thanks Sean!