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Billie Joe Armstrong is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist for the punk rock band Green Day. Armstrong is often credited with the revival of punk in the early 1990s with Green Day.
Let's look at what gear and equipment has been seen in Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong's Guitar Rig!
 Click the gear images for more info and specs at Musician's Friend
Guitars
Notes: Billie has a huge collection of guitars, with the majority being Gibson. See Aug 09 Guitar World for pic.
- Gibson Billie Joe Armstrong signature Les Paul Junior:
 
- Fernandes Stratocaster (Blue)
 
- Fender Stratocaster
- Fender Stratocaster Custom Shop
- Gibson ES-135
 
- Gibson ES-335
- Gibson Les Paul Special 59'
- Gibson Standard SG
 
- Gibson Les Paul Junior TV 59'
 
- Fender Telecaster 68'
- Fender JazzMaster
- Fender Telecaster Custom Shop
- Gibson Les Paul Custom (black)
- Gretsch Chet Akins
- 1956 sunburst Gibson Les Paul Junior (used heavily on 21st Century Breakdown)
- 1952 Fender Esquire (used heavily on 21st Century Breakdown)
- Gibson Slash Les Paul Custom
- Gibson Jimmy Page Les Paul Custom
- Gibson Flying V (white. Appears to be a Heritage model)
- Gibson DC Junior guitars (yellow)
- Gibson DC Special guitars
- Harmony H59 Rocket Semi-hollow guitar
- Ibanez RG electric guitar
Acoustic Guitars
- Guild D55
- Taylor 514C
- Gibson Everly Brothers acoustic (black. Used for recording AND also seen live)
- Gibson Billie Joe Armstrong J-180 signature acoustic guitar
Amplifiers and Cabinets
- Marshall Plexi Super Lead 100 WATTS amp head
- Marshall JCM800 amps
- Fender Bassman
- Hiwatt Custom 100
- Marshall 1960B 4x12 speaker cabinets
- Victoria Victorilux
- Gibson Les Paul GA-40 amp
- Gibson GA-19RVT Falcon amp
- Divided by 13 amp (used for much of the 21st Century Breakdown recording)
- Sears Silvertone amps (seen in live pics)
- Rivera amp head
Effects
- Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal (used on 21st Century Breakdown)
- Boss Blues Driver pedal
- Boss TR-2 Tremolo
- Ibanez CF7
- Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer
- ISP Decimator pedal
Strings and Picks
- Duplex Tortex .76 - .88mm Custom Picks
- Ernie Ball Super Slinky Strings
- GHS Boomers gauges 10-46 (submitted by user MJ)
Microphones
- Live Vocal mic: Shure SM58
- Shure wireless mics with Telefunken wireless M-80 head
- Studio Vocal mic: Telefunken U 47 M
- Studio Amp cabinet mics:Shure SM57, Royer R-121, and AKG C414 through Neve 1073 (21st Century Breakdown)
Notes:
- Billie's guitar is a Fernandes Stratocaster copy he calls "Blue". On Nimrod he also used some Gibson's, some old Les Pauls, an ES-355, and ES-135 and a Fender Jaguar. He also made a guitar he call's "Frankenstein" because it is a combination of several different parts purchased at a Fender shop. Has a Seymour Duncan humbucker added to Blue.
- Billie mainly plays through a modified Marshall amp. On Nimrod he used a Fender Bassman, a Hiwatt, and a Leslie. The amp he uses on Dookie is most commenly reffered to as the 'pete' amp and can be seen most noticably at the Woodstock concert, it has 'pete' written across it.
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Comments
I'd say most likely:
Volume: 10
Tone: 10
from 3-5
Head? What model is it.
And did he use it live or for recording at all?
I guess regular Gibson strings, but I don't know which gauge though
www.youtube.com/.../
Fender Blackface bassman
Bj has said a few times he uses 10's never mentioned a specific brand about the pickup he raises them pretty high most forums I found about the bands gear say about 3/16ths of an inch higher then a factory standard guitar
Wrong...he uses an ISP Decimator
or at least did at one point
www.isptechnologies.com/.../
You should read through this Greg White talks about ho the amp's work and other stuff about the rig hugeracksinc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57345&sid=6c9b72199366e56c67648e2af6458044&start=60
I think they use an RJM RG 16 and Mastermind to switch the amps, actually. They switch between the amps or the CAE preamp, I determined that from watching the video countless times.
What I don't understand is how the preamp out/poweramp in thing works
One amp has a preamp out and the other has a power amp in; both amps are run through a CAE 3+ preamp where you can switch to either one amp or both at the same time. Billie uses the latter option 99% of the time.
Check YouTube for RJM Music's rig tour with Green Day's guitar tech Bill for more info.
how, exactly, does he use them both at the same time? Daisy chaining? A/B/Y pedal? Please explain
Quoting Gones:
I own his signature Les Paul (with the H-90 humbucker) and I can assure you that it still hums. Furthermore, Billie uses original 50s Les Paul Juniors which have the soap bar P-90s... he must use something noise-cancelling
The P-90's are a stacked version called H-90's so that they don't hum
Thanks for the reply, however I think he has to at least own one as Les Paul Junior's P-90 pickups are known for humming - that's why I'm asking. I wonder why he doesn't use one live.
He doesn't seem to use one live and in the studio I haven't heard about one being used
I think he doesn't use any noise gate, non from his guitar tech non from his rig pictures i think he uses or the bd-2 or the tubescreamer for a lit of boost and uses the volume knob on the guitar constantly!
Se lead mod+Dookie mod Marshall 1959 slp 100 both heads have a tube effects mod
for mid sound (like the intro of american idiot)Cae 3+ preamp this was also used for clean's as well
he used 1960 b cab's with celestion green backs in them
He didn't at that point he used a black and creme seymor Duncan in his junior
i think it was an Seymour Duncan SH-4 Bridge JB Model White
Replica were Fender but they were all broke or given away he went back to the original in 04 before the AI tour
he uses soapbar p-90s on his les paul custom
A Blackface Fender Bassman head and Boss ds-2 and Mxr micro amp
he also uses the wired version of the m80.
so does mike and jason.
actually the jcm 800 was used on kerplunk and on the tour for kerplkunk they used jcm 900s once dookie was recorded they switched to the plexis
billie uses shure uhf on guitars on songs on kye and bftl he uses the mid channel on his cae3+
Dookie Mod:
Presence: 1
Bass: 2
Mid: 8
Treble: 10
Gain: 2
SE Lead Mod
Presence: 3
Bass: 10
Mid: 4
Treble: 2
Gain: 4
Billie joe uses very smart (and costly) amp settings. heblends the two amps together (he's been doing that since they recorded insomniac) So when you here just the high end of the mix, ex. american idiot, know your enemy, before the lobotomy, ect. he just turns off the se lead mod amp.
Thanks you rock bro
The black heads with the silver panels and 9 knobs are old Sears Silvertone amps, most likely the 1484 or 1485 model. The mic'd combo on the left under the two heads is a Fender. looks to be an old Bassman combo, but could be a Deluxe. The Marshall cab is just your standard 2x12.
shure ur4d wireless
x1039.com/.../...
i posted settings but basically the se lead mod is a mod done by martin golub at la sound design what the mod is an extra pre amp tube for gain and dookie mod is a mod that adds master volume and gain to the amp in place of volume 1 and 2
Are you asking what the SE mod actually is (in words) - not the actual settings?
Divided by 13 FTR37
the blues driver settings change from time to time but if you put level at 4 tone 6 gain 5-7
imageshack.us/.../...
the dookie mod:
bass: 10/10
middle(mid): 4/10
treble: 4/10
gain: 7/10
precense: 2/10
okay the dookie mod
presence 4
bass 10
mid 4/6 [theres 2 marker lines]
treble 4
master 4
gain 4/8 [marker 4 setting at time]
se lead mod
presence 4
bass 8
mid 4
treble 3
vol1 3
vol2 4
mogami cables
and in the american idiot encore videos
and he has customized his gretsch with p90 pickups
he also plays a harmony semi hollow body
model: H59 Rocket
that he uses when playing "American Eulogy"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI-vs_Yz24A
he uses those in studio, but jason uses the effects live for songs like "Viva La Gloria (Little Girl)
Billie uses mogami cables and a cae 3+ pre-amp for clean and mids
settings are
clean ch1 mid ch2
bright switch on off
gain 6 3
bass4 3
mid6 8
treble8 6
master3 6
settings are taken from pics might not be 100%
What does he use for clean sounds ?
okay the dookie mod
presence 4
bass 10
mid 4/6 [theres 2 marker lines]
treble 4
master 4
gain 4/8 [marker 4 setting at time]
se lead mod
presence 4
bass 8
mid 4
treble 3
vol1 3
vol2 4
rigquest.com/.../...
Can you see it?
-Keith
he has the tv yellow dc junior
and a white dc special
and a black dc special
he also has a Gibson Advanced jumbo of some sort (unsure of the model)
he also plays a black version of the signature model of his jr. it's usually used for jesus of suburbia
he also plays a squier telecaster every show w/ a humbucker @ the bridge, which is given away at the end of every show
I got in touch with hans and greg and the confirmed this was the ai rig
Thats true!!! se! funksheet.blogspot.com/.../...
Looks like a second rig!
Hi Sean, all I see in the RJM video for pedals in Billie's rack, is the blues driver. www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4xm9A2rkEQ Post the youtube link to the video you are watching with the time you see the pedals, and we'll make sure to verify and update the page.
Hi Sean. Where did you see the rack pic? Thx.
? He is using the epiphone guitar, but they were going to play knowledge and someone got on stage and played it and got it
He used it at a concert in Norway that I saw. greendayauthority.com/.../...
source of info please
are you sure its ds-2 i heard he used ds-1's
Gear Tour
what album were the micro amp and dm-2 used on
is this what your looking for?
greendayauthority.com/.../...
greendayauthority.com/.../...
gibson billie joe armstrong signutare j-180