“Rule number one: When you’re not using a pedal, your guitar must sound like your original guitar sound”: Steve Stevens on the pedalbord the guru Dave Friedman made him, his favorite Klon klone and why he can't use chorus anymore
The effervescent Billy Idol guitarist reveals the secrets of his pedalboard

“First and foremost, I defer to [Friedman Amplification founder] Dave Friedman, who puts my gear together. Dave always knows the litmus test, where, when I’m not using a pedal, my guitar has to sound exactly the way it does going straight into the amp. When he put together my current [rig] incarnation, he used a stereo setup with two Freidman [SS-100 V2] amps, my latest signature model.
“The pedals are all bypassed – and, lo and behold, they sound exactly how I want them to. Rule number one: When you’re not using a pedal, your guitar must sound like your original guitar sound. And I don’t keep effects on all the time; I’m not one of those guys. I like my effects to come in and go, ‘Wow!’
“I’m always trying new stuff; if I like it, it ends up on my board. It’s really straight ahead, and there’s no rack anymore. All my pedals are on the floor because running an audio cable from the back where the speakers were downstage to the pedals caused a lot of noise and degraded the signal.
“I said to Dave, 'If you really want the guitar to sound great, keep all the cabling and all the signal in one place on the floor.' It’s worked out really well.
“I use a lot of J. Rockett [Audio Designs] pedals. I have a signature [J. Rockett Rockaway Archer] boost, which is kind of like a Klon [overdrive pedal] at the front end but with a graphic equalizer post-overdrive. You can carve any curve you want; every player sounds different using it. I’ve sent it to a number of my guitar-player buddies, and it ends up on their board because it is what you make it.
“I’ve also got a Fractal [Audio Systems amp modeler]. I’m not using the modeling section; I use it to go through the send-and-receive of my amps.
“And I don’t really use reverb live because when we play halls, the room will provide the reverb. But I use delay for my solos sometimes, though I shy away from chorus because, as a guy who made a career in the ’80s, I can’t really use chorus anymore! [Laughs]
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“We overused chorus, but occasionally I’ll use it if I have to on a tune like [Billy Idol’s] Flesh for Fantasy. So if there’s a tune where there’s obviously chorus, I’ll use it. I have something that triggers [a digital] MIDI [signal] for me, and I have the new Boss [GM-800] guitar synth, which can do horns and strings. I’ve been fascinated with guitar synths since my first Roland GR-700.”
If I had to choose one pedal to get through an entire show...
“My J. Rockett Rockaway. Even if I have a rental backline and the amp has been beaten to crap, I can get a good sound out of it with the Rockaway.”
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Bass Player, Guitar Player, Guitarist, and MusicRadar. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Morello, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.
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