Gavin Rossdale of Bush. His sound embodies the alt-rock and grunge sound of the 90s. I loved him then and I still love his tone today. We'll unpack his gear and sound on the video and post below.
A special thanks to Dan Hopper for making this request. I'm glad he did because it gave me a good excuse to really dive deeper into the gear and inspiration behind Bush's sound.
I loved them in the 90s and I find myself playing there songs every now and then. It was so much fun these past few weeks rediscovering their sound.
Well, enough chit chat on my end. Let's dive into how to capture the magical tone of Gavin Rossdale.
AMPS
At the core of Gavin's tone are two main amp heads. The first one is his Marshall 6100 (30th Anniversary) edition.
The second one is his Mesa Boogie Tremoverb.
And, when not using an amp head, he was known to use a 70's Fender Twin amp.
GUITARS
So, we have talked about his main amps. Let's go ahead and unpack his guitars. A recurring theme during this next part of our conversation are Jazzmasters which is Gavin's guitar of choice. Let's jump in.
Up first is Gavin's 1961 Sunburst Jazzmaster. If you look up Gavin's performances online, you'll often see him playing with this guitar.
The next guitar and probably the most popular is his 1965 purple Bigsby-modded Jazzmaster. This guitar was used on the Sixteen Stone album and actually used to belong to Joe Walsh.
And finally, we have a non-Jazzmaster. On occasion, Having would use his bandmate - Nigel Pulsford's 1989 Strat Plus.
There are obviously other guitars in his collection but these are definitely the standouts when thinking about albums like Sixteen Stone and Razorblade Suitcase which are some of their most popular albums. On that note, let's talk about his pedals especially a few from the Razorblade Suitcase era.
PEDALS
The first one on the list is Bixonic Expandora. This pedal was the shining star throughout the creation of albums like Razorblade Suitcase.
These pedals are bit more difficult to find so if you are looking for an alternative, you can also pick yourself up a JHS Kilt which is basically an Expandora clone.
Next up is the Green Russian Muff. There is a lot of debate online about what fuzz pedal is used on albums like Sixteen Stone but this one seems to get the most recommendations. If I'm wrong on this one, be sure to leave a comment or suggestion below.
In the same spirit as the last pedal, if you want a fuzz alternative to capture a similar fuzz sound, you can go with the Fulltone 69 pedal which is just as solid of a choice.
That's it. There's not much to Gavin or Bush's sound. At the most basic level, grab yourself a Jazzmaster, Expandora, Marshall or Boogie Tremoverb and you should be in great shape.
