Pedalboard Photo Contest!

1 365 More

Rattlesnake Cable Company / Heather Brown Electronicals Combined Give Away

266 More

Guest Post – Revisiting the Boss GT-8 and Line 6 POD X3 Live by Dean Hailstone

574 More

Pedal Labels are BACK!

1,315 More

Effects Bay

  • About
  • Contact
  • Guest Posting
  • Pedal Deals
  • Pedal Line Friday
Home 2012 September Pedalboard Break Down – Andrew Bird

Pedalboard Break Down – Andrew Bird

When it comes to Andrew Bird, I would say I’m late to the party. Definitely a lot of my friends are very familiar with Andrew Bird. For me I started hearing about him about 4 months ago or so and gradually I’ve been very intrigued and impressed with what he’s been doing. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Andrew Bird – he is a fantastic musician from Chicago that utilizes loops, violin, vocals and whistling to create great pieces of music with emotional melodies. He sometime performs completely solo, and sometimes he performs with a full band.

I wanted to do some research about the gear he’s been using. I’ve been asked a few times about certain pieces of equipment he uses.

The best photo of his board is a little out dated, but does show some important factors to his board that he uses today

Andrew Bird - Pedal Board

Line 6 DL4 Delay/Looper x2
Schroeder Blister Agent
Boss PS-5 Pitch Shifter
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail
Boss TU-2 Tuner
Boss OC-2 Octave
Boss GE-7 Equalizer

He uses the Line 6 DL4s for looping. One DL4 is used is for his pizzicato style playing (plucking) and the other DL4 is for his arco style (bow) for the violin. I’m assuming there is a splitter (possibly Boss LS-2) this is off shot that can route to those DL4s. According to a few interviews, each DL4 goes to their specific amps for each style of playing.

Like I mentioned that was an outdated shot, but I found this more recent shot.

Andrew Bird - Pedal Board Recent

With this board he has 2 Schroeder Blister Agent as well as a MXR 10 Band EQ replacing the Boss GE-7. When searching around the web, there has been a lot of questions regarding the silver custom box he has. This is the Schroeder Blister Agent which is no longer in production and only a few (less than 30) were ever made. It’s a high headroom distortion pedal. Pedal includes a sag filter (which has the ability to accentuate swirly style effects – and probably sounds great with this spinning speakers mentioned below), and has a notch filter to accentuate different frequencies.

One of the big pieces to Andrew’s sound is rotating speaker system, which is the Specimen Janus Horn Speakers by Ian Schneller. He controls the speed with a Ernie Ball Volume Pedal.

Andrew Bird - Specimen Janus Horn Speakers

To understand how this works, check out this video where Andrew is playing around with his speakers for the first time. You can really start to hear the effect around the 1 minute mark.

If you’re curious about Andrew Bird, check out A Room for London performance on January 28, 2012! Let me know what you think by commenting below!

 

Sep 4, 2012admin

Related posts:

Andrew Othling Ambient Loops - Boomerang IIIMore Ambient Looping – Ambient Song #21 by Andrew Othling Pedal Board of Tim Sult of ClutchPedal Board of Tim Sult of Clutch Dead Meadow - Jason SimonJason Simon – Dead Meadow – Pedal Board Troy Van Leeuwen - Queens of the Stone Age - Pedal LineTroy Van Leeuwen – Queens of the Stone Age – Pedal Line
Nice Price on the MXR Phase 90 at Amazon!Electro-Harmonix Muff Overdrive
Comments: 6
  1. Nathan Dillaha
    10 years ago

    Thank you for sharing this, I’ve been a big Andrew Bird fan for years, and I always wondered about those rotating speakers.

    ReplyCancel
  2. Frederic Cote
    10 years ago

    I really like that one.

    ReplyCancel
  3. Rebecca
    10 years ago

    Thank you so much for taking the time to put together this thoughtful and meticulous breakdown with links and everything to the different pedals in Andrew Bird’s board! I am trying to figure out which pedal he uses to make the violin sound almost like an african imbura. He mentioned in an interview that he has a custom pedal that does this. Do you think he was referring to any of the pedals that you wrote about in the post? Or do you have any ideas about who the maker of this custom pedal might be? Thank you so much!!!

    ReplyCancel
  4. admin
    10 years ago

    I’m not too sure.. my guess, he’s referencing the Schroeder Blister Agent pedal. I’ll keep my eyes/ear out. I have a friend that is a serious Bird fan, and I’ll ask him as well.

    ReplyCancel
  5. Rebecca
    10 years ago

    Thank you so much! I have been scouring the internet trying to figure this out and I really appreciate your thoughts and also your offering to ask your friend! Have a great Thanksgiving!

    ReplyCancel
  6. Nicholas
    10 years ago

    what pickup does andrew bird use?

    ReplyCancel

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

admin
10 years ago 6 Comments Pedal Talkandrew bird, chicago, ehx, electro harmonix, ernie ball, Line 6, looping, pedalboard breakdown, schroeder boss, specimen, violin9,772
Sponsors
Advertise on EffectsBay.com!
Amazon Associates Disclosure

EffectsBay.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Please view Affiliations below for additional information about links.

Pages
  • About
  • Contact
  • Guest Posting
  • Pedal Deals
  • Pedal Line Friday
  • Privacy Policy
Recent Posts
  • Pedalboard Photo Contest!
  • Rattlesnake Cable Company / Heather Brown Electronicals Combined Give Away
  • Guest Post – Revisiting the Boss GT-8 and Line 6 POD X3 Live by Dean Hailstone
  • Pedal Labels are BACK!
  • Pedal Line Friday – 2/12 – Joe Perkins
Archives
DIY / MIY
  • Beavis Audio
  • Build Your Own Clone
  • Cubist Effects
  • DIY Stompboxes
  • Effects Connection
  • General Guitar Gadgets
  • Guitar PCB
  • Mad Bean Pedals
  • Mod Kits DIY
  • Officially Licensed Circuits
  • Pedal Enclosures
  • Pedal Parts Plus
  • Small Bear Electronics
  • Stomp That Box
  • Tone Clone Pedals
Guest Posters
  • Andrew Elmore
  • Bobby Morelli – Drew Street Mary
  • Brian Porter – Porter Pickups
  • Christian Moraga
  • Danny Dyson
  • George DesRoches – The Random Band
  • Giovanni Lanese – Glitterball Band
  • I Hate Barre Chords
  • Kevin Ian Common – The Common Men
  • Lee Chavez
  • Mark Grundhoefer
  • Matthew Cheezem
  • Nick Georgiou
  • Norman Harris
  • Worship Rocker (Donny)
Sites
  • 22 frets
  • Dy-sphoric
  • Guitar Jar
  • Guitar4Free
  • I Heart Guitar
  • Louder Than Quiet
  • LP Stop (Les Pauls)
  • Never Too Late Guitar
  • Pedal Nerd
  • Stomp That Box
  • VintageandRare.com
  • What's That Dude Play?
Affiliations

Effectsbay.com is affiliated with the following business:
Musician’s Friend
Guitar Center
Amazon
Google
Rattlesnake Cable Co.
Pedal Labels

This means that some links will go to their website and EffectsBay.com can potentially receive a commission for items purchased there. Or in the case of Rattlesnake Cable Company and Pedal Labels, they are owned by the owner of Effects Bay.

We will also disclose if reviewed products were kept when sent by the manufacturer to us for review.

Search
Contact

Hank c/o EffectsBay
P.O. Box 2364
Missoula, MT
59806

Privacy Policy

Advertisement
Interested in advertising on the site or submitting products for review and/or giveaways? Send me a message!
Newsletter

2017 © Effects Bay