Equipment Guide

THIS PAGE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

Kim Deal

Guitars:

Early-Seventies Les Paul ’58 Goldtop Deluxe reissue

Used live from 1992 – Present

Borrowed by Joey Santiago from Pixies in 1986, Kim reclaimed her guitar at some point between Doolittle and Bossanova. She has been using it with The Breeders ever since.

The guitar features a mahogany neck, pancake body, thick binding in the cutaway, and harmonica bridge. It has been routed for humbuckers and the bridge pickup is a DiMarzio Super Distortion.

Kim Deal playing her Goldtop in 1993 (Photo by Brian Rasic/Getty Images)

1991 Fender Stratocaster Ultra – Red

Bought in 1991, used live from 1992 – Present

Kim Deal playing her red strat at Live & Loud 1993

Fender Stratocaster – White – 1994?

Used during Lollapalooza 1994

Fender Telecaster – Black

Used during Lollapalooza 1994

Kim playing a black tele at Lollapalooza ’94

Seagull S6 Original

Used live from 1992 – Present

“It almost doesn’t matter what kind of acoustic guitar you use, All that matters is how the graphic eq and electronics are. The acoustic I have now sounds like shit when it’s unplugged. But I never try to get a Dan Fogelberg-type of sound with it anyway.”

Kim Deal playing her Seagull S6 Original in 1993

Alvarez RD20SSB

Used during the recording of Pod in January of 1990

Kim playing her Alvarez at Palladium studios in January 1990

Unknown Acoustic Guitar

Used during Kim’s solo shows in 2012

Basses:

Aria Pro II Cardinal Bass

Used from 1986 – 1989

Kim borrowed it from Kelley when she joined the Pixies. She played it on Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. Kim returned it to Kelley in 1989 after she bought her Fender Precision bass.

Fender PB-62 Precision Bass ’62 Reissue

Used from 1989-1992

Bought in 1989 during the recording of Doolittle, due to the insistence of producer Gil Norton.

“He looked at my Aria bass and was like, ‘uh, no.’ So I had to go to Boston and buy a bass because he refused to record mine.”

Kim playing her P-Bass in 1989, missing its pickguard

Kim at Brixton Academy in 1991, this time with the pickguard

Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray – Red

Used from 1990-1992

“Playing with a pick, and using a Fender in the first place, you can pretty much leave the tone all the way up. With the StingRay I roll off the treble a little. I used the StingRay as my main instrument live, too. I think probably because it was a little less country-sounding than the Fender.”

Later used by Josephine Wiggs and Luis Lerma.

1991 Steinberger XM-2D Headless Bass – White

Used from 1991-1992

Bought in 1991 for Trompe Le Monde and its accompanying tour

Gibson Thunderbird IV Bass

Bought in the early 2000s for Title TK

Amplification:

Peavey 300 Combo, 1×15″ speaker

Trace Elliot bass head[32] — Deal said of the amp: “It’s the new series and I don’t know what the number is or if there even is a number on there.”

Trace Elliot 1048H bass cabinet, 4×10″ speakers

SWR heads

Marshall JCM900 4100 100-Watt Dual Reverb Guitar Amp Head

Marshall cabinets

Gallien-Krueger cabinet, 4×10″ speakers

“Joe’s Light” cabinet, 1×18″ speaker — Of this and the Gallien-Krueger she commented: “I hate my cabinets.”

Sears Tremolo amp with the word ‘Marshall’ pasted on it.

Microphones:

Shure 520DX “Green Bullet”

Effects

dbx 160X Compressor — “I use a compressor live, but only because sound guys seem to like it when I have one onstage, even if it’s on bypass.”^[27]
Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion pedals — Used by both Kim and Kelley.^[29]

Kelley Deal

Guitars:

1991 Fender Stratocaster Ultra – Pink

Used from 1991 – Present

A Christmas gift from Kim in 1991

Stolen at their 1992-11-03 show by Tim Brush (from the opening act Witchypoo)

Tim used it to record the song “Silkweed” (a song dedicated to Kurt Cobain) whilst Kurt Cobain was in a coma in March 1994.

Kelley recovered the guitar in 1994

1993 Gibson Les Paul Standard – Red

Used from 1993 – Present

Strung with Ernie Ball .011-gauged strings

“I still use the same Les Paul that I got in Philadelphia. I didn’t record with it, but I did get it while on the Last Splash tour”

Early-Seventies Les Paul ’58 Goldtop Deluxe reissue

Kim’s Goldtop

Fender Mustang

“I also had a Fender Strat and a Mustang, like Kurt Cobain had – only mine is a weird blue color with a red tortoiseshell pickguard. I used the Strat on Last Splash but didn’t get the Mustang until we were on tour.”