Billy Joe Armstrong?

[BandGeek86]

Anyone know what Billie Joe Armstrong from Greenday uses? I know he uses GIbson SG's and Les Paulsand Fender Strats, and it looks like he uses marshall cabs, he has black tape over the Marshall name for some reason, but does anyone know what kind of amps he uses and if he uses any effects and stuff? I would assume he used Marshall amps if he uses the marshall cabs but anyone know what kind of marshall amp he uses?

[GrungeGod]

He uses marshall amps totally cranked to saturation, his main guitars are his baby blue fernandes strat copy, les paul juniors with p-100s and SGs.

[BandGeek86]

What kinda Marshall amps does he use tho? JCM 800's maybe? or something else?

[Greyskull]

I'll go on a limb and say JCM 800's, but I may be wrong.

His tone is a combination of humbuckers, Marshall, and conviction/emotion.

[1neophyte]

along with the SGs, strats, and les pauls, Billie Joe also plays an ES-355, ES-135, and a Fender Jaguar. His Fernandes Stratocaster copy he calls "Blue" has two single-coil pick-ups and a Seymour Duncan "Jeff Beck" humbucker pick-up in the bridge position, but he only plays through the humbucker pickup. On his sg, 1 volume and 2 tone knobs have been removed, so all that can be controlled is the volume of the front humbucker.
On the Nimrod CD he used a Fender Bassman, a Hiwatt, and a Leslie amp. He used a Marshall head that he named "pete" for Dookie and the Dookie Tour. You can see this head on the video clips of them at Woodstock. Other than those CDs and live performances, he usually plays through a couple of modified Marshall JMP MkII amplifier heads (one for clean, one for dirty) which then goes into 4 - 6 (depending on venue) Marshall 1960 cabs. The two heads are housed in a big case and are switched by an Audio Electronics amp switcher. He also uses two 8008 Valvestate power amps. The mics used on the cabs to go to the mixer are a Shure Beta 52, a Beta 56, and a beyerdynamic MC-740. He uses a Shure SM58 for his vocal mic. It's been said in many interviews that Billie Joe uses no effects or anything. Just a guitar and some marshall stacks. But I've also heard that he uses a Custom Audio Electronics 3+ SE tube preamp.
Dunlop tortex picks, Ernie Ball strings, GHS strings, and I believe a shure wireless.

I hope I helped some!

[TheWizard]

damn... what did he have for breakfast this morning?

[Greyskull]

no **** huh ?
Dude knows his BJA.

[1neophyte]

BECAUSE I AM BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG!!!

[TheWizard]

haha BJA is the ****... green day is one of the only punk bands i consider worth a damn...

[j_stashko]

Originally posted by 1neophyte
BECAUSE I AM BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG!!!

Thanks what they always say. Hahaha lol!:)

[sk8punck7976]

when i saw him i coulda sworn it was 6 mesa cabs, with the head somewhere where icouldnt see it


best show ive ever seen


except when he picked someone to come onstage and ply operation ivy's "knowledge", hedidnt pick me, and i know the soloish thingy. and that sucked. yea. but i know they were mesa cabs

[1neophyte]

hey, the bass player (mike dirnt) uses Mesa cabs, maybe that's what you saw. The Marshall cabs that he uses don't even say Marshall because he took them off and put tape in the middle. Yea, on more recent gigs that head are in the back and the cabs are stacked making walls of 4 - 6 cabs.

[sk8punck7976]

no it wasnt mikes it was bja's but i think it was tape, i was waaaaaaaaaay back and i saw silver instead of white in the middle of his cabs so that was probably it.... stupid me...

[guiampeffects]

Try this

www.angelfire.com/pa3/guitargear/Armstrong.html

[Flash1087]

Originally posted by sk8punck7976
when i saw him i coulda sworn it was 6 mesa cabs, with the head somewhere where icouldnt see it


best show ive ever seen


except when he picked someone to come onstage and ply operation ivy's "knowledge", hedidnt pick me, and i know the soloish thingy. and that sucked. yea. but i know they were mesa cabs

What tour was that? I saw them at Pop Disaster '02 at the Palace Of Auburn Hills, and I didn't recognize the song they had the 'new Green Day' play.

[sk8punck7976]

it was pop disaster... i saw them at verizon wireless amphitheatre i think they always use knowledge, because its simple.

[State]

I know that he switches up between Mesa and Marshall 4x12s. I've seen Green Day 3 time in the last couple years and twice he had marshalls and once mesas. He always has tape over the name. On Warning he used a Fender Blackface for almost all of it and LP Jr's with P-90's and P-100's. Live he had a TV finish 70's Les Paul Jr, Blue (the Fernandes he got when he was 12) and Blue Two ( a custom shop Fender made to look and sound like Blue)