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Did Kevin Shields use a Marshall Guv'nor or Shredmaster? This has been the subject of contention and confusion on guitar forums.

According to the Guitar Geek rig, which is based on a interview with Shields in 1991, he used a Shredmaster. However, these rig diagrams seem to be notoriously unreliable.

According to a 'Guitar Player' magazine article (May 1992), he used a Shredmaster - although some consider that to be a misidentification by the writer.

According to Shields' ex guitar tech, in a quote much cited on forums, he is emphatic that Shields used a Guv'nor:

"Kevin never used a Shredmaster pedal (he did, however, use 2 Marshall Guv'nor pedals during the Isn't Anything live shows)". "For Loveless live shows he used...Marshall Guv'nor.."

It could be, of course, that he used a Guvnor and a Shredmaster at different times.

Below is a photo of Shields' pedal chain from a Loveless era gig, c. 1992:


To zoom in, see this link.

The Marshall pedal in the above photo is about half way down the pedal chain, located immediately between a blue Digitech PDS series sampler (below it) and a light coloured Boss pedal (above it).

On another forum the black Marshall pedal in the photo above has been identified as a Guv'nor without question. However, to my eyes, the side profile seen of this pedal in the photo above looks far more like the Marshall Shredmaster (or the Drivemaster or Bluesbreaker) than the original (black) Marshal Guv'nor which had a different shaped enclosure.

The following photos provide a good illustrtaive comparison of the contemporary Guv'nor and Shredmaster pedals.







Also see this photo


So what do people think?

In the photo at the top of this thread showing Sheilds' pedals on stage, is that a Guv'nor or a Shredmaster?

From that photo it seems more likely to be a Shreadmaster than a Guvnor.

Wonder why nobody seems to be asking about the, what looks to me like, Boss drive pedal in the chain before the Marshall pedal?

johnnyseven wrote:Wonder why nobody seems to be asking about the, what looks to me like, Boss drive pedal in the chain before the Marshall pedal?

EDIT / CORRECTION:
Oh, the six pale Boss pedals in that photo are (from bottom to top) apparently: Boss PQ-4 para EQ (far left); Boss GE-7 EQ and Boss FT-2 dyna. filter; Boss T Wah; and Boss Pn2 trem and Boss EH-2 enhancer.

I stand corrected, the FT-2 seems the most likely candidate.

Secrets to ShieldsTone 101...

Step 1). Set up a fuckload of pedals (brand / settings unimportant - at least 7 or 8 must be either reverb, delay or fuzz)
Step 2). Tip a small bottle of amyl nitrate into a tupperware box. Place in front of pedalboard
Step 3). Turn amp up full
Step 4). Stomp on all pedals
Step 5). Set fan up by tupperware box of amyl, blowing amyl fumes into ones face whilst playing
Step 6). Whammy bar

Can I get back to you?

dude you dont even need the same shit kevin shields did to even approximate his sound.

all you need is tremolo bar, distortion before reverse reverb, and distortion after reverse reverb, for different textures. fucking boom, you got it.

Sort of what I was thinking. People actually want to try and recreate Kevin Shields' guitar sound? Even Kevin Shields isn't arsed about it.

i don't even think he uses more than half of the pedals on his board very much anyway. i remember reading an interview where he said it was mostly eq, tone controls, and cranked amps.

i also remember another forum of geeknerds discussing the kevin shields tone and it basically boiled down to mass produced 1980s distortion pedals and rack verb and then some old fuzz pedals for noise

The Guitargeek site is a good resource and there are some knowledgable people on the forum there (or at least used to be...it's been very quiet of late), but it was stated long ago that the inclusion of a Shredmaster was an error on the GG guy's part. With a bit of luck he might get chance to change it if he hasn't done already.

But yeah. A cranked amp and/or an amp with a fuzz, plus a rack reverb are the main factors...second only to his idiosyncratic playing style and OCD studio habits. I think I read the same interview(s)...it's more to do with eq, tunings and reverbed distortion. I recall in one pic of his post-2004 tour boards that some of the pedals had stickers with song titles on them, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were only used for one part of the set.

daftsupernova wrote:dude you dont even need the same shit kevin shields did to even approximate his sound.

all you need is tremolo bar, distortion before reverse reverb, and distortion after reverse reverb, for different textures. fucking boom, you got it.

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Sure. It's just that I'm interested in clarifying the pedal for sake of curiosity and historicity, and I thought the photo demonstrates that he did use a Shredmaster at some point.

That's a Guv'nor, the Shredmaster never had the Marshall in white lettering on it directly beneath the knobs.

71Smallbox wrote:That's a Guv'nor, the Shredmaster never had the Marshall in white lettering on it directly beneath the knobs.

i dont think you're looking at the relevant photo?

Ro S wrote:i dont think you're looking at the relevant photo?

Yes, same picture that you posted. You can see the pedal says "Marshall" in white lettering underneath the knobs. Right?

71Smallbox wrote: You can see the pedal says "Marshall" in white lettering underneath the knobs. Right?

Nope. I don't see any white text. I just see the footswitch. This suggests, conversely, the Shredmaster to me. Or are you on a wind up?

Ro S wrote:

71Smallbox wrote: You can see the pedal says "Marshall" in white lettering underneath the knobs. Right?

Nope. I don't see any white text. I just see the footswitch. This suggests, conversely, the Shredmaster to me. Or are you on a wind up?

No, I am not on a wind up, I seriously thought I saw lettering, but in fact it could just be the switch. He's used so much stuff, its hard to track it down. On the record it doesn't sound like a Shredmaster(I have one) through my Marshall or AC30 which is what he would have used. There's also extensive threads on Guitargeek forum where pedals pop in and out of his rig from back then. One week its a Guv'nor or Shredmaster, next gig its a Rat, etc. There's another forum I believe called "To here knows web" filled with insanely obsessive MBV fans who dish about this regularly and one member was actually a tech for Kevin in the late 80's to the early 90's.

link:
http://www.tohereknowswhen.org/smf/inde ... &board=2.0

Looks like white lettering to me but I am using a phone to view the picture.

Well I've addressed above the bit about what the ex tech says. He's emphatic there was never a Shredmaster used. However, regardless of what he says or recalls, or what numerous people debate on forums, there seem to be photographic evidence at least for the Shredmaster.

BearBoy wrote:Looks like white lettering to me but I am using a phone to view the picture.

The large white lettering should be lower down, near the bottom, and below the footswitch. I only see the footswitch. Another reason, therefore, why I think it's a Shredmaster and not a Guvnor. As mentioned above, only the Guvnor had that lettering.

Ro S wrote:Well I've addressed above the bit about what the ex tech says. He's emphatic there was never a Shredmaster used. However, regardless of what he says or recalls, or what numerous people debate on forums, there seem to be photographic evidence at least for the Shredmaster.

photographic yes so maybe live he did, but none of the sounds on their records sound like it. The Shredmaster is all over Radioheads records, it's a very distinct sound.