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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Queen. Every item links to its public source.
32 items · Last checked

What gear does Queen use?

Brian May has been seen with his homemade Red Special, Vox AC30s, a Fryer treble booster and a sixpence pick. John Deacon played a sunburst Fender Precision, a Music Man StingRay and Acoustic amps. Roger Taylor has said he likes big drums and plays Ludwig with Zildjian K cymbals.

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What gear Queen uses: a sourced gear guide

Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.

John Deacon

17 items

Roger Taylor

7 items

Brian May

8 items
Questions

About Queen's gear.

What bass did John Deacon play?

MusicRadar reports a sunburst Fender Precision was his main bass when he joined Queen in 1971, with a Music Man StingRay adopted after 1976, a fretless Precision on Dreamer's Ball, and later a Precision Special and Precision Elite I. From 1986 he played a custom Roger Giffin bass.

What amps did John Deacon use?

He started on an HH IC 100 and an Orange OR120 with an Orange 4x12, then used three Acoustic 370/371 amps with Acoustic 301 cabinets, later Sunn, HH and finally SWR SM-900 heads with Goliath cabinets. He built the Deacy Amp that Brian May used.

What drums does Roger Taylor play?

Mixdown lists Ludwig toms and floor toms, a Ludwig Speed King pedal, a 1962 Ludwig Supraphonic snare, Zildjian K crashes and ride, a 60 inch Paiste gong and Vic Firth 5B-style sticks.

What strings did John Deacon use?

For most of his career Rotosound RS77 LD steel flatwounds, adding roundwounds in the 1980s and later Maxima gold strings.

Q
Queen
About this guide · Last checked

Queen are the London rock band of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, behind Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You and Another One Bites the Dust. This guide covers the band's gear: May's Red Special, Vox AC30s and treble booster, Deacon's Precisions, StingRay and amps, and Taylor's Ludwig kit and Zildjian cymbals.

truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Queen didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.

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