What gear does Yes use?
Steve Howe has said he loves his 1964 Gibson ES-175D and plays his Martin MC-38 signature acoustic. Chris Squire called his 1964 Rickenbacker a brilliant guitar, Rick Wakeman has called the Minimoog his soloing keyboard, and Trevor Rabin played a Strat through Boss pedals and an old Marshall.
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What gear Yes uses: a sourced gear guide
Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.
Steve Howe: guitar
“I don’t take that guitar out of the country anymore, so it got a good outing on this album.”
“But for the most part I was using a Line 6 Spider amp.”
“I wouldn’t play Awaken using anything other than a Steinberger or Rickenbacker 12-string.”
“I think the Variax is one of the most overlooked instruments in the guitar universe,”
“So when I joined Yes a year later, I was hell-bent to buy a Dual Showman. And I did.”
Jon Anderson: vocals (former)
Chris Squire: bass (former)
“It’s a brilliant, brilliant guitar... I have a relationship with it, it just plays itself, really.”
Rick Wakeman: keyboards (former)
“For soloing, my favourite keyboard is the Minimoog.”
Bill Bruford: drums (former)
Alan White: drums (former)
Geoff Downes: keyboards
“We hired in a vintage B3 and that’s something that’s very close to my heart.”
“I’ve still got a Minimoog and that’s something that I’ll always cherish the sound of.”
“I use Apple’s Mainstage which is a development from Logic.”
Billy Sherwood: bass
“Going way back to 1982, when I bought my first Spector bass, a red fretless NS that I still use in Yes. I love the sound of that bass.”
Jay Schellen: drums
Trevor Rabin: guitar (former)
“There’s a lot of power and clean-sounding tones, which I did with my Strat.”
Tony Kaye: keyboards (former)
“I love that keyboard. It has such a range of sounds, orchestral sounds and non-western sounds.”
About Yes's gear.
What guitar does Steve Howe play?
His 1964 Gibson ES-175D, which he no longer takes out of the country, and a Gibson Steve Howe signature ES-175. He has said his Martin MC-38 signature is mainly what he plays acoustically, and he plays a Steinberger or Rickenbacker 12-string for Awaken.
What bass did Chris Squire play?
A 1964 Rickenbacker 4001, technically an RM1999 import, which he called a brilliant guitar that plays itself. Guitar World says he used Rotosound Swing Bass strings and a Marshall Super Bass, plus Dutron and later Moog Taurus bass pedals.
What keyboards did Rick Wakeman use?
In 1999 Rick Wakeman said the Minimoog was his soloing keyboard, followed by a Roland JD-800 he MIDIs to other instruments, with a real Steinway grand on the album. His studio list included Korg Trinity, Prophecy and 01/W and Kurzweil K2000 and K2500.
What guitar did Trevor Rabin use on Owner of a Lonely Heart?
Trevor Rabin has said he played his Strat through a Boss distortion into an old Marshall, and for the solo ran one amp clean and another with just the fifth harmony from an MXR Pitch Transposer.
What keyboards does Geoff Downes play?
Geoff Downes has said Yes hired a vintage Hammond B3 for The Quest and that he still cherishes his Minimoog. He had the first Sequential Prophet-10 in the UK, used a Fairlight, Moog Taurus pedals and Solina Strings, and live he runs Apple MainStage on Mac laptops.
Yes are the English prog band of Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Billy Sherwood, Jon Davison and Jay Schellen, with Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Bill Bruford, Alan White, Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye in earlier line-ups, behind Roundabout, Close to the Edge and Owner of a Lonely Heart. This guide covers the whole band's documented gear: Howe's ES-175, Squire's Rickenbacker 4001, Wakeman's Minimoog and more.
truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Yes didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.
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