Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Guitar Amps
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • You Oughta Know
  • Glasto 2025 - how to watch, who's on?
  • Wrecking Crew
  • 95k+ free music samples

Recommended reading

Queen
Artists Brian May on the “supreme injustice” of Roger Taylor’s Queen B-side "making as much money as Bohemian Rhapsody"
Aaron Comess of the Spin Doctors
Artists “I used the snare I played on Two Princes”: Why the Spin Doctors are still rocking with the gear they used in the ’90s
Stevens with Idol
Artists “The last thing we wanted to do was say, ‘Hey, let’s do another Rebel Yell’”: Steve Stevens on the new Billy Idol album
A bare-chested Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin performs at Earl's Court, London, in 1975. Guitarist Jimmy Page plays his Gibson Les Paul Standard in the background.
Artists Robert Plant is selling gear for charity, including totally unique John Birch-modded ‘62 Stratocaster
Led Zeppelin in 1975
Artists “Whole Lotta Love was clearly the track that everybody would go to”: A classic interview with Jimmy Page
Brent Mason
Guitarists “I thought, 'Well, now I have a Strat, a Les Paul, and a regular Tele all in one’”: How a top session player struck gold
Legendary guitarist Robbie McIntosh (Paul McCartney/the Pretenders) plays a butterscotch Telecaster in the Monty's workshop as he demos his new signature pickup set.
Guitars Robbie McIntosh and Monty’s new pickup set offers best of both worlds for Esquire and Tele fans
  1. Artists
  2. Guitarists

Brian May's other equipment

News
By Simon Bradley published 19 January 2011

It's not all about the Red Special...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Brian May's Other Equipment

Brian May's Other Equipment

In the history of the rock guitar, Queen’s Brian May is surely unique in that he has used just one instrument for pretty much his entire career, both in the recording studio and onstage. What’s more, it’s one he built in a shed at the bottom of his garden.

Even those with just a passing interest in the band’s output will find it difficult to believe that the guitar sounds they’re hearing all came froma single instrument. Even Eddie Van Halen, probably the only other guitarist to have enjoyed the same level of stadium-filling success playing an instrument he made himself, jettisoned his striped-up Frankenstein when he finally threw in his lot with Ernie Ball.

Brian still uses his Red Special, but as fascinating as the story is, we’re not here to talk about it.In the issue 338 of Guitarist magazine, Brian tells us about some of his lesser known pieces of gear - and here is an additional look at yet more gems unearthed from his vault, complete with insights from the man himself.

Click onwards for exclusive access to Brian May's gear vault...

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist.

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
Brian May's Other Equipment - The Deacy amp

Brian May's Other Equipment - The Deacy amp

Brian May: “It’s kind of magic, that little amplifier. I don’t how it really works and it’s amazing that Deacy put it together from bits out of a skip! Many people have spent hours, days and weeks trying to figure out how it makes that noise. The thing with getting those sounds was all about having the microphone in the right place, moving it onto and off the axis of the speaker, putting it round the back, to the side. All those trumpet and trombone sounds came from that and also using a wah-wah pedal as a tone control. It’s all very crude, there’s no electronic processing at all.”

Don't miss the full feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine.

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist.

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
Brian May's Other Equipment - The homemade Echoplex

Brian May's Other Equipment - The homemade Echoplex

Brian May: “I made that partly at college and partly at the rehearsal place we were working at at the time. It’s one of my last efforts at DIY and it did work! I bought the pickups, built the whole rail system, wired it all up, got the right little amplifiers... Very enterprising in those days! It did work, but it was really non-reproducable, and we discovered that we could get an Echoplex and modify it, which was better. I wanted two of them and, of course, they were always breaking down, those things. It was a nightmare, we had endless fun trying to make them work on the road: they were never meant to be transported around!”

Don't miss the full feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine.

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist.

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
Brian May's Other Equipment - Echoplex EP3

Brian May's Other Equipment - Echoplex EP3

An original EP3 modified by Brian to drastically increase its delay time. It was used, amongst things, on the track Stone Cold Crazy from 1974's Sheer Heart Attack.

Brian May: “Yes, I modified that for Stone Cold Crazy. I don’t think I could do it now... I can’t even work my TV remote these days!”

Don't miss the full feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine.

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
Brian May's Other Equipment - Echoplex EP3

Brian May's Other Equipment - Echoplex EP3

A close up of the EP3 showing the specific delay settings for Stone Cold Crazy written directly onto the unit’s front panel. A genuine piece of Queen history...

Don't miss the full feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine.

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
Brian May's Other Equipment - Vox Distortion Booster

Brian May's Other Equipment - Vox Distortion Booster

A small piece of circuitry that Brian included inside his Red Special for a time before removing it once it became surplus to requirements.

Brian May; “It was called a Vox Distortion Booster, I think, and it came in a little rectangular, red box with a jack plug on the end. It was a fuzz box really, and you’d plug it into your amp, and your guitar into it. I remember, even in those days, that I would rather have the amp and guitar flat out to try and get the feedback naturally. But we would be in small studios and they wouldn’t let me turn up, and the only way to get any sustain at all quietly was to use something like that, a saturation box.”

Don't miss the full feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine.

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
Brian May's Other Equipment - Egmond acoustic

Brian May's Other Equipment - Egmond acoustic

This is Brian’s very first guitar that was restored to a mint and new condition by Suffolk luthier Andrew Guyton a couple of years ago.

Don't miss the full feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine.

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
Brian May's Other Equipment - Bel BD-80 delays and Peterson 450 tuner

Brian May's Other Equipment - Bel BD-80 delays and Peterson 450 tuner

Two Bel BD-80 delays that together were used for Brian’s multi-delay solo showpiece. One unit was set to a delay time of 800ms, and the other to 1600ms. These days, a single patch of a Rocktron Intellifex takes care of all this. The other unit is Brian’s also-retired Peterson 450 stage tuner, which he kept atop his stack of AC30s.

Don't miss the full feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine.

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
Brian May's Other Equipment - Crazy Little Thing Called Love Fenders

Brian May's Other Equipment - Crazy Little Thing Called Love Fenders

A taster of what’s included in the feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine: the Fender Esquire belonging to Queen drummer Roger Taylor used to record Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and the black Fender Telecaster used to play the song live. What’s the true story behind that elusive Esquire? You’ll have to buy the magazine to find out...!

Don't miss the full feature in issue 338 of Guitarist magazine.

Visit My Favourite Magazines to buy the latest issue of Guitarist...

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
Categories
Guitars
Simon Bradley

Simon Bradley is a guitar and especially rock guitar expert who worked for Guitarist magazine and has in the past contributed to world-leading music and guitar titles like MusicRadar (obviously), Guitarist, Guitar World and Louder. What he doesn't know about Brian May's playing and, especially, the Red Special, isn't worth knowing.

Read more
Queen
Brian May on the “supreme injustice” of Roger Taylor’s Queen B-side "making as much money as Bohemian Rhapsody"
Aaron Comess of the Spin Doctors
“I used the snare I played on Two Princes”: Why the Spin Doctors are still rocking with the gear they used in the ’90s
Stevens with Idol
“The last thing we wanted to do was say, ‘Hey, let’s do another Rebel Yell’”: Steve Stevens on the new Billy Idol album
A bare-chested Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin performs at Earl's Court, London, in 1975. Guitarist Jimmy Page plays his Gibson Les Paul Standard in the background.
Robert Plant is selling gear for charity, including totally unique John Birch-modded ‘62 Stratocaster
Led Zeppelin in 1975
“Whole Lotta Love was clearly the track that everybody would go to”: A classic interview with Jimmy Page
Brent Mason
“I thought, 'Well, now I have a Strat, a Les Paul, and a regular Tele all in one’”: How a top session player struck gold
Latest in Guitarists
Mick Ralphs in 1971
“Bowie gave them the song but Mick wrote the intro — the lick of all licks”: Joe Elliott's tribute to Mick Ralphs
Strandberg Boden Standard NX 6 Plini Edition Mirage
Strandberg launches limited edition Plini Boden Standard with glow-in-the-dark Mirage graphic finish
Roger Viollet Collection/Getty Images
New data reveals The Beatles song that most guitarists, pianists and drummers want to learn to play
PRS Herman Li Chloe: the new shred-ready signature model for the DragonForce guitarist comes in two finishes and features an all-new body design.
PRS activates total shred mode for Herman Li of DragonForce’s feature-stacked Chloe signature guitar
bruce springsteen and steven van zandt
“Thought it was food poisoning, turned out to be appendicitis”: Steven Van Zandt to sit out next few dates due to emergency surgery
Yungblud
Yungblud reveals his secret to making acoustics sound massive – and hints at future signature model
Latest in News
Lorde
Lorde on the Frank Ocean collaborator who helped to humanise the synths on her new album, Virgin
synth one j6
"In a blind test of 100 musicians, it beat the $200 plugin 3-to-1. Not bad for a free app": AudioKit releases Synth One J6, a free Juno-inspired synth for iOS
Neil Young
BBC confirm that they won’t be showing his Glastonbury set “at the artist’s request”
Nadia Struiwigh
Tresor resident Nadia Struiwigh on why she avoids tutorials and keeps things 'loose' in the studio
Sam Ryder on a train
“The energy on there was unreal”: Sam Ryder performs an impromptu set for passengers on a Glastonbury-bound train
velvet sundown
"There's not a shred of evidence on the internet that this band has ever existed": This apparently AI-generated artist is racking up hundreds of thousands of Spotify streams

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...