Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
Jackson Pro Plus Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut: the newly refreshed signature Superstrat is offered in Red Crystal and Blue Sparkle with a string-through-hardtail, and in Riviera Blue with an EverTune bridge. Stainless steel frets and an ebony fingerboard come as standard.
Guitars Jackson gives Misha Mansoor’s Juggernaut a new lick of paint and upgrades to stainless steel frets
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai fistbump onstage during their show at the Valley Center, California in May 2024. They have their signature Ibanez guitars. Satch has the Chrome Boy JS1. Vai is playing his Daphne Blue PIA in Powder Blue
Artists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai get their teenage kicks in video for new single featuring Glenn Hughes
Jackson David Davidson Pro Series Warrior WR7
Guitars Jackson and Revocation’s David Davidson unveil 2025's hottest metal guitar so far, the Warrior WR7
Jackson Pro Plus Pure Metal Series: the new limited range strips the Soloist, Rhoads and Kelly down with a single Fishman bridge humbucker, Floyd Rose and black finishes as standard
Guitars Jackson unveils stripped down single-pickup shred classics in ltd edition Pro Plus Pure Metal range
Bob Dylan
Artists “I was frightened, but I was like, ‘ok, big boy pants time'”: Bob Dylan's live sound engineer Jason Frankhouser
Joe Bonamassa plays a Guild DE-500 Duane Eddy signature guitar at a Nashville show celebrating Eddy's life. Bonamassa wears a dark blazer embroidered with bright musical notation.
Guitarists Joe Bonamassa on how to choose the right amp for a gig
Michael Thompson
Guitarists “Then it’s how you smack it, or zing it or strum it”: Guitar legend Michael Thompson talks clean tone
  1. Guitars

Neal Schon's 2011 Journey live rig in pictures

News
By Guitarist magazine published 5 August 2011

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

"My set-up is so simple... there's nothing to it"

"My set-up is so simple... there's nothing to it"

Guitarist recently caught up Journey's Neal Schon on the band's European tour and alongside an in-depth interview (buya digital edition of issue 344 to find out what Schon had to say), we couldn't resist a look at his impressive live rig.

"My set-up is so simple... there's nothing to it" claims Schon, in the understatement of the year. Click onwards to check it out...

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Backline

Backline

Schon uses just one of his three Blackstar amps – alongside a trio of 4 x 12 S1-412B cabs – and he then runs the dry signal into his current favourite piece of kit, the rack-mount Fractal Axe-FX Ultra.

"It’s light years beyond anything I’ve played,” he beams. “It’s loaded, man. It’s a processor, but it doesn’t sound or react like a processor. I’ve been able to get any sound I want out of it. [One of my favourites] is a brown-sounding Marshall with the mic away from the speakers just a bit.”

Other rack equipment includes Gibson’s Echoplex Digital Pro, the Roland M-120 Line Mixer and Fantom XR, plus the Lectrosonics R400A Dual Receiver.

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
Pedalboard

Pedalboard

Neal's pedalboard includes three FV-300L volume pedals, EV-5 Synth and Compression Sustainer (all Boss), the EWS FD-1 Fuzzy Drive and Wampler’s Nirvana Chorus.

These days, he stresses , it’s more about quality of tone than mindless blasting. “Stage volume is way down,” he concludes. “You don’t need it to go warrghh! I don’t want people’s ears to bleed or their hair to blow back…”

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Echoplex foot controller

Echoplex foot controller

Alongside his pedalboard, Schon uses the Echoplex foot controller - complete with gaffer tape - to trigger delay effects.

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Customised PRS Singlecut

Customised PRS Singlecut

After jumping ship to PRS from Gibson, Neal's gigging workhorse is now a customised 22-fret PRS Singlecut madefrom mahogany and curly maple, with a Floyd Rose vibrato, DiMarzio Fast Track (with sustainer) in the neck and ’57 Plus at the bridge.

“I have one guitar technician in San Francisco who does all my work,” he notes. “This guitar is like a giant Ebow! I like Seymour Duncans in the studio, but onstage, I find them a little oinky, so I’ll go for a more straightforward ’58 or ’57 PAF. I don’t get output out of the guitar as much live, I punch the amps more.”

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
Custom PRS doubleneck

Custom PRS doubleneck

With 18 strings and a Floyd Rose vibrato on this beauty, all we can say is that we're glad we aren't his guitar tech!

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster

Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster

When it comes to playing Lights, or other classic Strat-powered Journey moments, Schon turns to this rather lovely sunburst example.

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Guitarist magazine
Guitarist magazine
Social Links Navigation

Guitarist is the longest established UK guitar magazine, offering gear reviews, artist interviews, techniques lessons and loads more, in print, on tablet and on smartphones 

If you love guitars, you'll love Guitarist. Find us in print, on Newsstand for iPad, iPhone and other digital readers

Read more
Jackson Pro Plus Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut: the newly refreshed signature Superstrat is offered in Red Crystal and Blue Sparkle with a string-through-hardtail, and in Riviera Blue with an EverTune bridge. Stainless steel frets and an ebony fingerboard come as standard.
Jackson gives Misha Mansoor’s Juggernaut a new lick of paint and upgrades to stainless steel frets
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai fistbump onstage during their show at the Valley Center, California in May 2024. They have their signature Ibanez guitars. Satch has the Chrome Boy JS1. Vai is playing his Daphne Blue PIA in Powder Blue
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai get their teenage kicks in video for new single featuring Glenn Hughes
Jackson David Davidson Pro Series Warrior WR7
Jackson and Revocation’s David Davidson unveil 2025's hottest metal guitar so far, the Warrior WR7
Jackson Pro Plus Pure Metal Series: the new limited range strips the Soloist, Rhoads and Kelly down with a single Fishman bridge humbucker, Floyd Rose and black finishes as standard
Jackson unveils stripped down single-pickup shred classics in ltd edition Pro Plus Pure Metal range
Bob Dylan
“I was frightened, but I was like, ‘ok, big boy pants time'”: Bob Dylan's live sound engineer Jason Frankhouser
Joe Bonamassa plays a Guild DE-500 Duane Eddy signature guitar at a Nashville show celebrating Eddy's life. Bonamassa wears a dark blazer embroidered with bright musical notation.
Joe Bonamassa on how to choose the right amp for a gig
Latest in Guitars
Phil Collins and Daryl Stuermer
“It was confusing to me": Guitarist Daryl Stuermer on recording Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight
Crazy Tube Circuits Mirage: the dual reverb features two independent DSP engines each equipped with 16 reverb modes – and there are flexible routing options.
With dual reverb engines, 16 algorithms, Crazy Tube Circuits’ Mirage is one serious reverb pedal
Laney Black Country Customs Tony Iommi TI100: Long-time Laney user Tony Iommi is pictured with his new signature amp, which is limited to 50 units worldwide to mark Black Sabbath's final show at Villa Park.
Laney celebrates Black Sabbath's final show with a limited edition reissue of Tony Iommi's TI100 amp
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: The 4th of July sales are here, and you can score $1,000 off a Vox guitar, $600 off the Music Man St. Vincent, as well as hundreds off gear from Alesis, Roland, Yamaha and more
Harley Benton ST-80FR
Harley Benton erupts with '80s shred fever as it launches the Floyd-equipped ST-80FR Series S-styles
Uli Jon Roth wears a blue bandana as he plays a G3 date in 2018 with his Sky guitar.
Uli Jon Roth says his Sky Guitar’s active pickup system was so powerful it blew up his amps
Latest in News
Close up of a person holding an acoustic guitar bathed sunlight
Ignite your inner guitar god for just 27 cents a day with TrueFire’s July 4th sale - save 60% on online lessons
Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne, circa 1970
“Clearly demonstrate what fine music they produced from the very beginning”: Early Sabbath demos to be released
caelum audio
"If your singing sounds like a dying cat, this finally kills the cat": This hilariously bad mic modelling plugin is free for International Joke Day
Freddie Mercury and Brian May at Live Aid
“We thought it was going to be a disaster”: Brian May reveals Queen had serious doubts about doing Live Aid
Phil Collins and Daryl Stuermer
“It was confusing to me": Guitarist Daryl Stuermer on recording Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight
Crazy Tube Circuits Mirage: the dual reverb features two independent DSP engines each equipped with 16 reverb modes – and there are flexible routing options.
With dual reverb engines, 16 algorithms, Crazy Tube Circuits’ Mirage is one serious reverb pedal

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...