Complete list of Bucketheads guitar gear

If you have never heard of Buckethead before today, then you have been missing out. He’s probably one of those guys that you’d know if you saw him. He has made a name for himself as a shredder found of wearing a KFC bucket on his head and white plastic mask on his face. He’s a prolific recording artist, having released or contributed to over 80 albums, in genres ranging from thrash metal, funk, electronica, jazz and ambient. Guitar One voted him number 8 on a list of the “Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time”.

If you can get your hands on his Secret Recipes DVD (which can be hard to find), I’d recommend it, as his live show proves that he’s the real deal, and more than just a sideshow curiosity. If you haven’t been exposed to Buckethead yet, here’s your chance, with a clip of him playing one of his shred classics ‘Nottingham Lace’ live.

For all the Buckethead fans and guitar geeks out there here’s a list of the gear Buckethead has been known to use live and in the studio.

Guitars

  • Gibson Les Paul – 1959 heavily modified, with all white hardware and covered DiMarzio pickups
  • Gibson Les Paul – 1969 heavily modified, all white hardware, killswitch, and uncovered DiMarzio pickups
  • Gibson SG
  • Gibson SST
  • Gibson Chet Atkins
  • Jackson Y2KV – “coopwood” custom made, with larger body and headstock due to Buckethead saying normal guitars looked like toys in his hands.
  • Jackson Y2KV – “KFC” same as the “coopwood”, only with the KFC red stripes, Di Marzio X2N PUs, kill switch and an Original Floyd Rose (that he never uses).
  • Jackson doubleneck – a custom doubleneck half guitar, half bass.
  • ESP MII custom – used throughout his concert in the Wetlands, broken as seen in one of the Binge Clips.
  • Steinberger GS “Kaiser’s Gift”.
  • Ibanez X Series Rocket Roller II – used throughout the Praxis era.
  • Ibanez(Purple) RG550 – As seen in the Buckethead DVD Secret Recipe.
  • Takamine Acoustic.

Amplifiers

  • Peavey Renown
  • Peavey 5150 head on a Marshall 1960 Slant 4×12 cab
  • Diezel Herbert
  • Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
  • VHT Pittbull 50 watt heads
  • Matt Wells 17 1/2 watt head wired through a Harry Kolbe 4×12 cab

Effects

  • Digitech Whammy II (and IV)
  • Dunlop Cry Baby 535q
  • BOSS TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
  • BOSS NS-2 Noise Suppressor
  • BOSS RC-20 Loop Station
  • BOSS OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion
  • Roger Mayer Octavia
  • DOD Electronics FX-25B envelope filter
  • Alesis MidiVerb II
  • Roland SE-50 multi-effector
  • Zoom multi-effects
  • a custom bicompROSSor by AnalogMan
  • MXR EVH phase 90
  • Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler
  • Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer

A key part of his sound comes from the white mask and chicken bucket on his head. The bucket in particular is a key to his powers, allowing him to harness the power of slain chickens and channel those powers through to his guitar playing.

“Born in a coup, raised in a cage…”

The killswitch is used to momentarily cut off, or stop, the guitar signal so it is silent until the switch is triggered again. Switching it off and on again quickly gives the staccato effect. His custom Les Paul’s also have 24 frets which is unusual for the Les Paul model.

Here’s an interesting piece of Buckethead trivia. Ozzy Osbourne has gone on record (in Revolver) saying that he’d offered Buckethead the chance to play guitar in his band at Ozzfest. The offer fell through after Buckethead refused to go onstage without his costume. Here are some choice quotes from Ozzy (for more on this visit roadrunnerrecords.com):

“I tried out that Buckethead guy. I met with him and asked him to work with me but only if he got rid of the f**king bucket. So I came back a bit later and he’s wearing this green f**king Martian’s-hat thing! I said, ‘Look, just be yourself’. He told me his name was Brian, so I said that’s what I’d call him. He says, ‘No one calls me Brian except my mother’. So I said, ‘Pretend I’m your mum then!’. I haven’t even got out of the room and I’m already playing f**king mind games with the guy. What happens if one day he’s gone and there’s a note saying, ‘I’ve been beamed up’? Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great player. He plays like a motherf**ker!”

Ozzy Osbourne quote from RoadRunnerRecords.com

Legend has it that he once tried out for a spot in the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the early 90’s. So that’s all the Buckethead information I have for you at the moment.