Chris DeGarmo's gear

metalchurch79

metalchurch79

New member
I've been on Queensryche pretty heavy this week, as I tend to do with my music listening. I'll choose a band at random or stumble across something and just play their stuff until the next band, or I'll go by genre...

Anyways, I've been a long time fan but first time wonderer about DeGarmo's gear. I know he used Kramer then got with ESP and pretty much remained exclusive to them. I'm interested in hearing anyone's input about any period of time from his early days up until he left Queensryche.

Like what pickups did he use? (I honestly don't know, but I'm gonna guess he used a '59 or something sort of medium output because he has such a crisp and clean tone. That's what I'm envisioning, and I'll probably be wrong :)

Effects, Amps?? I looked around online but found nothing conclusive really so I got lazy and decided to ask you guys since we have a small army here.

My fav of Chris's guitars are his Black Kramer Voyager, his White Pacer Special (thinking it was an '82-'83?), and lastly his White ESP M-ll with the slanted neck single coil, and also his first Graffiti ESP Mll.

Thoughts,input, links, general Queensryche or DeGarmo guitar pictures and bs, please by all means...

Thank you guys
 
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Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Well I remember in an article in a GFTPM issue from 1994 that he posed with a white vintage ESP strat with pearloid pickguard and SD Vintage Rails, I think in all three positions.

And he told the interviewer that he smoked a lot of pot...the information of which I couldn't find. He is also a pilot by the way.
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Yea I saw him with SSS guitars before, and most other times he played an H/slanted single in the neck, or an H/S/x configuration.
I know him and Wilton were in a guitar gettin contest once they got on with ESP because they had so many different guitars in such a short time period too...

Appreciate your reply Sir
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Dude!

Last night i was actually researching this very subject. I was on youtube watching vintage videos of Degarmo, whom is one of my top 5 favorite players/songwriters. To me, he is the prog metal version of David Gilmour. SO much soul and great phrasing in his playing.

To my understanding, Him and Wilton are/were huge Duncan players. Wilton opts for the Distortion, JB and Duncan Custom. I dont know what Degarmo used for Duncans, but my guess would be JB and maybe something with less output like you suggested. From what i gather, the key to their clean tones is the middle pickup, which unfortunately I cant stand having them. To my knowledge all the great clean tones on Operation Mindcrime were with a middle pickup, probably some sort of duncan. Best clean tones of all time on that record!

Guitar wise, sounds like you know them well. Some wierd custom modded Gibsons during the EP era, The Warning and Rage for Order were all Kramers (mostly beak headstock models) and ESP (and sometimes a Les Paul Custom for both of them) from Operation Mindcrime onwards. I read an interview in an old Guitar World that both of them played Les Paul Customs on the track "The Mission" from Mindcrime. Degarmo is seen in the Anybody Listening and Empire videos with a white LP Custom W/stock pickups.

Once i get my music room established at my new place, I plan on diving deep into learning more older QR tunes. I know a few but i need to know more.
 
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Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Thanks yea I know his guitars from their videos and magazines over the years, but the specifics of his gear I'm not too sure about. I've been busy with other stuff, so I really haven't had a chance to dig into this and see what I could find. Was hoping to take the lazy route and just post this up. Haha
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Ummmm, you are either Chris DeGarmo or have a restraining order from Chris Degarmo....
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

So if any of those were Chris/Michael's ESP's from yesteryear, can you tell us what they have for pickups?

I would die to have one of those tri-ryche painted ones!
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Aceman said:
Ummmm, you are either Chris DeGarmo or have a restraining order from Chris Degarmo....
Click to expand...

We know by now that it's neither. What I know is that the man has a GREAT collection of guitars!! Simply superb! Must be great to have all those at your disposal! :headbang:
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

The JEM Ghost said:
We know by now that it's neither. What I know is that the man has a GREAT collection of guitars!! Simply superb! Must be great to have all those at your disposal! :headbang:
Click to expand...

He'd be happier if those were RGs and Jems. 22 frets, Floyd Rose original, bridge pickup only? Pfftt...
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Obsessive Compulsive said:
He'd be happier if those were RGs and Jems. 22 frets, Floyd Rose original, bridge pickup only? Pfftt...
Click to expand...

Guess you need to look a little closer mate, most of those ESP guitars in the pic have a neck pickup (single coil) in them! And to be honest, I would not mind some of my RG's having "only" 22 frets because the neck pickup sounds better that way. Fact is I prefer an original Edge or Lo-Pro Edge over an original Floyd, but I do prefer the original Floyd over the Edge Pro Ibanez has used for several years, I really think those stink.(and I am an Ibanez lover though, nearly all my guitars are Ibanez, but I really started to have complaints about them since about 2002, the introduction of the Edge Pro and when they started to name all their Jap made models "Prestige" and the pricing went up sky high). I can't really comment on the newer Edge Zero bridges, I'don't own any of those, put those ESP's sure are great guitars in my opinion!! I would not mind owning some of those at all!! :jester:
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Hey - be honest; DeGarmo, or a DeGarmo stalker were BOTH better options than "neither" :lmao:

And I'd have guessed the same about Lynch if I saw a cropped version of the other photo....
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

The JEM Ghost said:
Guess you need to look a little closer mate, most of those ESP guitars in the pic have a neck pickup (single coil) in them! And to be honest, I would not mind some of my RG's having "only" 22 frets because the neck pickup sounds better that way. Fact is I prefer an original Edge or Lo-Pro Edge over an original Floyd, but I do prefer the original Floyd over the Edge Pro Ibanez has used for several years, I really think those stink.(and I am an Ibanez lover though, nearly all my guitars are Ibanez, but I really started to have complaints about them since about 2002, the introduction of the Edge Pro and when they started to name all their Jap made models "Prestige" and the pricing went up sky high). I can't really comment on the newer Edge Zero bridges, I'don't own any of those, put those ESP's sure are great guitars in my opinion!! I would not mind owning some of those at all!! :jester:
Click to expand...

I was mocking the George Lynch guitars. Generally it's 22 frets no? And I was referring to the Original Edge, not the zero version. The original one is definitely far superior, stronger and smoother than the Floyd.

Have you actually owned any recent RG model? RG655, 652 and the revived 550 Genesis come equipped with Original Edge. And the Edge Zero II is just as stable as the Original Edge. I own both.
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Cool thread. DeGarmo was the soul of Ryche. I was obsessed with them during the Rage, Mindcrime, and Empire years. The Warning was awesome too. Even though they'd peaked before Chris left, it was pretty obvious that Chris was the beating heart in the band.

I was a pilot in a former life, so I've followed his bizjet flying career over the years. He's had an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot... the highest rating) for many years. Steve Morse has also had his ATP for many years.

I never got to see QR during their heyday from the mid-80s to mid-90s. I did see them several years ago, but it was sans DeGarmo and Tate. No big loss on Tate's absence, as Todd LaTorre nailed the early stuff like Tate hasn't been able to in over two decades.... and without being the egomanical ****** that Tate is. The show was awesome, but it would have been great if Chris was playing. Honestly, I personally believe that his love for flying and being tired of putting up with Tate were big reasons that he left the band. It's too bad the rest of them took so long to tell Geoff to hit the road.
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Obsessive Compulsive said:
Have you actually owned any recent RG model? RG655, 652 and the revived 550 Genesis come equipped with Original Edge. And the Edge Zero II is just as stable as the Original Edge. I own both.
Click to expand...

No, I don't own any recent RG-models, all my RG's are pre 2002. I realise the RG655 and RG652 come with the original Edge trem these days, I played one in a music store, for sure it's a good guitar, only reason I don't own one is because of the price (between 1400 and 1530 euro!). If I compare that with what I used to pay for a Japanese made Ibanez with Edge trem, I can't justify those high prices (BTW I think ESP is too expensive as well).
Do you mean the Edge Zero by the way?? Because the Edge Zero II is not used on the Japanese made Ibanez guitars, it comes on the "basic" and "Premium" lines (made in Indonesia). I have not played the Edge Zero trems yet so I can't comment on them, it's very well possible that they are as good as an Edge trem. I can only say I REALLY dislike the Edge Pro trem (a lot!) that they used from 2002 until they started using the newer Edge Zeros.

PS: If I say I can't justify the current prices for the Ibanez "Prestige" line, it's because I used to buy Jap RG's for about 600 euro new, they did not include DiMarzio pickups and came without a case, but still I think they went up too high in price, can't help it, Ibanez used to be a lot of bang for the buck, these days they may still offer bang, but you need to pay the buck as well... ;)
 
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Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Operation: Mindcrime is one of my all-time favorite albums and helped get me interested in guitar in the first place. It's still one of my top "stranded on a deserted island" picks :)

A few years ago, I was researching that era of Queensryche heavily and learned that DeGarmo was playing Duncan '59s almost exclusively for several years. Wilton was using 59's and JBs, from what I recall.

As a side note, I actually owned one of those original ESP "Skulls" models as seen third from the right on the couch pic...the one with the rosewood fretboard and reverse headstock. They only made a few, one went to Kirk Hammet (allegedly) and Wilton got one before he stuck with the theme for his own maple/skulls bolt-on signature model. He was featured with that guitar on the cover of one of the big guitar magazines in 1990. Those '80s ESPs are great guitars!
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

The first concert with my wife was a Queensryche show, it will be 20 years next month.
 
Re: Chris DeGarmo's gear

Thanks Masta C, I had a feeling that he was using a '59 or some similar medium output pickup just from the overall tone he had, but it's really hard to distinguish sometimes with guys because of studio trickery.
I agree with most everyone that he was the heart of that band and they weren't the same after he left. Certainly one of my fav players but I never really knew much about his setups.
 
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