Jonny built the “effect” in Max.

Though in recent years, Thom has taken a much more direct approach to live vocal effects, in the old days he relied on the band’s engineer, Jim Warren, to activate effects such as delay on some performances of Fake Plastic Trees. The following is from a 2003 article on Radiohead’s tour setup.

Front of house engineer Jim Warren mixed Radiohead’s ever-evolving postmodern rock on a Soundcraft Series Five console and used a Soundcraft Spirit 324 submixer for effects returns. Warren says that the digital Spirit 324 works well with the MIDI aspects of the 56-channel analog desk. Radiohead’s longtime engineer uses minimal outboard gear, keeping a TC Electronic M1 and M1XL nearby for vocal effects, an SDE3000 for occasional delay and a Vocoder for additional vocal manipulations. He runs bass guitar through a Tech21 SansAmp, and uses the Line 6 POD Pro for vocal distortion.

Source.

So it seems that during the 2003 tour, the following effects were used on Thom’s vocals - TC Electronic M1, TC Electronic M1XL, Roland SDE3000 Delay, Line 6 POD Pro, and an unknown Vocoder. Note that these effects are not those used on the albums for similar sounds, and were likely used because Jim Warren preferred them and could get appropriate sounds from them. The TC Electric units were probably the source of vocal reverb during that tour. I think that the Roland was used for this performance of Fake Plastic Trees.

The same website’s later article on the In Rainbows tour doesn’t mention the vocal effects, so I wonder if the POD was used for distortion on 2008 live performances of Weird Fishes, for instance, or if they had moved to other live effects by that point.

A photo of Jonny’s original Cream Telecaster. I’m not sure what’s going on with the black areas on it. Tape, perhaps?

Taken from here:

thekingofgear:

    Here I have endeavored to explain exactly how Jonny’s signal chain was arranged in 1997, and to explain clearly and definitively why this is the correct arrangements and why other arrangements are impossible.

    Jonny’s pedals are arranged across two pedalboards. The first board could be thought of as his control base; his guitar runs into this board and through all of the pedals on it before moving to the second board. The physicals layout of the pedals is not the same as their signal order, but rather just where Jonny prefers to have them for maximum accessibility when using multiple pedals at once (such as Whammy and Space Echo Footswitch during the solo for Airbag).

    The second board is a bit more complex. The output of the last pedal on his first board (Digitech Whammy) runs into a Boss LS2, which then sends his guitar down one of two different signal paths leading to two different amps(the LS2 lets him switch between them). Both of these signal paths are set up on the second pedalboard.

    Whichever of the two signal paths he chooses on the second pedalboard, the pedals on the first pedalboard will always be before those pedals.

A variety of explanations of the order in progressively more detail:

Jonny Greenwood’s Signal Path
0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 /6A - 7A - 8A - 9A
\6B - 7B < 8BT/8B

Jonny Greenwood’s Signal Path
0 Guitar
____________
Board One
1 EHX Small Stone V2
2 Demeter The Tremulator
3 DOD440
4 Digitech Whammy WH1
____________
Board Two
5 Boss LS2 < A/B
A - - - - - - - -
6A Boss SD1
7A Boss RV3
8A Roland Space Echo(activated via a Vox Egg footswitch)
9A Vox AC30
B - - - - - - - -
6B Marshall Shredmaster
7B Boss FV300H
8B Fender EightyFive
8BT Boss TU12H (from Boss FV300H Tuner Out).
____________

Jonny Greenwood’s Signal Path
0) Guitar
In 1997, Jonny brought three guitars with him on tour: his main Fender Telecaster Plus (Tele1), a Sunburst Fender Telecaster Standard/Plus (Tele2), and a Fender Starcaster. Tele1 is his third Telecaster Plus, as his first two were stolen on a single night in 1995. He then tracked down a new one, which has been his main guitar to this day and currently features a Honda Motorcycle sticker. Also obtained after the theft, Tele2 is a Fender Telecaster Standard routed and modified to have the same wiring and pickups as his Tele1; it was converted into a Telecaster Plus. It is also used to this day, and is currently fitted with a Kaoss Pad 2 screen. The Fender Starcaster was acquired in 1996 and was used on OK Computer, as well as extensively on Kid A and Amnesiac.
____________

For most of this analysis, I will be referring to image (A), which can be found in the image section at the bottom of the article. I will specify when referring to other images.

Pedalboard One
1) Let’s start at the front of the chain. The only cable in contact with the EHX Small Stone V2, besides that of the power supply I assume, is plugged into the pedal’s output. Since nothing is plugged into the input, it is safe to conclude that this pedal is first in Jonny’s chain. This is reinforced by the fact that all other pictures of Jonny’s board, which have sufficient detail to discern, have it first in chain as well(or at least post the initial two line selectors which he used later one).

2) Next, we’ll go to the second pedal in the chain. One would assume the DOD 440, since it is situated right next to the Small Stone. However, it’s clear that a different cable is plugging into the DOD, namely that of the Demeter Tremulator. Under close inspection, it appears that the cable from the output of the Small Stone runs up over the top of the board, then back down to plug into the Tremulator’s input.

3) It’s fairly clear that the Demeter Tremulator’s output goes into the DOD 440. This not only looks to be the case from this picture (A), but is shown in later pictures(E). In addition, having his Tremulator AFTER the DOD 440 would make the effect he gets during Lucky impossible, since it would case the filter swells to be chopped up by tremolo, whereas the filter swells are quite clear on that song.

4) From the DOD, another pedal goes up off the board, then returns to plug straight into the Digitech Whammy WH1. Though it is unclear in this picture that the cable is still that from the DOD, it is the case on his other boards, and also his wiring of the second board leaves no room for debate. The Whammy’s output then heads to the second board.
____________

Pedalboard Two
5) The first pedal on Jonny’s second board is his Boss LS2. This pedal selects between two different signal paths on the board, each of which goes to a different of Jonny’s amps(a Vox AC30 and a Fender Eighty-Five). We will continue from this point by analyzing each of the signal paths in turn. There is an extremely detailed list of Jonny’s use of the Boss LS2 under the pedal section of his page. thekingofgear.com/jonny#geffects

- - - - - Path A/One (to Vox AC30)
Though this amp is generally referred to as Jonny’s clean amp, he actually uses distortion with it quite a bit. A far more accurate name would be his time-based-effects amp, though obviously that name isn’t nearly as catchy or dichotomic.

6A) We see this from the first pedal in this chain, Jonny’s Boss SD1. Note that since the SD1 is after the Boss LS2 line selector, it is never used in conjunction with his Marshall Shredmaster and the Fender Eighty-Five. The SD1 was relatively new for Jonny in 1997, having acquired it only in 1996, but that did not stop him from using it liberally on OK Computer.

7A) Also added in 1996, the next pedal in chain is Jonny’s Boss RV3. The fact that this pedal takes this position in his signal order is shown by that he has never used reverb with his heavy distorted sounds, but has with his SD1 distortion(see chorus of Lucky live). This addition was likely inspired by the fact that Jonny’s AC30(which he has just recently started using) lacked reverb, unlike his Fender Twin which featured spring reverb. The RV3 does not feature a spring reverb emulation, and Jonny generally uses its plate setting. He may simply have liked the sound of the Boss reverb and didn’t want to find a spring emulating pedal, or he might have specifically wanted a new kind of reverb for his new amp.

8A) Roland RE201 Space Echo (off board)
Radiohead originally used a Space Echo (three, in fact) on a keyboard for Planet Telex. Jonny was quick to pick up a couple soon after. The Space Echo is situated last in chain, just before the Vox amp. In 1997, he kept it on a stand above his keyboards so that he could easily adjust it between(or during) songs. In addition to delay, the Space Echo also very slightly affects Jonny’s signal heading into his AC30 due to its preamp. Jonny activates and deactivates the Space Echo via a Vox Egg footswitch, which in 1997 he kept just to the left of his pedalboards.

9A) 90’s Reissue Vox AC30 6TB
Jonny started using the AC30 in 1996, after about three years of using a Fender Twin Reverb for the same purpose(clean guitar). Also, Jonny’s AC30 does not feature either caricatures of appealing women or plastic dinosaur toys. That amp actually belongs to Peter  Bucks of REM, and Jonny posed with it for a photoshoot during the 1995 tour, hence confusion.

- - - - - Path B/Two (to Fender Eighty-Five)
Though known as Jonny’s “distorted amp,” he gets no distortion from the amp itself, leaving it on a completely clean setting. All of his distortion when using this amp comes from a single pedal: his Marshall Shredmaster.

6B) Jonny’s Marshall Shredmaster was possibly his first pedal, as it was the only one which he used at Radiohead’s first shows. Prior to 1996, this pedal* had also served all of Jonny’s distortion needs, and he would change the amount of gain by adjusting the volume knob(see Just live at Reading Festival 1994) and by picking dynamics.
*Either the stock pedal or a modified clone which he used 1993-1994.

7B) Boss FV300L This pedal’s position after his Shredmaster allows Jonny to use it to control this signal path’s volume, but adjusting it does not affect the Shredmaster’s gain level.* He uses this to have his heavily distorted sound at any volume level, like quiet during the verses of The Bends, or very loud for the main riff of Airbag. This was particularly important during the early days, when the pedal was his only source of distortion but wanted gain at various volumes.
*Jonny instead uses the volume knob on his guitar to adjust the pedal’s gain(again, see Just live at Reading Festival 1994), though he generally keeps the gain level of his Shredmaster constant and heavy, relying on frequent adjustment of his SD1 to get a variety of middling and lower distortion levels

8BT) Tuner Out
The tuner which Jonny used exclusively since the earliest shows* is the Boss TU12H. By putting it in the tuner out of his volume pedal, Jonny can mute his guitar with the volume pedal during tuning. He also has the capability to, when using this signal path, see the notes that he is playing whilst he plays, though I doubt that he uses it for that.
*And to this day with the single exception of the Radiohead For Haiti show, at which he used a Boss TU12.

8B) Fender Eighty-Five
As mentioned above, Jonny uses this amp when getting his high gain distortion sounds, but this amp is not itself responsible for his high gain distortion. The Eighty-Five might have been Jonny’s first guitar amp, but regardless he has commented that he likes the sound of it. He also likely tried the Shredmaster through his other amps* but didn’t like how it sounded.
*Some distortion pedals favor solid-state amps, since factors such as tube sag don’t come into play, giving the distortion a clear and defined character which can be lost playing into tube amps(Likewise, often overdrive pedals do not sound nearly so good through a solid-state amp as a tube amp, but this of course varies from pedal to pedal and with a user’s taste).
____________

Some photos of Jonny’s pedalboard in 1997.

(A) This is the main photo refereed to in this article. Though very blurry, one can see the cables leaving the Small Stone, DOD440, and Whammy running over the top of the pedalboard, and the cables returning to the Tremulator and the Whammy coming from over the top of the board. The cable leaving the Small Stone is that which to the right of the Tremulator. The cable from the Tremulator to the DOD440 is very clear. The cable leaving the DOD440 runs over the top again, then down to the Whammy. The cable leaving the Whammy goes back over the top, then goes tot he LS2 on the second board.

(B)

(C)

(D)

Photos of Jonny’s Pedalboard in 2006 posted by Plank, the band’s guitar tech, on his website: http://www.stringsreunited.com/plankarchive.shtml
Though these pictures are from 11 years later than the board we are currently discussing, it features all of the same pedals in the same signal order(though not the same physical arrangement), just with the addition of three more.

(E)

(F)

Required reading.

I’m sure that they just send Thom’s vocals from the PA back to the stage to run through Jonny’s Kaoss Pad, since Thom’s original vocals are still coming out of the speakers even as Jonny modifies them. So output of the PA in the form RCA to the line-in of the Kaoss Pad, then RCA from the line-out. That RCA is then gets converted into a 1/4”, which then goes into the one of his LS2’s inputs (let’s assume A). The LS2 then essentially selects between his guitar coming from the main input, or the Kaoss Pad coming from the A input, with the A-Bypass mode. Thom’s vocals then go through Jonny’s pedals, and to his amp.

Comparing the positions of the jacks, it’s clear that he’s using the RCA input, as well as the obligatory RCA output.

Were Thom using a second mic for the song, he could using a simple XLR-to-1/4” converter and send it to the Kaoss Pad’s mic-input, but that would prevent it from going to the PA directly.

His vocals are run through the Korg SE300 Stage Echo, which Nigel manipulates throughout the song. This is why the delays speed and feedback amount are constantly changing. You can see Nigel messing with it at 0:53 in that video.

What exactly do you mean by sustain?

The only “effect” that I hear during the chorus of that song is distortion, so Fender Tele Plus V1 into Marshall Shredmaster into Fender Eighty-Five for Jonny’s guitar, and Strat or Rick into Mesa Tremoverb for Ed’s.

If you mean the guitar during the bridge, it’s just feedback caused by holding up a guitar to an amp with a lot of distortion.

I am going to discuss the rehearsals for The King of Limbs touring. I’m sure that things have changed over the years, so this info will likely not be accurate for their past rehearsals.

First, the mixer.

It looks a LOT like a Mackie, particularly the Mackie 1202VLZ3. It looks like the white on the front of the above mixer is a long piece of tape for marking settings, rather than the white of the 1202VLZ3’s front panel, but the tape could well be covering the panel. But if it’s not the 1202VLZ3, it’s definitely a similar one, either a past generation or a slightly different model.

Next, the PA’s.

They’re a bit harder to make out. Hopefully someone else will recognize them and pipe up.

thekingofgear.com/sources

Hello! That recording comes from a performance on the 20th of August, 2001, in Los Angeles. I can find no video of that performance, but I did find another from the same year. In that video, he plays his Lakewood M14, which was his main acoustic guitar for the Kid A and Amnesiac sessions and for subsequent touring, so it is very likely that it was also used on the I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings version.

Check Thom’s page for info on the synths used on those songs; it’s all Korg MS20 (bass mainly) and Prophet 08 (pads mainly). Use your browsers search function to look up the songs.

Percussion on AMOK is courtesy of Joey and Mauro, not drum machines.

The new Marshall pedals have some good sounds if you can find a nice setting, but overall I do not think that they are very good pedals.

Why exactly do you want a compressor similar to Thom’s? If you answer that, I’ll be able to better direct your search.

I am not sure to what you refer. If you mean the staccato synth sounds, I suspect that those are courtesy of Jonny’s modular.

Check the vocal effects section of Thom’s page.

 Line 6 DL4

   Thom’s primary vocal delay pedal. Used in 2011 and 2012 for Feral. Used in 2013 for Dropped and Stuck Together Pieces. He also used one as a guitar looper.

    On Feral, Thom uses it for delay near the beginning of the song(starting 1:09), and at the climax(around 2:46).

Akai Headrush E2

    Thom’s primary vocal looping pedal since his solo shows in 2010. Used in 2011 and 2012 with Radiohead for Feral, Lotus Flower, and Separator. Used in 2013 with Atoms for Peace for Dropped and Stuck Together Pieces.

    Thom applies fairly complex looping during the middle of Feral(starting 1:39), in which he grabs bits of vocals and overdubs. He also continues to sing new vocals on top of the loops.

    On Lotus Flower, Thom loops a short snatch of his vocals first when he sings “listen to your heart” at the end of the first bridge(3:14; you can even see him glance down) and overdubs a second snatch as well, then we he sings the line “what we want” during the second verse(3:43; that loops persists through both the verse and the second chorus), and when he sings “listen to your heart” near the end of the song(5:06). That last loop persists to the end of the song, and Thom also records at least one more loop on top of it which also persists to the end.

    Thom records some wordless singing during Separator at 2:49, and overdubs onto that almost immediately after.

I have to double check to make sure that he uses both on Dropped and Stuck Together Pieces, but otherwise this is all 100%.

No effects are used. He is playing along to a backing track that he previously recorded. Electric Counterpoint is a piece for an ensemble of electric guitars. Jonny records all of the backing parts, then plays the solo part over them for live performance. The computer simply acts as a playback device; I suspect that he keeps it visible purely to make sure that it is running correctly and to keep track of where he is in the track.

For more info, check the Electric Counterpoint tag.

Check Thom’s page.

Korg MS20

    Used in studio on In Rainbows, and later by Nigel for the 2009-2010 Atoms for Peace shows and tour. It was also used (likely by Thom) on AMOK for synth bass and lead sounds on
Ingenue, Dropped, and Unless, and also on Magic Beans.

Jonny removed the pickup splitter from his guitar. The hole in the control plate where the splitter switch used to be is now fitted with a killswitch (i.e. a momentary switch that mutes his guitar’s signal when pressed).

Either pickup of a split humbucker will sound quite different from a standard humbucker sound. As would be expected, they each sound like the single coil pickups that they are, but since they are voiced to be used in the humbucker they will not sound exactly like most standalone single coils. However, Jonny only ever uses the humbucker on his guitar as a full humbucker.

Jonny removed the pickup splitter from his guitar. The hole in the control plate where the splitter switch used to be is now fitted with a killswitch (i.e. a momentary switch that mutes his guitar’s signal when pressed).

Either pickup of a split humbucker will sound quite different from a standard humbucker sound. As would be expected, they each sound like the single coil pickups that they are, but since they are voiced to be used in the humbucker they will not sound exactly like most standalone single coils. However, Jonny only ever uses the humbucker on his guitar as a full humbucker.