Paul Gilbert,,,

Name Paul Gilbert

Born November 6, 1966(age 42)
Origin Carbondale, Illinois
Genre(s) Instrumental rock, heavy metal, hard rock, power pop, Neo-Classical Metal
Instrument(s) Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Keyboards, Percussion
Years active 1985–present
Label(s) Universal Japan, Shrapnel
Associated acts Mr. Big, Racer X
Website www.paulgilbert.com

Metal guitar virtuoso Paul Gilbert was born November 6, 1966 in Carbondale, IL and raised primarily in Greenburg, PA; he began playing music at age five, and by age 15 was not only touring local clubs with his band Tau Zero but was even spotlighted in Guitar Player magazine alongside fellow up-and-comer Yngwie Malmsteen. In 1984 Gilbert relocated to Los Angeles to attend the Guitar Institute of Technology, becoming an instructor there the following year; concurrently he formed the band Electric Fence, which by 1986 evolved into Racer X. Their debut album Street Lethal appeared later that year, but in the wake of the follow-up, 1987's Second Heat, Gilbert exited to join Mr. Big, which in 1992 topped the pop charts with the ballad "To Be with You." Mr. Big disbanded in 1996, and a year later Gilbert made his solo debut with King of Clubs; Flying Dog followed in 1998, trailed by Beehive Live in 1999 and Alligator Farm in fall 2000.

Gear
Paul Gilbert primarily uses his Ibanez PGM signature series guitars, identified by their unique painted "f-holes". Although earlier PGM models featured the Ibanez Lo-Pro/Edge double locking tremolo system, many of his guitars (such as his main PGM300) have since been modified to accommodate a fixed bridge, hence the Ibanez PGM301 series. Along with his signature guitars, Gilbert often uses his sticker-covered "Dino" Ibanez RG750, in addition to a wide variety of Ibanez solidbody and semi-hollow electric guitars. Recently, Gilbert has started using Ibanez "Fireman" guitars

Regarding amps, Gilbert used ADA preamps and rack effects units early in his career prior to switching to Laney amplifiers. He praised the Laney amps as having "the best natural distortion of any tube amp ever heard". Since the G3 2007 tour however, Gilbert stated that playing with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci inspired him to take a closer look at his own guitar sound. As a result of his search he found the Marshall Vintage Modern series. He currently uses the Marshall Vintage Modern 2266c combo amps. Paul uses Jim Dunlop Tortex picks, of which he prefers the orange (.60mm) picks.

Paul uses the following effects as of his tour of Europe in 2008 (he uses 12 effects in total):

* Homebrew electronics banjo mos

* Homebrew electronics detox EQ

* Tc electronics nova delay

* Homebrew electronics compressor retro

* Mxr phase 100

* Mxr blue box

* Homebrew electronics THC chorus

* Robert Keeley nova wah LE

* Electro-Harmonix deluxe electric mistress

* Korg pitchblack tuner

* And 2 no name pedals with a mxr sticker on them, they are both loop pedals.


Paul also used a modified vintage ADA Flanger from the 1970s. You can hear it on tracks like 'Bucket of Rocks', and he also uses it on the 'Snowball of Doom' DVD. Paul claims the Flanger has been modified, and he uses it to change the pitch from high to low to create a sound similar to a dive bomb. Unfortunately in Paul's 2008 European tour his trusty ADA Flanger broke and now he cannot amaze people with the truly awesome effect. Thankfully, before the pedal broke, he and Ibanez collaborated to make a similar pedal, with both a regular flanger mode and a replica of the ADA pedal, and the pedal has been released as the Ibanez Paul Gilbert AF-2 Airplane Flanger pedal. He also uses the Psilocybe phaser and THC chorus pedals from Home Brew Electronics.

In the intro to "Get Out Of My Yard" Paul uses a Boss DD-3 Delay pedal to achieve the altered pitch looped effect at the beginning of the track. This was also demonstrated by Paul on the instructional DVD of the same name.

A new PGM model, the Ibanez PGM401, is set to be released in 2009. It is rather different from most of Paul's previous models, with an ash body, most of his previous models were made of basswood, although his PGM800 guitar was made of lightweight ash, a similar but different wood than that used in the PGM401. Also, rather than the DiMarzio PAF Pro, Tone Zone and Super Distortion pickups used in his previous models, the PGM401 comes with Paul's favorite humbucker model of five years, the DiMarzio Air Classics, arranged in a hum/single/hum configuration. Paul himself has stated that he had the bridge pickup moved 1 mm closer to the neck, which he said resulted in a warmer and thicker sound, particularly for the high notes he often uses in soloing. The F-holes are 3% smaller. This is because the guitar has pickup mounted rings. But perhaps the biggest difference from other current Ibanez guitar models, is that the PGM401 uses the old late-1980s neckjoint, which is thicker than the current neckjoints on other Ibanez guitars.

With Black Sheep

* Trouble In The Streets (1985)

Racer X

* Street Lethal (1986)
* Second Heat (1987)
* Live Extreme, Volume 1 (1988)
* Live Extreme, Volume 2 (1992)
* Technical Difficulties (1999)
* Superheroes (2000)
* Snowball of Doom (2002)
* Getting Heavier (2002)
* Snowball of Doom 2 (2002)

Mr. Big

* Mr. Big (1989)
* Raw Like Sushi (1990)
* Lean Into It (1991)
* Raw Like Sushi II (1992)
* Bump Ahead (1993)
* Japandemonium: Raw Like Sushi 3 (1994)
* Channel V at the Hard Rock Live (1996)
* Hey Man (1996)
* Big Bigger Biggest: Greatest Hits (1996)

Solo albums

* Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (EP) (1991)
* King of Clubs (1998)
* Flying Dog (1999)
* Beehive Live (1999)
* Alligator Farm (2000)
* Raw Blues Power With Jimi Kidd (2002)
* Burning Organ (2002)
* Paul the Young Dude/The Best of Paul Gilbert (2003)
* Gilbert Hotel (2003)
* Acoustic Samurai (2003)
* Space Ship One (2005)
* Get Out of My Yard (2006)
* Tough Eskimo (limited edition EP) (2007)
* Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar (2008)
* United States With Freddie Nelson (2008)