Rollinmoss

:: Guitars :      
      

Jimi Hendrix used probaly hundreds of guitars throughout his very short but amazing life. Most of these guitars were of course, Fender Stratocasters. From 1966 to 1968 Jimi used an assortment of rosewood-neck model and on rare occassion he would use a maple-neck model.
In the Fall of 1968 Jimi acquired two new Strats. The first one was a black maple-neck model. The second Strat Hendrix purchased was a blond-maple neck model. As the book, Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy points out, "these two models remained Jimi's main choice of guitar for the rest of his career."
    
Although Jimi is most identified with the Fender Stratocaster, he owned and played many other makes of guitars. For example, he owned a '59 Hofner Club 40. Jimi also owned an Epiphone Acoustic, and a '67 Gretsch Corvette. Along with these guitars Jimi owned a Fender Jaguar and a Fender Jazzman.
Towards the beginning of his career, Jimi purchased a Gibson Flying-V. Jimi can be seen playing this guitar in a few pictures from his '67 American tour. In 1970 Jimi purchased a black Flying-V. This guitar was used in live performance for songs such as "Hey Baby(Land of the New Rising Sun"), as well as a few other melodic numbers. A few other Gibson guitars that Hendrix owned included a black Les Paul, and a white SG Custom type 2. Jimi played this SG for his September 9, 1969 appearance on the "Dick Cavett Show."
A guitar that Jimi never owned, yet deserves a mention, is a 1960 12-string-Zemaitis Acoustic. Jimi played this particular guitar on 'Getting My Heart Back Together Again' in the documentary film See My Music Talking. This guitar now hangs in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
           
:: Strings :     
      
Jimi played with Fender Rock 'N' Roll light-gauge strings, using a regular E string for a B and sometimes a tenor A string for a little E (.010, .013, .015, .026, .032, .038). Through the very early parts of his career Jimi tuned his strings to the standard tuning of E, A, D, G, B, E, but sometime after June of 1967 he tuned his guitar down half a step to B-flat, A-flat, and so on. This tuning not only made it easier for Jimi to sing but it also made it easier for him to do string bends, which of course was one of Jimi's trademark techniques.
            
:: Amplifiers :     
      

Jimi Hendrix is probably best known for using Marshall amps. However, Marshall's were not the only kind of amplifiers he used. Very early in his career Jimi used a Silvertone with a 2 x 12 cabinet.
From 1965 to 1966 Jimi played through Fender amps. He primarily used a Fender Twin Reverb. This amp had two 12 inch J.B. Lansing D120F speakers. Among this amp's features was it Reverb and Tremolo units.
During the first rehearsal sessions of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966, Jimi used a 30-watt Burns amplifier that Chas Chandler had purchased for him.
    
In 1968 Jimi acquired brand new Fender Dual Showman amps. The speaker cabinets of these new amps featured two 15-inch J.B. Lansing speakers.
Early in 1969 Jimi got his first Marshall amplifiers. He started off with one stack, which comprised one Marshall 100-watt amp and two 4 x 12 speaker cabinets. This eventually was upgraded to three stacks, comprised of three 100-watt amps and six 4 x 12 cabinets.
Other kinds of amps that Jimi used throughout his life included Sound City amps (used for the "Axis Bold as Love" sessions), and Sun's. And finally, Jimi used WEM 4 x 12 column speaker cabinets as a monitoring system during his performances at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 1969, and the Isle of Wight Festival on August 30, 1970.
    

:: Effects :     
      
During his career Jimi used many effects both in the studio and in live performance. For example, Jimi used many fuzz box units among which were the Arbiter Fuzz Face, the 'Axis' fuzz , and the Mosrite Fuzzrite.
Another effect that Jimi used and has since become synonomous with his name was the Vox wah-wah pedal. Jimi employed this effect on many of his studio recordings such as "Voodoo Chile (slight return)," and "Burning of the Midnight Lamp."
A third type of effect that Jimi used in the studio was a Leslie Speaker cabinet. This effect created the swirling sounds heard on studio tracks such as "Little Wing" and "House Burning Down."
    
The Uni-Vibe was yet another effect used by Jimi predominantly in live performance. This created a swirling effect quite similiar to the Leslie Speaker cabinet, although it differed in that it had a speed control, unlike the Leslie cabinet. This meant that the swirling effect could be sped up or slowed down. This effect was employed on tracks such as "Hey Baby (The Land of the New Rising Sun)," "Earth Blues," and "Machine Gun."
A fourth effect Jimi used was the Octavia. This device, as noted by "Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy," "gives the effect of a multiple mirror image of the actual sound," but phased inverted. So really it produces a sound that absolutely multiplies all the harmonics up, almost to infinity, so you get an extremely high tone out of it." The Octavia made it first appearance on "Purple Haze."
Finally, there is undoubtedly a plethora of other effects that Jimi used in the studio other than just the ones that were mentioned above but to name and detail all of them would take far too much time. The only thing left to be said is that Jimi Hendrix was enormously gifted and was one of the most brilliant musicians that has ever lived.
    
            
Most of the information on this page came from the book "Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy," by Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek.