Billie Joe Armstrong Having ‘Garage Sale’ of Green Day Guitars, Amps + More
Reverb has partnered with Billie Joe Armstrong for a "Green Day Garage Sale," which kicks off tomorrow (Dec. 20). The frontman will be selling off a bevy of gear from his home and studio collections, with guitars, amps and even a console used throughout the history of the punk rock band.
“Used guitars, in particular, come with a history to them," Armstrong says. "I love the character you can see looking at a fretboard that’s been used - you can see where someone played it in clubs, in barns, in churches. We had a guitar come through our store, and you could just see the smoke from the clubs it was played in. It was beautiful. I hope the gear from the Green Day Reverb shop goes to someone that plays it.”
One of the items up for sale is the Victoria 35210-T tweed Super amp dubbed “Little Vicky” was used to record the intro to the title track from the band's the 2004 opus American Idiot. It's also used on that album's "Homecoming" cut.
"Why am I selling this thing again?" Armstrong says, laughing in the video from Reverb which can be viewed above. "It just had a nasty sound to it and I recorded it on everything. It's not all of the sudden you're gonna ago, like, 'Is this the only thing that it's going to sound like, the intro to 'American Idiot?' You can crank 'em up, you can make 'em more clean - they're great amps."
In addition to "Little Vicky," Armstrong is selling the following:
- More than 20 pieces of new and vintage pro audio gear from JingleTown Recording (formerly 880 Studios) in Oakland, which closed this year. According to Armstrong, the last few Green Day albums were recorded on the rig.
- Two Silvertone amps used on Uno... Dos... Tré!
- A Burns Brian May guitar that the band picked up during the American Idiot tour to play on its “We Are the Champions” encore.
- Several Gretsch guitars, including a black Brian Setzer Hot Rod model used on the American Idiot tour and a red Anniversary model used on Foxboro Hot Tubs recordings.
- A Trident Console used on Uno... Dos... Tré! and Revolution Radio.
To see the entire list of items included in the "Green Day Garage Sale" and to sign up for e-mail notifications for the event, click here.
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