Sheer Heart Attack

Sheer Heart Attack Tour (30.10.1974 - 01.05.1975)

The band was now averagely famous and they'd got quite an expensive set of instruments (still it's quite paradoxical that they were complaining about money). The fact that they now had their very own road crew helped their sound to improve greatly on stage, and both Freddie and John got gradually less involved with soundchecks and such details.

Percussion
Ludwig drum kit: 26" x 14" Bass Drum, 13" x 19" and 14" x 14" Rack Toms, 16" x 16" and 18" x 16" Floor Toms, 15" Zildjian Hi-Hats, 20" Zildjian Crash, 18" Paiste & Zildjian Crash, 22" Zildjian Ride, 14" x 15" Snare. Ludwig Cowbells were mixed in the kit for Liar. The bass drum logo was still the black crest on a white background. During some numbers Freddie played a New Era tambourine and John hit a triangle (probably Ludwig too) in Killer Queen.

Guitars
Brian used all the time the Red Special, but he also had a brand new back-up: Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. In Bring Back That Leroy Brown he played a George Formby Ukelele-Banjo. Brian had problems with the Stratocaster, he complained that it didn't "sing" as he expected - later on he said it was because the Strat didn't combine itself well with the Vox amps - so he changed for a Gibson Les Paul, the other guitar of his dreams. He also was disappointed by it and that's why he kept using the Red Special. Brian (1976): "I used to think the Stratocaster would be the thing when I got one. Always thought when I got enough money to get one of those, that will be it. Then, when I got enough, I didn't like it. The same with the Les Paul. I thought the Les Paul would be it."

Pianos
Freddie played what he was supplied with. At the famous Rainbow gigs he used a Steinway L model (left photo), in Germany he played a Baldwin (right photo).

Bass guitars
John still used the 1967 Fender Precision (left) but added as back-up a 1968 model (right). The main difference between the two of them is that the '67 model has silver logo, and the other's got a black logo. Amplification consisted of 3 x Acoustic 370 amplifiers driving 3 x Acoustic 301 Reflex cabinets plus one Hi Watt amplifier driving two Sound City 4 x 12 inch (Gauss) cabinets. Acoustic amplifiers are American, and were used by John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) as well.

Vocals
All mics were Shure: Freddie had two (one for the piano songs), Brian had two (one for the short banjo fill), Roger had one (besides what he used for drums) and John had one for his occasional backing vocals and the triangle.