| For the recording of the "Back For The Attack" album in the summer of 1987, George went for a more stripped down form of setup in the studio. The direction he took involved a very minimal amount of gear. Effects were of the old-school variety on this album. And the amp selection was kept at Marshall simplicity. Just like the album before this, he got stuck using amps he could not own.
"I borrowed heads from Aspen Pittman of Groove Tubes. He had a collection of all these old Marshalls that I just worshipped! He let me use an old purple and old red one. But he will not sell them," recalls George.
Effects like Vox wahs, Fuzz Faces and Mu-Tron Octave Dividers were present here. But the only consistently used pedal was the Ibanez TS-808, which remains with George to this day. This version of the Tube Screamer contains the Malaysian RC4558D chip-based op-amp technology from 1980. The TS-808 produces a silky, creamy distortion, especially when used with an already overdriven tube amp. It is not a gainy distortion pedal, but a very distinctive overdrive.
One newer piece of technology used in these recordings was the Sustainiac Model-B system. The Sustainiac, made by Maniac Music, Inc., was a two piece unit that included a dual floor pedal and a string driver transducer that was bolted to the back of the headstock of the guitar. The floor unit, the Sustainiamp, takes the signal, amplifies it and sends it to the transducer mounted on the back of the headstock. The transducer produces sound vibrations transferred to the strings, sustaining them for as long as you fret any note on the guitar. The mystery of the little black box on the back of some of George's guitars is revealed!
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