Genesis Abacab equipment

Abacab was Genesis' eleventh studio album, released in September 1981 on Charisma Records.

This album was part of a "rethink" of Genesis' approach, the band focusing on group-written songs through jams and improvisations - something they started on Duke. Other than this, there are three individually-written songs with one from each member. The group purchased Fisher Lane Farm in November 1980 and chose the cowshed there to develop into a private recording facility. Building work was underway when the band came to write songs, so they'd use the cottage to do so. Recording officially began once the studio was complete in March 1981, and continued until June at least. Engineer Hugh Padgham was brought into the fold, whom Phil Collins worked with on Peter Gabriel's third album and his own debut album Face Value by that point.

Regarding specifics, however, there's little information available regarding the outboard gear available during the making of the album. So information is based off existing sources, including footage of making their next (self-titled) album. Same for Mike's guitars. Except that in his case, gear tended not to differ much between live and in the studio contexts, which makes it easier to hone in on what he used.

Studio production details (including outboard equipment) included on this page are true to the original 1981 mixes of Abacab.

Phil Collins
Drums:
 * Premier 717 Elite Black custom kit

Cymbals:
 * Zildjian & possibly Paiste

Misc.
 * Roland TR-808 drum machine ("Man On The Corner", "Me And Sarah Jane", percussion on "No Reply At All")
 * Slingerland timbales ("You Might Recall" on 3x3 EP)

Tony Banks
Keyboards & Synthesizers
 * ARP Quadra
 * Moog Polymoog 203a
 * Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
 * Sequential Circuits Prophet-10: main synth on Abacab
 * Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus
 * Yamaha CS-80
 * Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano
 * unknown acoustic grand piano ("No Reply At All") (possibly Steinway?)

Effects:
 * Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble - on CP-70
 * Colorsound Tonebender Fuzz fuzz boxes
 * MXR MX-134 Stereo Chorus
 * MXR MX-107 Phase 100
 * MXR Distortion?

''Note: It was long rumoured that an EDP Wasp synthesizer was used on this album. The origins of this are unclear, especially as it has hardly been mentioned in interviews. However, a fan who was fortunate to ask Tony Banks about the EDP Wasp in the early 2000's confirmed Tony had "never heard of such an instrument". Hence its exclusion from this list.''

Mike Rutherford
Guitars:
 * Gibson SG Melody Maker 12-string
 * Shergold double neck (assumed)
 * Ibanez Artist 2622 (assumed)
 * Fender Stratocaster

Basses
 * Shergold bass (assumed) - part of double neck
 * Alembic Series I

Amplification:
 * Yamaha G100 212

Effects more effects to be identified
 * MXR MX-117 Flanger pedal
 * MXR MX-113 Digital Delay (Moog Taurus)

Other:
 * ARP Avatar guitar synthesizer
 * Roland GR-500 guitar synthesizer /w GS-500 controller
 * Moog Taurus I
 * Moog String Filter

Microphones
Although exact microphone setups are unknown and may have varied, Hugh Padgham used the following microphones.

Drums:
 * Bass drum:
 * Neumann U47 FET
 * Snare:
 * Shure SM57
 * Tom-toms:
 * Sennheiser MD421's or Shure SM57's
 * Overheads:
 * Neumann U67/U87/U47 FET or STC 4038 ribbon pair
 * Room mics:
 * Neumann U87 (x2)

Vocals:
 * Beyerdynamic M88 through Allen & Heath Mini Limiter

Outboard

 * EMT Echo Plates
 * Roland RE-201 Space Echo(?)
 * UREI 1178 compressor
 * Valley People Kepex II noise gates

Sundry equipment

 * AMEK M2000A mixing console
 * Studer A80 24-track tape machine
 * Studer A80 2-track tape machine
 * UREI monitors powered by Crown amps