This website is not endorced by Wipers or Greg Sage!
no photos are mine.
Wipers were an 80s punk rock band from Portland, Oregon fronted by my personal favorite guitarist of all time- Greg Sage. Most people who will read this are most likely familliar with the story. to quote the Official Wipers Website "The Wipers formed in late 1978. Greg Sage said that the idea for the name came from when he worked at a movie theater that had a long hallway of glass that looked over the city of Portland, Oregon. One of his jobs was to clean the glass that would get cloudy from people waiting to enter the theaters. When wiping the glass with a large squeegee, the view of the city would become crystal clear. A “crystal clear view” was the idea he wanted to put into music. The Wipers and Greg Sage went on to record 12 albums and several EP’s. Greg’s original idea was to never tour or do interviews, to be mysterious and let listeners have their own ideas. This original idea was not as possible as he hoped, due to the demands of working in the music industry. Even though staying independent throughout his career there were certain rules in the music world he could not bend. Greg would go on to build some of the equipment used to record the albums creating their distinct sound." I plan on documenting their sound to the best of my ability in order of release.
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BETTER OFF DEAD EP
The first EP (Better Off Dead) will be hard to accurately estimate the equiptment Greg Sage used, as it's hard to find accurate information of even their most accessible material. I recently came across a photo of him with a lefty Fender Stratocaster, from (what I assume) 1963, I'm guessing this for the simple reason that Greg is well known amongst fans to be a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix (Greg is right handed but learned lefty because of his admoration for Jimi), and this would be the same model as the sunburst Stratocaster that Hendrix used, although made for left handed players, as apposed to right handed, as Hendrix would have. I have 0 clue when this was taken, although it would be safe to guess it was while he was still the guitarist for the late American NWA Wrestler Beauregarde, I personally think he may have used this guitar or his Gibson SG for the recording of Better Off Dead. Greg has said the original tapes- which later became the demos for 'Is This Real?'- were recorded on a 4-track. In a old interview with TapeOp (you gotta use the wayback machine, cause I guess noone cares about preservation anymore), he's qouted as saying "Yeah. I think the first tape machine I had was a four track Tascam and a small eight channel mixing board." One can assume he most likely used the same thing to record Better Off Dead. I assume this was a Tascam 70-4 (as it'd be era accurate) and any 8-band EQ system will work. (he was very non-descriptive on the EQ board) for amplification (judging by the picture) was either an old Marshall cab or his trusty Ampeg Gemini I(get used to hearing about this brand of amplifiers) Greg is known for his distain for Marshalls (I don't blame him) so I'd guess he used the Ampeg. He most likely used 1960’s tube “Telefunken ELA M 251 E” condenser microphones for the guitar and vocals. (source). This EP is more grainy than their other stuff. The same idea here applies to the 'Is This Real?' demos that they recorded before the studio edition.
(Above) Greg Sage with a stratocaster
(Above) Tascam 70-4
(Above) Better Off Dead 7-inch linernotes.
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Is This Real? LP/Alien Boy EP
This entry may be the easiest, as it is well documented (...for Greg Sage standards, at least). Greg Sage used his '69 Gibson SG (source on the year "Greg Sage With 1969 Gibson SG") with Soapbar P-90s running into a MXR Distortion +, running into an Ampeg Gemini I. After this, theres some guess work. I would try to reach out to Bob Stoutenberg (the guy who recorded it) and ask, although I can't find any way to contact him and I'm not sure if he's alive anymore. I have reached out directly to Greg Sage to ask questions. I think he used the same Telefunken ELA M251 E mics to record the album, and I assume he used them quite often for recording as they're great microphones. I would guess it was recorded on a 16 track tape recorder.
(Above) Greg Sage (Guitar) and Sam Henry (Drums) where you can see Sages MXR Dist+
(Above) Liner notes for 'Is This Real?'
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Youth Of America
Oh, boy. This one has to be the most interesting one.
The most likely sinario is that he had the same equipment as he did on Is This Real? An Ampeg Gemini I, a Gibson SG with P-90's and an MXR Distortion+. BUT!!! This album is the introduction of his ever-trusty Tape delay: the Maestro Echoplex. Now this box, let me tell you, is incredible. The sounds this little thing makes is the best delay I have ever heard. According to one post onreddit "Greg had several of these and besides the Distortion+ it was the only "effect" he ever used. It is, with no doubt, the key to his guitar sound and style. Without it, he would be missing his natural "huge" solo sound and his ambient guitar playing would be at a miss. His Echoplexes were early solid-state models that he modified to accomidate a footswitch." I will verify this if Greg would be so kind as to reply to my email. But in the meantime, I can say with confidence he used a tape delay. You can get similar sounds with a Demonfx Tape Echo at a much lower price. The giant sound in the tittle track of Youth of America is caused by the tape echo. No other delay would sound similar. Not analog, and for sure not digital. The production of the official release is very mid-range heavy, it was recorded at an in home studio.