Criss Oliva - Savatage (RIP)
Guitares
# 1 'Jackson' "Gargoyle"
# 1 White 'Charvel' with airbrush painting of wife 'Dawn'.
# 1 Black 'Charvel'.
# 1 Black 'Charvel' with airbrush painting of the 'Mt. King'.
# 1 Black 'Jackson' with Skull (named by Criss as the 'Don't Smoke Guitar').
# 1 Blue Trans 'Jackson'.
# 1 Blue 'ESP' with airbrush painting of 'Gargoyle', ESP logo airbrushed over as a 'Jackson'.
# 1 Red 'Dean' star.
# 1 White '77 'Fender' Strat.
# 1 Yellow and Black stripped 'Charvel'.
# 1 Cherry Sunburst 'Jackson'.
# 1 Kramer Ferrington.
# 1 Ovation acoustic.
# 1 '62 'Fender' Strat.
# 1 Epiphone D-150 12 string.
Pickups: Bartillini, Jackson/Charvel stock, Seymore Duncans.
# Bridge: Floyd Rose, Jackson/Charvel stock.
Amps:
Some of the amps that Criss has used throughout his career:
# G-100 Solid State Yamaha Bass Cabinet.
# Marshall (w/ Celestions).
# 2 Laney Pro Tube 50 watt
# 1 Laney AOR Pro Tube 50 watt
# 20 Laney 4X12 Cabinets
# 2 Falicon Tri Guitar Cab Racks
Criss ran his amps on the CLEAN channel ONLY!! Most amps have a high and a low output jack for the guitar plug, Criss ALWAYS ran in the LOW Channel.
Strings: LaBella
Pick: Stainless Steel- Used for a more
pristine, crisp and metallic sound, very thick! (same
as those sold through the 'Sava Legion' fan club)
StarPiks
(The makers of Criss' picks)
Pedals:
Some of the pedals that Criss used throughout his career:
# 1 Boss Pedal Board (case).
# 2 Boss Super Overdrives both all the way up except the 1st had the TONE all the way off and the 2nd had the TONE all the way up.
# 1 Boss Chorus CE-2.
# 2 Boss TU-12H Chromatic tuner.
# 1 Boss Power Supply, which powered the entire pedalboard.
# 1 Boss Octave.
# 1 MXR Pedal Board with 'Toys'.
# 1 Roland 201 Space Echo.
# Effects:
Some of the effects that Criss used throughout his career:
Rockman Handheld: After the Mt, King record he used arackmount version (On the clean channel ONLY, used as a Pre-Amp). He also plugged in through the HEADPHONE jack which had been converted to a 3/4" jack, he did this because the headphone jack had more output. And he often used the volume control on the Rockman as opposed to the volume on his amp, he could boost from 15-30db like this. Other rack effects:
# 2 Rockman X100.
# 1 Rockman Sustainer.
# 1 Rockman Stereo Chorus.
# 1 Gemini Power Supply.
# 1 Nady Rackmount 650 Concert Series Wireless.
# 1 Samson Wireless.
# 1 Rackmount Tuner.
# 1 Alesis Midi Verb Delay set to 400-440ms or approx. 4 repeats.
# 1 Peavy Ultra Verb Reverb.
# 1 Compressor.
# 1 Vesta Fire Delay.
# 1 Ibanez Delay.
# 1 Peavy 31 Band Stereo EQ (gain all the way up). Exact settings are unknownas they would often change with different venues acoustics.
Tunings: Savatage used 4 different tunings for their songs.
And they also used different string gauges for each tuning.
Tuning: Gauge: Songs used with these tunings:
'E' : 9-42
Dropped 'D' : 9-46 Damien, Gutter Ballet
'D' : 10-48 All of 'Sirens' up to 'Mt. King'
Dropped 'C' : 10-52 Mt. King, POTN