Bruce Kulick made a name for himself as the lead guitarist for the legendary rock band KISS during the ’80s and ’90s, but his career didn’t start there.
Two years into his professional career, Kulick in 1977 joined the touring band for Meat Loaf‚ Bat Out of Hell. A classic album if ever there was one.
He didn’t stay with Meat Loaf though. After the tours, Kulick formed a new band called Blackjack. The singer for this band? Michael Bolton, then a new face on the music scene. I have a hard time imaging that myself, but I’m sure with Kulick leading the way, it was full of blazing riffs.
Kulick also played on Billy Squier’s debut album and considered joining the band, but didn’t after receiving an invitation to join KISS at the same time. While I’m sure he could have done great things for Squier, I’m glad he accepted KISS’ invitation.
A member of the band for 12 years from 1984 to 1996, Kulick worked on Asylum, Crazy Nights, Hot In The Shade, Carnival of Souls, Revenge, and Alive III, where he showed his skills live.
After leaving KISS, Kulick formed Union with John Corabi, the singer who took over in Mötley Crüe when Vince Neil left the band. (Corabi now works for Gibson as a clinician.) Since 2001, Kulick has also been the lead guitarist for Grand Funk Railroad.
I’ve known Bruce for several years and can honestly say he is one of the most down-to-earth guitar players I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. There is no doubt about Bruce’s skills in writing and playing music, but from my experience someone of his caliber is usually not that nice to chat with.
I caught up with Bruce recently while he was in Germany on tour and asked him about his rig setup from his days with KISS. He said that in the early days he used modified Marshall amps, but then switched to the stock Marshall JCM900 series.
He also said that he didn’t use many effects, instead getting his tone from the amp and his fingers. During the Alive III tour Kulick said he had an old Hendrix Univibe pedal that he used during the Star Spangled Banner.
For guitars, he used custom and stock ESP and Gibsons. On the Gibson side, Bruce said he used an old Les Paul Jr. and a modern reissue, as well as a ’56 Les Paul Custom and a 57 Reissue with humbuckers. He also had some Les Paul Specials.
I’m using AmpliTube X-Gear, Guitar Rig and Pod Farm to make Bruce’s tone on my computer. Pod Farm has a JCM900 amp model built-in, so I’ll be using that to match what he used live.
In Guitar Rig I used the Ultrasonic model since it has more built-in gain that the JCM800 model included with the app. For AmpliTube I used the 800 model, but made lots of changes to the EQ, cabinet and mic to get the sound I wanted. I also included the Univibe from the Jimi Hendrix package in the preset.
I’m using a guitar with active pick-ups; if you’re not, you may have to adjust the gain a little bit to get the desired sound from the presets.
Here’s a tip of the hat Bruce. Thanks for the years of rockin’ tunes and many more to come!
Download the Bruce Kulick Guitar Rig Preset Here.
Download the Bruce Kulick Pod Farm Preset Here.
Download the Bruce Kulick Amplitube Preset Here.
Check back next week for John Fogerty’s Creedence Clearwater Revival tone!