Adrian Smith's use of guitar synth?

[Nightbat]

"Synths were used for textures on both the albums, rather than as the prominent focus"

that's pretty much true, but it still made the intro of Somewhere in Time Epic!

I also read in some interview of Adrian in those days that the synth parts in SiT were purely made on guitar

The video of Walking on Glass and the one in the OP clearly show that -indeed- it sounds nothing like being played on guitar

[MetalMedal II]

Cool, here's them clearly using it live during the chorus of Stranger In A Strange Land:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkjQ1WZSgYk&feature

[MartinBarre]

Cool vid, brilliant song!

[fordsho90]

Their "unique" sound came from the Gallien Krueger heads they were using at the time. There were some Synth guitar stuff also but the main source of their sound was from the GK stuff. I know this for sure cause a good friend of mine at the time was was a MAJOR D.M and A.S fan and he just had to have that "sound" and well he got it and he paid through the nose for it, and I can tell you had had that sound down perfectly. I got a chance to play the head for a week as swapped ours JCM 800 for the G.K and it was cool but for the price he paid for it not worth it IMO. Also them and Preist got flamed hard for the synth stuff they both put out w/people saying it wasnt "metal" enough, even though I personally though that both Maiden albums were great, but the followup to Powerslave and the Live after Death it was a let down to alot of fans.

[neilli]

Yeah, I meant to mention the Gallien Kruger amps - I'm not sure which exact model they used, but I remember reading that they used them into Marshall 4x12s.

[jong]

SIT was GK 250ML

SSoaSS was GK 2100SEL / CEL. (Head / Combo)

I had a 2100 CEL head for a few years from around 89-92. It had monsterous low end, like you hear in the middle of the title track for SS. It was a one trick pony though. I lent it to some buddies for their band rehearsal one night and they brought it back with a blown output transistor. All of the local amp techs just scratched their heads when they saw it - ended up going back to GK for repair. Bought a Boogie after that and never looked back.

found some pics in this thread: http://www.elitesecurity.org/t359368-0