Kaoru (musician)

is a Japanese musician and one of the guitarists of Dir en grey. He has been with the band since its inception in 1997 and was previously a member of La:Sadie's. He has composed most of Dir en grey's songs (at least up to the "Vulgar" album, at which individual credits for the music were dropped). His contributions display a fair amount of variety, ranging from slow ballads such as "Zakuro" to upbeat numbers like "Jessica". He performs many solos for the band, which vary strongly in feeling and tempo, similar to his compositions. Kaoru uses guitar amplifiers and cabinets by Diezel.

Equipment

Kaoru is endorsed by ESP Guitars in Japan, who provides him with most of his guitars, picks, and straps. In the past, Kaoru primarily used ESP Custom Shop guitars from his signature-series, Ganesa. He stopped using the Ganesa guitars around 2005 and switched to the Viper series, in which he has his own custom model, the D-KV-420.Recently a limited edition Edwards version of his D-KV is being sold.

ESP has released several replicas of Kaoru's signature guitars in Japan through the ESP and Edwards product lines. The ESP artist series offers replicas of the D-KV-420 and the Ganesa II. Edwards offers a miniature Ganesa and replicas of the Ganesa IV and VIII.

Guitars

Pickups and other accessories

* Custom Audio Electronics 3+SE Preamp
* Fender Tone Master Guitar Amplifier
* 2x Marshall 1960 Guitar Cabinets
* Dunlop Cry Baby wah-wah pedal
* Vox V847A wah-wah pedal
* Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer Pedal
* DigiTech Whammy Pedal
* MoogerFooger MF-101 Low Pass Filter
* EMG 81 on neck and EMG 85 on bridge of Ganesa I, II, and IV
* EMG 81 on bridge and Sustainer Driver EMG SA on neck of Ganesa III
* EMG 81 on bridge and neck on most recent Viper
* EMG 707 pickups on Ganesa VII
* Seymour Duncan SH-1n and SH-4 on all 6-string Vipers
* Seymour Duncan SH-1n-7 and SH-4-7 on Viper-SL7
* ESP custom-printed picks
* ESP Dir en grey series guitar strap
* Diezel VH4 amplifiers
* Mesa/Boogie Standard Rectifier Cabinets

References

External links

* [http://www.espguitars.co.jp/gallery/kaoru/index.html Kaoru's custom guitars at ESP]