The Police Reggatta De Blanc equipment

Reggatta De Blanc is the second studio album released by The Police in October 1979. It was engineered (and co-produced) by Nigel Gray. Chris Gray and (probably) Martin Moss were assistant engineers on the album, but uncredited.

The Police started this album with many months of gigging behind their backs, and this album was where it all began to fall into place. They recorded the album in two stints: one in February 1979 and one in July-August 1979, and took about four weeks altogether. Sting wrote new songs like "Message In A Bottle" and "Walking On The Moon", but the band were incredibly short of material for the album. So bits of older songs were reworked - such as "The Bed's Too Big Without You" (originally a Last Exit tune) and "Bring On The Night" (originally derived from "Carrion Prince", another Last Exit tune). A couple of songs - "Deathwish" and "Reggatta De Blanc" - originated from jam sessions and are one of the very few songs to credit all three members of the band as songwriters.

Reggatta also has the greatest number of Stewart Copeland compositions on a Police album - normally one or two tunes, but four on this album. Two of these were going to be Klark Kent tunes, but were chosen for the album instead (as per The PoliceWiki): "On Any Other Day" and "It's Alright For You". On those tracks, Stewart plays most of the instrumentation, except the guitar solo on "On Any Other Day" played by Andy.

Sting also played the guitar solo on "Bring On The Night", as per The PoliceWiki. Probably with Andy's equipment.

One song, "No Time This Time", was originally recorded for Outlandos D'Amour and released as a B-side to "So Lonely" in 1978, but was included on the album owing to lack of material anyway.

Gear
Basses:
 * 1978 Fender Precision fretless
 * 1979 Ibanez Musician MC-900DS
 * Kramer bass of unknown model - possibly borrowed

Amplification:
 * Ampeg SVT amp head
 * Ampeg SVT-810E cabinets (x2)
 * Marshall bass amps

Other:

Microphones
Sting's basses were recorded both direct and via amp signal. Amps were recorded probably with a PZM going through the wall and into the amp. Vocals were recorded with a Neumann U67

Gear
Guitars:
 * 1963 Fender Telecaster custom
 * Hamer Sunburst Cherry
 * 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior ("It's Alright For You" slide guitar solo)
 * Gibson Les Paul Custom
 * Roland GS-500 guitar synth controller

Effects:
 * Pete Cornish custom FX board

Amplifiers:
 * Fender Twin Reverb - later replaced with Marshalls
 * Marshall 100-watt amp heads
 * Marshall 4x12 cabinets
 * Music Man 212-HD 130-watt

Miscellaneous:
 * Roland GR-500 guitar synthesizer ("Walking On The Moon" bubbling sounds)

Microphones
Guitars were recorded (possibly) with two Electrovoice RE20's or two Shure SM58's, with a Neumann U87 as an ambience mic 3 feet away.

Gear
Drums (TAMA Imperialstar Light Blue drum kit - replaced with a TAMA Imperialstar Jet Black kit for the Summer 1979 sessions):
 * 22" x 14" bass drum
 * 14" x 5" King Beat steel snare
 * 12" x 7" rack tom
 * 13" x 8" rack tom
 * 16" x 15" floor tom

Cymbals (Zildjian Hollow Logo A series and possibly Paiste 2002):
 * 14" New Beat hi-hat
 * 16" Thin Crash
 * 18" Thin Crash (x2)
 * 22" Ping Ride
 * 8" splash

Miscellaneous:
 * Roland RE-301 Chorus Echo
 * Remo Rototom
 * TAMA Octobans

Guitars-wise, on "On Any Other Day" and "It's Alright For You", Stewart might have played a Gibson SG and/or a Fender Stratocaster, and basses-wise a 1968 Fender Telecaster bass - those were his typical go-to instruments for Klark Kent tunes during that period.

Microphones
Stewart's drums were miked with the following: an AKG D-12 (kick), Neumann KM84 or Beyerdynamic M260N (snare), Beyerdynamic M401s or Beyerdynamic Soundstar X1Ns (toms) and AKG C451E's (hi-hat and overheads). Vocals were recorded with Neumann U67.

Studio equipment (Surrey Sound)
Outboard gear & effects:
 * Audio & Design (Recording) SCAMP units including:
 * S24 ADT module
 * other units to be determined
 * AMS DMX 15-80 digital delay
 * EMT 140 plate
 * Rebis RA-402 Parametric EQ (vintage 70s model)

Tape machines:
 * MCI JH-24 24-track 2"
 * Studer 2-track
 * Revox A77 Mk. III (x2) - used for delay on kick drum in "Walking On The Moon"