Gibson Basses in the UK

[Dave W]

It's apples and oranges, there's no "better" with stuff like this. Re Clapton, well yes, but it's HIM, his style changed, it wasn't the fault of the guitar he chose to play. Although I agree that a Gibson better suited the Mayall and Cream material.

Re the twang, hey, that's what a Fender guitar's all about. If one doesn't like the taste of fish, one shouldn't dine on flounder!

^^^ This.

The scale length has a lot to do with the twang. Play a Tele with a Gibson-scale conversion neck and you'll notice the difference right away.

[westen44]

I tried to post and somehow my post didn't go through.  But it wasn't much of a post anyway.  Because I'm in the middle of taking care of a sick relative and this isn't going to end anytime soon.  The point is I'm dead tired and it's hard to be very lucid.  I'm not sure if I can even add much of anything relevant at this point anyway since there have been so many posts while I've been gone.  But I especially liked all the detailed info about Hendrix. 

[Alanko]

They look like 2x15's with the JBL D-130 speakers and silver cones.  Could be D-140's too.  Dick Dale likes the 140's.

Sounds good! The whole backline at the Newport Pop Festival was Fender, unless Hendrix had some secret sauce rigged up somewhere. There is footage of the gig, and Hendrix looks like he is standing in front of a silver wall.

Interesting to hear 'twang' mentioned in the context of Hendrix, as he seems to have been fairly consistent in keeping the twang out of his tone. If you see pictures or video of Woodstock he is running those big curly cables between everything, including his Univibe/wah/fuzz setup. No patch cables! Again on the Metro Amps forum somebody reckons he had about 90 ft of coiled cable from guitar to amp, and the cumulative capacitance of that lot would go a long way to dial out the twang.

[uwe]

^^^ This.

The scale length has a lot to do with the twang. Play a Tele with a Gibson-scale conversion neck and you'll notice the difference right away.

That is what I like about a Fender guitar sound - always have. And if I'm honest, then I prefer Clapton's Strat-sound from the early 70ies onwards to his 60ies Gibson sound. The "essential-ness" of his gentleman blues playing, his sparse choice of notes, all that came across better with the Strat, less in sound density being more in expression. His sound and playing matured. By his own choice, he went the blues singer-songwriter road and did not want to found Led Zeppelin II, Ten Years After II or Clapton, Bogert & Appice (at least they would have had a singer then!!!). I respect that - at the time it was not an overtly commercial move, much the opposite. In an age of emerging guitar heroes he rather wanted to be George Harrison or Robbie Robertson. And for all the criticism about him allegedly "selling out", he has stayed true to that road he took after the demise of Cream to this day.

[westen44]

Sounds good! The whole backline at the Newport Pop Festival was Fender, unless Hendrix had some secret sauce rigged up somewhere. There is footage of the gig, and Hendrix looks like he is standing in front of a silver wall.

Interesting to hear 'twang' mentioned in the context of Hendrix, as he seems to have been fairly consistent in keeping the twang out of his tone. If you see pictures or video of Woodstock he is running those big curly cables between everything, including his Univibe/wah/fuzz setup. No patch cables! Again on the Metro Amps forum somebody reckons he had about 90 ft of coiled cable from guitar to amp, and the cumulative capacitance of that lot would go a long way to dial out the twang.

For the record, I wasn't talking about Hendrix's twang on a Fender.  He is my favorite guitarist and as far as I know, there was no twang.  I'm talking about when most other people play a Fender, like myself, for instance.  I am still heavily involved in taking care of a sick person and I'm not sure if I've even read everything on this thread.  But the point I'm actually trying to make is that having owned a mid-60s Tele and a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Jr, I still sounded way better on the Gibson even when I was extremely rusty on guitar.  I have neither guitar now.  Like mentioned on another post, the Tele got stolen.  Years later, I sold the other one, although it's unlikely I'd ever let go of a vintage Gibson bass like that. 

So far most of the guitarists mentioned on this thread have been some of my favorite guitarists: namely, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and George Harrison.  But that has nothing to do with the fact that they played Fender.  Fender is fine, but I just personally prefer the sound of a Gibson guitar.  Plus, I feel that I have literally been personally shown the reasons for that. 

@JazzBassTbird:
I tried to respond to your post, but for some reason my post did not go through.  But I think almost everything I was trying to say is in this post anyway. 

[uwe]

I admit that I have a penchant for Strat players: Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Robin Trower, Ritchie Blackmore, Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton. Not that I couldn't appreciate Carlos Santana and Alvin Lee or Frank Zappa or Jimmy Page or Brian May but at least in Britain (with the exception of Irishman Rory and of course Jimi all named Strat players are Brits) guitar heroism went side by side with Strat playing. I think that not only Hendrix but also Hank Marvin proved a lasting influence on British players in this regard.

There is something in a Strat sound when played with little effects that is naturally imposing. Gibsons sound sweet, but they don't have that trait.

[Alanko]

Some of the tidiest Strat tones I've heard recently have been on Guru Guru's Kanguru album. Guitarist is Ax Genrich, apparently. At a guess he is using Marshalls on the record, but he has the full palate of sting, clang and roar at his disposal. This thread is giving me Strat GAS! 

[nofi]

stevie ray vaughan.

[Dave W]

I didn't mean to imply that Strats twang, I was talking about Teles. But scale length is still an essential part of Strat tone.

[Stjofön Big]

I guess we're already quite off track here, so let me push for the early 60's Swedish instrumental group The Shanes, from Tuollavaara just outside of Kirunavaara (-vaara stands for mountain in a language I don't understand), the city that once was considered as the largest city of the world (20 000 square kilometers). This is straight miner's kids in their mid- to late teenyears. Heard them severeal times at a dancing hall deep in the woods close to the mighty Big Luleå river - yes, there was a Little Luleå river, too!

When they were about to record their first 45, Gunfight Saloon, in the spring of -63, the producer wanted The Shanes to were Lap's caps for the cover. The Shanes refused. We ain't no Samojeds, they said. And so it was.

But The Shanes invested in samething else at that stage of their career - they later moved to the capital of Sweden, Stockholm, and became very succesfull - and that was red Fender guitars and bass. When we speak of the tone of the Stratocaster, this is the sound I hear in my mind. And listen to that rhythm guitar, too. What a sound! Like a fast tight creek in the Sami country.

In the fall of -64 I negotiated with Svante, the bass player of The Shanes, about buying his P bass. Couldn't afford it at 16, with no steady job (Hey, that sounds like a title for something: 16, with no steady job!), so I bought a Höfner violin bass instead. Like $15 cheaper.... As Ricky Nelson put it, so elegantly: Fools rush in!

Anyway, Laddies & Gentlemen.... Bring 'em on, son....... The Shanes, and their second 45, from the late summer of '63:  Pistoleros!!!

[Highlander]

Transported to back when I was a kiddie...

[westen44]

This quote from the article in the link below pretty much says it all for me.  It's talking about the way Clapton sounded playing Gibsons.  I can't think of anything else I would want to add. 

Clapton's infinitely sustained tough-but-feminine sound — a buttery, clearly articulated yet snarling instrumental voice radically different from the bright twangy distortion prevalent among guitarists of the mid 1960s.


http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/ProductSpotlight/Tone-Tips/how-to-get-claptons-classic/

[nofi]

dual showman i think.

[uwe]

Some of the tidiest Strat tones I've heard recently have been on Guru Guru's Kanguru album. Guitarist is Ax Genrich, apparently. At a guess he is using Marshalls on the record, but he has the full palate of sting, clang and roar at his disposal. This thread is giving me Strat GAS! 

Lord, the world is a tiny place, someone in an essentially American forum mentioning Guru Guru and Ax Genrich? 

I saw Ax Genrich in the seventies with his solo split-off "Highdelberg" - he was a good guitarist.

[uwe]

I didn't mean to imply that Strats twang, I was talking about Teles. But scale length is still an essential part of Strat tone.

Teles are of course the arch-twangers, but there is a less ostentatious twang to Strats too. That said, Jimmy Page showed with his Whole Lotta Love solo how a Tele can roar, and I love what Quo do sonically with two Teles.





Rossi's Tele lead tone is top notch: