Star guitarist using very modest amp....

Jalapeno

ICBM said:

Sassafras said:

EricTheWeary said:

crunchman said:

Sassafras said:

Didn't Brian May use some weird little transistor contraption that the bass player built from scrap parts?

I may be wrong, but I think that was into the front of an AC30.

The Deacey wasn't it? Vox did a run of them at some point.

That's the chap. They were priced at something ridiculous like £700 or £800.
They looked like a budget Japanese stereo's shelf speaker.

That's because it was . It was actually an old amp circuit that John Deacon found in a skip - no-one seems to be sure exactly what it is, but it's likely to have been something with germanium transistors designed for 'general audio', which he fitted into a cheap hi-fi speaker cabinet.

I'm not sure if they ran it into an AC30, but it was more often used to record the 'orchestral' guitar parts by being put face down on a cushion and mice'd from behind, if I remember rightly…

Vox marketed both a version of the complete amp, and also a pedal which was supposedly based on the sound, although I have no idea if the circuit was the same.

The amp & pedal were very different, I have had both in the past  - the pedal - wasn't suitable to play live as there's loads of settings fiddle with the Vox Amp however was an ace little thing though - saw one played with live the Vox speaker output fed into the speaker of a Mesa Boogie Mk2 (amp unused !!!!!!)

professorben

timmysoft said:

I use a Tiny Terror and I'm mega famous because I was on telly once.

How Clean is Your House doesn't count dude. 

Johnnyseven

EricTheWeary said:

ICBM said:

stratman3142 said:

I've seen clips of Nile Rodgers using a Hot Rod Deville. 

He uses a pair of them, clean channel only of course, apparently with everything turned up full! He controls it all from the guitar, presumably - they are loud amps otherwise.

Before that he had a pair of Peavey Classic 50s.

EricTheWeary said:

Anyway, Felicia Collins ( on stage guitarist  for Madonna and Cindy Lauper and others) was in the house band of the Late Show with David Letterman and entertained millions of Americans every night through a Crate Powerblock. 

I have to say that the Crate Powerblock is a really horrible amp, and just because someone uses one in a TV house band doesn't change my opinion. I'm surprised it was reliable enough too...

As the only player of any kind of note to ever use one they probably gave her a warehouse full of them in case they went wrong. It may be for tv that you don't really want a big sound - something quite nasal probably comes across better? 

The guitarist from Deerhoof used to use them too.

I remember seeing a clip of Oasis once and Noel had a load of expensive looking amps but the only one which was mic'ed was a Blues Junior which was perched on the top of them all.

Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) has used a Peavey Roadmaster for 30 years or so.

I've seen Andy Gill (Gang of Four) play a Peavey Classic 30.

MartinB

impmann said:

chromatuna said:

stratman3142 said:

Steve Hillage has used a Pod XT Pro.

Which IMHO sounds awful! I am a huge fan of Gong and of  Hillage's 70s work, it was great to see him playing with a band again from the small Gong Un Convention of 2005 onwards but his recorded sound on the 2032 album is terribly digital and clinical to my ears to the point where it diminishes my enjoyment of the music. Just my 2d worth....

What does 'digital' sound like? Can you hear the 1s or the 0s best on your CD player or is it best to experience it on MP3?

While I wouldn't put it down to being "digital", there is definitely something about Hillage's sound on 2032 that I find a bit unsatisfying.  It lacks some immediacy and is a bit too processed/effected sounding IMO.  It almost has a kind of early-2000s metal sound in places that sits oddly for Gong.  I saw him a few years ago doing System 7, and I thought his no-amp sound was excellent there among the trancey sequenced stuff and synth noises, but in a Gong context with drum kit and bass guitar I wasn't quite feeling it.  But I guess Gong is always going to be a somewhat retro affair, and I found the following album "I See You" much more satisfying despite not having Hillage on it. 

richardhomer

Johnnyseven said:
I remember seeing a clip of Oasis once and Noel had a load of expensive looking amps but the only one which was mic'ed was a Blues Junior which was perched on the top of them all.

But he could never be accused of having 'great tone' to be fair....

professorben

richardhomer said:

Johnnyseven said:
I remember seeing a clip of Oasis once and Noel had a load of expensive looking amps but the only one which was mic'ed was a Blues Junior which was perched on the top of them all.

But he could never be accused of having 'great tone' to be fair....

I thought he had a wicked tone, gibbo semis into cranked Ac30's/Fenders and single channel Marshalls. 

Hes not the greatest blues lead player, but he wasn't in a blues band. 

Johnnyseven

richardhomer said:just

Johnnyseven said:
I remember seeing a clip of Oasis once and Noel had a load of expensive looking amps but the only one which was mic'ed was a Blues Junior which was perched on the top of them all.

But he could never be accused of having 'great tone' to be fair....

That wasn't part of the question.

Alterlifeson

professorben said:

richardhomer said:

Johnnyseven said:
I remember seeing a clip of Oasis once and Noel had a load of expensive looking amps but the only one which was mic'ed was a Blues Junior which was perched on the top of them all.

But he could never be accused of having 'great tone' to be fair....

I thought he had a wicked tone, gibbo semis into cranked Ac30's/Fenders and single channel Marshalls. 

Hes not the greatest blues lead player, but he wasn't in a blues band. 

He's switched over to a Bassbreaker 15 by the looks of it, sounded great when I saw them at Twickenham.

Fretwired

impmann said:

Last time I saw Jan Akermann he was using a Pod Pro.

Although hardly "guitar gods" but the guys from Elbow still use Line6 Pod XT Lives to provide their sounds - especially on bass. The whole of Seldom Seen Kid was recorded with them.

For fx only .. no amp modelling. He usually goes into a Marble valve amp.

Fretwired

flyingv said:

Billy Gibbons'  used a Marshall  lead 12 recording  'my heads in Mississippi.

He has also used a classic 50's Fender Champ as did Clapton on the Layla sessions.

Fretwired

John McLaughlin used a laptop and Amplitube for years along with a MIDI interface and Omnisphere.

These days he just uses pedals.

From 2011 .. virtual cable .. :-)

John_A

Did a gig recently where the guitarist in the band that were on before us used an old Roland Bolt that looked like it was about to fall to bits, he sounded great!  It's all in the fingers, a shame, but true

ESBlonde

John_A said:

Did a gig recently where the guitarist in the band that were on before us used an old Roland Bolt that looked like it was about to fall to bits, he sounded great!  It's all in the fingers, a shame, but true

There seems to be a modern idea that you need the latest 'thing' to sound cool or great. Remember guitarists have been sounding great with 1950s and 1960s technology for decades. The problem is many of those amps are either too collectable or worn out and unreliable. The Roland Bolt was a great little tone generator, Roland have made a sequence of nice combos over the years.

IvisonGuitars

ICBM said:

Gassage said:

Jonny Buckland uses a pair of Hot Rod Devilles !!

So do a lot of good players. They're reliable, easily replaceable and sound fine.

This. 

As a touring guitar tech for 15 years, I can count on the tigers of one hand the 'boutique' gear I worked with. 9 times out of 10 the younger bands were using Hot Rod Deluxes/Devilles because, as @ICBM says, they sounded great, were reliable and were easily replaced at 6pm in the arse end of Nevada if a disaster were to happen. Same with pedals, you'll find the majority of touring boards are all BOSS pedals and perhaps a Strymon or two. Again easily obtainable.

 The only time I had MAJOR problems with amp reliability was when a band I was working with were persuaded to use JMI AC30's - Yes, we all know who's behind them, it was out of my hands - we ordered 4, 2 turned up faulty straight out of the boxes the other 2 were limped around the UK for a few weeks. I refused to continue with them to Europe and we found something else.

The whole 'boutique' thing is perpetrated by us lot of 'tone hounds'/windbags on forums!  

That said, you will almost certainly find a Matchless DC30 or Bad Cat Black Cat in most Nashville studios these days so they are prevalent on those recordings.

John_A

miserneil said:

I can count on the tigers of one hand .....

Auto-correct is funny sometimes

IvisonGuitars

John_A said:

miserneil said:

I can count on the tigers of one hand .....

Auto-correct is funny sometimes

No, I genuinely toured with a handful of tigers....kept the liggers and abundant groupies away.... ahem

EricTheWeary

Not exactly a household name maybe but King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys have been going for many years, made albums, TV appearances and did some pretty big gigs ( like Birmingham town hall). I've seen them a few times and the guitarist would always have a nice archtop played through a combo that got increasingly tatty over the years, lots of bits of the cover dropping off. Never quite sure what it was although looking at some photos some ancient LAB Series combo. 

Anway, wisdom point available for identifying who the bassist in this version of the line up plays with now. 

IvisonGuitars

EricTheWeary said:

Anway, wisdom point available for identifying who the bassist in this version of the line up plays with now. 

It's Al Gare, plays with Imelda May now

EricTheWeary

Point given  

PolarityMan

The last ever motorhead gig was actually a mic'ed up MG15 behind a stack of empty marshall cabinets.