Bonamassa/Page tones

Basher

Skarloey said:

@basher

Yes, For Your Life. The name came to me just after I've posted! 

I haven't seen or heard the whole 02 gig, but of what I've seen, that's one performance that I thought was spot on, especially Pagey. He's certainly got the old swagger on there. 

I think so too. I really like Presence. It's very intense and quite claustrophobic but it really works.
Love the O2 version. He switches to the in-between setting (not sure which this selects on a 3pu Custom) at 2:25 which sounds very out-of-phase to me (although it might be just bridge-middle giving a lot more midrange cancellation). I love all those honky, skronky tones he uses and Presence is full of them.

 

chrisj1602

That Custom has a 6 way Freeway switch.

ICBM

Basher said:

He switches to the in-between setting (not sure which this selects on a 3pu Custom) at 2:25 which sounds very out-of-phase to me (although it might be just bridge-middle giving a lot more midrange cancellation). 

Unless his one does something else, that's exactly what the middle position on a 3-pickup Custom is - bridge and middle - like a Strat, it's not "out of phase" but does have a lot of harmonic cancellation. But it's much better-sounding than a Strat in my opinion … it's more open and doesn't have that clicky thinness I detest so much about the Strat in-between sound.

Damn, I am beginning to want one of these again .

meltedbuzzbox

ICBM said:

Basher said:

He switches to the in-between setting (not sure which this selects on a 3pu Custom) at 2:25 which sounds very out-of-phase to me (although it might be just bridge-middle giving a lot more midrange cancellation). 

Damn, I am beginning to want one of these again .

Its the only humbucking guitar I have in my house :-)

They are awesome. 

chrisj1602

I have had a quote to add a middle HB to my LP.  Would you recommend it @meltedbuzzbox ?

meltedbuzzbox

chrisj1602 said:

I have had a quote to add a middle HB to my LP.  Would you recommend it @meltedbuzzbox ?

I think its a marmite thing bud. It is my least used position on my LP in all honesty. I bought it more for the looks (I always wanted one). 

Definitely try one before you go for it. Its one of those decision you wont be able to reverse. 

ICBM

I depends if you're going to wire it as stock for a 3-pickup Gibson - in which case I would say only do it if you're certain you love that bridge-middle sound enough to lose the standard two-pickups tone (and bear in mind that you can't blend pickups with it, it uses the bridge volume and tone controls alone) - or do something different, either with a Freeway switch or by using a 3-vol/master-tone setup or something.

I would probably have to do something different since the standard two-pickups tone is my favourite setting on any humbucker guitar.

chrisj1602

I was think of buying a harness that lets you turn on the middle pickup with a push pull...

http://www.martinsixstringcustoms.com/collections/prewired-gibson-wiring-harnesses/products/prewired-les-paul-custom-3-pickup-wiring-harness

meltedbuzzbox

@impmann what was that mod you told me about that you had on your old Gibson custom 3 humbucker thingy

impmann

Basher said:

Skarloey said:

I liked his 02 gig tone on that song off Presence, the one he played on a black lester.

What's it called? Y'know that really memorable track...

For Your Life...

Watch that again, closely...

NOT A TRUE LIVE PERFORMANCE. 

Some of it is. But Pagey can't help himself - loads overdubbed (just like Song Remains the Same). Check out his fingers relative to the audio at 4.50 onwards. He also must have a rare self tuning and self detuning and then self retuning Les Paul. Can't see the robot tuners, mind...

RocknRollDave

ICBM said:

I depends if you're going to wire it as stock for a 3-pickup Gibson - in which case I would say only do it if you're certain you love that bridge-middle sound enough to lose the standard two-pickups tone (and bear in mind that you can't blend pickups with it, it uses the bridge volume and tone controls alone) - or do something different, either with a Freeway switch or by using a 3-vol/master-tone setup or something.

I would probably have to do something different since the standard two-pickups tone is my favourite setting on any humbucker guitar.

As ever, a wisdom for @ICBM. My friend has a "Black Beauty" LP Custom (three p/ups, Bigsby..) and when I played it and swicthed over to the centre position I had to do a double-take as the sound was absolutely nothing like I was expecting. Not necessarily in a bad way - in fact I quite liked it and I think it adds to the versatility of the instrument - but definitely not a sound everyone would like, and @ICBM is quite right that you may miss the regular "neck + bridge" centre position if it's not there.

RocknRollDave

impmann said:

Basher said:

Skarloey said:

I liked his 02 gig tone on that song off Presence, the one he played on a black lester.

What's it called? Y'know that really memorable track...

For Your Life...

Watch that again, closely...

NOT A TRUE LIVE PERFORMANCE. 

Some of it is. But Pagey can't help himself - loads overdubbed (just like Song Remains the Same). Check out his fingers relative to the audio at 4.50 onwards. He also must have a rare self tuning and self detuning and then self retuning Les Paul. Can't see the robot tuners, mind...

I've not seen any of the bootlegs of the O2 show, but I've read comments online where people have said that, for example, Dazed and Confused was a bit of a train wreck in parts and that it has definitely been "tidied up" for the official release - whether that is true, I don't know.

I find it a bit worrying to think that the playing on the night may have been worse than what DID make the official cut, as it's hardly flattering of Page as it stands....

chrisj1602

RocknRollDave said:

ICBM said:

I depends if you're going to wire it as stock for a 3-pickup Gibson - in which case I would say only do it if you're certain you love that bridge-middle sound enough to lose the standard two-pickups tone (and bear in mind that you can't blend pickups with it, it uses the bridge volume and tone controls alone) - or do something different, either with a Freeway switch or by using a 3-vol/master-tone setup or something.

I would probably have to do something different since the standard two-pickups tone is my favourite setting on any humbucker guitar.

As ever, a wisdom for @ICBM. My friend has a "Black Beauty" LP Custom (three p/ups, Bigsby..) and when I played it and swicthed over to the centre position I had to do a double-take as the sound was absolutely nothing like I was expecting. Not necessarily in a bad way - in fact I quite liked it and I think it adds to the versatility of the instrument - but definitely not a sound everyone would like, and @ICBM is quite right that you may miss the regular "neck + bridge" centre position if it's not there.

The wiring hanness I linked to has the regular LP 3 way wiring, B, B&N, N but then a push pull to bring in the M pickup to any position on the 3 way giving you any combination.

impmann

My old LP Custon 3 pickup was wired like a regular LP but with 2 volumes and a master tone control. The middle pickup was wired to the remaining pot and could be blended into any position of the three way - very cool mod, IMHO.

ICBM

chrisj1602 said:

The wiring hanness I linked to has the regular LP 3 way wiring, B, B&N, N but then a push pull to bring in the M pickup to any position on the 3 way giving you any combination.

How is it connected when on - directly to output (ie no volume or tone control)? I can't see any other way it could connect in *both* single-pickup positions independently so it would go through their volume and tone controls. It isn't mentioned, and the pic isn't clear enough to tell.

It's a bit of a minefield getting it to work properly with all the pickup options, with proper control over them, and without changing the appearance of the guitar, in fact… or without using a Freeway switch, which have had reports of reliability problems.

xSkarloey

Steve Clarke out of Def Leppard used to rock 3 pup Les Pauls as well. Had two. One black and one white. Both with Kahlers of course. 

meltedbuzzbox

RocknRollDave said:

ICBM said:

I depends if you're going to wire it as stock for a 3-pickup Gibson - in which case I would say only do it if you're certain you love that bridge-middle sound enough to lose the standard two-pickups tone (and bear in mind that you can't blend pickups with it, it uses the bridge volume and tone controls alone) - or do something different, either with a Freeway switch or by using a 3-vol/master-tone setup or something.

I would probably have to do something different since the standard two-pickups tone is my favourite setting on any humbucker guitar.

As ever, a wisdom for @ICBM. My friend has a "Black Beauty" LP Custom (three p/ups, Bigsby..) and when I played it and swicthed over to the centre position I had to do a double-take as the sound was absolutely nothing like I was expecting. Not necessarily in a bad way - in fact I quite liked it and I think it adds to the versatility of the instrument - but definitely not a sound everyone would like, and @ICBM is quite right that you may miss the regular "neck + bridge" centre position if it's not there.

this might come in handy fella 

Catthan

Clueless on LPCs and Pagey's wirings but back to JB tone, iirc he mentioned in one vid that his Jubilees were the core of his tone, well,, before he got Dumbles and Friedmans and other boutique stuff. also somewhere else he mentioned that what people interpret as high gain is really loud volume/ full bodied tones from loud amps. don't remember if he referred to less pre- and more power amp saturation by cranking the plexis/ Jubs.
I really like him as a player but I would expect that sb with all that gear in his disposal would get much better sounds..
He does get much mileage tho from having really nailed down some of the nuances that make his idols unique and this is usually overlooked.
So, OP, get some BB King, early Clapton and Eric Johnson under your fingers and then LPs/ strats and Marshalls/ Fenders would get you in the ballpark although at that point gear will be less crucial if you got the chops down.
IMHO I don't think there's much in Pagey's tone but to each their own.
Chops and style are again more important

RocknRollDave

meltedbuzzbox said:

RocknRollDave said:

ICBM said:

I depends if you're going to wire it as stock for a 3-pickup Gibson - in which case I would say only do it if you're certain you love that bridge-middle sound enough to lose the standard two-pickups tone (and bear in mind that you can't blend pickups with it, it uses the bridge volume and tone controls alone) - or do something different, either with a Freeway switch or by using a 3-vol/master-tone setup or something.

I would probably have to do something different since the standard two-pickups tone is my favourite setting on any humbucker guitar.

As ever, a wisdom for @ICBM. My friend has a "Black Beauty" LP Custom (three p/ups, Bigsby..) and when I played it and swicthed over to the centre position I had to do a double-take as the sound was absolutely nothing like I was expecting. Not necessarily in a bad way - in fact I quite liked it and I think it adds to the versatility of the instrument - but definitely not a sound everyone would like, and @ICBM is quite right that you may miss the regular "neck + bridge" centre position if it's not there.

this might come in handy fella 

Was that entirely necessary...?

Cheers...

guitarcookie1

ICBM;303033" said:

Basher said:He switches to the in-between setting (not sure which this selects on a 3pu Custom) at 2:25 which sounds very out-of-phase to me (although it might be just bridge-middle giving a lot more midrange cancellation). 





Unless his one does something else, that's exactly what the middle position on a 3-pickup Custom is - bridge and middle - like a Strat, it's not "out of phase" but does have a lot of harmonic cancellation. But it's much better-sounding than a Strat in my opinion … it's more open and doesn't have that clicky thinness I detest so much about the Strat in-between sound.

Damn, I am beginning to want one of these again .

My two favourite sounds out of any guitar are bridge+middle in an LP custom and middle+neck on a Strat.

Not sure how I'd get that out of one guitar though..?