Getting the Clapton Tone.

Gassage

How on earth does Eric get so much compressed drive out of his guitar to amp?

I have a big tweed; I have a midboosted strat; I have cranked them, but still nowhere near his level of sag, drive and compression.

Is there something missing? An extra preamp stage or something? I know his amps are modded from even his sig stock, but so, so hard to get there.

And obvs I don't have his fingers.

fretmeister

I like that this is in off topic as Clapton hasn't been relevant for decades.

I can only imagine it's because of his massive use of non-standard medication and a lack of vaccines with a pinch of racism.

crunchman

With your own amp, you are hearing the amp raw.  What you hear with Clapton is almost certainly mic'd and through a desk.  Mic placement a bit off the centre of the cone would soften the top end a bit.  His sound guys might have some kind of mic pre between the mic and the desk.  It might be partly that you aren't hearing your amp processed in the same way.

There are other things you could look at.  You could try a different rectifier valve in your amp. Some will cause more sag than others, and supply a lower voltage to the power valves.  You need to be careful about current requirements but it may be an option.

However he does it, he does cut through.  I was at the Joe Bonamassa gig at the Albert Hall that was recorded and released on DVD.  When Clapton came on for his cameo, he really cut through the mix - far more than Bonamassa did.  

Gassage

@crunchman ;

That's helpful and yes, of course.

This is the tone...it's absolutely wonderful. As is the playing in this- Eric at his finest.

rlw

fretmeister said:

I like that this is in off topic as Clapton hasn't been relevant for decades.

I can only imagine it's because of his massive use of non-standard medication and a lack of vaccines with a pinch of racism.

Bitch

EricTheWeary

There’s a 2021 Rig Rundown but basically sig strats into modded Bandmasters. I think these are 3x10s? Everything on 7 apparently. 

roberty

EricTheWeary said:

There’s a 2021 Rig Rundown but basically sig strats into modded Bandmasters. I think these are 3x10s? Everything on 7 apparently. 

Ah yes, the number of the beast

guitargeek62

Gassage said:

How on earth does Eric get so much compressed drive out of his guitar to amp?

I have a big tweed; I have a midboosted strat; I have cranked them, but still nowhere near his level of sag, drive and compression.

Is there something missing? An extra preamp stage or something? I know his amps are modded from even his sig stock, but so, so hard to get there.

And obvs I don't have his fingers.

Bias it hard to the right.

Offset

roberty said:

EricTheWeary said:

There’s a 2021 Rig Rundown but basically sig strats into modded Bandmasters. I think these are 3x10s? Everything on 7 apparently. 

Ah yes, the number of the beast

More like the neighbour of the beast.

Funkfingers

On stage, at selected marked locations, the monitors will be interacting with the guitar's pickups, contributing feedback to aid sustain.

Axe_meister

Lots of Volume. He also has a Crybaby in the chain, not sure if it is true bypass or not, if not the buffer does colour the sound a little (the dunlop buffer is not particularly good)

Neilybob

I've circled this rabbit hole before but haven't fallen in yet but I'm intrigued to see what the Board have to say regarding this so following.  

victorludorum

How far are you away from your rig when it's cranked? I would imagine that being right next to it would sound different to being at some distance, as we are when we go to gigs.

guitartango

Gassage said:

@crunchman ;

That's helpful and yes, of course.

This is the tone...it's absolutely wonderful. As is the playing in this- Eric at his finest.

Still a great player and tone. Let's burn the Clapton haters!

Gassage

guitartango said:

Gassage said:

@crunchman ;

That's helpful and yes, of course.

This is the tone...it's absolutely wonderful. As is the playing in this- Eric at his finest.

Still a great player and tone. Let's burn the Clapton haters!

When he plays like that, albeit it can be hit and miss with him live, he is untouchable. Literally untouchable.

I was at that show and his playing on that tour was sensational

theatreanchor

guitartango said:

Gassage said:

@crunchman ;

That's helpful and yes, of course.

This is the tone...it's absolutely wonderful. As is the playing in this- Eric at his finest.

Still a great player and tone. Let's burn the Clapton haters!

Sure, but make sure you use Clapton CS strats for firewood. That way we can die smiling. 

Winny_Pooh

I would assume that your J40 is less compressed than Clapton's high power tweeds. 
I'd experiment with the hi/lo switch and get it darker and dirtier and then try different boost levels. 

You also really need to play more aggressively.
You wont get that "sting" with a floppy right hand and lazy vibrato.

Gassage

Winny_Pooh said:

I would assume that your J40 is less compressed than Clapton's high power tweeds. 
I'd experiment with the hi/lo switch and get it darker and dirtier and then try different boost levels. 

You also really need to play more aggressively.
You wont get that "sting" with a floppy right hand and lazy vibrato.

Prob a lot easier with a J10 or 20.

thecolourbox

I'm never normally glad to hear his playing, but I was incredibly grateful to hear it as it meant he'd stopped that god awful "drunk uncle at a funeral wake" singing!

Was a decent tone to be fair to him, but it didn't sound like anything too out of the ordinary. I imagine he had a good team mixing the band as there were so many players on stage so perhaps some compression applied afterwards around the frequencies of his guitar solo pitch?

victorludorum

"Drunk uncle at a funeral wake singing". I think I might have heard it all now. So off the money it's frightening. 

Apologies for the diversion.

roberty

Here we go haha