RSSCategory: Les Paul

Skynyrd Covered: Gear (Part 2)

Skynyrd Covered: Gear (Part 2)

[Part 1 of this post is here.] Have to borrow a line from Homer Simpson: Ahhhhhhhhh, gear. Anyhow, some tunes – like “The Needle and the Spoon” and “Simple Man” – sound like period-correct gear and tones, whereas tunes like “Saturday Night Special” sound a lot more modern. I wanted to know – we all […]

September 12, 2012 | By | Reply More
New Slash Good! Why Slashtone?

New Slash Good! Why Slashtone?

Happened to see a clip of Slash’s band on the Guitar Center Sessions or whatever they’re called, aka MTV Unplugged 2. Personally I find that as boring as I found the Unplugged stuff (hey, let’s take the rock ‘n’ roll out of it – brilliant!), but it reminded me to look into the new Slash […]

July 26, 2012 | By | 4 Replies More
Mick Ralphs’ Hoople and Bad Co Gear

Mick Ralphs’ Hoople and Bad Co Gear

Does it get any better than Bad Company for classic rockage? I’ll answer that for you: No! For years I’ve held onto an old Guitar Player with Mick Ralphs on the cover, and of course now I can’t find it…but I did find the interview online. In it Mick goes into some pretty decent gear […]

February 2, 2012 | By | 2 Replies More
What the Fuzz Did BFG Use?

What the Fuzz Did BFG Use?

I’ve been obsessin’ over the 1980 Rockpalast footage of that little ol’ band from Texas. The boys were a lot more fiery back then, and the Rev. Willy G sounds AWESOME. yeah, some of it’s the style, the hands, all that, but some of it fo sho is that Lester paul through…what? First give this […]

November 16, 2011 | By | 20 Replies More
Mike Campbell’s Mojo Gear = Wood

Mike Campbell’s Mojo Gear = Wood

Been meaning to scribble about this for a while. If you haven’t heard Tom petty’s most recent studio album – Mojo, birthed in 2010 – you need to. It’s not going to rock you out of your undies, but parts of it actually do rock in a vintage way. When I heard the tune “I […]

October 4, 2011 | By | Reply More
Last Cool Stuff From ’78 EVH Transcript

Last Cool Stuff From ’78 EVH Transcript

Here’s the last of the interesting stuff from the newly published transcript of the entire 1978 interview of Edward Van Halen that Jas Obrecht did for Guitar Player mag. Wish there was a lot more! Guitar Stuff The Shark/Destroyer Jas: Does it have a standard neck? EVH: Yeah. It’s completely stock, really, except for the […]

September 6, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Great Tidbits From the ENTIRE ’78 EVH Interview

Great Tidbits From the ENTIRE ’78 EVH Interview

Wooooooo-hooooooooo! Stoked! The earliest interview we have of Edward Van Halen is the one Jas Obrecht did that ran in the July (and then November) 1978 issue of Guitar Player magazine. But we weren’t reading everything Jas had on tape because just like with any print interview, what’s published is cropped way down. At the […]

August 30, 2011 | By | 4 Replies More
How to Make a Les Paul Aerosmith-Worthy

How to Make a Les Paul Aerosmith-Worthy

If a pedigree counts for something, and it always does, it’s tough to beat the three simians that founded 3 Monkeys Amps. The equation goes something like this: Greg Howard: guitar tech to the stars including Brad Whitford, the Black Crowes, etc. + Ossie Ahsen: tech and owner of the former (and highly regarded) Blockhead […]

July 19, 2011 | By | Reply More
Jeff Carlisi’s .38 Special Gear Deets

Jeff Carlisi’s .38 Special Gear Deets

Even though Ronnie Van Zant wrote and sung the line “Handguns are made for killin’, ain’t no good for nothin’ else,” his younger bro Donnie started a band that ended up being named after a handgun. And that band (.38 Special) produced some great stuff tunes in the ’80s, not all of which were the […]

April 26, 2011 | By | 5 Replies More
Welcome To the Hotel California Rigs

Welcome To the Hotel California Rigs

In the early ’70s, the Eagles were heading down a country path. That was all well and good, but they wanted to rock.

April 8, 2011 | By | 5 Replies More
Review: Bonamassa’s Dust Bowl Clapton-esque

Review: Bonamassa’s Dust Bowl Clapton-esque

It’s no secret that I like Joe Bonamassa. The guy is flying the flag – of blues, blues-rock and classic rock. Works hard too. Tours his butt off and puts out new music like bands used to do in the old days: Black Rock about a year ago, Black Country Communion (they’re touring, so get […]

March 22, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
HipKitty’s Mick Jones Signature Amp

HipKitty’s Mick Jones Signature Amp

Part 2, Protos and Rig Details Three prototype amps were used by Neal at HipKitty to start the R&D process for Mick’s signature head. Neal said two 50w heads were started to form the primary distortion channel and tone circuit. The third proto head was/is a 100-watter “that uses the culmination of the refined distortion/tone […]

March 17, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
HipKitty Working on Mick Jones Signature Amp

HipKitty Working on Mick Jones Signature Amp

Part 1 – Plus Iso Tracks! I love Mick Jones’ stuff. Simple riffs, great song hooks and I love the tone he has on some of the older tunes. It’s Marshall plexi, but…different. I’d always thought I heard something different there, anyway. Maybe it had to do with the odd wiring in his Les Paul. […]

March 15, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Today’s Clapton Auction: Drool-Worthy Items

Today’s Clapton Auction: Drool-Worthy Items

And some oddballs…. As I type this, Bonham’s auction house is auctioning off a bunch of Eric Clapton-owned gear to benefit his Crossroads rehab center. Took a look at the online catalog, and here’s what caught my eye, starting with the coolest stuff:

March 9, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Sanyo Pedal Juice Review, Pt 2

Sanyo Pedal Juice Review, Pt 2

High Voltage! by John Drenning Okay, I’ll come clean. I have a Big Stupid Pedalboard. It’s a Furman with eight power taps, four power outlets, casters and an extendable handle like the bags flight attendants use. It takes up about the same amount of floor space as a foosball table. On it are two buffered […]

February 18, 2011 | By | 3 Replies More