There’s this issue of the old, defunct but often awesome Guitar Shop mag I have that runs down Dave Gilmour’s live gear from every period of Pink Floyd. Crazy! Actually too much stuff to put in here, but I had to get something in so here we are. The thing that kick-started this post is [...]
Been a loooooong time since I’d heard the Alice in Chains tune “Down In a Hole” until it hit the car radio the other day. First thing that hit me: What a unique use of a standard bottom-of-neck chord progression. And the tune sounded so dang good! Of course guit-slinger Jerry Cantrell has an uber-distorted [...]
In the early ’70s, the Eagles were heading down a country path. That was all well and good, but they wanted to rock.
Yngwie Malmsteen’s signature Marshall has gotten a lot of interest, seemingly more because people like the idea of a 100w Marshall plexi with attentuation (power scaling) than because it’s a signature amp. With the recent NAMM trade show now over, some more details of the amp have come out.
Part 1 Does this sound like a recipe for good rock tone (or even a usable tone) to you: > Mismatched pickups, at least one of which was installed wrong > Boss pedals (plural) – modified and stock – to accentuate mids > Marshall JMP head modded for less gain in the preamp stage and [...]
As everyone knows, to some extent “tone” is ultimately in the hands and heart. But your favorite guitar hero through a POS amp is going to sound like – someone with that guy’s chops through a POS amp. Won’t be the same as through the pro’s chosen rig, no way.
… and don’t we love it! Finally getting to some long-delayed reading and was checking out the June 2010 issue of Guitar World with Keith Richards on the cover. In little letters on the right it says “Plus Peter Frampton,” and that’s where I turned first. Glad I did, good interview.
I dig this version of The Who tune. It’s another simple Scorpions tune, somehow executed with AC/DC-like perfection. And when I heard it recently, I dug the crunchy guitar tone. Only question is, What the heck was it?
Once again was listening to the semi-miraculous satellite radio the other day, and the Megadeth tune “Skin O’ My Teeth” came on. Now, I’m not a huge Megadeth (nor chip-on-the-shoulder Mustaine) fan, but do have a couple Megadeth discs and usually enjoy the rhythms, attitude and tight playing of that band. So while my finger [...]
(Part 3 of 3 on the ’80s BFG) So can we say that the Scholz Rockman was NOT used on Eliminator, and instead Billy used a Legend amp? I’m in that camp – for now. That leaves us what he used on Afterburner, which to my ears has a noticeably “less” woody/meaty guitar tone. To [...]
Long Live Dio! \m/ \m/ As a tribute to the recent passing of Ronnie James Dio (RIP RJD), I thought it would be good to take a look back at the gear a young and fiery Vivian Campbell used on the classic early ’80s Dio albums Holy Diver and The Last in Line. Tone-wise not [...]
Part 2 (Here’s Part 1) Warren DeMartini is yet another example of the fact that much of someone’s tone is in the hands. I say that because Warren played an alder/maple/maple super strat with a Floyd Rose bridge and Seymour Duncan JB humbucker through a 100w Marshall head into Marshall cabs. A typical setup for [...]
Plaid Blues, 4xEL84s, Know Anyone Who Owns a Hiwatt? I’m surfing around, minding my own bidness, when I come across this line: “What do you call an amp that has 10 tubes, five transformers, user-controlled variable feedback, variable bias and a built-in Variac?” I’m thinking, I don’t know…a science experiment? The last act of a [...]
As a kid in high school in the ’80s (early ’80s!), Jake E. Lee was on my list of favorite guitarists – another one of the seemingly endless supply of amazing, cool-looking axemen coming out of LA. I wondered how Ozzy found these guys: Were they lined up on street corners? Hanging out under palm [...]
In September we posted that a new Slash Les Paul was in the works, along with new signature pickups. Well, with the winter NAMM show just weeks away, details about lots of products are beginning to trickle out, including the new Slash pickups. Here’s what we know.
Even though it’s the Year of the Tiger, here’s another Ratt post – this time on Robbin Crosby, who died some years ago of drug addiction. This info, from the April 1987 Guitar Player, is not comprehensive gear-wise but sheds some light on his sound and on what he and Warren used on Dancing Undercover. [...]
I remember the Guitar Player magazine with Warren DeMartini on the cover – because it never arrived. I remember looking forward to it, I remember seeing it in guitar stores, but it never arrived at my house even though I was a subscriber. That’s how guitar-crazy the ’80s were: someone at the post office stole [...]
New ‘Signature’ Pickup… You may be aware that Gibson recently announced two new signature Angus Young Gibson SGs. One is a custom shop model – the Angus Young SG Standard – and the other is a Gibson production model that has the same name minus the Standard. We can learn about what kind of tone [...]
If you follow all things Seymour Duncan, you will have seen a couple weeks ago that the company announced that Seymour himself has been working on Angus Young’s guitars. Here’s what was said: “We’ve been working behind the scenes with Angus Young for the past year. His tech, Takumi Suetsugu, contacted Seymour Duncan about dialing [...]
And Why Hatchet’s First Album Sounded Like Skynyrd I still love Molly Hatchet’s tune “Flirtin’ With Disaster”…and I know I’m not alone! A great song, fast tempo, some great guitar-playing, multiple leads – separated by the southern lead singer whistle which means “c’mon and play something” – harmony leads, it’s all there. Tone of the [...]
Slash signature Les Pauls must be selling pretty well because word is that the Gibson Custom Shop is working on another one, Slash’s fifth by my count. I believe that would make Slash the guy with the most signature Les Pauls ever: > In the late ’90s the Gibson Custom Shop produced the Slash Snakepit [...]
Vid: Ty Goes Through His Current Rig! In terms of Ty Tabor’s “transitional” gear, I won’t go into the gory details here, but for a long while – including King’s X’s latest album, XV – Ty used Yamaha guitars: the Les Paul-like AES series (mostly the 920), and two signature models, one of which had [...]
Lots of websites have been jumping on the recently issued, and “lovingly crafted,” Gibson Pearly Gates replica, but haven’t mentioned the most important stuff: specs and pics! So here they are. But first, the MSRPs of the three versions of this bad-boy:
Based on a Jeff Beck Prototype Updated 7/3/09, 9:10 am EST at bottom of story Finally some closure (understanding of) the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop George Lynch Signature Super V pickup. The below info is from a recent thread on the Seymour Duncan forum, which referred to the following language from this post:
Wayne Charvel Suggested an Ash Body to Ed? Here are some more Edward Van Halen “back in the day” tidbits, though not as far back as last week’s article. We’ll go from farthest back to most recent. As with all Ed-related info, it’s best taken with a grain of salt because there’s been so much [...]
Too Nervous to Meet Clapton?! George Lynch is a gain maniac. Always has been, WAY before the Mesa crowd stormed the gates of rock. He was using solid state Randalls before anyone even heard about Dimebag Darrell (RIP, bro). So I read with interest recent comments he made in a Guitar Center interview. In it [...]
New Mob CD, Super V Pickup Info, T&N Trivia Surfed around a little and picked up the following about George Lynch, for all the fellow Lynch-heads out there. The New Mob If you don’t have Lynch Mob’s first CD, Wicked Sensation – recorded after Dokken bit the dust – you should get it. The songs [...]
Ed’s Sound: Priceless If you’re a fan of Edward Van Halen, ask yourself this question: How much money would you pay for a pickup that EVH personally designed with Seymour Duncan? Bear in mind that good humbuckers can cost anywhere from $40-$50 made by single-person boutique shops to $75-ish for a Duncan or DiMarizio, to [...]
George Lynch of Dokken fame tends to provoke fairly strong like/don’t like reactions from guitar-slingers. I’m a little perplexed by that, probably because I’m in the “like” camp. Obviously George can play like a house on fire, and his work with Dokken and particularly on the first Lynch Mob disc is simply great. He has [...]
The Edward Van Halen and Fender-backed “EVH” brand will soon be selling what they’re calling the EVH Frankenstein Humbucker – which implies that it’s a copy of “the” pickup in Ed’s first and main axe for many years, the Frankenstein, aka Frankie. That’s the guitar that was white with black stripes and then had red [...]
Here’s the New VH Single/Vid: 50w?
Update from a reader (thanks!): Tattoo is is based on an old song, “Down in Flames” – check it below. “Tattoo.” Is it me or have we never heard a Van Halen tune like this before? If Ed used his “grail” Marshall Super Lead on this album, don’t think we’re hearing it on this tune! [...]
Breaking Down the VH NYC Debut
She’s the Woman! Cafe Wha – yeah man! Couldn’t wrangle my son and I an invite, so instead awaited the sure-to-follow YouTube vids. Fingers were crossed that the band would play some new tunes, though had to admit that didn’t make much sense since they hadn’t even released a tune yet. Anyhow, here’s what we [...]
Bonamassa Hears Clapton in EVH: You?
Lots of well-known axe-slingers are quoted in Neil Zlozower’s new (and awesome) Eddie Van Halen book. One is the current white bluesman extraordinaire, Joe “gingers o’ fire” Bonamassa. What he says is interesting, and not sure I can hear what he’s hearing. Bear in mind a couple things: 1. EVH has said many times that [...]
Have You Gone Extra Slinky Yet?
When I recently got an email from a WoodyTone reader – let’s call him Mike because…that’s his real name – I was stoked because I like light strings. I played 10s for years, then went to 9s after getting back into the whole EVH tone quest. With 9s I noticed that the notes “opened up,” [...]
If I ever had a doubt I’m a huge Edward Van Halen fan (never had any doubt, but…), any such insane thought was erased when I finished reading Neil Zlozower’s new Eddie Van Halen book. Yep, reading. Actually got a little emotional at the end of it (*sniff*), reading Nuno Bettencourt’s story about a recent [...]
Did Edward Van Halen have his MXR phaser and flanger modded to boost or not? The initial interviews are inconclusive. Exhibit A, from this recent post: I use a phase shifter, a Phase 90 – MXR, I think. It doesn’t really phase – it just kind of gives you treble boost, which I like. Cuts [...]
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 [...]
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