Clapton + Marshall = The Tone... that Dumble (re)Created

[ayan]

Do you have the Eric Clapton and Friends DVD from 1986 with Phil Collins? It's a must have, even though it's only ~60 minutes. He plays a prototype signature strat w/out the mid-boost. The unseen amp is a JCM800 1987 model. The cabs may be the 2-12" EVs in Marshall 4-12" cabs...not sure.

Not sure where your info for EC Was Here comes from. I saw him on that tour...August 1975. All Blackie, all night.

A number of people have commented about the Explorer around those times. Apparently, there were two versions of the same tour... The first time around, EC had Blackie and didn't do so well, handing it over to George Terry for many of the solos. Then, as the story goes, there was another tour in which EC broke out the Explorer and "took care of business." I think, listening to that record, that there is a distinct difference between his tone and George Terry's, although (I think) Terry used a Strat and both used MusicMan amps. Also, if you listen to "Have You Ever Loved a Woman," where they trade solos, when George Terry plays you can hear the single coil hum on the recording, big time. However, Clapton's tone is way phater, and quiet.

But, I wasn't there... so all bets are off. However, the tone on that record is unlike the tones he was getting at that time on the various recording in which you can tell (by the tambre of the guitar) that he was using Blackie.

One thing I think is really funny is that on the LP version -- I am 48 and I bought the vinyl -- "Driftin' Blues" faded out and that was that. But on the CD, they put the extended version of the tune, and rather than fading out on Terry's solo at 3'20" or so, the recording goes on Slowhand breaks out the slide. It seems to be a guitar set up for slide.... in the wrong key, though. By 5'29" the shit hits the fan big time and you can tell the band struggles. By 6' or so, the band finally catches on and changes keys. Pretty funny... but, a jewel of a recording anyway.

Gil

[ayan]

I searched for some you tube clips of Clapton at the ARMS concert.. Couldn't find any good ones.. Not to derail this thread Gill but I did run into a partial set of Jeff Beck at the same show..I love the tone he gets here.. Quite a departure from his usual Rat pedal through a Marshall gain out the Kazoot..tone.
You kind of miss those harmonics that sound like they were generated from Mars or something .. Doesn't matter.. a lesson on how to use the whammy bar!!
Now back to EC..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VPQXLCx ... L&index=33




Tony VVT

No worries, Tony, it's all good man! Clapton, Beck... Santana (back in the day) and the phatest Strat player on the planet, Ritchie B. That's what gave me drive to play the guitar. Then there was Carlton... Man, I miss my younger days.

Gil

[talbany]

Ritchie B. That's what gave me drive to play the guitar. Then there was Carlton... Man, I miss my younger days. Smile

BLACKMORE!! The Rainbow album he did with Ronnie James Long Live Rock and Roll.. I swear I wore a hole in that LP.. Gates of Babylon..Kill The King!! Long Live.. w/ Cozy Powell on the drums..Sheit... I thought Ritchie and Ronnie James were a match made in heaven or in there case Hell...Listening to those 2 go at it they would leave you with no doubt that they were POSSESSED!!! I miss those days too!!Crap I derailed again... No more!!




Tony VVT

[talbany]

I just remembered this story.... I know I am hogging this page.. I gotta tell this then I'll leave everyone alone.. In the Late 80's the Stones were playing some big benefit for the Red Cross Farm Aid thing.. Anyway they started on Red Rooster.. Clapton walks out with a Strat joins in.. Come solo time Mick gives EC the nod.. Eric launches into this fire-breathing solo when he's finished he looks over to Mick.. When the camera pans back over to Mick...he has this look on his face like WTF... then he and Eric start laughing.. They laughed all the way around the progression.. I wish I could find that clip... It was PRICELESS!!..EC at his best.. alright I'll shutup now..



Tony VVT

[dave g]

After I built my first Bluesmaster, the very first thing that came to my head was "This sounds like a JTM 45..."

I'm in complete agreement here - to me, the BM OD is a Bluesbreaker that you don't have to crank to sound good

[stelligan]

To me things took a wrong turn when he got the active stuff in his signature model, because was he ended up with was not a Strat tone anymore, and it definitely was not as happening as a Gibson tone either.

Bingo. I know we are talking amp tone, but I have a hard time thinking of a benchmark tone that did not begin with a reasonably stock Fender or Gibson: Strat, Les Paul, Tele, SG or 335/345. There is the occasional Flying V or Esprit in there..... Oh wait, those are Gibsons and Fenders.....

[Zippy]

Still, although I think he peaked at an insanely young age (how old was he during the Mayall stint, 21?) -- unlike, say, Jeff Beck, who is to me the most incredibly gifted electric guitar player of our times and continues to blow minds in his 60s -- I think the stuff that Clapton started back in the 60s is monumental. My first hero, maybe my last hero as well.

If you've not yet seen his autobiography, it is a great read. Interesting -although not surprising in light of his Antigua Project - that he is quite humble and does not glorify his drug use.

http://www.amazon.com/Clapton-Autobiogr ... 441&sr=1-1

[wjdunham]

Noone ever seems to mention the tone Clapton gets on Strange Brew, it seems different to me than most everything else he did in that era. The only other time I've ever heard anything close is Mick Taylor's solo work on the Stones "If you can't rock me". IMHO, the best guitar tones I've ever heard.

[Baxtercat]

You mean the jam at the end of 'Can't You Hear Me Knockin' ? That's a good tone, innit....[When I saw Mick Taylor with Mayall at the Whiskey it might have been an SG?]

Structo; I think Sunshine [and Strange Brew] might've been the SG thru the Marshall Superlead. Pretty buzzy and fuzzy album compared to Fresh Cream.

Blackmore: now your talking! Back then I wanted to trade my Strat for a Paul or any HB guitar, but the 'Burn' LP by Deep Purple showed me it was much better to keep it and learn to work it!

...another flashback: this geezer remembers seeing Cream at the Whiskey for $3.00. [That was a smallish club for double stacks.]

[titanicslim]

I think I've found the secret on his website:

"We first analysed Eric's vintage [tweed Twin] amp to the specs then we searched for old parts. After all that, it still didn't sound right. At that point, John Page suggested old pine wood. We found some that came from an old church's floor and that made the difference."

But really, didn't everything begin at the Fender Bassman? I wouldn't dream of rehashing it all here, we've all heard it so many times, but who really plays anything fundamentally different from a cranked Bassman? I saw Buddy Guy playing one last year, outdoors, and he sounded great.

We pay huge sums for NOS or rare passives, get arrested tearing out the millwork at our neighborhood synagogue and what does it get us?

And then there's B.B. King...

If it weren't for all the sex I probably wouldn't mess with it.

Dave

[scotto]

Anyone know what EC used on Had to Cry Today with Blind Faith? That's by far my favorite EC tone!

[bluesfendermanblues]

Anyone know what EC used on Had to Cry Today with Blind Faith? That's by far my favorite EC tone!

No, but judging from the old Hyde Park movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAv5FHXN354

He could use a mid 60s telecaster (Steve Cropper sound) and a JTM45 marshall on the studio recordings as well.

[titanicslim]

It's one of my favorites, too.

Clapton and Winwood both solo on that number, with the latter playing the main thematic lick, and each has a different outfit. I always thought Clapton used his "Blues Breaker" combo in the studio but this time it sounds pretty Fenderish, and Stevie's amp sounds the nastier of the two.

I've listened to that cut again and again, and the only thing I know for sure is that I really like listening to that song again and again

Excuse me, won't you?
Dave

[ayan]

It's one of my favorites, too.

Clapton and Winwood both solo on that number, with the latter playing the main thematic lick, and each has a different outfit. I always thought Clapton used his "Blues Breaker" combo in the studio but this time it sounds pretty Fenderish, and Stevie's amp sounds the nastier of the two.

I've listened to that cut again and again, and the only thing I know for sure is that I really like listening to that song again and again

Excuse me, won't you?
Dave

Hard to say what was used. On the cover of the record there was a Fender Bandmaster, or something like that? While touring with John Lennon around the same time, Clapton used a couped up Showman (there was a schematic of it floating around made 10 years ago) and a LP Custom. But, at the Hyde Park BF show, it was a Tele w/Strat neck and a Plexi.... Terrific sound on that, although the guitar playing is somewhat economical; the video is available.

Gil

[robertkoa]

Ayan ; you are SO right about the early clapton tones and his absolutely incredible vibrato (s). When I first heard him and also in Cream recordings , I just could not believe the precision and beauty and his expressiveness of his vibrato. It was so good that in either 1967 or 68 Time Magazine (who barely even covered rock or took it seriously) acknowledged Cream as virtuosos and mentioned Clapton's Vibrato "quivering like an arrow that had struck it's mark". Anyway the Cream type tones are primarily what influenced Eric Johnson and you can hear some of that tone in EJ's stuff though he's taken it further in many ways. I'm on this forum looking for those very sweet but very overdriven tones, even a little prettier, less angry perhaps getting a tube guru that will build me a preamp low power output section for simultaneous miking and line level (into a digital cab simulator ) recording. You will also notice that Santana's tone has lost that slight fuzzy edge that it had and is now crystal clear thanks to his use of the Dumble. Have you guys read the interview in Guitar Player Mag interview with Dumble years ago ?