Same Style Gear... Different Kind of Players...

[Braunz0]

I think we over look style and performance a lot of the times when we're geeking out over rigs. I'm guilty of this a lot. I've bought a ton of gear just because one of my favorite artists uses it only to find out I can't pull off the same kinds of things he/she does based on their style...

With that, I want to kind of look at players that have similar rigs but have their own sound that based on their style.

... GO!

[Welladjusted]

It's fairly difficult to name iconic guitarists who didn't use a pairing of a strat or les paul into a fuzz face into a british stack.

Clapton
Gilmour
Page
Townshend
Hendrix

Some of those guys expanded into different gear, but their rigs were all pretty similar at some point.

[jayjay]

Johnny Marr and the guys from Bloc Party spring to mind.

Also John Frascante and the guys from Iron Maiden.

The Edge and Brian May?

yes, and Pete Townsend and David Gilmour.

Technique and settings says a lot.

[Welladjusted]

The Beatles and The Edge, too, if you look at just the guitars and amps (fenders, gibsons, rics etc into AC30's).

[republic]

Beatles, Edge, Johnny Marr for sure. The Beatles due to production; Edge due to pedal technique; Marr for just great chord choices and picking. Each one's rig isn't particularly unique but the end product sure is (whether you like the music or not.)

[Jackfuzz]

Originally Posted by Welladjusted

The Beatles and The Edge, too, if you look at just the guitars and amps (fenders, gibsons, rics etc into AC30's).

Fender into AC30's ?

Then you can add Rory Gallagher in there too

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Jackfuzz

Fender into AC30's ?

Then you can add Rory Gallagher in there too

And Radiohead. Fender Guitars, Rickenbacker or Gibson ES-335s into Vox AC-30s or Fender amps. Same as Rory Gallagher, the Edge, The Jam, The Byrds, The Beatles, Johnny Marr, Bloc Party, Interpol, Arctic Monkeys (some of the time) The Futureheads and more. Now there's the classic combo.

[jonny-b-brown]

Originally Posted by jayjay

And Radiohead. Fender Guitars, Rickenbacker or Gibson ES-335s into Vox AC-30s or Fender amps. Same as Rory Gallagher, the Edge, The Jam, The Byrds, The Beatles, Johnny Marr, Bloc Party, Interpol, Arctic Monkeys (some of the time) The Futureheads and more. Now there's the classic combo.

Not to mention Tom Petty, Joe Walsh, Joe Perry, and Elliott Smith (when he plugged in.)

Think about it, Jeff Beck-Yngwie Malmsteen-Tim Reynolds-Robin Trower, all three have identical rigs. Completely different styles.

[Savant]

I don't care if my favorite players play in assless chaps through carboard and lettuce amps, I'll play what I damn well want.

One crazy thing people do is to chase tone. It's not bad to get equipment, of course, but it's bad to constantly motorboat through one pedal after another, always seeking your next fix. It never ends.

There's a saying in the golf world, that you can buy all the modern, expensive, and high tech golf gizmos and clubs you want, but you can't buy a swing.

I've seen Tiger Woods play up close, and I'll tell you, you never forget it. Give that man a brand new set of top of the line clubs and ball, or an old set of hickory shafted play clubs with a scratched range ball, or even a dozen shovels and a croquet mallet, and he'll still be the best golfer in the world.

Same thing with guitars.

I worked as an engineer with a very good band, and their guitar player was very consistent. One day, he had a brand new custom shop Les Paul into a 60s Fender amp. The next time I saw him, he was playing a Squier through a cheap solid state amp...

Do you know, it didn't make a bit of difference. He was still the same guitar player. Do you know, no one in the audience got up and left because of his inferior sound? He sounded great, no matter what he played.

Indeed, B.B. King plays through a Solid State amp, as did Kurt Cobain. Very different players, but no one was worried about what they were playing. Your sound is your sound, no matter what.

[Braunz0]

Originally Posted by Savant

I don't care if my favorite players play in assless chaps through carboard and lettuce amps, I'll play what I damn well want.

One crazy thing people do is to chase tone. It's not bad to get equipment, of course, but it's bad to constantly motorboat through one pedal after another, always seeking your next fix. It never ends.

There's a saying in the golf world, that you can buy all the modern, expensive, and high tech golf gizmos and clubs you want, but you can't buy a swing.

I've seen Tiger Woods play up close, and I'll tell you, you never forget it. Give that man a brand new set of top of the line clubs and ball, or an old set of hickory shafted play clubs with a scratched range ball, or even a dozen shovels and a croquet mallet, and he'll still be the best golfer in the world.

Same thing with guitars.

I worked as an engineer with a very good band, and their guitar player was very consistent. One day, he had a brand new custom shop Les Paul into a 60s Fender amp. The next time I saw him, he was playing a Squier through a cheap solid state amp...

Do you know, it didn't make a bit of difference. He was still the same guitar player. Do you know, no one in the audience got up and left because of his inferior sound? He sounded great, no matter what he played.

Indeed, B.B. King plays through a Solid State amp, as did Kurt Cobain. Very different players, but no one was worried about what they were playing. Your sound is your sound, no matter what.

Um...

1. You read WAAAAAAAY too far into things.

2. That's what this thread is about.

3. You read WAAAAAAAY too far into things.

4. Profit.

[kentist]

owning a fender strat after the notoriously unplayable soviet aelita-II was a revelation to me... but i guess thats the difference between below even lowest benchmark equipment and normal equipment.

yea sure the style is in the hands... but some guitars are very obnoxious/difficult.
and i wouldn't say edge had same gear as beatles.. what kind of talk is that.. pedals count into gear as well.

i should prolly get a "normal" amp to replace my ****ty one. if anyone has recommendations in the 200euro range PM.

[Prime]

The point in case of Savant's post, his style and skill over came the crap sound.

I personally prefer Class A tube amps to past Class D solid states, not to say class D solid state are any worse or better than tube amps... But you can put a HB loaded LP and a single coiled Strat into the same solid state, and there likely to be very little sonic difference.

But that being said I usually prefer the metal distortion tones I can get out off my carlsbro glx.

But through my orange you can hear the muddy HB's me epi has and no matter how skillfull you are it that crap muddyness will always be there. Thats not acceptable in my opinion

[Welladjusted]

Originally Posted by kentist

and i wouldn't say edge had same gear as beatles.. what kind of talk is that..

I did specify that they have the same guitars and amps only. But if you look at The Edge's rig for the first few albums, he was using just a memory man and AC30's. I seem to recall that "War" didn't have any guitar effects on it, as well.

[cerebro911]

Adam Jones of Tool and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden. Both like the Mesas, both love the Gibson and alot of distortion and they sound really, really different. They also color leads and fills with wahs, but in different ways and when Thayil started using delay and reverb for some of the later psychedelic rock it was, again, in a very different way then Adam Jones.

How bought Frusciante and Corgan? Fenders and pedals galore, but they too are very opposite. Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jeff Beck. Fenders with minimum to no effects, and they're both blues players.

Dave Grohl likes to use an ES-150 (or some other Gibson hollowbody, can't remember if it's the 150) as did George harrison and quite a few old time blues guys like John Lee Hooker. That is kind of different though since Grohl also uses an unbelievable amount of distortion.

Kurt Cobain and John Frusciante use Fenders (strats alot, though Cobain also liked Jags) and the Boss DS-1 and 2 distortions.

Joe Perry and Slash both love Les Pauls, oh wait, they're the same sound

[Hoodee]

Originally Posted by cerebro911

Joe Perry and Slash both love Les Pauls, oh wait, they're the same sound

Nope, they don't sound alike at all...