Jeff Beck on Sky Arts

Lev

anyone watch the interview tonight? Some great performances in between the interview bits. Also was I imagining it or was he playing through a Vox Valvetronix amp? There was definitely a Fender and Vox amp beside him and the Vox seemed to have the metal grill like the second generation valvetronix.

ThePrettyDamned

Lev;6144" said:

anyone watch the interview tonight? Some great performances in between the interview bits. Also was I imagining it or was he playing through a Vox Valvetronix amp? There was definitely a Fender and Vox amp beside him and the Vox seemed to have the metal grill like the second generation valvetronix.

If that's true, it supports my belief that successful artists don't care about gear if it sounds good. I had a second gen one, and it had some excellent sounds in it. Reliable, too.

Bloody ugly grill, but at least no fucker will smash a headstock into your speaker!

Deijavoo

I'm watching Live at Ronnie Scott's. 

Love this type of gig. 

dindude

All on record for tomorrow night for me. JB is probably my fav player, looking forward to the Documentary. Seen Ronnie gig many times on you tube but not all in one sitting, might do that.

Aja

I was lucky enough to be at the final Ronnie Scott's night. Truly amazing, sitting only a few feet from Jeff.

Deijavoo

I'm not particularly a fan of this sort of music, but with Jeff his stunning playing keeps me listening.

welshboyo

ThePrettyDamned said:

Lev;6144" said:

anyone watch the interview tonight? Some great performances in between the interview bits. Also was I imagining it or was he playing through a Vox Valvetronix amp? There was definitely a Fender and Vox amp beside him and the Vox seemed to have the metal grill like the second generation valvetronix.

If that's true, it supports my belief that successful artists don't care about gear if it sounds good. I had a second gen one, and it had some excellent sounds in it. Reliable, too.

Bloody ugly grill, but at least no fucker will smash a headstock into your speaker!

Lukather has said in an interview in past that he remembers hearing Beck warming up before a gig by playing "Where were You" and the tone he had was unbelievable....turns out JB was actually using an old Roland practice amp, so its definitely "in the fingers" so to speak.

Watched the Jeff thing last night and again, all credit to Sky Arts for these documentaries, came across really well and some lovely playing moments from Jeff..

Lindsey Buckingham the week before was great too..

TheMoz

so anyone confirm who's seen the program ? was he using a vox valvetronix amp ???

welshboyo

he was yes...there was deffo a Valvetronix and a Twin (I think) on stage...

The Vox seemed to be at the front and was probably what Jeff was using.

The Twin seemed to be set back a bit and could have been what his accompanying guitar player was using..

 

mcsdan

Big fan of JB. Saw him a couple of years ago in Brighton. Very good gig.

He has a couple of numbers on the new Crossroad 2013 video. Looks like he back with Tal too ;-)

Fusionista

Always been a Jeff acolyte, but for me his work has been patchy or perhaps just too wide-ranging for me.  He is brilliant live (was fortunate to catch his delayed 64th birthday concert at the Albert Hall - where I was sat among several famous fans) and the Ronnie Scott's gig verged on my imaginary perfect evening out, so I bought the blu-ray. His tone was to die for that night (DSL50 and maybe an older Marshall 50w?) But a friend gave me Emotion & Commotion and it left me indifferent as have quite a few of his albums over the years. 

Lev

ThePrettyDamned said:

Lev;6144" said:

anyone watch the interview tonight? Some great performances in between the interview bits. Also was I imagining it or was he playing through a Vox Valvetronix amp? There was definitely a Fender and Vox amp beside him and the Vox seemed to have the metal grill like the second generation valvetronix.

If that's true, it supports my belief that successful artists don't care about gear if it sounds good. I had a second gen one, and it had some excellent sounds in it. Reliable, too.

Bloody ugly grill, but at least no fucker will smash a headstock into your speaker!

I suspect he'd never use it with a full band but in the context of him sitting down chatting & playing a few tunes on his own in front of a small audience he obviously felt it was the right amp. I used to have the 50watt version, I sold it due to the noisy fan, it did sound good though.

crunchman

welshboyo said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Lev;6144" said:

anyone watch the interview tonight? Some great performances in between the interview bits. Also was I imagining it or was he playing through a Vox Valvetronix amp? There was definitely a Fender and Vox amp beside him and the Vox seemed to have the metal grill like the second generation valvetronix.

If that's true, it supports my belief that successful artists don't care about gear if it sounds good. I had a second gen one, and it had some excellent sounds in it. Reliable, too.

Bloody ugly grill, but at least no fucker will smash a headstock into your speaker!

Lukather has said in an interview in past that he remembers hearing Beck warming up before a gig by playing "Where were You" and the tone he had was unbelievable....turns out JB was actually using an old Roland practice amp, so its definitely "in the fingers" so to speak.

Watched the Jeff thing last night and again, all credit to Sky Arts for these documentaries, came across really well and some lovely playing moments from Jeff..

Lindsey Buckingham the week before was great too..

I think it is literally in the fingers. Beck doesn't use picks.  I've noticed this with a few guitarists who don't use picks.  They seem to have really good tone and dynamics.

Clingy

Saw him live a couple of years ago.....very disappointing.

not_the_dj

Clingy said:

Saw him live a couple of years ago.....very disappointing.

@clingy The performance? The set list? The sound?

I saw him in (checks google) 2004, and there were a few moments that were utterly fantasic, but as a gig it didn't really flow that well and actually became a bit dull.

Clingy

It was at a Festival (IOW 2011 I think) I was at the very front, all eager, he played some good stuff including my all time favourite, Little Wing, but the whole set had no energy.  He never spoke or hardly looked at the crowd, just played and left, leaving me feeling deflated.

Next set was Pixie Lott in very very short shorts....music was crap, but I had a nice view

EricTheWeary

Seen it now. Really interesting.
Nile Rodgers next week.

Lixarto

I'm a bit ambivalent about Jeff.

He's a very talented player, without a doubt, but I struggled with What Time Does The Tune Start?

I do like his work on Waters's "Amused To Death" (where he shows Gilmour a thing or two IMO).

Neil

Jeff is without doubt a great player but I saw him in concert years ago at the Festival Hall and TBH  it got a bit boring.

There is only so much guitar playing I can take, he doesn't have any songs and I heaved a sigh of relief when Hi ho silver lining came on.

dindude

Thought he came across really well in the prog. 

As for tone in fingers argument, his attack, technique, conviction etc are all there sounding very JB, but the underlying tone in Where Were You in the prog was horrible.

Saw him a few years back at the Albert Hall and he was great, I do agree though that he has never had a reliable vehicle for his talents, so while I'm a huge fan of his playing, I probably listen more to you tube clips than recorded material for JB.

Top guy though.....

EricTheWeary

Lixarto said:

I'm a bit ambivalent about Jeff.

He's a very talented player, without a doubt, but I struggled with What Time Does The Tune Start?

And Day in the Life ( is that the right title? ) was just the song melody played note for note then some swooping and gargling noises, IIRC from the programme.Enormous talent, but to reiterate @dindude , so often lacking a decent vehicle for it.*




* and is that ironic as his hobby is doing up cars?
%-(