A Strat can do Les Paul, but a Les Paul....

DulcetJones · May 2015

impmann said:

DulcetJones said:

I have yet to hear a really convincing crunchy ZZ Top sound from a strat though. But, the fact is, most people in the audience don't notice these things.

Hmmm - well seeing as the Rev W Gibbons often uses a Strat in the studio got me thinking. I also recall reading that Sharp Dressed Man was recorded with a Strat... so I shoved a crap Peavey mic in front of my VamPower practice amp, plugged the new 'Pinky' Strat into a M13 and selected the Tube Drive model (settings unchanged from factory) clicked record on Ableton and bashed this out...

Before you cast ridicule at the playing (yes its rough), bear in mind I haven't played this tune live for at least 10 years and I had to work out the slide solo for fingers, as I couldn't find my bottleneck.

But, its ballpark... innit.

It is! I saw ZZ Top just before Sharp Dressed Man came out and he played one Les Paul all night, however, your example sounds great. This is another case where studio vs. live caught me off guard, another being that years back when Zeppelin were killing it every picture I saw of Jimmy Page showed him playing a Les Paul so I bought one. After years of trying to get "his" sound I found out he had recorded most of Zep 1 and 2 with a Tele!

Neil · May 2015

DulcetJones said:

It is! I saw ZZ Top just before Sharp Dressed Man came out and he played one Les Paul all night, however, your example sounds great. This is another case where studio vs. live caught me off guard, another being that years back when Zeppelin were killing it every picture I saw of Jimmy Page showed him playing a Les Paul so I bought one. After years of trying to get "his" sound I found out he had recorded most of Zep 1 and 2 with a Tele!

Re Pagey, certainly all of LZ 1 was recorded using his Tele.

From what I have read he got his LP from Joe Walsh in 1969 so virtually all of LZ 2 featured his LP and going forwards with occasional outings for the Danelectro (Kashmir) and the Tele on the second solo of Stairway.

One fact that did surprise was when J.Mascis, the Jazzmaster devotee, stated that he always used LP Juniors and Tele's in the studio.
:-O

impmann · May 2015

Probably because the Jazzmasters he has are so unplayable in the studio and have hideous intonation problems due to the ludicrous set ups on them.

axisus · May 2015

All guitars sound the same to 99.9% of listeners. It's only guitarists who think they can tell the difference, like when they put a duracell battery in their wah rather than an ever ready.

Neil · May 2015

impmann said:

Probably because the Jazzmasters he has are so unplayable in the studio and have hideous intonation problems due to the ludicrous set ups on them.

And yet manages to make them sound OK live?

I admit to being a Mascis, D Jr fan.

randomhandclaps · May 2015

Yeah, like guitarists who use Everyready batteries are ever going to get an audience. Have you heard those things? Total tone suckers.

Phil_aka_Pip · May 2015

Andy Latimer is a known LP user, but he does also use Strats. He still manages to get the thick creamy sound out of a Strat so I guess the guitar isn't the big issue for him. Although I prefer it when he plays his LP. Even so, his Strat does leave out a little something that his LP puts in.

I wouldn't expect a Strat to "do LP", nor an LP to "do Strat". It's one of the many reasons why guitarists often have both. So the thread title is BLX

Vive la difference

ICBM · May 2015

Neil said:

One fact that did surprise was when J.Mascis, the Jazzmaster devotee, stated that he always used LP Juniors and Tele's in the studio.

On the songs with trem on them? I suppose not impossible - Bigsby maybe...

Neil · May 2015

ICBM said:

Neil said:

One fact that did surprise was when J.Mascis, the Jazzmaster devotee, stated that he always used LP Juniors and Tele's in the studio.

On the songs with trem on them? I suppose not impossible - Bigsby maybe...

No idea TBH.

Just what he came out with in an interview.

matt1973 · May 2015

When I finally figured out how to get a great clean from a Les Paul, my Strat and PRS became obsolete.

scrumhalf · May 2015

Tables have four legs. My cat has four legs, therefore my cat is a table.

Is the table obsolete, or the cat?

DulcetJones · May 2015

scrumhalf said:

Tables have four legs. My cat has four legs, therefore my cat is a table.

Is the table obsolete, or the cat?

Now, were they playing that table in the studio or onstage......

dogload · May 2015

scrumhalf said:

Tables have four legs. My cat has four legs, therefore my cat is a table.

Is the table obsolete, or the cat?

Have you tried standing a cup of tea on your cat?

scrumhalf · May 2015

dogload said:

scrumhalf said:

Tables have four legs. My cat has four legs, therefore my cat is a table.

Is the table obsolete, or the cat?

Have you tried standing a cup of tea on your cat?

No. And the table is shit at catching mice.

ICBM · May 2015

The Chinese wouldn't eat a table.

ESBlonde · May 2015

Back in the day if you wanted distortion live you plugged a les Paul into your amp because it pushed the circuit harder. A strategy became more usable with the amps of the day with external fuzz or treble boaters and then higher gain mv amps. Classic sounds from the 70s were more often recorded with fenders suplimented with some drive device.