My names steve irving and Ive been looking for a particular tone for years. Ive spent a fortune and still not had much luck. The first decent guitar I got a few year back is a epiphone les paul custom in white(manics nut), I soon realised the pickups wernt cutting it so I bought a set of seymour duncan 59's for a warm, thick gary moore/Scott Gorham tone. They were a good upgrade to what was i there but now after owning a les paul standard I just think the 59 bridge pickup on the epiphone sounds spikey and too trebly. Anyway, I then bought a sg standard which is a diff tone again, that was my acdc phase which has since fizzled out.
Im kossoff mad so am aiming for that tone, however some recordings/videos I have heard featuring koss/free, I dont like koss's tone. Theres 2 videos in partucular that show 100% the tone I want...Heres the first, this is the BEST guitar tone I have ever heard......
mr big
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK89EVPRaX4Thick, so crunchy as fff.....yet not harsh...
and this video with a diff guitar but with a tone id describe as warm, deep dark and rich, still got a nice crunch too
fire and water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqGOVWeD_Mcyou will notice both amps are orange which is what I have.
Ive had the same problem with amps, Ive had trace elliot...marshall tsl 122 which was nothing but trouble, unreliable, so I bought an orange rocker 30 watt a class head which sounds good and has never gone wrong. Theres a solo improv on my myspace to give you an indication of the tone I have. I hate pedals with a passion so I dont use any, my setup goes Fingers>guitar>lead>to amp thats my setup... maybe a bit of wah for thin lizzy stuff.....
my fire and water improv solo with 97 standard
www.myspace.com/moodyedgeThe tone sounds quite nice on there but I dont think its where I want it. Maybe your ear will know and be able to describe whats going on. It is only recorded on a cr@p vocal mic pointed towards the band and recorded on a laptop....but you get the idea...
I have the orange with a custom matamp 2x12 cab which is like a mini 4x12 and has celection g12h speakers in as I was assured by orange and matamp would give me that vintage crunch Im after, Ive even tried swapping valves to try and get closer.
You can see my problem, Have I bought the wrong guitar? do I have the wrong amp, do I need a marshall plexi and a 58 vos les paul reissue, is it the speakers, the pickups??...Im tired of looking at every possible factor...
I recently bought a 97 les paul standard in tobacco sunburst just like my idol koss which is the 1st les paul Ive ever had... I was actually sold a 95 model in the same colour by mistake which when I had drove home 380 mile round trip, I noticed that the neck was in fact in 3 pieces and had been glued back together...Nice! The stange thing is, after playing the 3 piece 95 model for a week while waiting for the replacement 1997 model I should have been sold to arrive, I realiaed that I prefered the tone of ther 95 jigsaw one....It felt heavier and I dont know if thats why the tone was better....diff wood, it sounded more crunchy more sustain maybe that was due to the pickup(bridge) I will never know.....
So basically, HELP!
Ive talked to quite a few people and places, a guy at GAK said "oh youve got the wong amp, its nothing to do with pickups, you need a marshall plexi." He didnt actualy realise that the tone I was after came from a orange, anyway. Another guy I spoke to at another shop wheer I got the 59 duncans for the epiphone said oh you want a seymour duncan jb....Im not convinced, besides I dont even think he knew who kossoff is, tool. I mentioned a 57 gibson reissue pickup...He said that might be good. Other people have said oh that amps got one of the best tones you can get..(The orange Rocker 30)
So im well and truly stuck in a tone rut....
cheers for reading this far !
Steve