Members bfloyd6969 Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 I've always really liked the tone that B.B. King has - smooth, smokey, and jazzy yet still very bluesy. I'm really not the one to search after someone elses tone, but boredom got the best of me today and I started looking into his rig. I was a bit surprised when I found out that his main amp is a solid state Lab Series L5, made by Norlin/Gibson. Now I also read that he also uses some Fender tube combo's but his main amp was the ss L5 - and I always thought his tone was surely tubes. So, I started researching this amp some and found it to be a two channel amp but it is not footswitchable. I also read that B.B. just goes from his guitar to the amp (nothing in between) so this has got me thinking that he must have run into the dirty channel? I know his sound is rather clean, but there is surely some grit in there and at times he can really get it to wail. I'm thinking he's not going into the clean channel because most ss amps I know of, the clean channel is pretty darn clean even at higher volumes. Does anyone have any more info on this? Curiosity is getting the best of me. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thenakedarab Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 I think some of that has to do with the Vari-tone circuit in the guitar, some because he's using humbuckers, and the rest because of his technique. I know when I saw him in concert it was pretty loud too, so I'm guessing he turns it up a good bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 I have had a Lab L5 since the mid 80's. There's not really any clean or dirty channel on the L5. You just set either of the two channels to your liking.No channel switching! You plug into the input of the channel that you wish to use. One of, if not the best solid state amps ever made. The eq possibilities on the main channel are very impressive as well as the overdrive that this amp puts out. Much louder than your standard 100 watt solid state amp too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thenakedarab Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 I have had a Lab L5 since the mid 80's.There's not really any clean or dirty channel on the L5. You just set either of the two channels to your liking.No channel switching! You plug into the input of the channel that you wish to use.One of, if not the best solid state amps ever made. The eq possibilities on the main channel are very impressive as well as the overdrive that this amp puts out.Much louder than your standard 100 watt solid state amp too. I played one once in a music store, it really was a great sounding amp. Another thing to think of is that BB was playing these long before he had access to quality PA's for every venue, so I'm sure he dialed in his tone back when he was cranking those things like a mofo. He probably still dials them in the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bfloyd6969 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 Thanks for the info guys. So this thing trumps the JC-120, eh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blazingblake Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 I saw B.B. back in 1999 at the fabnulous fox theater in Bakersfield he was still standing up when he played sounded great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny'sGotTheBlues Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 Thanks for the info guys. So this thing trumps the JC-120, eh Different amps. The JC-120 does its thing VERY well as does the Lab series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_gunslinger Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 I have had a Lab L5 since the mid 80's.There's not really any clean or dirty channel on the L5. You just set either of the two channels to your liking.No channel switching! You plug into the input of the channel that you wish to use.One of, if not the best solid state amps ever made. The eq possibilities on the main channel are very impressive as well as the overdrive that this amp puts out.Much louder than your standard 100 watt solid state amp too. I have an L5. I concur with this post entirely. As far as reliability, it's literally built like a {censored}ing tank too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mhr74 Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 this thread is relevant to my interests. a friend of mine gave me an L series amp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bfloyd6969 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 The more I am finding close up pics of this amp I am seeing that there is no gain control on either of the channels. Where does the overdrive come from, guys - just higher volume breaking up? Channel 2 does seem more complex with the filter, but does it drive at all? I'm wondering because B.B. surely has some grit in his tone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 The more I am finding close up pics of this amp I am seeing that there is no gain control on either of the channels. Where does the overdrive come from, guys - just higher volume breaking up? Channel 2 does seem more complex with the filter, but does it drive at all? I'm wondering because B.B. surely has some grit in his tone... Take a listen to some old "Kings X" or "Allan Holdsworth" to hear the Lab L5 in overdrive mode. You just crank up the pre-amp and turn down the master. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bfloyd6969 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 Gotcha - I didn't look hard enough to see the Master volume Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flogger59 Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 No mention of the compressor? It does help with sustain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members teemuk Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 The difference of the channels is mainly in EQ:ing, channel one is pretty basic with standard passive FMV stack whereas channel 2 comes with active tone controls and parametric mid-range control, plus a voicing switch to simulate comb filtering response of a loudspeaker. Both channels also have an overdrive circuit but it's not really user adjustable in traditional sense. You just crank up the input signal volume and the circuit overdrives nicely. It also prevents power amp from going to hard clipping. and I always thought his tone was surely tubes You'd be surprised how often that gets said simply because someone happens to be a great guitar player. Amps don't really matter all that much. Much louder than your standard 100 watt solid state amp too. I don't know... what's "standard" anyway? It's not really a watt thing, more an issue of proper response. But yeah, loudness-wise I've wittnessed a Lab Series L2 bass head giving good run for the money for a $$$ vintage Ampeg SVT head (when both used the very same 6x10" cab). The Lab Series actually sounded way better too. it's literally built like a {censored}ing tank too Truth. In comparison to many amps with similar output power range it's way overkill: The power transformer is huuuuge, the heatsinking is actually sufficient and they went completely overboard in the amount of power transistors. Most 100W amps have maybe about four power transistors, this one has ten!!! In many senses that amp could be used as a great example of a totally overkill design. It totally makes you doubt the output power rating claims of many "comparable" amps. ...and with proper Gibson tradition they discontinued making the good stuff just when it was beginning to make an impact on the scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bfloyd6969 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 Not only does it sound cool... it just looks cool ! Thanks for the info, everyone!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rushtallica Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 I'm a longtime fan of Ty Tabor from King's X's tone on the L5. This guy seems to nail it, though he's also using the same type of Elite strat with active pickups:[video=youtube;ErBMZJE14dA] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peavey_impact Posted October 31, 2011 Members Share Posted October 31, 2011 There's one for sale right now on used.guitarcenter.com for $189 if you are interested.... I imagine shipping on this beast won't be cheap though! The number to the GC that has it is 716-833-8200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bfloyd6969 Posted November 1, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 1, 2011 ^^ Thanks for the tip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted November 1, 2011 Members Share Posted November 1, 2011 Another thing to consider is that King's guitar, a Gibson ES-55TD-SV, is stereo wired, so each p/u goes into it's own channel, where the EQ can be optimized for it...that can make a tremendous difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bfloyd6969 Posted November 1, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 1, 2011 Another thing to consider is that King's guitar, a Gibson ES-55TD-SV, is stereo wired, so each p/u goes into it's own channel, where the EQ can be optimized for it...that can make a tremendous difference. I didn't think of that - and that could be very cool. Like playing out of two amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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