Members RaVenCAD Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 I've been meaning to try that. I have to get a splitter. When I tried it, I used 4 1x12 amps and it took 3 splitters to get there.. It was pretty cool, especially when you move them about 20' apart and aim them all at yourself and have different delays set for each sid of the splitter.. Forget ping-pong delays, this was all encompassing.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members placeboemotion Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 One in. 4 out. With delay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 Listen to the old ZZ Top stuff through a good set of headphones, and you'll hear the multiple (and doubled) guitar parts in the mix, often separated by a wide stereo image. That's part of his "big" sound, too. Gibbons has been notoriously secretive and contradictory about how he gets his tone - check out his book "Rock and Roll Gearhead" for some insight into his equipment, both musical and automotive. Also a nice photographic history of the band. And one of our best guitar trolls. He makes up a lot of false stories about his stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 i thought robert johnson drove a Porsche? He drove a Fiero actually. People mispronounced it. But he sat on his old Porsche out front when he played guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 I read an interview once and he said his secret to "big tone" was small 1x12 combo amps. And it's true. I've ran several small 1x12 combos at one time with a splitter and it sounds like God.. With a stack, you get one amp with 4 or 8 mouths.. With 4 or 8 1x12's, you get a choir of slightly different voices. Sounds amazing.That's why I always gig with two amps running all the time, sometimes three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonPhillips Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 One in. 4 out. With delay. So for the more intellectually challenged amongst us (ie: me) does this unit allow you to plug in your guitar and then route out to four separate amps (or four channels on a desk)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members favata5 Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 :thu:buckers.heavy overdrive and harmonics from side picking with a coin or fat side of a pick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members placeboemotion Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 So for the more intellectually challenged amongst us (ie: me) does this unit allow you to plug in your guitar and then route out to four separate amps (or four channels on a desk)? The short answer is yes. It simulates one of the old echo devices with four heads. Each output is connected to one head. I know that you can feed it into different inputs of a console or something like that. You can feed it into four different amps. In practice sometimes you can get weird humming stuff because of ground-loop-magic. Expensive splitters have gadgets to get rid of that stuff and I do not know whether this is a problem with the head rush because I did not try. Anybody here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockNote Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 Dont forget the light strings and peso. Didn't he play heavier strings back in the day, cf. OP's Q, and lighter ones now? Or is it just his misinformation that has led us to believe this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonPhillips Posted May 24, 2008 Members Share Posted May 24, 2008 The short answer is yes. It simulates one of the old echo devices with four heads. Each output is connected to one head. I know that you can feed it into different inputs of a console or something like that. You can feed it into four different amps. In practice sometimes you can get weird humming stuff because of ground-loop-magic. Expensive splitters have gadgets to get rid of that stuff and I do not know whether this is a problem with the head rush because I did not try. Anybody here? Thanks for explaining that for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted May 25, 2008 Members Share Posted May 25, 2008 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61DWE0ZEJKL._SL500_AA240_.jpg> While it's an interesting book, it says NOTHING of the amps and effects he uses... ...and I played a Les Paul through a dimed blackface Fender Twin - nailed the "Tush" and "Beerdrinkers" tone, no pedals either. Besides Billy's talent, it doesn't hurt to have a stellar '59 Les Paul like Pearly Gates, which is purported to be such a hot guitar that no pedals are necessary, just plug straight into an amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aenemated Posted May 25, 2008 Members Share Posted May 25, 2008 i have nothing to add to this thread except ... holy shit, this trick is smokin hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockNote Posted May 25, 2008 Members Share Posted May 25, 2008 i have nothing to add to this thread except ... holy shit, this trick is smokin hot. LOL! Thanks! Here is the larger version as I stumbled upon her by accident a couple of days ago, looking for...um...yeah...what was I looking for?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonPhillips Posted May 25, 2008 Members Share Posted May 25, 2008 ^^^^^^^^^ :love: ^^^^^^^^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members itkindaworks Posted May 25, 2008 Members Share Posted May 25, 2008 Didn't he play heavier strings back in the day, cf. OP's Q, and lighter ones now? Or is it just his misinformation that has led us to believe this? He certainly could have, I've just heard about the light strings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mymindsok Posted May 25, 2008 Members Share Posted May 25, 2008 Yes, Billy had a guitar made from a pc of wood from Muddy's old house. The guitar was auctioned off to benefit the Blues Museum. If you really want to kniw more about the secrative Mr Gibbons, go over to ToneQuest.com and check out the extensive interview that the editor did with Billy. It contains LOTS or gear info including the origins of Pearly Gates, how the guitar was modified, etc. Many of the effects that he claims to use are both old very rare... Rev Billy is one of the great gear hounds of our time and he owns a vast assortment of amps, guitars and effects... And when I say vast, I mean that the band has an entire warehouse full of gear! He gets first crack at a lot of stuff because people like him, plus, when youre in his position, cost is no object. By-the-way... Billy has said several times that he works with .08's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wmcjhi Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 The secret is Bixonic Expandora. Lots and lots of Bixonic Expandora. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benagain Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 oh yeah i forgot .. maybe already mentioned .. he plays with a peso (mexican coin)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 "Tush" is real easy. LP through a 100-watt Plexi. You can nail the tone exactly like the albums. The live stuff on Fandango is also Plexi, with a Fuzz Face used for one track. I would have to pull the vinyl out to get an idea for Beer Drinkers. It's very hard to nail any artists tone on studio tracks, truth be told be gets multiple tracks to record and rerecord and mix into one thick thing. There can be 2, 3 or a dozen amp (or more) used on any studio recording. You'll pull you're hair out trying to achieving many of these tones. A very common thing used by Gibbons (or SRV and others) is to use a clean amp and dirty amp and mix them down; and many use the amps the opposite way that many would think, like they use Marhsalls and Tweed Fenders (which are oin the Marshall-family tone-wise) for cleans (thick and midrangy) and BF Fenders with fuzzes for the dirty. My general advice for Gibbons is to figure out the average venue size you would be playing and hen buy a Marshall or a clone of a Tweed Fender to fit that venue (for most of us, that would rule out a 100-watt Plexi, but maybe not a 45-watt Bassman or even a 12-watt Fender Tweed Deluxe), and then have a good vintage-voiced fuzz to run in front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 The best of ZZ Top's records over the years feature such spectacularly ingenious layering and orchestration of different guitar and amp sounds that their live performances often come as something of a disappointment -- not because all three of them don't play great (they DO!) but because even the devilishly gifted Rev can't reproduce all that exquisite texturing in the here and now. Compare the studio and live versions of Jesus Just Left Chicago on the current Tres Hombres reissue CD for an illustration ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seifukusha Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 the first thing is billys signal chain i heard is a 31 band eq! that would help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eflat Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 The short answer is yes. It simulates one of the old echo devices with four heads. Each output is connected to one head. I know that you can feed it into different inputs of a console or something like that. You can feed it into four different amps. In practice sometimes you can get weird humming stuff because of ground-loop-magic. Expensive splitters have gadgets to get rid of that stuff and I do not know whether this is a problem with the head rush because I did not try. Anybody here? +1 anyone tried it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctorx Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 I remember a Guitar Player interview years ago where billy talked about a huge box he called his "Amp Room", that had several different guitar amps inside it. He would split the guitar signal amongst all the amps, then crank them all up and put a mike inside the box and record that way. I think the early stuff like Tush and BDAHR was Pearly and a marshall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BootRoots Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 oh yeah i forgot .. maybe already mentioned .. he plays with a peso (mexican coin)... somebody should tell him then, that if he uses a silver dollar instead, he will sound 10.3922017 times better than with the peso! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members John S. Shinal Posted May 27, 2008 Members Share Posted May 27, 2008 i know he bought one of these from a local amp builder not too long ago.... http://www.retrokingamps.com/zztop.htm apparently he's buying 6 more. The clips on that site are pretty impressive. Note the mix of speakers Gibbons' amp has, a G-12 Alnico Blue and a Mojo repro of a G12H Blackback (or possibly a -65). I think I agree with his choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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