Billy Gibbons guitar sound?? What does he use?

[Mo' Cowbell]

You're hearing way more than one guitar. It's called over dubbing. See Les Paul for the history. His work with Gibson was just a side job.

[WRGKMC]

I saw them at the Houston Rodeo twice. The second time I couldnt make out the amps. They may have been something new or custom made, They were solid Blonde wood grained cabs with light colord grill cloth. I used binoculars but couldnt find a name on them anywhere

The bass player used the exact same setup. They each had about 20 cabs and heads, completely symetrical both sides. They werent props either. The stage rotates there and when it swings around you can definately feel the power in your face, So did the other 150,000+ people there.

[wmcjhi]

Yea, seriously though guys, I wasn't kidding.

 

http://www.bixonic.com/

 

Bixonic Expandora. He uses a bunch of them in series.

 

Click Sonic Testing on the top right and take a listen.

[madolealmighty]

My friends ,Billy Gibbons is a MASTER CRAFTSMEN, of the sound of the electric guitar. One of his tools is , " The BIXONIC EXPADORA " . Also he has found the benefits of using , SOUND ON SOUND amplification , espically live , this has a dramatic and ear pleasing effect, and produces a FAT and FILLING sound as if there were more players involed .[ATTACH=CONFIG]328480[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]328481[/ATTACH] attachments are my autographed 78 Explorer. : BILLY G ZZ TOP

[GCDEF]

What is it with noobs bumping old threads with their first post.

 

Anyway, the Expandora came after Tush and Beer Drinkers that the OP asked about. He also claimed to daisy chain 6 of them, which is obviously nonsense. Seems like an endorsement thing to me. His sound is excellent, but doesn't seem that hard to get to me. Good guitar into good cranked tube amp.

[Cortfan]

He uses .08s most all the time, and every song has at least 4 guitar overdub tracks. No idea how he pulls this off live. But he does.

[lincoln40]

He uses Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups.

[Tidal Rhythm]

Just to add to the mysterious gear already mentioned that Gibbons may (or may not) own, he also might own a guitar that may (or may not) have existed:
https://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/Jun/The_Mysterious_Gibson_Moderne.aspx?Page=1

[guitarman3001]

wow, brought this thread back from the grave. I'll have to check out that expandora thing.

[harold heckuba]

He uses .08s most all the time,

and he tunes down 1 to 1 1/2 step.

[ΨWindingΨ]

Billy Gibbons guitar sound?? What does he use?

 

A guitar.

[ashasha]

and he tunes down 1 to 1 1/2 step.

And he has a 3 foot long beard....I mean doesn't anyone wonder why he doesn't shave? It's a tone beard baby.

[GomezAddams1]

No one but Gibbons will ever know exactly what was used when, and he isn't telling. He isn't telling the truth, anyway. Gibbons is a master bull{censored}ter - He loves creating mystique about himself and the band. Read David Blaney's "Sharp Dressed Men".

 

With that said, I believe the secret to Gibbon's tone is using a pick with a serrated edge. The only thing from his numerous accounts of his gear that I believe is that he started out with Mexican pesos back when they had flat (12?, 16?) edged sides. He switched to a US quarter when Mexico switched to their new coins.

 

Well, that and an unholy amount of talent.

 

Oh, the "pile of amps with a mic in the middle" is BS.http://www.lowpft.com/manning.html

[Poster Nutbag]

I've read several places that he used Legend amps too.

[Wyatt]

Sigh, it's bad enough that someone stumbled on this thread through Google and bumped it from a year and a half-old grave.

 

It's even worse that people just spit out random tidbits of Gibbon's lore (true and false and much already stated) without reading the rest of the thread.

[ashasha]

Sigh, it's bad enough that someone stumbled on this thread through Google and bumped it from a year and a half-old grave. It's even worse that people just spit out random tidbits of Gibbon's lore (true and false and much already stated) without reading the rest of the thread.

 

Are you questioning my tone beard theory? How dare you!

[Angry Tele]

that bixonic pedal and HEAVY strings.

[Wyatt]

Are you questioning my tone beard theory? How dare you!

 

No. That was probably the most sensible post since the thread was resurrected.

[tiltsta]

I have one of the bixonic expandora reissues (the 2000R), and with a les paul, a cleanish fender amp, and that pedal you can pretty much get very close to every guitar sound on rhythmeen and XXX.

[Grantus]

I read somewhere that he often uses a flanger live.

[Fred Buzz]

Anyone know what he uses to get that ultra thick tone on songs like Tush and Beer Drinkers/Hell Raisers?

 

 

http://www.uberproaudio.com/who-plays-what/304-zz-top-billy-gibbons-guitar-gear-rig-and-equipment

[maxnew40]

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.

 

 

That was a false rumour that has been laid to rest by the studio engineer that worked on many ZZ Top records. There was no "Amp Cabin". In fact Eliminator was mostly recorded using a Legend 50 watt hybrid combo amp, there was no room full of combos all pointed at a mc in the center. Billy like to mess with people during interviews, so I would take the word of a guy who worked on those records before anything from an interview with Billy.

 

Max