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KBP810 is the MAN!


smurph1

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Paisley's "Z" amps are Trainwreck "Z-Wreck" clones. Completely diffrerent animal than Vox, Fender, Marshall. Trainwreck is a very simple circuit that demands to be built with extreme attention to details for it to work right...

I stand corrected, his slow,clean songs still sound Voxy though.

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I'm not sure those qualify as Adjectives but pretty good description, but when did Clapton use a Vox? Used Marshalls early and Fenders later. Brian May used stacks of Ac 30's, but driven. A good recent example is Brad Paisley, he uses Dr Z amps but they are basically Vox circuits I think.

 

He used them for a short time before he started playing strats. I believe it was with his SG/ES335 days.

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I once heard a story that the reason the Beatles played Vox was because they were under contract to, for a period of time.

Could be... :icon_sunny:

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Guest HRB853370

So...all this talk of amp tones. Can a VOX tone be dialed on a Fender amp, given the right combination of tone settings? How about the reverse? I mean comon, you guys talk about these amp tones like they are a flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robbins!

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So...all this talk of amp tones. Can a VOX tone be dialed on a Fender amp, given the right combination of tone settings? How about the reverse? I mean comon, you guys talk about these amp tones like they are a flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robbins!

 

 

I believe, and I think there's plenty of room for debate on this, that in my experience good "F" style tones can be achieved with a Vox. My experience also shows me that it is REALLY hard to get a Vox tone from a Fender, unless you're using a Tweed style, and even then I think it might be too, well, tweedy...to really nail a Vox tone.

One caveat, that requires mentioning though, is that there were many Vox models in the 1960's, which is the era that sort of "defines" the Vox sound. For example, in 1959 the first AC30 model used EL34 tubes instead of EL84 tubes. In 1960, the Vox AC30 was given two speakers in order to compete with the new Fender twin. It was essentially a 30 watt version of the original 15 watt design from JMI. This 30 watt version went to EL84 tubes and had two channels, a normal and a tremolo channel. This AC30 also had a T.V. front and was used by the Shadows for a short time.

The original speaker in these amps were Celestion G12's and it wasn't until later in 1960 when they switched to a new model, the T.530, or what would eventually be called the Vox Blue. By the end of 1960, when Vox amps went into full production, they changed the AC30/4 to an AC30/6 that had a third "brilliant" channel. This wouldn't become the Top Boost channel until later in 1961 when they added a Top Boost unit that was mounted to the back of the chassis.

 

The changes continue throughout the 1960's, so the point I'm trying to make is that exactly WHAT sound is an AC30 sound? Is it Brian May, John Lennon, Tom Petty, Peter Buck or some combination?

The sheer complexity of describing a Vox tone makes it hard, in my opinion, to pin down just what that tone entails in the fullest sense. I find Vox amps to be much more of a chameleon in this regard, whereas Fender amps, at least in my opinion, seem to have a more clearly defined sound. Tweed, Blackface, Silverface, and Rissues (or as I like to call them - Suckface)

 

This is an interesting discussion, and I think there's ample room to dispute or argue persuasively against some of my assumptions or opinions here. I'd be interested to hear what the rest of you think with regard to all this.

That's my 47 cents...

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And during the Mayall years, it was either a "Beano" Les Paul or a ES335 running into a Fender champ....

 

Wow, I always read (and I believe even Marshall reissued the amp) EC was playing a Les Paul through an 18 Watt Marshall. EC did record Layla with a Strat through a Fender Champ.

 

Here is an internet quote on EC's gear on Beano album........

 

There is no doubt that this album belongs to the most important recordings EC ever did. After leaving the Yardbirds for known reasons, he joined the Blues Breakers when young Eric was just 20 years old. After playing on several studio and live sessions they recorded on only one day in April 1966 the album "John Mayall and the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton", which is well-known as the Beano-album, because the cover shows EC reading a "Beano" comic. A lot of interesting things happened those days, the "Clapton is God"-gaffities appeared, he got the nickname "Slowhand", he left the band 1965 for a chaos trip through Greece (!) with a band called The Glands, was substituted by Peter Green, came back - and recorded this masterpiece.

The first time with the Yardbirds EC played a Telecaster, but soon he changed to a Gibson Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst (1958/60) (bought at Lew Davies in the Charing Cross Road), and played through a Marshall 1962 tube 2x12” combo version of the 45-watt JTM45 head with very high volume. He played this guitar also in the early Cream sessions, before it was stolen (and never reappeared) in 1966. Sound engineer was Gus Dugdeon, and compared to nowadays the recording technique was quite simple.

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Wow, I always read (and I believe even Marshall reissued the amp) EC was playing a Les Paul through an 18 Watt Marshall. EC did record Layla with a Strat through a Fender Champ.

 

Here is an internet quote on EC's gear on Beano album........

 

There is no doubt that this album belongs to the most important recordings EC ever did. After leaving the Yardbirds for known reasons, he joined the Blues Breakers when young Eric was just 20 years old. After playing on several studio and live sessions they recorded on only one day in April 1966 the album "John Mayall and the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton", which is well-known as the Beano-album, because the cover shows EC reading a "Beano" comic. A lot of interesting things happened those days, the "Clapton is God"-gaffities appeared, he got the nickname "Slowhand", he left the band 1965 for a chaos trip through Greece (!) with a band called The Glands, was substituted by Peter Green, came back - and recorded this masterpiece.

The first time with the Yardbirds EC played a Telecaster, but soon he changed to a Gibson Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst (1958/60) (bought at Lew Davies in the Charing Cross Road), and played through a Marshall 1962 tube 2x12” combo version of the 45-watt JTM45 head with very high volume. He played this guitar also in the early Cream sessions, before it was stolen (and never reappeared) in 1966. Sound engineer was Gus Dugdeon, and compared to nowadays the recording technique was quite simple.

 

I thought I read when he showed up for the first time to record with Mayall, it was just a Champ amp. I thought he had Marshall specifically design the Bluesbreaker for him sometime afterwards?

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Here is another source that seems more familiar to what I read many years ago......

 

An early Marshall JMP-45 was the amp that Eric Clapton used to record the "Beano" album with....his seminal Bluesbreakers record with John Mayall in April of 1966. The amp has been reissued by Marshall and is now known as the "Bluesbreaker" amp because of the popularity of Clapton's Guitar work on the "Beano" album.

 

 

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..More modern users are Peter Buck of REM and sometimes Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, but they use a lot of Fenders too..

 

Just an aside, Peter used a Roland Jazz Chorus for a lot of the early ('81-'83) live dates.

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Just an aside, Peter used a Roland Jazz Chorus for a lot of the early ('81-'83) live dates.

Ha.... isn't that interesting.. who'd have thought..

 

Then again, Page used a solid state Rickenbacker Transonic amp in the studio for some parts of Heartbreaker.. and for the first Led Zep tour in 1969,

The Jeff Beck Group also used those Ric amps in 1968, but switched to a solid state Kustom in 1969..

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Back to the topic of Vox tone....

 

I feel my 1967 Vibrolux with the 2x10s can get VERY chimey.

 

I have owned many different Fenders and I can say this Vibrolux has by far the most chime of any Fender I have owned. I don't know if it is the circuit or the 2x10" speakers.

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Just an aside, Peter used a Roland Jazz Chorus for a lot of the early ('81-'83) live dates.

 

That doesn't surprise me at all. Vox amps are infamous for breaking down. The Roland sounds very close to the Vox tone and a lot more reliable.

 

That said, I would kill for an original '64 AC30!!!!!!

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So...all this talk of amp tones. Can a VOX tone be dialed on a Fender amp, given the right combination of tone settings? How about the reverse? I mean comon, you guys talk about these amp tones like they are a flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robbins!

They Pretty much are..

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