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Leon Sound Clips

tulk1

By tulk1
in Heritage Guitars

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tulk1 Experienced

tulk1

Posted
Posted

Let me explain a little bit about the Blue Leon before posting the clips. Brent and I were in instant communications about the Leon. He knew I was jonsing bad for an H127. After getting the Leon I immediately left for our "tour" (hehe) of Wyoming - 8 gigs, 9 days. I really hadn't had time to give the 'ol Leon a good work out. Got it out the first night and uh ... well, it sounded good. But it couldn't cut thru the band mix. Just sort of faded away. Two other nights and the same scenario, so it went back in the case. While up there Brent called to let me know he was taking the Red Leon, and did I want to put mine up for sale first. We'd talked about what it wasn't doing for me. I wasn't in any hurry, so the Red one was sold.

 

After getting back, I put the blue one up for sale, thinking I didn't want to put the extra $$s into fixing it. Then decided, what the heck, it's a truly rare Heritage and a 127 to boot!! So that took me to trouble shooting it. Hence my post about the wiring. And here's what I found - the Bridge pickup has about half the volume of the mid/neck. So I replaced it with an SD JB Jr. And ... uh ... wow!! did it open up. I have no clue how a bad pickup could make the others sound bad; but it did. Replacing the bridge pickup has brought this baby to life. It's a keeper!! So ... here's a clip of the pickups as they sound now.

 

I used an old vocal mic I had lying around; guitar is run thru the Vox AC30CC1; into my mixer; into Samplitude on the DAW. No other effects or processing. The little rif is the intro to Mr. Man in the Moon by Patty Loveless, one of my favs. FInger picking it so there's a bit of volume difference, depending on how hard I was picking. May do a pick and OD clip later. Pickups are the original OBL (Bill Lawrence rails) in the Mid/Neck; SD Jb Jr in the Bridge. In order:

 

Neck

Mid

Bridge

Neck/Mid

Neck/Bridge

Mid/Bridge

Neck/Mid/Bridge

 

http://eriador1.com/leonrhodes/Leon_all_pickups.mp3

111518 Collaborator

111518

Posted
Posted

Let me explain a little bit about the Blue Leon before posting the clips. Brent and I were in instant communications about the Leon. He knew I was jonsing bad for an H127. After getting the Leon I immediately left for our "tour" (hehe) of Wyoming - 8 gigs, 9 days. I really hadn't had time to give the 'ol Leon a good work out. Got it out the first night and uh ... well, it sounded good. But it couldn't cut thru the band mix. Just sort of faded away. Two other nights and the same scenario, so it went back in the case. While up there Brent called to let me know he was taking the Red Leon, and did I want to put mine up for sale first. We'd talked about what it wasn't doing for me. I wasn't in any hurry, so the Red one was sold.

 

After getting back, I put the blue one up for sale, thinking I didn't want to put the extra $$s into fixing it. Then decided, what the heck, it's a truly rare Heritage and a 127 to boot!! So that took me to trouble shooting it. Hence my post about the wiring. And here's what I found - the Bridge pickup has about half the volume of the mid/neck. So I replaced it with an SD JB Jr. And ... uh ... wow!! did it open up. I have no clue how a bad pickup could make the others sound bad; but it did. Replacing the bridge pickup has brought this baby to life. It's a keeper!! So ... here's a clip of the pickups as they sound now.

 

I used an old vocal mic I had lying around; guitar is run thru the Vox AC30CC1; into my mixer; into Samplitude on the DAW. No other effects or processing. The little rif is the intro to Mr. Man in the Moon by Patty Loveless, one of my favs. FInger picking it so there's a bit of volume difference, depending on how hard I was picking. May do a pick and OD clip later. Pickups are the original OBL (Bill Lawrence rails) in the Mid/Neck; SD Jb Jr in the Bridge. In order:

 

Neck

Mid

Bridge

Neck/Mid

Neck/Bridge

Mid/Bridge

Neck/Mid/Bridge

 

http://eriador1.com/leonrhodes/Leon_all_pickups.mp3

 

I owe you a beer, and ,,,

I wonder if the back pickup was wired as a single coil, to get more of a tele bridge sound, but with the lack of output and balance with the other pickups that setup didn't work?

 

When I first saw the guitar, I really wondered if all three pickups might be set up on three way switches: hum, single, off. Anyhoo, thanks for posting this information and pics; when I do get my hands on mine, I'll have some understanding.

 

And, I should note that in Tulk's story above he left out one very kind step. He beat me to the "dibs" when Brent first posted the guitar, and we had some fun about it, When he thought he might sell the guitar, he offered it to me before posting it on the board. Nice, and I appreciated it.

pegleg32 Rising Star

pegleg32

Posted
Posted

I like it Kenny, of course the tone in your fingers comes through even in that short piece. Also, I was wondering if you had a report on the Jackson Hole gig and I missed it?

koula901 Mentor

koula901

Posted
Posted

My favorite sound is the neck pickup. It sounds both fat and bright at the same time- great sound. I, too, wonder what the guitar looks like. Good post, Kenny.

Guest HRB853370

Guest HRB853370

Posted
Posted

What's a Red Leon?

 

What is a Leon, period, regardless of color?

111518 Collaborator

111518

Posted
Posted

What's a Red Leon?

 

Well, the most famous was Trotsky, I guess, but ...

 

The Red Leon is one of two Leon Rhodes (great country-jazz player) signature model Heritage guitars that Brent unearthed and offered for sell. Kenny got the blue one, and I got the red one. I'd post a pic, but I don't have any --Brent is holding the guitar until I get back to the states, and I didn't think to download any of the pics that he posted. I think Kenny's pictures are still posted, if you search, and maybe Brent would repost the Red Leon, if it isn't a hassle.

tulk1 Experienced

tulk1

Posted
  • Author
Posted

What's a Red Leon?

 

 

I'm thinking penicillin might help, Kenny....

 

Possibly so. Although I'm not the one with the red one. Mine is blue ... probably needs air. :laughing7:

totonka Collaborator

totonka

Posted
Posted

Edit

I don't know WTH happened here.

 

Anyway, what I wanted to say, Kenny, is that I'm glad you found a way to make this work for you. I thought you were a genius for snapping it up so quickly, but then thought you went nuts trying to get rid of it so soon. It certainly has that "other" sound that is unique and the guitar is uniquely Heritage. Way to go Kenny!

fxdx99 Experienced

fxdx99

Posted
Posted

Nice pickin', Tex! Bright, crisp, full, clear - yeh, that's a good sounding guitar. Has that 'nashville tele' thing going for it with the strat in between sounds. Very versatile.

schundog Mentor

schundog

Posted
Posted

Possibly so. Although I'm not the one with the red one. Mine is blue ... probably needs air. :laughing7:

 

Nice clips, Kenny. I'm glad it worked out for you; very cool that a guy in a country band that loves Heritage ends up with a Heritage "country" guitar! This talk about the color reminds me of a dumb joke;

 

What's the difference between pink and purple?!

 

The Grip.....

MartyGrass Veteran

MartyGrass

Posted
Posted

It sounds like in some of those settings you're going out of phase, like the neck and the mid joined? Is that possible?

 

Don't get me wrong. One of the best things you can do with two pickups is to run them out of phase.

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