ballparking larry carlton tone

Quencho092

New member
im getting into more fusion type stuff now. Would a strat, TS9 and BF fender cut it in my case to get a good "fusion" tone?
 
Re: ballparking larry carlton tone

Carlton plays a 335, I think that's a hard sound to duplicate on a strat...as far as amps....I read an article about the Kid Charlemagne solo and Larry said he played his 335 through a cranked late 60s BF Fender Princeton Reverb.....he said he mainly used fenders back then, but he also played some boogies too...probably the Mark I.....these days he uses Dumble amps...
...I personally think a TS9 wouldn't be a good match for what you're looking for...you probably want a smoother OD.... I think Fretfire has been trying to achieve a similiar tone and is waiting on a Zendrive...I for one I'm curious on how it'll perform....
 
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Re: ballparking larry carlton tone

BUT.....having said all that...some of Carlton's tone comes from his gear yes, but it's in the hands were the magic happens!
 
Re: ballparking larry carlton tone

drp555 said:
Carlton plays a 335, I think that's a hard sound to duplicate on a strat...as far as amps....I read an article about the Kid Charlemagne solo and Larry said he played his 335 through a cranked late 60s BF Fender Princeton Reverb.....he said he mainly used fenders back then, but he also played some boogies too...probably the Mark I.....these days he uses Dumble amps...
...I personally think a TS9 wouldn't be a good match for what you're looking for...you probably want a smoother OD.... I think Fretfire has been trying to achieve a similiar tone and is waiting on a Zendrive...I for one I'm curious on how it'll perform....

You are correct sir, I have been on the search for a similar tone. Maybe more along the lines of Robben Ford, but definitely Mr. Carlton as well. Now, it'll be really tough without a Dumble or similar amp, but if I can get close to a few certain qualities of their tones I'll be happy. Tubescreamers and their clones are not the answer here, what you want is a more linear clean boost type pedal that has plenty of gain. Tubescreamers, while perfectly good ODs, have a hump in the mids and are more gritty than I like in the gain department.

I have a Hermida Zendrive on order, which should help out a bit. I'll post a link to a clip below of a Zendrive in front of a Rivera. Note it's not me playing, the clip is originally from thegearpage.net and I don't recall who recorded it :(. A more definite way to get those tones is to snag a Fuchs or Two Rock amp.

Zendrive into a Rivera, clean first, then pedal engaged
 
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