Clapton's Amps

[WhoFan]

Re: Clapton's Amps

There was a great interview with Clapton's tech about the Custom Fender amps he has used over the last 7 years or so... They searched high and low to find all the right vintage transformers and other parts and made 3 Tweed covered custom Twins... It took 2 years to find all the parts and build them..

WhoFan

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Clapton's Amps

But he was aiming for that with the Forever Man Sound. Really, my least favorite Clapton tone.

Had enough
Bad tone...

He was looking at it...no doubt.

But that track ("Forever Man") is about as non-Clapton as you can get. It seems totally foreign styilistically to everything else he'd done.

.....can we pin this one on Phil Collins somehow?

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Clapton's Amps

Forever man...was it not Lukather who played the rhythm guitar as well?
Once again...read Fender Twin amp 57, dual rectifier, birch combo, Weber design Eminence speakers, four inputs, laquered tweed cloth, awesome sound, right up with his tones from old days, and they took it apart, and they where amazed by it, it looked and sounded just like his old one.
It gives a wonderful driven sound, it takes pedals just as well too, the speakers are a marvel, everything about this amps just oozes old cool 60's sounds.
Nothing BF or silverface over this one, raw tweed tones, as good as it gets.
The rest is just different in sounds not better.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Clapton's Amps

Forever man...was it not Lukather who played the rhythm guitar as well?
Once again...read Fender Twin amp 57, dual rectifier, birch combo, Weber design Eminence speakers, four inputs, laquered tweed cloth, awesome sound, right up with his tones from old days, and they took it apart, and they where amazed by it, it looked and sounded just like his old one.
It gives a wonderful driven sound, it takes pedals just as well too, the speakers are a marvel, everything about this amps just oozes old cool 60's sounds.
Nothing BF or silverface over this one, raw tweed tones, as good as it gets.
The rest is just different in sounds not better.

I have read where guys are unloading their Twins and saying they are simply too loud for small to med club sizes and especially for practice use.

Are they really that loud at the natural overdrive point like with the Bassman's?

If so, then the smaller Deluxe Reverbs or Blues Deluxes are reportedly more versatile and more portable? And sound just as good. Am I getting this right?

l keep seeing guys getting hung up on an amps natural overdrive and amps being too loud at that point. Isn't that what effects pedals are for, to push an amp into overdrive sooner? Everyone that I have seen make that point, has OD and or Fuzz pedals, aren't they getting used with their Fender amps?

What am I missing?

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Clapton's Amps

I have read where guys are unloading their Twins and saying they are simply too loud for small to med club sizes and especially for practice use.

Are they really that loud at the natural overdrive point like with the Bassman's?

That's the reason why you see so many of them on the market. In order to get them to get that "Twin" sound you have to crank them. And at that volume they're just collarbone-shatteringly loud.

The only application I would EVER consider owning a Twin for would be if I were playing outdoor festivals or stadiums.

If so, then the smaller Deluxe Reverbs or Blues Deluxes are reportedly more versatile and more portable? And sound just as good. Am I getting this right?

Yes with the Deluxe Reverbs, no with the Blues Deluxes.

The Deluxe Reverbs tend to break up at a reasonable level for gigging clubs and bars.

The Blues Deluxe is a Master Volume dual-channel amp. It's a completely different beast. It breaks up where you tell it to break up by using the Gain and setting the Master Volume for the sound volume to the room. While this is convenient this method doesn't always put the amp in an optimal position to really get it to sound great. Even with a Master Volume some amps need to be cranked to push the tubes enough to sound good. This has been my experience with my HotRod Deluxe, the Blues Deluxe's big brother.

It's a decent amp....but nowhere near the tone monster the Deluxe Reverb is in my opinion.

They are both more portable than the Twin, no doubt about that. Chiropractors have sent their kids through college from the results of gigging musicians and their Fender Twins.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Clapton's Amps

SkareKrough, you sure make the Deluxe Reverb sound great. Are you trying to sell me one? :laugh2: :laugh2:

I believe that I will just go for the Deluxe Reverb base upon all that has been said about it by you and others. Are the RI's worthy or would you go for a 70's DR? SF or BF?

What about the Princeton as a gigging amp mic'ed for small venues?

I asked about SRV's amps last week and that may have been counter productive for me. I saw pictures of Marshalls and Dumbles and Fenders. If I want to duplicate his sound perhaps I would need all that he used. However, that isn't really my goal. I wouldn't mind the ability to get some of if...But, it does mess with my mind a bit. "If SRV used Marshalls and Dumbles with 4x12 cabs just to record..." I then think, "How would a little ol' Fender amp with one 12" be enough for me?" But, i think a Deluxe Reverb will be more than sufficient.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Clapton's Amps

SkareKrough, you sure make the Deluxe Reverb sound great. Are you trying to sell me one? :laugh2: :laugh2:

Actually, I've been looking to unload a HotRod Deluxe....I'm not a terribly good salesman then!

I believe that I will just go for the Deluxe Reverb base upon all that has been said about it by you and others. Are the RI's worthy or would you go for a 70's DR? SF or BF?

The Reissues are very worthy! Fender did an excellent job with them. For the money they're a great value and a very good approximation of the original amp.

If you can afford one of the original hand-wired BF's then go for it! But they're getting very pricey. SF's are going up in price as well and I believe that many of them can be modified back to BF specs.

 

[gripweed]

Re: Clapton's Amps

I have read where guys are unloading their Twins and saying they are simply too loud for small to med club sizes and especially for practice use.

Are they really that loud at the natural overdrive point like with the Bassman's?

If so, then the smaller Deluxe Reverbs or Blues Deluxes are reportedly more versatile and more portable? And sound just as good. Am I getting this right?

l keep seeing guys getting hung up on an amps natural overdrive and amps being too loud at that point. Isn't that what effects pedals are for, to push an amp into overdrive sooner? Everyone that I have seen make that point, has OD and or Fuzz pedals, aren't they getting used with their Fender amps?

What am I missing?

I've always been a pedal guy. I don't like a really heavy distortion type pedal, I prefer the Ibanez tube screamers, which is what SRV used. I also really like my DOD Bifet preamp for boost. A real sleeper of a pedal IMHO.

The Twins are a *super * loud beast. 80 watts if I'm not mistaken. I'm also not a big fan of master volume amps. I've used them in the past and gotten some great tones out of them, but the best amps have 3-4 knobs IMHO.

I think a lot of guys are purists about pedals. They don't want anything between them and their *tone*. I think they're missing out. Its a color and a painter wouldn't refuse to use red if he needed it for a painting. The trick I think is to use it judiciously. I rarely use more than one or two pedals at a time, and depending upon what I'm doing, sometimes there is just one pedal in my chain.

The more I lsiten to you Todd, the more I'm beginning to agree with my original recommendation, the Deluxe

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Clapton's Amps

This master volume discussion is very informative. The MV doesn't appear to tame the loud beasts from what I am hearing. I would not have guessed that. Great info.


And yes I am finally ready after much discussion to zone in on the Deluxe Reverb Reissue...and I will use a TS-something, and DS-1 pedals at my leisure to season and flavor my tonal tastes.

You guys are great. Thanks for all the terrific insights and recommendations.

This has been great fun.
I wish you all the best and thanks being willing to share from you experience.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Clapton's Amps

The problem with any non-Master Volume amp is getting the desired overdrive at a reasonable volume level. Attenuaters are cool because it allows the amp to get pushed from both the preamp and poweramp sections.

I can't understand someone who doesn't like a master volume amp from a practical standpoint. I've had the same 50w MV amp for the past 12 years or so- while it can get pretty doggone loud, it also delivers reasonably good tone in the basement or ina small club setting.

Fender's 70's MV sucked. Sorry.

I also can't understand someone preferring the overdrive a pedal provides over a natural overdriven pre/poweramp section. Every overdrive/distortion squashes your sound, and adds so much compression, you lose a lot of your dynamics.

Several years back, I bought a friend's 66 Showman (85w, basically the guts of a Twin, minus the reverb), and I could not handle it past 6- and that was about where it started to break up. I did a long search and "interviewed" a lot of pedals. I ended up with a Barber Direct Drive. While it's a fine overdrive pedal- and the only "affordable" pedal that doesn't squash your sound- it still lacks "something." Again, it's a great overdrive, but it's not a natural sounding, natural responding device.

Part of what makes this such a pain, is that everyone's opinion is subjective. There are people that believe that a Peavey Backstage Plus is the quintessence of tone, some people think a cranked plexi is for wuss rock, some people think 23 separate cascading gain channels is a clean tone.

Guitar Toad, you seem to be changing your mind as to what amp you'd like with every other post, rather than forking out cash for an amp that someone on the intarweb says is really cool, you may wish to actively try out amps in situations and volume levels you'll actually use and be comfortable with- before you buy. You seem to be wanting a Fender simply because that's what Clapton uses/used, and that might not work best for you. All the artist endorsements and various opinions mean nothing if it doesn't work the way you need it to.

Try before you buy, save the money in shipping and the headaches.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Clapton's Amps

+1 on the Twin Reverb being insanely loud. I love that surfy tone though.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Clapton's Amps

I also can't understand someone preferring the overdrive a pedal provides over a natural overdriven pre/poweramp section. Every overdrive/distortion squashes your sound, and adds so much compression, you lose a lot of your dynamics.

I'm with you on this one. I don't like the way most overdrive/distortion pedals completely kill your guitar's natural tone. You end up with the pedal's tone, not the guitar's. I have a Boss Blues Driver that I use for solo boosts, but I would never rely on a pedal to provide my gain.

It could be that I've never tried a good od/dist pedal though ... who knows. Like you said, it's all subjective.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Clapton's Amps

Not Twin reverb, a 57 Twin amp is 40 watts...
It is like taking a Super reverb on the road.
If that one is too loud the club is not a club but a damm livingroom

I also can't understand someone preferring the overdrive a pedal provides over a natural overdriven pre/poweramp section. Every overdrive/distortion squashes your sound, and adds so much compression, you lose a lot of your dynamics.

Several years back, I bought a friend's 66 Showman (85w, basically the guts of a Twin, minus the reverb), and I could not handle it past 6- and that was about where it started to break up. I did a long search and "interviewed" a lot of pedals. I ended up with a Barber Direct Drive. While it's a fine overdrive pedal- and the only "affordable" pedal that doesn't squash your sound- it still lacks "something." Again, it's a great overdrive, but it's not a natural sounding, natural responding device.

Well it does not change a solid fact that some of this worlds most cool sounds came from people using pedals into good amps.
We all play differently and can get what we want from very different setups.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Clapton's Amps

Golden Boy - Thanks for another informative post. You ‘re right. I am ignorant regarding amps. I have very little experience regarding amps. I had no idea that the MV or no-MV was an issue. I wouldn't have questioned it.

I would love to try a lot of amps, many I would love to own. Please let me say, I have learned a great deal from the terrific responses to my queries.

I really can't buy right now, therefore I am feeding the GAS by trying to learn as much as I can until I can buy. I think others have learned from the terrific responses to yet another of my boldness/goofyness to post yet another amp thread.

Until I can buy, the Revend Hellhound that I am borrowing will do me well.

Isn't all this amp talk fun! I am having a blast. :laugh2: :laugh2:

Plus, it gives me the great opportunity to converse with great forum bro's like flank, the guy who invented fire, gripweed, skarekrough, lewguitar, stratdeluexer97, Curly, Quencho, seafoamer, Rid,...et. al.

Have great day guys.
Thanks for all the help.
Todd

 

[Bludave]

Re: Clapton's Amps

Well, I think I've narrowed it down to Blues Deluxe Deville 2x12, DRRI, or Mesa F-30. I want try to also get a '65 Champ or '65Vibro Champ for a practice amp. Guess what year I entered this world.

I keep getting hung up on the British tone question and do I want a 6L6 amp or an EL84. I want a amp that will give me Clapton's Crossroads tone to Bell Bottom Blues to Layla.

Claptons Amps varied from the eras you speak of. In the early part of his career he used a Marshall Bluesbreaker with a Les Paul (with John Mayall) This tone can be replicated pretty well using a Fender Bassman. The circuit is basically the same.

With Cream he used Gigson guitars (SG LP, LP Standard, 335, Explorer, and a few other). His Amp of Choice in this era was Marhall 45 100 watt Stacks. With the goodbye Cream tour he used exclusivley a 335 thru a Fender Tremolux.

With Blind Faith He used a Telecaster Custom thru Marshalls. (At least for the sudio stuff, I do not know about the live shows)

With Delany & Bonnie is when he first started playing a Strat. His Amps were Twins

With the Layla sessions both He and Duane used Fender tweed Champs. It is a great way of hearing the difference between a LP and a Strat. The Live shows he used Fender Dual Showmans, which are essentially a Twin in a head format.

During much of his solo stuff he was using Musicman Amps. He did this on many Live tours as well as in the studio. He did a record with Ry Cooder called Money and Cigarettes. I am pretty certain he used Musicman Amps on that record (Leo Fender started Musicman after he left Fender when it was bought by CBS).

He did a Tour in the early 90's with Mark Knofler playing guitar with him. On that tour he was introduced to Soldano Amps by Mark Knofler. He used Soldano Amps in the Studio thru most of the 90's.

His current Amp setup is a Custom tweed that I have heard were made for him by Fender, but I have also heard they were designed by someone outside of Fender?? He gave one to B.B. King when they did the record together. My understanding is this Amp was based on a low output 57 tweed twin(50 watts). This is basically the Amp that Fender offers now. I believe his is quite a bit different.

He did not start using his Signature Strat until around 1987 or 88. His famed Blackie had been refretted to many times and could not take another refret. He went to Fender to see about what could be had to replace it. Fender decided with his input to build his Signature Strat. It was the first Signature guitar that Fender made.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Clapton's Amps

i read that Derek and the Domino's was Clapton's effort to play down the guitar Icon status that he aquired in the Cream era, is there truth to that? I have never really understood how big he was back in the day. I assumed that he is bigger now than he was in the early 70's.

That's an excellent synopsis Bludave. Thank you.

Wow those 57 Twin's RI's are pricey!
GB-I'm not even considering one of those.

Try before you buy, save the money in shipping and the headaches.

Great advice, GB! I have a great short list of amps to begin trying. I simply have to road trip to KC to the Musicians Friend store to find all the amps I want to try in one place. There ain't a good selection of these amps on the shelf here.

It's all good Golden Boy!

 

[Bludave]

Re: Clapton's Amps

YES it is true. The name "Derek" was a feeble attempt to hide Eric being in the band. When that album first came out it did not sell well. MOst non guitar playing people didn't realize it was EC. ANY guitar player could tell it was him after the first few notes.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Clapton's Amps

With Cream he used Gigson guitars (SG LP, LP Standard, 335, Explorer, and a few other). His Amp of Choice in this era was Marhall 45 100 watt Stacks. With the goodbye Cream tour he used exclusivley a 335 thru a Fender Tremolux.

With Blind Faith He used a Telecaster Custom thru Marshalls. (At least for the sudio stuff, I do not know about the live shows)

His current Amp setup is a Custom tweed that I have heard were made for him by Fender, but I have also heard they were designed by someone outside of Fender?? He gave one to B.B. King when they did the record together. My understanding is this Amp was based on a low output 57 tweed twin(50 watts). This is basically the Amp that Fender offers now. I believe his is quite a bit different.

With Blind Faith, that Telecaster actually was a Strat neck on a Tele Custom body. All the live pictures I've seen of Blind Faith (like all 3 of them...) he's in front of a Marshall:

That not-Fender Tweed Twin was/is made by Cornford:
http://www.dc-developments.com/products-home.htm#custom 40&80

I'd never heard of Clapton playing with Tremoluxes live.
Here's a really killer site detailing early Clapton gear:
http://twtd.bluemountains.net.au/cream/loud_and_louder__then_silence.htm

 

[FPA_687]

Re: Clapton's Amps

That not-Fender Tweed Twin was/is made by Cornford:
http://www.dc-developments.com/products-home.htm#custom 40&80

Cornell, not Cornford. Brand name crossing.

GB, sorry for the correction.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Clapton's Amps

yup the low power tweed twin aint a fender. i think fender ri'd the lp tweed twin cause everybody thought clapton was using one even though he wasnt.

on layla im pretty sure clapton was using a champ and a strat and duane was using a little gibson amp and a strat. i was just listining to that album yesterday