I don't care what Fender is paying him

Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

It's my firm belief that, after Layla, George Harrison cut Clapton's balls off. The effects have filtered down into his tone. I think George saw that as the only way they could still be friends. We're all suffering, but not as much as Eric.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

I just watched Crossroads again this weekend and I love it!! I am not a fan of Clapton's pop stuff, but most other stuff (especially From the Cradle) rocks!!!
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

I read in an interview Clapton gave about the Cream reunion where he said
that he did try some Gibson guitars in their rehearsals and that basically they "didn't work for him", or something to that effect.

So, if you believe him, he did try them out. For whatever reason he just does not like the tone/feel of those guitars anymore.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

Baltar said:
He uses Fender Lace Sensors on his Strat. Never played any, but perhaps
that's the key !? Just an idea.

Sometimes i like his bluesy overdriven StratSound - but mainly if BB King
is playing with him - eg riding with the king album
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Actually, the pickups are Fender’s Vintage Noiseless single coils, not Lace Sensors. I find that I rather like Clapton’s single coil tone until he turns on the active boost in the strat.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

jayK said:
I read in an interview Clapton gave about the Cream reunion where he said
that he did try some Gibson guitars in their rehearsals and that basically they "didn't work for him", or something to that effect.

So, if you believe him, he did try them out. For whatever reason he just does not like the tone/feel of those guitars anymore.
Click to expand...
I believe he did try them, and intended to use them, as evidenced by Gibson making the $20,000 (or whatever) EC Signature 335. Clapton pretty much gave up Gibsons in 68/69. I don't think any of us are going to be playing the same guitars or have the same feel or tastes 40 years from now. Througout his career, he's always shown that Clapton does what he wants. If he doesn't want to play a 335, he's not going to "for old time's sake" or for anything.
proxy said:
In his later age you can tell he has lost some of his ability to hear higher frequency
Click to expand...
I think that's really a lot of the key as to why Eric does what Eric does. (as well as a lot of older guys)
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

Clapton always had a good Strat tone until he went to the newer Clapton Strat models with the lace sensors. His old strat "Blackie" sounded great......Check out his Strat tones starting with the Layla album up to about the late '70's live album ( I can't recall the name but it has the definitive versions of "Cocaine", "Blues Power" & "Further on Up the Road" on it.)
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

I prefer Clapton's strat sounds over his ES335 and les pauls.
Every strat he played sounds great, except for the lace sensor models.

My favorite sound of his - is the current sound right now - with his artsy painted strat with noiseless pickups in it and a midrange boost.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

I'm not a huge Clapton solo fan but i love Cream!!! I have only heard the White Room track off the new RAH cd's on the radio... I loved the sound! It sound really nice to me.... It was not the fuzzy middle range Marshall tone i know Cream is known for but it was pretty cool sounding..... I liked Lace Sensor pickups but i do not like the new Noiseless ones myself.... I prefer real single coils for a stock strat sound but there is a bell like tone in some of those Lace Sensors that is nice.... I have a strat set up stock but most of my strats have humbuckers in them... But when done right a stock strat can sound pretty meaty..... I see some guys using their stock starts and they sound like they have an SG special with P90's in their hands...

WhoFan
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

the_Chris said:
I liked his tone way back when he had his ES-335 with PAFs... now that was tone.
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Bingo. The 335...LP and SG sounded great too...

Back when he he came out with "before you accuse me" I liked that tone for a bit...but it got tiresome after awhile...trying to make a Fender sound like a Gibson...he needs to get the real deal going with the Cream reunion. That ungodly tone was as much a part of what makes those old cream tunes so great as the playing did...same could be said for Hendrix with the strat sounds. I think Beck sounded better when playing Paulas and Tele's too :shrug:

Strats + Cream = just very very wrong, IMO.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

the active circut in those guitars is never off. even with the mid boost off there is still a considerable volume boost and some tonal coloration.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

As someone who likes the sound of all kinds of guitars, I can never understand why somebody would almost "disavow" certain types of guitars.

Clapton played Gibsons extensively, then basically abandonded them and it seems never picked them up again. I mean if he's not going to use them in a Cream reunion it is safe to say he will never use them!

As a huge Neil Young fan, obviously I like the sound of his LP's but he never seems to play any Fender guitars, that would be interesting to hear.

Last night, it was late and I was playing my tele through headphones and I could not imagine a guitar sounding any better, yet the tele is not my favorite guitar. It just seems like people miss out on things when they are so single minded about what they play.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

Clapton's Bluesbreakers stuff is absolutely awesome. The Cream stuff was awesome in a different way. D & Dominos was still fairly cool, then came the 70's stuff which was very average, at best. His 80's stuff was pretty cool, I thought. His 90's stuff was okay, at least 'From The Cradle' and 'Unplugged' (w/o the acoustic Layla) were.

I like his Strat tone because I'm a Strat guy, but his humbucker tone was also very nice.

edit - His low point as far as tone I think is when he played the Firebird, imo.
Also, I forgot 'Blind Faith,' I lovvvve that album, Steve Winwood is too cool. Claptons solo on Presence Of The Lord (335 and a Fender amp, I believe) is painfully good.:crying: GREAT songs :notworthy
 
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Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

clapton did use a bunch of gibson for from the cradle. super 400's, various es models, dont remember hearing any pauls but he was using gibsons for sure.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

Raise your hand if you are using the same setup you did 10-20 years ago. Anyone? Anyone?

Right, now if everyone on this forum told you they liked your tone better back then and you should switch, would you do it? No? Why not?

The LP/Marshall rig was nearly 40 years ago, and everyone is still hung up on it. Clapton obviously had his reasons for changing things around back then. Maybe he decided he liked Strats better after all. Maybe he didn't want to have the same exact tone on every record (he's not Angus Young after all). Maybe he is losing treble hearing. Whatever his reasons were at the time, they made sense to him. We're talking about a man who can have any piece of gear he wants - this is what he picked.

Give the guy some credit for at least giving the Gibsons another shot. Obviously he has a sound in his mind that he knows he wants, and a Les Paul isn't going to give it to him.

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but this topic comes up so many times here and elsewhere it's getting a bit old. If you like the tone he had with Cream, listen to your Cream albums. Clapton has moved on.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

ratherdashing said:
If you like the tone he had with Cream, listen to your Cream albums. Clapton has moved on.
Click to expand...

:devils advocate:

But if you go to a Cream concert is it asking too much to hear the sound of Cream?

Or are we (general "we") paying to see Clapton playing Cream songs, backed up by Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker?
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

Even if Cream would've kept going, Clapton would have changed gear. He had 3 very seperately distinct guitars with the Yardbirds- the Gretsch, the 335 and the Tele. He changed with the Bluesbreakers, and all the changes after that. There's a really good chance Cream, had it continued, may have been done with a Strat.
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

The Golden Boy said:
Even if Cream would've kept going, Clapton would have changed gear. He had 3 very seperately distinct guitars with the Yardbirds- the Gretsch, the 335 and the Tele. He changed with the Bluesbreakers, and all the changes after that. There's a really good chance Cream, had it continued, may have been done with a Strat.
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Coulda shoulda woulda :D

I guess the way I see it is...and I'm a traditional and nostalgic person in general, I would go with what's classic for something as big as this...this kind of reunion for this big of a band...

I'd be a little ticked if I went to see Led Zeppelin on a reunion and Jimmy was playing a Jackson.

Or if Brian Setzer played a Flying V on a Stray Cats reunion.

thats me though...
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

whats up guys, this is an interesting thread so i'll throw my 2 cents in:

i don't really think the sound has anything to do with Clapton playing Strats per se, but has more to do with those crap-ass vintage noiseless pups he's playing in them. a strat can sound pretty damn meaty, provided the user doesn't get hung up on the fake single coil thing, but still, the amazing thing is that Clapton can still sound SOOOOOOOOOOOO good using those sorry pickups. just goes to show how good of a player he actually is. if i had to use those "noiseless" fender things, look out... yuck, the thought detests me. but Clapton can still play his ass off using those extremely weak and toneless pups. now if he only had some Antiquities...
 
Re: I don't care what Fender is paying him

Ok, for the record his new strats DO NOT have LS in them, only his slide guitar does now.
As for how much they're poying him? I don't know but I do know they only give him 1 guitar a years for free.
 
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