Jimmy Page Tele tone??
- Thread starter Sabe
- Start date
STRATDELUXER97
Stratoblaster Tone Meister
Re: Jimmy Page Tele tone??
Lew will read this and chime right in for you....I'll be interested myself in his recommendation..I'd bet the Antiquities though..
John
Sabe said:
Lew will read this and chime right in for you....I'll be interested myself in his recommendation..I'd bet the Antiquities though..
John
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Jimmy Page Tele tone??
Well...I'll tell ya...
Jimmy Page used a ash Tele with a rosewood fingerboard and alnico 5 pickups with raised polepieces...not a2 Antiquitys with flat polepieces or a5 Broadcaster pickups with flat polepieces.
The rosewood board on his Tele would have warmed up the tone a little compared to a maple fingerboard too.
Your guitar, if it's alder and has a maple fingerboard is similar to my James Burton Tele.
It's probably brighter than Jimmy Page's Tele acoustically.
In MY Tele, which I'm going to assume is similar to yours, the best pickups I tried in it are:
1. Tele ala Strat neck and Tapped Hot Tele bridge from the Duncan Custom Shop only.
2. Antiquitys neck and bridge
3. Fralin Tele Stock neck (Duncan a5 Vintage neck is similar) and Jerry Donahue bridge
4. Fralin Blues Special neck and bridge
All in all, I think I'd recommend the a2 Antiquitys...I now have those in my Nocaster.
Well...I'll tell ya...
Jimmy Page used a ash Tele with a rosewood fingerboard and alnico 5 pickups with raised polepieces...not a2 Antiquitys with flat polepieces or a5 Broadcaster pickups with flat polepieces.
The rosewood board on his Tele would have warmed up the tone a little compared to a maple fingerboard too.
Your guitar, if it's alder and has a maple fingerboard is similar to my James Burton Tele.
It's probably brighter than Jimmy Page's Tele acoustically.
In MY Tele, which I'm going to assume is similar to yours, the best pickups I tried in it are:
1. Tele ala Strat neck and Tapped Hot Tele bridge from the Duncan Custom Shop only.
2. Antiquitys neck and bridge
3. Fralin Tele Stock neck (Duncan a5 Vintage neck is similar) and Jerry Donahue bridge
4. Fralin Blues Special neck and bridge
All in all, I think I'd recommend the a2 Antiquitys...I now have those in my Nocaster.
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Jimmy Page Tele tone??
One more thing: The Duncan Vintage '54 would be closest to what Jimmy Page has in his old tele...and the Vintage neck.
That said, I prefer flat poles in my teles and all of mine have flat poled bridge pickups not raised like the '54.
Even in my real '54 Tele, I removed the bridge pickup and replaced it with a flat poled Fralin Blues Special.
Smoother, less bite and a fatter tone.
Lew
One more thing: The Duncan Vintage '54 would be closest to what Jimmy Page has in his old tele...and the Vintage neck.
That said, I prefer flat poles in my teles and all of mine have flat poled bridge pickups not raised like the '54.
Even in my real '54 Tele, I removed the bridge pickup and replaced it with a flat poled Fralin Blues Special.
Smoother, less bite and a fatter tone.
Lew
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Jimmy Page Tele tone??
Is Pages Tele a Top loader? That would make it a '59.
I think the Supro Thunderbolt amp with a 15" speaker miked amazingly well by Page is a HUGE PART of Led Zep I's tone.
mrid said:
Is Pages Tele a Top loader? That would make it a '59.
I think the Supro Thunderbolt amp with a 15" speaker miked amazingly well by Page is a HUGE PART of Led Zep I's tone.
Re: Jimmy Page Tele tone??
yeah lew, my board is maple. And my bridge is string-thru, not top load.
nonetheless, whether or not I can achieve the tone 100% without the right fingerboard and bridge, I appreciate your input. Looks like a set of 54's will be on the xmas list.
I'm actually glad you said Vint54's, because I wanted to maintain the the traditional tele twang, if it was at all possible, and I'm sure those are up for the task, no doubt. I was afraid the Page tone was achieved through some wicked overwound hot pup and I'd lose my twang as a result.
yeah lew, my board is maple. And my bridge is string-thru, not top load.
nonetheless, whether or not I can achieve the tone 100% without the right fingerboard and bridge, I appreciate your input. Looks like a set of 54's will be on the xmas list.
I'm actually glad you said Vint54's, because I wanted to maintain the the traditional tele twang, if it was at all possible, and I'm sure those are up for the task, no doubt. I was afraid the Page tone was achieved through some wicked overwound hot pup and I'd lose my twang as a result.
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Jimmy Page Tele tone??
I always felt like I come close to the Led Zep I tone with my '54 Tele, a Boss DS-1 and any of my little Fender tweed amps: Deluxe, Super, etc.
But, as Bluedave mentioned, the Supro Thumderbolt amp with a Jensen 15" speaker is a big part of the guitar sound on the Led Zep I album.
Also, Jimmy Page is brilliant with microphone placement! I'm sure there were both distant and close up mic's on that 15" speaker. Probably zillion dollar Neumann microphones through a vintage tube mixing console too...or something similar!
Lew
Sabe said:
I always felt like I come close to the Led Zep I tone with my '54 Tele, a Boss DS-1 and any of my little Fender tweed amps: Deluxe, Super, etc.
But, as Bluedave mentioned, the Supro Thumderbolt amp with a Jensen 15" speaker is a big part of the guitar sound on the Led Zep I album.
Also, Jimmy Page is brilliant with microphone placement! I'm sure there were both distant and close up mic's on that 15" speaker. Probably zillion dollar Neumann microphones through a vintage tube mixing console too...or something similar!
Lew
the guy who invented fire
Fuzzy. Guitars
Re: Jimmy Page Tele tone??
Jimmy's Tele IS a 59...BUT if you look very close, you can see that it had been converted to a string through (By Jeff Beck) BUT...Jimmy used it as a top loader...make sure the pups are Alnico 5 and have the raised D and G poles...and DO NOT use brass saddles...Jimmys had the steel saddles and that DO have a different tone...here are the most important things
-Top Loader
-raised D and G poles
-Alnico 5 magnets
-Old Style wiring
-Steel Saddles
-Rosewood Fretboard
DO NOT FORGET THE TONEBENDER!!!
and the Supro would be good too!!!
Lewguitar said:
Jimmy's Tele IS a 59...BUT if you look very close, you can see that it had been converted to a string through (By Jeff Beck) BUT...Jimmy used it as a top loader...make sure the pups are Alnico 5 and have the raised D and G poles...and DO NOT use brass saddles...Jimmys had the steel saddles and that DO have a different tone...here are the most important things
-Top Loader
-raised D and G poles
-Alnico 5 magnets
-Old Style wiring
-Steel Saddles
-Rosewood Fretboard
DO NOT FORGET THE TONEBENDER!!!
and the Supro would be good too!!!