Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

[NantucketSleighrider]

Hi,
This is my first time on the forum so.....Hi. Anyway, I am a big Leslie West/Mountain fan, and have trying out loads of different stuff to replicate his sound. I have mastered his old sound with a very old Les Paul Jr I picked up at an auction not so long ago, played straight through a Sunn stack I swapped various bits of equipment for. But it is his new sound that I can't get. I know that he uses LRS headless guitars by Ed Roman Guitars (www.edromanguitar.com), and it says on the site that they use Seymour Duncan pickups in them, but it doesnt state what kind of pickups. I emailed them and got the answer that they used Seymour Duncan Black Backs?????? What are these? I read some where that these seymour duncan pickups painted black. But I also read on the Dimarzio website that Leslie West uses their pickups (a Megadrive or an X2N). I saw Leslie play last week, and he was using pickups that looked like Dimebuckers or Dimarzio X2N's, but they were cream coloured. Does anyone know what these are? I took a crappy picture of the guitar that I would be willing to send to anyone if they think they can identify the pickups (there were red lights on when I took the picture) If anyone could help I would be very gratefull. Thanks a lot
Jack (nantucketsleighrider)

 

[Mattt]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Seymour Duncan Blackbacks are a custom OEM model designed for Ed Roman... they are only available through him. Previously, Ed Roman had his 'blackback' model produced through Dimarzio too.

Nothing is known about the magnet, coil windings or anything about the design of those pickups... but i can assure you they are not merely painted black, as they are available in many colours.

My experience with playing through Blackbacks is that they sounded like a hotter version of the Seymour Duncan '59 humbucker. There also didn't seem much difference in tone between the neck and the bridge... when usually you notice a clear 'sharp - smooth' facter.

As for the megadrive and X2N... the X2N is a very hot and harsh pickup, so i'd question West's usage of that. The megadrive seems more likely, but bare in mind that guitarists seem to use different pickups all the time, and so Leslie's 'modern' tone might be achieved in a number of ways. A classic example of a guitarist using many different pickups is George Lynch, who is often seen with a JB, Distorsion, EMG81, or his signature Screaming Demon. So it would not surprise me is Leslie West uses many different pickups too.

To conclude, his LSR guitar was originally equiped with Ed Roman's Seymour Duncan Blackbacks... a custom model designed and made for Roman.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

As much Blackback Info as SD is allowed ti give you.... http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/faqdescr.shtml#lsr

Some have tried them, and have said they sound like a CC/59 or C-5/59 combo (depending on who you ask). I´ve never tried them myself, and don´t plan to because I don´t want to support Ed if I can help it.

FWIW

 

[Farkus]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

As much Blackback Info as SD is allowed ti give you.... http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/faqdescr.shtml#lsr

Some have tried them, and have said they sound like a CC/59 or C-5/59 combo (depending on who you ask). I´ve never tried them myself, and don´t plan to because I don´t want to support Ed if I can help it.

FWIW

Zerb, what's the consensus on this Ed Roman character? One of my friends says he's a great guy and that he talks to him on the phone about equipment all the time. When I read his site though, well, I just get a weird feeling about him. He has a couple of nice necks for sale, and I was thinking about getting one. But, it's my understanding that all sales are final on the parts...what if the neck is warped, etc? I tried to e-mail his company and got nada in response (this says a lot IMHO). I'm not looking to flame him, I just wanted to know if anyone has dealt with him and how that went.

Farkus

 

[Mattt]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Ed Roman does not have a good reputation for customer service... but i doubt anyone would argue that he has some quality stuff.

 

[NantucketSleighrider]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Thanks for you help everyone. Mattt, you say you have had experience with Black Back pickups, what guitar were these fitted to, was it an LSR, as I am quite keen in investing in one and am wanting to hear more about them. Leslie let me try his briefly last year when I expressed some interest in it (he is involved a lot in the selling of them), and it was a really great guitar.

 

[Mkf411]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Have you had a look at Leslies new DVD BIG PHAT ASS GUITAR. It's available at http://www.mountaintheband.com/store/store.htm

He talks all about his style and give tips and plays his style.

Ed Roman has a strange business philosophy. I recently went into his shop in Vegas and I thought I was at the library. It was completely silent. Tons of guitars and each one of them with a sign that says do not touch. What a weird vibe. I was in there for 20 minutes and not one sales guy approached me. I don't think they want to sell anything. I did not get to see the troll, himself.

Take a look at this site before you by from Ed

http://edroman.aleclee.com/main.html

 

[Mattt]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

The pickups i tried were in a Heritage Les Paul... great guitar...

I haven't tried the LSR stuff, but i've used Steinbergers, and the trems Ed puts on the LSR's are steinberger... they're excellent.

 

[spidey]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

not sure about the pup question but I've seen Leslie play about 3 times over the last 5 years and he was using a Boss Metal Zone into Marshalls if that's any help to you in getting his sound.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

With a LP jr. and Sunn amp you should be able to nail his classic mountian tone.
If you need a backing track for a classic mountian tune? I just happen to have
one I just did screwing w/t my new software. Click the Link below.
Theme , is a cool tune to jam over.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Welcome ot the Forum.

Yeah, Leslie is one of the great players of our time. When I've seen him recently, he's using those Steinberger-type guitars with stacked humbuckers through Marshall DSL's I think. He also uses Boss stomp boxes. Try going to his website and asking...Mkf's idea of lookin gat the DVD is a good one too.

Jeff

 

[Marty Horne]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

I've heard some horror stories about Ed Roman but not having dealt with him, I couldn't substantiate them. I have played a guitar with Black Back pickups and they sounded killer. Very sweet tone in both humbucking and coil-tapped modes.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

I remember reading that at least one of the amps Leslie used alot back in the Mountain days was a STRAMP, I believe...made in Germany maybe. That's what I remember anyway...could be wrong. Lew

 

[Mkf411]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

One thing about Leslie West that bears mentioning: on his instructional DVD he only uses two fingers on his fretting hand to play with. He says that's the way he learned and that he can't play fast and doesn't know tons of chords.

The thing that I really got from his DVD is that there is no "right way" to play guitar. He learned pretty much on his own and now has a unique style. Not that this would work for everyone. But it made me feel better about not being able to cop other peoples' style.

It's just a matter of honing what I can do and finding my talent. It's not really an instructional DVD as it is like hanging out with the man for a day. He's not going to teach you step by step, but's it's an honor to hear his take on playing and it inspired me.

 

[RG 2570]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Leslie used to use a dimarzio megadrive then i am not sure after that?

 

[Hellion]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

The best tone that I heard Leslie West get was with a stock Les Paul Junior with P-90s. I think he was using Marshalls at least part of the time, but you have to remember that at the time of Mountain, there wasn't the parting out of equipment that you have today. It wasn't done because the parts just weren't available.

 

[Farkus]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Have you had a look at Leslies new DVD BIG PHAT ASS GUITAR. It's available at http://www.mountaintheband.com/store/store.htm

He talks all about his style and give tips and plays his style.

Ed Roman has a strange business philosophy. I recently went into his shop in Vegas and I thought I was at the library. It was completely silent. Tons of guitars and each one of them with a sign that says do not touch. What a weird vibe. I was in there for 20 minutes and not one sales guy approached me. I don't think they want to sell anything. I did not get to see the troll, himself.

Take a look at this site before you by from Ed

http://edroman.aleclee.com/main.html

Thanks for the Ed Roman info, bro! I think I'll hold onto my hard earned cash and maybe look at a Warmoth.

Farkus

 

[Mkf411]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Thanks for the Ed Roman info, bro! I think I'll hold onto my hard earned cash and maybe look at a Warmoth.

Farkus

When I first saw his website, I was impressed with his knowledge, but after researching him, I don't like his style. You definitely have to watch out for the snakes around. Warmoth seems a better bet.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

ive had my hands on a few of his guitars at trade shows and they are killer, ive met the man briefly and hes a hard ass, he has his opinions and a lot of people disagree with him, myself included so i dont buy his stuff but lots of others do and are very happy with them.

 

[noth]

Re: Leslie West's (king of tone) Pickups?

Jack (nantucketsleighrider),

Wow! Have I found a bigger LeslieWest/Mountain fan than me?? That's great. Wanna know how much I dig him? After seeing him last year, I made up my mind to buy a guitar - I hadn't touched one in 30 years! He is my biggest inspiration. I do believe what some have said here - what contributes most to his tone, is himself!! As for Ed Roman, well, check out my review of my guitar (Dillion DR500) on the Harmony Central site (signed Dave).

Noth

Rock on, Leslie...