Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

[Lewguitar]

Hi Evan!

Say, if Seymour is nearby, could you please ask him what humbuckers he thinks Eric Clapton had in his Les Paul he recorded the Bluesbreakers album with? Alnico 2 or alnico 5?

How about the Les Paul he recorded Fresh Cream and the I Feel Free and the Sleepy Time Time solo with? Alnico 2 or alnico 5?

And how about in his SG...alnico 2 or alnico 5?

And if he has any other insights on getting great Clapton/Cream tone, please pass them along!

Thanks! Lew

 

[jeremy]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

im loving this clapton/cream tone stuff!!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

This is a bump for my main man Lew...and Because I want to know the answer!!!

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Same questions for the 335 and what the guitar/pups were for while my guitar gently weeps.

Luke

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Do you think he just used whatever stock pickups came in the guitar? I'd always assumed that, for some reason. Maybe because he always latched onto the hippest new gear, so I figured he'd use it as it came from the factory. No?

 

[gOgIver]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Same questions for the 335 and what the guitar/pups were for while my guitar gently weeps.

Luke

WMGGW was a '57 Les Paul GOLD Top that was refinished in red and presented to George after the recording was finished IIRC.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

My guess is that Fresh Cream was recorded with a '58 or '59 Les Paul with alnico 2 humbuckers. I listened to the entire album twice yesterday. To my ears, that is the sound of a Les Paul with alnico 2 pickups.

Disraeli Gears was certainly what we all know now was a '63 Gibson SG with alnico 5 humbuckers.

Eric Johnson gets a tone very close to this and Clapton's live tone on Wheels of Fire when he plays his early 60's ES-335. Probably very similar alnico 5 humbuckers.

So that leaves the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album. That tone has always struck me as being a less overdriven, less mid rangey, less compressed tone than Clapton's Fresh Cream tone. If Clapton's Les Paul for that one was a '60 Les Paul, my guess is that those pickups had a good chance of being alnico 5...similar to the Duncan '59.

I need to listen to that album today to refresh my memory...I was off yesterday and that CD is at work.

 

[sanrafael]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Since all this was before the general use of gain/master volume amps, I think a very importrant factor with the pickups is the output level. I think you have to over load the preamp just right (without good control), and then set the overload in the output section using the volume control. Does the A2/A5 magnet change give enough enough level difference to account for some of the differences in tone, or is it something else all together?

By the way, what about string gauge? That has a big effect on sound; back then string gauges were a lot heavier than now so may be it is pretty tough to get exactly the same sound. Did Clapton change gauge during this time?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Since all this was before the general use of gain/master volume amps, I think a very importrant factor with the pickups is the output level. I think you have to over load the preamp just right (without good control), and then set the overload in the output section using the volume control. Does the A2/A5 magnet change give enough enough level difference to account for some of the differences in tone, or is it something else all together?

By the way, what about string gauge? That has a big effect on sound; back then string gauges were a lot heavier than now so may be it is pretty tough to get exactly the same sound. Did Clapton change gauge during this time?

Clapton used Fender Rock N Roll strings with Cream. So did Jimi Hendrix. Fender Rock N Roll strings came out about 1967 and were the first set I saw with an unwound G string. Before that, players in the know bought a set of Gibson Sonomatics and threw away the low E and then bought a .010 or .011 banjo string and used it for the top E.

First time I played a guitar with an unwound G I couldn't even play it! It was a Vox Bulldog...sort of a Mosrite copy guitar. Dreadful! I played it so hard I pressed the strings right out of tune and felt like I could bend that G string half way around the neck!

If you listen to early Beatles, you can hear George Harrison struggling to bend a wound G string...and I mean struggling!

As far as alnico 2 vs alnico 5: I hear an evenness in the tone like the tone is lightly compressed with alnico 2 and the highs are sweeter and not so honky or metallic.

Listen to the tone on Sleepy Time Time on Fresh Cream ...sounds like Clapton is squeezing/compressing those notes like he's squeezing toothpaste from a tube.

The tone is warm, thick and dense and there's not alot of space in the midrange.

There's more space in the midrange with alnico 5 paf type humbuckers.

Lew

 

[sanrafael]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

We had a roll of piano wire around the house for making unwound G strings and another for smaller #1 E strings! (Well, it was my brother who really used them.)

I know what you mean about STT. The first time I heard that tone, I was amazed.

I am not convinced about A2/A5 inherent differences. If you make humbucker pickups with nearly identical frequency response and output level they sound really nearly the same no matter what kind of magnet you use. I am not saying that pickups are not different, they are. It is just a matter of what is causing the difference.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

We had a roll of piano wire around the house for making unwound G strings and another for smaller #1 E strings! (Well, it was my brother who really used them.)

I know what you mean about STT. The first time I heard that tone, I was amazed.

I am not convinced about A2/A5 inherent differences. If you make humbucker pickups with nearly identical frequency response and output level they sound really nearly the same no matter what kind of magnet you use. I am not saying that pickups are not different, they are. It is just a matter of what is causing the difference.

You can easily hear the diff if you compare an alnico 5 Duncan Custom 5 to an alnico 2 Custom Custom. They are identical pickups except for the differance in the magnet.

And there is a dramatic difference in the tone between those two pickups.

However, there are some bright sounding a2 humbuckers out there! My Tom Holmes humbuckers are pretty bright...but still very A2 sounding. IMO, they are brighter than the old pafs I had in my '58 and '59 Les Pauls. The Holmes pafs remind of the tone I heard Jeff Beck getting from his '58 or '59 Les Paul that he used for the Truth album and live shows from the era: '67 or '68.

The minute I plugged my buddy's '03 Les Paul Historic Plaintop (Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard) with a2 Burstbuckers into my old tweed Fenders, I heard a tone that took me right back to 1970 when I owned a couple of the original sunburst '58 and '59 Les Pauls...and lots of other 50's Gibsons with original pafs.

Lew

 

[sanrafael]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

The A5 has almost twice the magnetic field strength as the A2. If you replace a 2 with a 5, changing nothing else, you will get a higher output level, and you will change the sound of the strings. Even without gross "string pulling", magnets have subtle effects on the sound of the strings by slightly altering the frequencies of the horizontal and vertical modes, and how the vibrational energy interchanges between the modes. There is a reason why guitarists obsess about their axes and amps. They are really subtle, amazing things.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

My guess is that Fresh Cream was recorded with a '58 or '59 Les Paul with alnico 2 humbuckers. I listened to the entire album twice yesterday. To my ears, that is the sound of a Les Paul with alnico 2 pickups.

Disraeli Gears was certainly what we all know now was a '63 Gibson SG with alnico 5 humbuckers.

Eric Johnson gets a tone very close to this and Clapton's live tone on Wheels of Fire when he plays his early 60's ES-335. Probably very similar alnico 5 humbuckers.

So that leaves the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album. That tone has always struck me as being a less overdriven, less mid rangey, less compressed tone than Clapton's Fresh Cream tone. If Clapton's Les Paul for that one was a '60 Les Paul, my guess is that those pickups had a good chance of being alnico 5...similar to the Duncan '59.

I need to listen to that album today to refresh my memory...I was off yesterday and that CD is at work.

Lew,

Nice thread. Thanks Bro' can't wait for Evan to respond.

You're right about the guitars on the Fresh Cream CD. He also used his LP Custom on those sessions. Not to quibble, but the SG has been identified as a '64 vs a '61 or '63 (I know it's nerdy, but I can't help it :laugh2: ). It also looks like the Beano 'Burst [as the LPF guys call it], was actually a 1960, but who cares. The LP Standard Clapton used with Cream on Fresh Cream belonged to Andy Summers. It was almost identical to the one that got stolen (Beano). I think Clapton eventually badgered Summers into selling to to him.

Jeff

 

[Thames]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

I'm backing up Lew on this, A2 on the LP (BluesBreaker and FreshCream) and A5 for the following albums.

We must keep in mind that he used a SG for Disreali Gears and up, which is brighter and tighter, like A5. But I bet it's an A5.

When I had my SG loaded with '59s, it was easier to nail the tone of Disraeli Gears and Live than the first album. Now that I have a outstanding-sounding LP with Seth Lovers, I'm closer to the Fresh Cream/Beano tone.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

When I had my SG loaded with '59s, it was easier to nail the tone of Disraeli Gears and Live than the first album. Now that I have a outstanding-sounding LP with Seth Lovers, I'm closer to the Fresh Cream/Beano tone.

Thames,

I think you're right about the '59s. They're probably closest to the 1964 Gibson patent # pups that Clapton was using.

Jeff

 

[tiefightertk069]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

When I had my SG loaded with '59s, it was easier to nail the tone of Disraeli Gears and Live than the first album. Now that I have a outstanding-sounding LP with Seth Lovers, I'm closer to the Fresh Cream/Beano tone.

Those are the setups I'm considering for my SG and LP... well actually reverse that, '59s in the LP and Seths in my SG.

You wouldn't happen to have any clips of your's would ya?

Cheers,
Jason

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Jason, Here's my opinion:

Put the Seths in your LP for Clapton's Fresh Cream tone.

Put the 59's in your SG for Clapton's Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire tone.

 

[Thames]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Jason, Here's my opinion:

Put the Seths in your LP for Clapton's Fresh Cream tone.

Put the 59's in your SG for Clapton's Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire tone.

+1. They compliement each other VERY well (SG/A5, LP/A2). I always found my SG with Ants was much less full sounding than with '59s.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

+1. They compliement each other VERY well (SG/A5, LP/A2). I always found my SG with Ants was much less full sounding than with '59s.

I agree. I've tried both Antiqs and Seths in my '61 SG/LP reissue, and wasn't thrilled with the tone. They worked well in my Hamer Archtop, but that's a much thicker peice of mahogany than the SG. I think that makes the difference. The C-5 works well in the SG, but I'm going to try a '59 now.

The LP is a great platform for the Antiqs or Seths.

Jeff

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

I agree. I've tried both Antiqs and Seths in my '61 SG/LP reissue, and wasn't thrilled with the tone. They worked well in my Hamer Archtop, but that's a much thicker peice of mahogany than the SG. I think that makes the difference. The C-5 works well in the SG, but I'm going to try a '59 now.

The LP is a great platform for the Antiqs or Seths.

Jeff

I think it's because the Les Paul has a much fatter acoustic tone than the SG: more bass.

The SG's acoustic tone has kind of a thin twangy nasal character compared to the acoustic tone of a Les Paul so the alnico 5 C5 or 59 is possibly a more appropriate choice for a SG as a5 humbuckers seem to have more bass...and treble.

A2 humbuckers tend to have softer, less pronounced bass and softer, less pronounced treble....but VERY PRONOUNCED MIDS.

You can use either pickup in either guitar, but I'd want to fatten up the weaker bass response of the SG by using a5 humbuckers if it was my guitar.

BTW, Derek Trucks uses a2 Gibson humbuckers in his SG and sounds great! :smack: