rockabilly tone

[B Bent]

Re: rockabilly tone

I always thought he used Bassmans also. If my memory serves me somewhere they are modded pretty heavily as well. He also has custom PUPS in his Gretch.

Custom as in TV Jones' Fiter 'Tron Classics that you and me can buy and other assorted TV's. I can't wait.... I'll be seeing him live in just under a week!!! WOO HOO :dance:

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: rockabilly tone

no they're not custom pickups, and no the bassman isn't modded

 

[staybobo]

Re: rockabilly tone

Brian Setzer uses a 1963 Fender blonde Bassman with wheat grill cloth and white knobs. its the 6G6-B with the Solid State Rectifier and Gretsch 6120 with gretsch filtertron pickups

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: rockabilly tone

definitley a tweed bassman is the most obvious and most common choice as well as being a killer sounding amp in its own right.....
however on his latest record "Lonely Avenue", Setzer used a borrowed vintage supro.


....a tape echo is also a cool thing for a hip and authentic slap back tone.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: rockabilly tone

Great info drew. Thanks!

Bill

 

[FuseG4]

Re: rockabilly tone

yes, great info from five and a half years ago.
still great tho

 

[erksin]

Re: rockabilly tone

Obviously, old Fender Showmans (Showmen?) is what Setzer uses, but those are loud, maybe too loud if you're playing small rooms. I think Rev. Heat uses Supers of something dirtier than Setzer.

On a budget, something like a silverface Bassman head would be an inexspensive start, and could be "blackfaced" of otherwise modded to taste.

A big part of that sound is the slapback. There are plenty of cheap "vintage-sounding" digitals out there; I have a Rocktron Short Timer that sounds great at I bought very slightly used for $25.

Of course, if you have a ton of money to spend, there are lots of options. Any post-tweed-era Fender amp (or clone) is worth investigating, and there are dozens of vintage or vintage-sounding echos in tape, analog, and digital formats.

Setzer uses Bassmans - 6G6-Bs.

They are hardly clean, it's combination of low output Gretsch pickups and a killer picking hand that give him clean stuff out of them - all he has to do is dig in with his attack and he's got dirt.

IMO - you need reverb and a slapback delay and that's pretty much it provided the amp is good. One of the best slapback delays I've ever owned (there have been many) is an '80s Arion SAD-1 Stereo Analog Delay - you can find them fairly cheap (under $100). You will not find a better sounding analog delay in this price range.

 

[erksin]

Re: rockabilly tone

And lest anyone think those old 6G6-B bassmans were clean machines, they were the platform that Marshall copied when they came out with the JTM45. They were about the most high gain large amp available at the time.

Listen to Tom Petty's 'Wildflowers' album - that is a 6G6-B in action.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: rockabilly tone

And lest anyone think those old 6G6-B bassmans were clean machines, they were the platform that Marshall copied when they came out with the JTM45. They were about the most high gain large amp available at the time.

Listen to Tom Petty's 'Wildflowers' album - that is a 6G6-B in action.

How different is the 6G6-B from the 5F6-A?

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: rockabilly tone

they're way different

and marshall didn't copy the 6g6, the jtm45 is based off the tweed