Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

[BluesGuyJ]

I've been getting into Santana more and more lately and I'm really starting to notice all the diffeent tones he has through the past five decades.

Can anyone give me a general time line of the gutiars he has primarily gone through? I know he now currently uses PRS, but that's it. Also, does anyone know the rig he used to record Blues For Salvador? Killer tone right there.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

He's always used some Gibson variant. Early on he used Les Pauls and SG's. At Woodstock he used an SG with P-90's. Later on he switched to a Yamaha double cutaway Les Paul type, before Paul Reed Smith gave him his first PRS.

Santana's tone is mainly Mesa Boogie Amps, Humbucker mahogany with the tone rolled off.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

Started out with an SG Special during early Santana (Fillmore, Woodstock), then onto Les Pauls, to an L-5 or 6(can't remember. It was the thin blonde solid body Gibson) when he was tight with John McLaughlin, then I guess to the PRS's

 

[RW James]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

...with the tone rolled off.

Excuse my ignorance... because I find this topic interesting... but what does this mean? "tone rolled off"

 

[jmh151]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

Tone control on the guitar turned down, or to zero- gives you the smooth woman tone

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

He mans with the tone control rolled off/down.

What did Santana use for an amp on his first couple albums? "Blues for Salvador" screams MB Mark IIC+ to me.

I was jamming along today and really started to nail some tones with my 71 SG and Mark III combo.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

He mans with the tone control rolled off/down.

What did Santana use for an amp on his first couple albums? "Blues for Salvador" screams MB Mark IIC+ to me.

I was jamming along today and really started to nail some tones with my 71 SG and Mark III combo.

It was a Mesa Boogie Mark I. Actually it was the first Mesa Boogie ever made. Randall Smith did a ton of mods to Santana's Fender Champ, added a few tube stages to give it high gain, and that was the first Boogie.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

p.s.- Blues for Salvador may have been a Mark I,II or III depending on year. All we know is it was a Boogie, and as far as I know you can get Mark I tones out of a II or III, even IV.

 

[neosadist]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

I've been getting into Santana more and more lately and I'm really starting to notice all the diffeent tones he has through the past five decades.
Can anyone give me a general time line of the gutiars he has primarily gone through? I know he now currently uses PRS, but that's it. Also, does anyone know the rig he used to record Blues For Salvador? Killer tone right there.

Google. Use it again for the first time (tm).

 

[Great_Kazoo]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

You might find this interesting; this was part of a short interview in the
"Seymour Duncan News" newsletter from 1982:

What guitars are you playing these days?

My main guitar is a custom-made Paul Reed Smith. It's got a very good
tremolo system on it that really stays in tune, and a sound that's very good
and very strong. I've got Seymour's Custom Humbuckers [SH-5's] in it.
I use that guitar probably eighty percent of the time. I also use my
Yamahas, and I've been experimenting with Duncans in them.

Recently, I've really gotten into Strats. I've got an old one, a maple-neck,
that I use in the studio, and also a number of copies that I can take on the
road. I'm using Duncan Vintage Strats [SSL-1's] in them. My new guitar will
be a "gold leaf" Fender Strat that John Teuscher is building for me, which
will have Duncan SSL-5's [Custom Staggered Strats] in it.

---

This was probably 5 years before "Blues For Salvador" was released, but
is an interesting snapshot of what some of his gear was for this period.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

are you sure taht's true? I didn't think PRS was around till at least 1985

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

Very interesting article, thanks a ton!

Paul R. Smith did not start a factory untill '85, he was making custom guitars up untill then though.

Thanks for all the info guys!

 

[Curly]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

well, it's mostly covered, but ..

you can see the SG on the Woodstock movie ... I thought you could see a BF Fender head & cab on that, but it's been a while since I've watched it.

Carlos' rig should be easy to find on the net. Besides the Boogie, he also has a Dumble in his backline, as well as couple of cabs with Tone Tubbies.

Randall Smith did a ton of mods to Santana's Fender Champ, added a few tube stages to give it high gain, and that was the first Boogie.

not to nitpick, but ..
Carlos may have had a Champ, but AFAIK, Boogies were born from Princeton Reverbs, super modded with 12" speakers and VERY beefed up trannies.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

he used some very excellent yamaha solid body, mahogany, set-neck double cutaway guitars in teh 70s before he got his first prs .. this was after the SGs

 

[Curly]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

well, he also played a Black LP Custom around the time of the first album

 

[jdm61]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

He has been branching out a bit lately. I read an interview with him recently and he said he did one show in NYC using nothing but a very minty '54 Strat that his tech found for him.

 

[Curly]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

Carlos had an interview in Vintage Guitar not long ago ... the '54 is likely the one that he talked about that he got from Drew and Dave at GC's Vintage Shop in Hollywood

 

[Bludave]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

well, it's mostly covered, but ..

you can see the SG on the Woodstock movie ... I thought you could see a BF Fender head & cab on that, but it's been a while since I've watched it.

Carlos' rig should be easy to find on the net. Besides the Boogie, he also has a Dumble in his backline, as well as couple of cabs with Tone Tubbies.


not to nitpick, but ..
Carlos may have had a Champ, but AFAIK, Boogies were born from Princeton Reverbs, super modded with 12" speakers and VERY beefed up trannies.

Curly...... I could swear he was playing thru an Acoustic amp on the Movie......... but I think his tone was best in the early days. The first Santana album and Abraxis. SG, LP and a Twin

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

on the same topic:
what SD pups would be best for the Santana tone?

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Santana's Guitars throughout the years?

In the Woodstock movie, Carlos is using a Gallien-Krueger amp, I believe it was a GK-200.

Ever notice how many of the players at Woodstock used P-90 guitars? Answer: lots! Amazing.

I think I read one time where he recorded the first Santana album with an SG and a Paul with a Fender Twin Reverb. It's great tone, but you can really hear his tone change through the first five or six albums.

The other Gibson he endorsed for a while was, of course, the L-6S. And then the Yamaha SG-2000. The Strat shows up occasionally, and the PRS guitars. I think the man could play on a cigar box strung with rubber bands, and he'd still have incredible tones.

Those of you who know Boogies know that the very first Mesa amp was made for keyboardist Lee Michaels. Carlos is credited with naming the amps, after he played one of Smith's re-worked Princetons, and Santana's exclamation, "Man, that thing really boogies!" You can really hear the Boogie tone in the albums after Abraxas. Though Carlos has been a Boogie user for many years, he also has used Fenders, the Woodstock G-Ks, Marshalls, and he owns a few Dumbles, as well.

Pictures of his gigging racks from about ten years ago showed a pair of Mesa Heartbreaker 212 combos. But, the true centerpiece of his rig has been a Mark I Mesa combo, with an Altec Lansing 12" speaker. Carlos created quite a stir at Mesa Boogie, when he slammed his Mark I in a "Guitar Player" magazine interview a few years ago. Mesa was very unhappy about his comments. At Mesa's request, the amp was sent to the Mesa factory, and much needed repairs were done--several of the circuits had drifted way out of spec. They restored the amp, and its magic--but a lot of harm was done to Mesa by Santana's comments, and when I mentioned this to one of their reps, it was an obvious sore point.

Some of his later tones often sound a bit "flubby" to me in the bass notes, as though there was too much gain. I've noticed that effect with the Gibson 496R/500T hot ceramics in my Les Paul Classics at high gain settings on my Mesa Mark III amps. I made a change to Antiquitys in one guitar, and MF Anniversary A2 Seths in the other--and I am loving the change. The new pickups are more versatile. I do notice some feedback due to the lack of potting, but it has been very musical. I think either of these will get you real close to Santana tone, but if you are going to play at high volume, you'll want your pickups potted.

Carlos has been one of may favorite players, since the first time I heard "Evil Ways" on the airways in 1970. Carlos continues to be a truly inspiring guitarist.

Bill