Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

[tenniso]

i love slash's tone on "appetite for destruction" and i know he uses alnico 2 pro pickups. my question is this: is what i am hearing a characteristic of his pickups or mostly his amp? or both?

i will be playing a superstrat thru a fender blues deville 410, so i know i cant emulate his amp tone. unless ,maybe ,i get a Tone Bone Hot British, which i plan to do! but as far as pickups, would the alnico 2 pro get me in the ballpark?

 

[flank]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

yeah its definately part of the smooth sustaining highs and crunchy mids of hte A2pro that defines his sound.......... i think you could get pretty close with the tone bone pedal and an a2pro.....

 

[Gunbucker]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

From my experience, it's definitely the amp. A decent Marshall tube amp, such as a JCM800, can easily get you there.

I have had a pair of antiquities in my Les Paul. Even with that, it's easily achieveable with the Marshall.

Now, I have replaced the ants in favour of something more hotter, a Steven Kersting custom-wound neck pickup, and a Duncan JB... still, can get the Slash tone.

The Marshall tube amp is a huge part of his tone, and of course, his fantastic chops.

 

[Duncan]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

Yeah - it's the Marshall with the lower output humbucker. I've got AP2's in one Les Paul and 490/498's in my other, and although they are different pups, through an overdriven Marshall, they don't sound that different.

His sound is defined by a Les Paul through a slightly higher gain Marshall (the 2555). You'll find the 2205/2210 Marshall's will get you in that territory. Just crank the master volume to 10, use the other volume controls on the amp to control overall volume and back off a bit on the gain (around 6-7), and you'll find yourself in Slash territory...

...then you just have to learn the technique and chops!!!

 

[tenniso]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

...then you just have to learn the technique and chops!!! [/QUOTE]




yeah, thats the biggest obstacle!

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

I think the pup has a big influence on the tone as well....I have an APH II in my double fat strat. I recorded a cover of Knockin On Heavens Door with that pup and a CC thru my Boss GT-6 using the Soldano patch for the distorted rythym and solo...have a listen, it’s about 4 songs down on the list.

A good Marshall amp will definitely fill out the rest, but the smooth tone of that APH is a very necessary ingredient.

The APH is my favorite neck bucker.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/4/jeffhaggardmusic.htm

 

[milkbone]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

I thought Slash used to advertise for SD using a Custom?

 

[korovamilkdud]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

I know Dave Kushner uses a Custom now...

I think it's more the amp though. But really if you want to get Slash's overall vibe, you just need to think vintage. Vintage pups like a2p, 59, pg, or Antiquities will all work for that, (even a Custom probably wouldn't be far off) and a vintage style amp like a Marshall stack or maybe even a Fender Bassman.

My man Saul is just really into the blues setups, you can tell.

 

[Gunbucker]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

I know Dave Kushner uses a Custom now...

I think it's more the amp though. But really if you want to get Slash's overall vibe, you just need to think vintage. Vintage pups like a2p, 59, pg, or Antiquities will all work for that, (even a Custom probably wouldn't be far off) and a vintage style amp like a Marshall stack or maybe even a Fender Bassman.

My man Saul is just really into the blues setups, you can tell.

Very good point! And I'd like to concur whole-heartedly about the Antiquities doing the Slash thing when played through a Les Paul/Marshall setup. Antiquities (with Dun-Aged Alnico2s) do the Slash tone very very well with the right amp. Also, they do the Cream-era Clapton tone (Beano) so convincing that it can be scary!

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

A big part of Slash's tone is the amibant sound he gets? He's very
tight lipped about what he use's for Reverb/delay ?? or what ever it
is he does to achive that sound?

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

Amp is more important.

 

[Simon_F]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

The A2P and Marshall Jubilee will both help but I'll wager the hands and head are more important.

 

[echofinger]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

I was playin' a 93 Les Paul studio, EMG active pickups(sorry, don't know name of 'em) through my JCM 800. Guys in my band were bitchin' at me cause it sounded EXACTLY like Slash.

Gotta get those EMGs outta there, but might help YOU get to the promised land.

 

[Lightning]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

Read an article by Slash '92 or '93. Not sure what CD he was recording then but he said he was running into wah first then splitting the signal. One leg to a Dual Recti and the other to a JCM 800. The Marshall was mic'ed in a booth. He used the Mesa as a monitor cause it offered more sustain at a lower volume but said he didn't like the tone. It was not even mic'ed. I have a Recti with both channels cloned to 800 (Lead/Rhythm volumes) and I do miss the tone of the Marshall output transformer. Does any one here know if Slash is using 6550s or EL34s?

 

[strat_master]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

A2P will help alot, but the amp has a alot to do withhis tone. Get anice marshall tube amp and you will sounds pretty good close to slash, and if not exact, then at least you willl have amazing tone either way.

 

[Lightning]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

Tenniso, I AB the Recti with a 212 Blues Deville (for clean) so I'm a little familiar with it. The power amp runs at 60 watts not the usual 50 so there's a little more push there than the 800. I have a high gain pre tube but the JCM 800 preamp circuit is much more sensitive.

I plugged in my Digitech 2101 (4 gain stages) tube preamp in to the effects loop return the other day. I used to use it as the preamp and effects section for the Recti and some how migrated to using 2 amps ABed (had some pedals I wanted to check out or something) so it wasn't like taking one at the music store for a spin, I got 90 patches programmed and the Blues Deville never sounded better (I had never tried it before and it is staying).

No Fender or Mesa will give you that Marshall air core output transformer tone (unless it has a Marshall xformer in it), the woman tone, but you can pick up a 2101 on eBay for $300 used.

Better yet the Fender reverb works and can be controlled by the beringer foot pedal that you would need to replace that piece of junk pedal that comes with the 2101 (part of the reason I quit using the 2101).

I'm not talking a fuzzbox here...the 2101 or any of it's predecessors replaces the whole preamp...the only knob on the amp that works is the reverb.

 

[Pauleo]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

I think the pickups are the biggest part of his sound. The A2pros give you this singing midrange quality that I haven't experienced with any other pickup and even through an overdriven fender amp, the tone still sounded familiar.

 

[Lightning]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

Yea didn't mean to down play the importance of the a2 magnet here. This is a no brainier…the right pickup rather magnet is key. If you still want to wrestle with that Deville preamp I'd suggest a Boss Blues Driver. It's not a fuzz but it will make your amp think you added a gain stage. If you go that route you are about to find out what loud is (see post 4...that's loud too).

 

[Gunbucker]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

A question to Slash fans... are most of his solos done on the bridge pickup or the neck pickup?

 

[bryvincent]

Re: Slash's tone: a2pro or amp

most of the time in the neck position(obviously) i recommend watching the UYI 1&2 dvds