The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

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Lewguitar

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I've been going through all of my stuff (amps, guitars, speakers, pedals, etc.) and selling everything I don't need or haven't used in a long, long time and paying off my doctor and hospital bills. The bills are paid for the year now so naturally I've been putting what's left over into more amps, guitars, speakers, pedals... :lmao: Just kidding - no new amps, speakers or pedals!

But in sorting through everything I started thinking about my collection of old Celestion speakers and thought I'd do some research so I'd know what I have.

I have a bunch of Vox/Celestion T530 Alnico Blue and also T1656 Alnico Silver speakers from the 60's.

I have the Vox Blue Celestion T530 speaker in both of my Fender 5E3 tweed Deluxe amps. It's the absolute best speaker I've ever used in those amps: loud, deep and bright, with a very beautiful vowel like lead tone when the amp is cranked a little.

The Celestion T530 is the Vox Blue that the Beatles used in the Vox AC30. Most experts agree that the speaker Eric Clapton used in the Marshall 2 x 12 combo amp used for the Bluesbreaker sessions contained Celestion G12 Silver Alnico Speakers similar to the Vox Blue.

And I have the Vox Silver Celestion T1656 speaker in my 2 x 12 Matchless speaker cabinet. It's pretty much the same sound but in a 30 watt version.

The Vox Silver Celestion T1656 is the speaker Vox put in the Super Beatle amps because the 15 watt T530 would blow when pushed by those big amps.

Both versions (the blue T530 and the silver T1656) are among my very favorite 12" speakers. They were also Ken Fischer's (TrainWreck Amplifiers) favorite speakers.

But which speaker was used in the Marshall Model 1962 "Bluesbreakers" amp Clapton recorded with?

Here's some information that might be enlightening:

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=15181&p=150706

http://forums.vintageamps.com/viewtopic.php?p=226272&sid=b253d1e1f4cd9dafb992b7011e5a7bbc
 
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Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

Anyway, what this boils down to is that the speakers Clapton used were NOT the Celestion G12 T530 Alnico Blue. They were the heavier version of that speaker: the G12 Alnico Silver T1656.

I've also read Seymour's opinion on the pickups used in Clapton's '60 Gibson Les Paul used for those recordings.

Clapton liked the feel of the thinner neck Gibson used on the 1960 Les Paul better than the thicker neck of the '58 model.

By 1960 Gibson no longer used alnico 2 in the humbucker - alnico 5 was more common. That's why the Duncan 59 has an alnico 5 magnet and the Duncan Seth Lover, which is a recreation of a '57 or '58 pickup uses alnico 2.

But Gibson also used alnico 4! They used whatever they could get their hands on.

So Seymour has said that the pickups in Clapton's Les Paul were probably alnico 5 but may have been alnico 4.

I've always thought alnico 5 humbuckers got the Bluesbreaker tone and that alnico 2 got the Fresh Cream tone. I believe Clapton used a '58 Les Paul for Fresh Cream.
 
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Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

Hi buddy.....excellent info and thanks for sharing....I've seen the Clapton wah parts several times,but I've never seen the rest of it until now...Hope you're doing ok Lew..
 
Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

the video is blocked but if its what johns talking about, from the long hair days, ive only seen the wah part too. im excited!
 
Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

jeremy said:
the video is blocked but if its what johns talking about, from the long hair days, ive only seen the wah part too. im excited!
Click to expand...

Hmmmmmm..opened right up for me Jeremy? Let me check it again...
 
Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

jeremy said:
the video is blocked but if its what johns talking about, from the long hair days, ive only seen the wah part too. im excited!
Click to expand...

You mean you could only hear it and not see it? Wonder why? I just pressed the link ( http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=93057 ) and it went straight to it, video and audio. Try again Jeremy - it's pretty funny!

It's Clapton in his Tales of Brave Ulysses days sitting with an interviewer
while he answers questions about his tone and plays examples on his painted SG.
 
Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

yeah blocked at work. thats my favorite look of claptons
 
Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

With the Bluesbreakers, Clapton removed the covers of his humbuckers and you can see one cream and one black in this photo. With Cream, he left the covers on - both on his ES-335 and his SG.
 
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Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

Here's a nice recording of Hideaway accompanied by lots of pictures of Clapton playing both his '60 Les Paul onstage and in the studio. You can clearly see the Marshall Model 1962 amp too. I've never seen any evidence that he used anything between the guitar and amp other than a guitar cord. Clapton said he just turned the amp up to "10". http://www.nme.com/video/id/1zrpqi2TNnE/search/John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
 
Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

Here's "All Your Love". http://www.nme.com/video/id/c-PiiPi60To/search/John Mayall The Bluesbreakers

"For Your Love" was the first tune I heard by Clapton, back when he played with the Yardbirds but "All Your Love" is the first one I learned note for note.

When I heard "All Your Love" I, along with every rock guitarist on the planet, wanted to sound just like Eric Clapton.

People these days forget what "white boy" lead guitar sounded like before Clapton. But there was no distortion to speak of, no sustain, and very little blues in it. No finger vibrato to speak of either.

Of course Clapton got it all from BB King and Freddie King and later Albert King. I remember my buddy Phil turning me onto BB King around 1965. Phil picked up on BB because he had read an interview with Keith Richards in Hit Parader Magazine and Keith recommended BB King.

(God bless Hit Parader - it was the first hip music magazine! We had nothing to go on before that but Hit Parader ran interviews with Jeff Beck and it was first time I ever saw a double cream humbucker. They were in a Les Paul Jeff Beck was holding.)

It was a life changing experience for me, because before that I never even bent strings with my fingers (I was only 15 in 1965!) and was still using a wound G string.
 
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Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

Great thread!!!

I gotta say...Im surprised the Rangemaster deal came up already...this ia gret devide in classic guitar tones...lots of guys believe there is a Rangemaster on the Beano album while other say no way...

I listen to the album and think that there is likely a Rangemaster on a few tracks...I also think that a high quality Rangemaster clone (since originals go for CRAZY money) will help get you into some VERY Beano tones.

Also, on the speakers in Eric's 1962...In the History of Marshall book they wrote that base don pictures of Erics amp plus the time in which he obught it was either Silver frame Alnico Celestions or G12M20's but there was no sure way to tell.

It's also a fact that Eric borrowed a lot of guitars around Fresh Cream so there is no way of really knowing for sure what he used on that album...pictures from that time show Eric with a few burst Standards, one with a Bigsby as well as a black LP Custom (with 3 pickups!) as well as a 60's double cut Special, also with a Bigsby...it's the shift to bigger amps and the lack of one steady guitar tha makes fresh Cream sound different from Beano...
 
Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

the guy who invented fire said:
Great thread!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I gotta say...Im surprised the Rangemaster deal came up already...this ia gret devide in classic guitar tones...lots of guys believe there is a Rangemaster on the Beano album while other say no way...

I listen to the album and think that there is likely a Rangemaster on a few tracks...I also think that a high quality Rangemaster clone (since originals go for CRAZY money) will help get you into some VERY Beano tones.

Also, on the speakers in Eric's 1962...In the History of Marshall book they wrote that base don pictures of Erics amp plus the time in which he obught it was either Silver frame Alnico Celestions or G12M20's but there was no sure way to tell.

It's also a fact that Eric borrowed a lot of guitars around Fresh Cream so there is no way of really knowing for sure what he used on that album...pictures from that time show Eric with a few burst Standards, one with a Bigsby as well as a black LP Custom (with 3 pickups!) as well as a 60's double cut Special, also with a Bigsby...it's the shift to bigger amps and the lack of one steady guitar tha makes fresh Cream sound different from Beano...
Click to expand...

Despite what this somewhat self serving and often incorrect article http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/myth-busters-eric-claptons/ from Gibson says, I don't hear a Rangemaster. I just hear a Les Paul through a Marshall 1962 Combo Amp. And I don't hear the sound of Greenbacks either. I think the speakers were Celestion G12 Alnicos - that's what mine sound like when pushed with my 50 watt Marshall that I no longer have. I used to play my Marshall 50 watt head through them and rock out. They're not as crunchy and chunky as Greenbacks. It's a different tone.

In any case, I've never needed to do anything other than plug into my Celestion Silver G12's and turn my amp up tp Patent Appled For to get pretty close to Clapton's sustain and searing tone on the Bluesbreakers LP.

His tone changed with Fresh Cream. Part of that was alnico 2 pickups in the '58 Les Paul he used, 100 watt Marshalls and ceramic Celestion speakers.

In my opinion of course! :)
 
Re: The Ultimate Eric Clapton Bluesbreaker Tone Thread

Yes, but it's an opinion based on more experience and more research than most! I wish I still had an old Guitar Player mag from about 85, in which Eric goes into some of this in great detail. If I recall correctly, he also mentions that he got the distortion and sustain from just turning the amp up.
 
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