What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

Here is a clip of ZZ Top live in 1980, the big amps are not miced, just for show...if you look on Franks drum riser behind Billy there is an early 60's brown Fender Deluxe amp...the sound you are hearing is Pearly, the Deluxe and a chorus pedal...that grind is nothing more than the Deluxe cranked!

Trust me on this, it's in there!

My main amp is a 62 Deluxe and it has the goods for sure!

I had a blonde deluxe! Bought it from Willies in St. Paul. But I was a fool, and sold it... I was moving and all...

:banghead:

One of the two most stupid sells of my life. The other was a 1987 made in 1974...

:banghead:

B
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

I had a blonde deluxe! Bought it from Willies in St. Paul. But I was a fool, and sold it... I was moving and all...

:banghead:

One of the two most stupid sells of my life. The other was a 1987 made in 1974...

:banghead:

B

I've done the same Doc...Luckily I still own my 1987 made in 1973 though...
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

a tweed deluxe with a 5v4 rectifier gets pretty close to those early tones. it ups the voltage and tightens/brightens/focuses things a little bit. i still want a brown deluxe though
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

Used to catch ZZ Top around here in SE Texas in '69 and '70 before they ever put out an album. It was Pearly and a 50 wt Marshall. The Rev had a little box his guitar went into, then on into the amp. I don't know what it was. THATS the sound I hear on the first album (the brown one with the dog on the front). Woody-tone for days and a sublime crunch. That sound on the video is a much later sound - more preamp OD and a phaser or chorus goin' on.
The Revs. early tone was some of the finest ever cut to vinyl.
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

OK With the miracle of the intertoobz I found an ancient recording of ZZ Top in the brown album era. The recording sux but you can get the gist of what was goin' down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfVl3PnPR-o

Pearly onto a 50 wt Marshall.

Its amazing how many people haven't heard ZZ's first album. I still feel it's their best.
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

Used to catch ZZ Top around here in SE Texas in '69 and '70 before they ever put out an album.


I heard them in San Marcus at SWTSU in 1970 when they were all skinny and the Rev had short hair. I knew nothing about tone or gear, but they were amazing!
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

the rev is still skinny lol nothing but skin an bones. seriously!

why you think he plays 7's and has guitars that weigh nothing? dude is frail
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

the rev is still skinny lol nothing but skin an bones. seriously!

why you think he plays 7's and has guitars that weigh nothing? dude is frail


I dunno. I always thought they kinda beefed up a bit when the money started flowin' in. I haven't seen them live since '78.
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

if you want early zz top, get a brown fender deluxe. not a fancy pants re-interpretation that changes a bunch of stuff. its the hidden little marshall gem of the fender line. ive never heard zz top tones from a vox.

a good les paul straight into that 6g3 and youll have all the old billy gibbons your fingers can play

Billy says that that tone was almost certainly his old Strat. OTOH, Billy has a proven track record of being able to make almost anything sound like Pearly Gates and he lies about everything but trutthfully... He just EQs his different guitars and then plugs em into his rig! whatever amps you see on stage, are just window dressing.
 
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Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

I'm sorry but that tone was almost certainly his old Strat. OTOH, Billy has a proven track record of being able to make almost anything sound like Pearly Gates. He just EQs the guitar and then plugs it into his rig!

Sorry bro...we can debate amps all day but there is no way Brown Sugar was a Strat...
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

It really doesn't matter... Billy plays and sounds amazing through anything.

Dude is pure style and sizzle and down right bad to the bone. I read an interview saying if he were starting out today he would get one of the cheapest planks from radio shack, a cheap broken lead and a smokey amp and jam on the porch.

Love that guy.
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

Just watch that dude perform... not just a player a class act performer and entertainer...
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

The world may never know for sure but that Deluxe and Pearly vid above is the sound. A very nice find, thanks for posting it.
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

Fender, for sure..Brownface deluxe, or tweed deluxe, will get it..Blackface won't get it with out overdrive pedals.Everyone talks about the early Marshall because they seen Billy live, using them. I live in Nashville and am a session player. Tom Lawnie, an engineer on a bigger project I was tracking, was assistant engineer on one of there earlier albums. He stated that there were tiny amps all over the studio, getting most of those huge tones..Fenders, Alamos, and such. I know he has used the Marshalls for sure in the studio. But Brown Sugar is just so tweed/brownface. I own a 62 Brownface..It nails that song..
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

Lot of "blast from the past" usernames in this zombie thread.
 
Re: What amp did B. Gibbons use for "Brown Sugar" record?

a tweed deluxe with a 5v4 rectifier gets pretty close to those early tones. it ups the voltage and tightens/brightens/focuses things a little bit. i still want a brown deluxe though

Can you get more of a Brown Deluxe sound out of a Teed Deluxe with one of those solid state rectifier thingamabobs?
 
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