j45
Active member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2002
- Messages
- 9,081
I've never been a huge Leslie West fan but reflecting back on the impact of records as we bought and devoured them as kids, I find that the tone he got with his Junior and Sunn amps has still not been duplicated since. One of the greatest and most unique Les Paul tones ever. My most rapidly impressionable years, as a young guitarist were 1969 and 70. We had been through the early Hendrix and Cream years and to the group of guys I hung around, Electric Ladyland, Wheels of Fire, and Super session were the cornerstones for jamming and direction our littlle garage band was taking. We also had Quicksilver Messenger service's Happy Trails and a few other of the west coast jam bands as prototypical examples for us to emulate. Then '69 and '70 brought the biggest onslaught of music released as it had been sparse before in comparison.
I clearly recall the day in 1969 my high school bass player and I went to the head shop record store after school let out one afternoon and we picked up about 15 albums that day. The most we'd ever bought. Blues Jam in Chicago was being unpacked and the clerk said he wanted to turn us on to something hip. We left with Goodbye Cream, Vols 1 & 2 of the Fleetwood Mac Chicago Jams, a Shuggie Otis record, Zep 1 & 2, and a stack of others. In those years, we always spent at least three or four days a week after school lying in my friends bedroom hanging on every note with our eyes glued to the ceiling for two or three hours before his dad got home and shut it down.
The next year yielded Live Cream I, Band of Gypsies, Live at Leeds, and although John Barleycorn Must Die and the Blind Faith were not live, these records were what probably influenced the guys I played with the most. It was an incredible three years when the first efforts of all the greats appeared on vinyl. Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck, Free, Alvin Lee, MC5, Santana, Cactus, Humble Pie, and dozens of others seemed to appear like men from outer space... as much as a 15 year old kid with nothing but guitars on the brain with could handle. Just 5 or 6 years before, nothing existed but bubble gum music and the 50's do-wop that preceeded...there was no such thing as a Marshall amplifier.
I say all this to put in perspective where I was in music the day I first heard of Leslie West. There was an overweight kid with long bushy, curly hair at our school and he asked if he could come over one afternoon and jam with us. I didn't know he could play but couldn't think of a reason to say no so I invited him to join us. Looking back I can see that he was already into Leslie. He showed up in a long fringe buckskin jacket with a Melody Maker and an 8 track cassette. He wanted to show us some chords for a jam but first said lets check out this tape. I had never heard of Mountain and the tape was "Climbing". We stuck it in my little Realistic component system which was actually pretty good. I'll never forget the moment I heard the guitar sound on Mississippi Queen for the first time. We were very young but already into gear and knew what amps would do. Going back to 1970, you have to realize how profound this outrageous, scalding, snarling guitar tone sounded to me. It was really like something magic had happened, like the first time I heard the trem bar go up and down on Hanky Panky in 1966. The kid showed us a little riff that sounded more like Sugar Magnolia than the Mountain song and he solo-ed ala Leslie West's opening solo on Miss. Queen, over and over, for about an hour. It was a fun jam, I learned a new little lick and we never really saw the kid much anymore. I bought Climbing, then Nantucket Sleighride, and when Mountain did Blood of The Sun at Woodstock released on "II" it became our jam anthem for several months. If you have a chance to check out that version, just listen to the insane tone he gets.
Does anyone know what model Sunn's he used? Whatever they were, they had very high gain. Also, are there any LW fans that would know anything about his Junior? I got to see him play in 1973 with West, Bruce, and Lang but he was using and Echoplex and the echo signal was easily even with guitar and about 10 repeats. I couldn't hear what he was playing for the echo. I recall four stacks per side and Jack Bruce's bass was heavily overdriven as well. I've become fascinated with that Junior and Sunn tone lately. I would say it really is THE most aggrsessie tone from that era and no one has sounded like that since. If there are any hardcore fans here or anyone with info or memories, I'd love to hear about his Les Paul Junior and amps. There is an awful YouTube video doing a Felix Papillardi song with the amps poorly mic-ed and there is no tone or music worth listening to for that matter. Anyone know of one with Leslie? I've also heard a terrible drug habit led to his near destruction and he never regained his music to any level of quality.
I clearly recall the day in 1969 my high school bass player and I went to the head shop record store after school let out one afternoon and we picked up about 15 albums that day. The most we'd ever bought. Blues Jam in Chicago was being unpacked and the clerk said he wanted to turn us on to something hip. We left with Goodbye Cream, Vols 1 & 2 of the Fleetwood Mac Chicago Jams, a Shuggie Otis record, Zep 1 & 2, and a stack of others. In those years, we always spent at least three or four days a week after school lying in my friends bedroom hanging on every note with our eyes glued to the ceiling for two or three hours before his dad got home and shut it down.
The next year yielded Live Cream I, Band of Gypsies, Live at Leeds, and although John Barleycorn Must Die and the Blind Faith were not live, these records were what probably influenced the guys I played with the most. It was an incredible three years when the first efforts of all the greats appeared on vinyl. Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck, Free, Alvin Lee, MC5, Santana, Cactus, Humble Pie, and dozens of others seemed to appear like men from outer space... as much as a 15 year old kid with nothing but guitars on the brain with could handle. Just 5 or 6 years before, nothing existed but bubble gum music and the 50's do-wop that preceeded...there was no such thing as a Marshall amplifier.
I say all this to put in perspective where I was in music the day I first heard of Leslie West. There was an overweight kid with long bushy, curly hair at our school and he asked if he could come over one afternoon and jam with us. I didn't know he could play but couldn't think of a reason to say no so I invited him to join us. Looking back I can see that he was already into Leslie. He showed up in a long fringe buckskin jacket with a Melody Maker and an 8 track cassette. He wanted to show us some chords for a jam but first said lets check out this tape. I had never heard of Mountain and the tape was "Climbing". We stuck it in my little Realistic component system which was actually pretty good. I'll never forget the moment I heard the guitar sound on Mississippi Queen for the first time. We were very young but already into gear and knew what amps would do. Going back to 1970, you have to realize how profound this outrageous, scalding, snarling guitar tone sounded to me. It was really like something magic had happened, like the first time I heard the trem bar go up and down on Hanky Panky in 1966. The kid showed us a little riff that sounded more like Sugar Magnolia than the Mountain song and he solo-ed ala Leslie West's opening solo on Miss. Queen, over and over, for about an hour. It was a fun jam, I learned a new little lick and we never really saw the kid much anymore. I bought Climbing, then Nantucket Sleighride, and when Mountain did Blood of The Sun at Woodstock released on "II" it became our jam anthem for several months. If you have a chance to check out that version, just listen to the insane tone he gets.
Does anyone know what model Sunn's he used? Whatever they were, they had very high gain. Also, are there any LW fans that would know anything about his Junior? I got to see him play in 1973 with West, Bruce, and Lang but he was using and Echoplex and the echo signal was easily even with guitar and about 10 repeats. I couldn't hear what he was playing for the echo. I recall four stacks per side and Jack Bruce's bass was heavily overdriven as well. I've become fascinated with that Junior and Sunn tone lately. I would say it really is THE most aggrsessie tone from that era and no one has sounded like that since. If there are any hardcore fans here or anyone with info or memories, I'd love to hear about his Les Paul Junior and amps. There is an awful YouTube video doing a Felix Papillardi song with the amps poorly mic-ed and there is no tone or music worth listening to for that matter. Anyone know of one with Leslie? I've also heard a terrible drug habit led to his near destruction and he never regained his music to any level of quality.