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Pearly Gates in Action, 1974

Sol

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
775
I've got the 5000pf in a 1959 and a 500pf in a 50 watt bass and with a treble booster I get closer with the bass than the lead. This is all imho obviously.. Great thread BTW..
 

Sol

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
775
He added a 500pf bright cap to a Super Bass? I thought they never had them.

(wanting to try one on my Super bass..)

I previously referred to my Marshall 50watt as a Bass model to avoid the distraction of explaining the rare and often misunderstood 1964 model Marshall 50watt Lead&Bass head made between 1973_75. A combo version, model
2100 was also available with the same jtm based preamp combined with a modern EL34 (No valve rectifier) power section.

The 500pf bright cap in my 1964 model is original, there are minor changes to the values of some resistors and caps at the front end by Marshall it has resulted in an essentially bass model with an increase in clarity and gain.
I thought I'd mention it due to its relevance regarding gain/overdrive in Marshall Bass circuits.

This amp, more than my Super Lead gets me closer to the classic Billy Gibbons tone in my head than anything else I have.
Some of these Billy Gibbons tones have come together using a treble booster, my D*A*M Red Rooster seems to get closest. Ymmv etc..

My own L&B 50watt with my R7 has a great clean sound up to the 9 o'clock, which is bloody loud by 10.30 were into Malcom Young territory. With volume at 12 o'clock to 2o'clock you can pretty much take your pick of 70's rock. It's in that 11 to 1 o'clock that those classic ZZ Top riffs come alive, and with the treble booster I can get closer to some of his classic riffs. (At least I think I do..) ������
As I mentioned earlier the treble booster gets me closer than the split cathode and 5000pf bright cap of the Super Lead despite the increase in gain and top end the Lead circuit naturally has over the Bass.

BTW the sound clips are fantastic.

Apologies for the long post last night, got a little carried away in a brandy fueled enthusiasm for our subject. ����
 
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randall

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 21, 2002
Messages
1,310
I previously referred to my Marshall 50watt as a Bass model to avoid the distraction of explaining the rare and often misunderstood 1964 model Marshall 50watt Lead&Bass head made between 1973_75. A combo version, model
2100 was also available with the same jtm based preamp combined with a modern EL34 (No valve rectifier) power section.

The 500pf bright cap in my 1964 model is original, there are minor changes to the values of some resistors and caps at the front end by Marshall it has resulted in an essentially bass model with an increase in clarity and gain.
I thought I'd mention it due to its relevance regarding gain/overdrive in Marshall Bass circuits.

This amp, more than my Super Lead gets me closer to the classic Billy Gibbons tone in my head than anything else I have.
Some of these Billy Gibbons tones have come together using a treble booster, my D*A*M Red Rooster seems to get closest. Ymmv etc..

My own L&B 50watt with my R7 has a great clean sound up to the 9 o'clock, which is bloody loud by 10.30 were into Malcom Young territory. With volume at 12 o'clock to 2o'clock you can pretty much take your pick of 70's rock. It's in that 11 to 1 o'clock that those classic ZZ Top riffs come alive, and with the treble booster I can get closer to some of his classic riffs. (At least I think I do..) ������
As I mentioned earlier the treble booster gets me closer than the split cathode and 5000pf bright cap of the Super Lead despite the increase in gain and top end the Lead circuit naturally has over the Bass.

BTW the sound clips are fantastic.

Apologies for the long post last night, got a little carried away in a brandy fueled enthusiasm for our subject. ����


I love all this info! great stuff...

Billy did say he used the super bass and Dusty used the Super Lead.

I got the direct info from Billy's long time buddy and the guy behind the curtain playing the extra stuff live that Billy always in the studio always uses the Treble Booster. Lots of talk about the Colorsound powerboost in the early days as well.

When it comes to that fuzzed out tone in the early 80's which i love, i haven't totally figured this one out. My guess it's a Foxx Tone Machine or a Fuzz Face, if you keep the volume down on the fuzz face as to not push the amp too hard it seems to get that sound. Who knows? when i hung with Billy i always wanted to ask him but never wanted to bug him about this probably because i knew i would not get the full truth.
 

randall

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 21, 2002
Messages
1,310
I previously referred to my Marshall 50watt as a Bass model to avoid the distraction of explaining the rare and often misunderstood 1964 model Marshall 50watt Lead&Bass head made between 1973_75. A combo version, model
2100 was also available with the same jtm based preamp combined with a modern EL34 (No valve rectifier) power section.

The 500pf bright cap in my 1964 model is original, there are minor changes to the values of some resistors and caps at the front end by Marshall it has resulted in an essentially bass model with an increase in clarity and gain.
I thought I'd mention it due to its relevance regarding gain/overdrive in Marshall Bass circuits.

This amp, more than my Super Lead gets me closer to the classic Billy Gibbons tone in my head than anything else I have.
Some of these Billy Gibbons tones have come together using a treble booster, my D*A*M Red Rooster seems to get closest. Ymmv etc..

My own L&B 50watt with my R7 has a great clean sound up to the 9 o'clock, which is bloody loud by 10.30 were into Malcom Young territory. With volume at 12 o'clock to 2o'clock you can pretty much take your pick of 70's rock. It's in that 11 to 1 o'clock that those classic ZZ Top riffs come alive, and with the treble booster I can get closer to some of his classic riffs. (At least I think I do..) ������
As I mentioned earlier the treble booster gets me closer than the split cathode and 5000pf bright cap of the Super Lead despite the increase in gain and top end the Lead circuit naturally has over the Bass.

BTW the sound clips are fantastic.

Apologies for the long post last night, got a little carried away in a brandy fueled enthusiasm for our subject. ����

Great info!
 

Sol

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
775
Many thanks, I felt very self conscious reading the long post I'd written the next day. Its just that after a few purely medicinal libations.. We hit the subject of one of my all time rock n roll hero's. Thanks to all for your indulgence..
 

Mark Kane

All Access/Backstage Pass
Joined
Jul 18, 2001
Messages
5,742
I saw 2 shows on the green V neck sweater tour. He played Pearly, an old Korina V and Explorer. The first show we were way back and his guitar sound was loud as hell, and dead clean. Second show was louder but we were up close and the guitars sounded like they oughta!
 

Sol

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
775
I saw 2 shows on the green V neck sweater tour. He played Pearly, an old Korina V and Explorer. The first show we were way back and his guitar sound was loud as hell, and dead clean. Second show was louder but we were up close and the guitars sounded like they oughta!

Oh boy, you lucky, so and so!
 

randall

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 21, 2002
Messages
1,310
I saw 2 shows on the green V neck sweater tour. He played Pearly, an old Korina V and Explorer. The first show we were way back and his guitar sound was loud as hell, and dead clean. Second show was louder but we were up close and the guitars sounded like they oughta!

Yes, very cool...
 

K_L

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 11, 2014
Messages
566
Yes I also saw the great Billy Gibbons & ZZ Top on that 'V neck tour'--mid 1974. Best concert I have ever been to simply because of Billy`s tones & playing. It was held at the Fern Park JaiAlai Fronton [10 miles north of Orlando]--we sat right up front! Billy started w/ his original Flying V just like he does on Fandango [which hadn`t yet been released] & of course just like 'Thunderbird' sounds on Fandango, Billy`s tones were awesome! And then, with the stage lights pretty much turned off, he then switched to his Pearly Gates LP. You weren`t able to see him strap it on but when he played a few chord & riffs, I knew immediately he now had strapped on Pearly Gates! The show was fantastic, the Rio Grande amps were raging, and those 3 guys were great! I`ll never forget it--my best concert experience ever--and I had already seen them about a year earlier when they 'opened' a concert that featured Deep Purple at Tampa Stadium. I was already familiar w/ their First Album & Rio Grande Mud--and they sounded equally as great then--but being less than 10 feet from Billy a year later at that Jai Alai Fronton--for me, that was the best ever! One of the best musical moments of my life!
 
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Sol

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
775
Some rock legends can be identified by their unique guitar tone, Brian May and David Gilmour come to mind and while B Gibbons has a very distinctive tone, for me it's his unique stylistic approach to the blues rock genre. It's so individualistic.

His phrasing combines pick, fingerstyle and slide that is seamless in execution, you just can't help but be drawn in by the spectacle, it's so cool. I've said this before, that virtuoso players have a right hand technique that matches their left and Gibbons is a classic example of this imo..
 

tonedef

New member
Joined
Jul 24, 2003
Messages
2
Jumping on this conversation, 2 1/2 years later… But never late talking about the Rev BFG and his awesome early tone….

I agree wholeheartedly. These knobs settings work with a Super Lead or a Lead 50, not a Super Bass.

I first saw a close-up shot photo of Billy in front of his stacks about 35 years ago here in Atlanta in a concert promoter’s office. Looked like a shot from 73 or 74. I saw Billy’s knob settings, wrote them down and rushed straight home to try them on my Marshall’s, at that time, both 68 and 71 smallbox lead 50s. Going into a 412 with G12M’s, and playing my flame top Les Paul Std with SD Pearly Gates pick ups, it was the EXACT tone. I played all of my favorite songs from the first three albums for about two hours straight. I was in heaven.

The big take away for me, was turning the mids all the way off, bass up, with the amp at such a high gain level, makes it sound like it’s gagging like an old tweed dimed.
 
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