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What amps did Leslie West use w/Mountain?

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Bob Sweet

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Mar 10, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/10/99
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Dave Mazza wrote:
>
> I've always wondered how he got that real nice grind, like on Miss. Queen.
> Sounds smoother than what you get by just cranking the amp--has an
> overdriven preamp quality.

I know he used Sunn amps alot, but when I saw Mountain at Eastown
Theater in Detroit about 69? He was using 2 what looked like 50 watt
Marshall half stacks, slanted cabnets.
--
Bob Sweet
Sweet Sound Electronics, Inc.
http://www.sweetsound.com

Dave Mazza

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Mar 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/11/99
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Ron Bales

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Mar 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/11/99
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A big part of it was that P90 snarl.

ROn

Highcoyote

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Mar 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/11/99
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Sunn amps. I think I read once that he bought the set that Hendrix didn't use.

mg...@mailexcite.com

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Mar 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/11/99
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He used Stramp amplifiers from Germany. I don't know much about them, but
in the mid 70's, C.F. Martin considered importing and distributing them.
..As if they would know what to do with them!! They had them at the Chicago
NAMM show, but all that happened was that their pretentious reps acted
superior to any one who had any interest in them. Remember, in the 70's
Martin was an awfull company, run by an alcoholic member of the Martin
family, and they almost went out of business, but they got smart, replaced
him and are still here, but without Stramp amps, of course.
Michael

Alan Thompson

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Mar 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/11/99
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I don't know when or for how long, but West used to preamp his big amps with a
tube Bogen PA. Quite a few players used to do this back then, before master
volume and high gain amps were around.

A.T.

Jeppard3

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Mar 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/11/99
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We played at the same show last year and he was using 2 - 100 watt marshalls
through 2 - 4 X 12 slant cabs. I also recall seeing him in the 70s on tour
with 10 Years After and he was using marshalls then also.
Jim Eppard
e&e audio
Boom's Farm Productions
Applehead Recording

Dave Mazza

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Mar 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/11/99
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>I don't know when or for how long, but West used to preamp his big amps
with a
>tube Bogen PA. Quite a few players used to do this back then, before
master
>volume and high gain amps were around.


That's what Terry Kath did on "Free Form Guitar"--a Bogen into a Showman.

Es335gary

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Mar 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/12/99
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>Subject: Re: What amps did Leslie West use w/Mountain?

I saw Leslie in 71 with West,Bruce and Lang and he was using the " West"
Amps...Looked basically like Marshalls but with staright cabs up and down...and
yes I beleave alot of his tone came from his Les Paul Specials with the P-90's

Alan Thompson

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Mar 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/12/99
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I think the poster was more interested in what Leslie West used when Mountain
was a major act, not what he uses now. When Mountain made those albums in the
late 60's to early 70's, he was using non-master amps, and preamping them to get
that sound. When I last saw him on TV a couple of years ago, he was using what
appeared to be 800 series MV Marshalls, as you said.

A.T.

Alan Thompson

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Mar 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/12/99
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Leslie West played LP Juniors, not Specials.

A.T.

Carlginger

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Mar 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/12/99
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>
>
>Leslie West played LP Juniors, not Specials.
>
>A.T.
>

FWIW...a '71 concert of West with Mountain shows a huge wall of Sunn for both
him and Felix.

Carl

brian

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Mar 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/12/99
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leslie started with SUNN amps and,yes,the p90 pickups on the les paul junior
had a hell of a lot to do with the sound! he later went to
marshall......that famous sound he got,that harmonic SQUAWK,as i call
it........was evident thru L WESTS MT,CLIMBING,NANTUCKET SLEIGHRIDE,FLOWERS
OF EVIL,THE ROAD GOES EVER ON..............it was there a little bit for
AVALANCHE. but by the time of TWIN PEAKS or WEST BRUCE and LAING or LESLIE
WEST BAND,he had a more straightforward rock marshall/humbucking tone. i
really dont like leslie playing the STEINBERGER much these days.....i liked
his old sound! brian

*** Posted from RemarQ - http://www.remarq.com - Discussions Start Here (tm) ***

Zorro

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Mar 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/12/99
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Wämp wrote in message <36E9BA9F...@worldnet.att.net>...

>> WEST BAND,he had a more straightforward rock marshall/humbucking tone. i
>> really dont like leslie playing the STEINBERGER much these days.....i
liked
>> his old sound! brian


West playing a Steingerger ?? Isn't that like an elephant screwing a a
lightbulg socket.
>

Kathryn Burghardt

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Mar 12, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/12/99
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I seem to remember Leslie West saying in a guitar magazine that he used a
Sunn stack that used to be Jimi Hendrix's. He said that he turned it all
the way up and overdrove it like crazy on Mississippi Queen.

andy

Wämp

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Mar 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/13/99
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I wanted to hear that old sound when is was new. You could get the Idea through the
walls of the Palace theater. I hear he slimmed down and is a decent sort.He showed
up at the Bethal (not Saugerties) Woodstock 25th. I'm gett'n the feel'n P90s
rule. Peace Chris

brian wrote:

> leslie started with SUNN amps and,yes,the p90 pickups on the les paul junior
> had a hell of a lot to do with the sound! he later went to
> marshall......that famous sound he got,that harmonic SQUAWK,as i call
> it........was evident thru L WESTS MT,CLIMBING,NANTUCKET SLEIGHRIDE,FLOWERS
> OF EVIL,THE ROAD GOES EVER ON..............it was there a little bit for
> AVALANCHE. but by the time of TWIN PEAKS or WEST BRUCE and LAING or LESLIE

> WEST BAND,he had a more straightforward rock marshall/humbucking tone. i
> really dont like leslie playing the STEINBERGER much these days.....i liked
> his old sound! brian
>

John Huff

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Mar 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/13/99
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In <19990312055254...@ng150.aol.com> carlg...@aol.com


I had heard he used Orange at one point, dunno if that has any truth to
it. He had a nice, fat honkin' 'Paul sound, thats for sure. Some of
those leads sounded alot like the tone pot/s were backed off quite a
bit.

Daniel

jc maillet

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Mar 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/13/99
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In article <th9G2.2304$EF1.13440731@WReNphoon1>, bri...@gis.net (brian) wrote:

> leslie started with SUNN amps and,yes,the p90 pickups on the les paul junior
> had a hell of a lot to do with the sound! he later went to
> marshall......

I heard he recorded "Nantucket" by plugging his guitar straight into the
auxilliary input of a Hammond B3 preamp (if you look you'll see a little
cruddy RCA jack on the top side) ... that's the mystery channel right
there kids ...

jc ...

Wämp

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Mar 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/13/99
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This snip looks funny I didn't wright that. There are some talented
Elephants. Stienberger? basic yuck. Peace Chris

Zorro wrote:

> Wämp wrote in message <36E9BA9F...@worldnet.att.net>...

> >> WEST BAND,he had a more straightforward rock marshall/humbucking tone. i
> >> really dont like leslie playing the STEINBERGER much these days.....i
> liked
> >> his old sound! brian
>

Derek R. Larson

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Mar 14, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/14/99
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In article <jc-130399...@ip-81-090.lynx.bc.ca>,


I tried that with my M-3 once and there wasn't enough gain for it to OD
much at all. Going through the B3 wouldn't be much better, unless it was
running into a cranked Leslie. A lot of Leslie's tone is in the fingers
anyway, esp. those pinch harmonics. I worked pretty hard as a teen to get
down the "Theme from an Imaginary Western" solo as he played it. That's
also largely why I bought a Les Paul in the mid 1980s when nobody else
wanted them.

-drl
--
________________________________________________________________________
Derek R. Larson Indiana University Dept. of History
"Nothing interesting occurred today..."
-Meriwether Lewis at Ft. Clatsop, Oregon, Jan.4th, 1806

MCAS NV

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Mar 15, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/15/99
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I saw Mountain in '70 at Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, South Carolina (one of
the best-sounding big halls in America). They all appeared to be using Sunn
stacks. I also remember that the guitar and bass appeared not to be miked
thru the PA, relying only on stage noise to fill the room. They sounded great.

Alan Thompson

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Mar 15, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/15/99
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Gosh, I know I'm repeating myself here, but it didn't much matter what kind
of amp West used for final amplification on the old stuff, because he was
preamping with a little tube P.A. amp for overdrive. Also, as has been
noted, he backed off the tone control on his LP Juniors all the way for what
Clapton referred to as the "woman tone", once in a while he'd turn the tone
back up for treble emphasis. By the way, just about any guitar can be set up
to get that "woman tone" sound with the use of the proper cap on the tone
control. Cesar Diaz narrowed it down to a .015mf cap, which gets the sound
of the basic Gibson .02 tone cap that had weakened over time. I've got a '56
LP Junior that nails that sound, and an SG with humbuckers and a Tele with
the cap replaced that approximate it also.

To sum it up, the key to Leslie West's early sound was the preamping with a
tube amp, which predated the cascaded gain amps that came out later. Other
players using this approach were Terry Kath of Chicago, Robin Trower during
the Procol Harum years, and Dave Davies of the Kinks (who preamped an AC 30
with the infamous "El Pedo", "El Pico", or whatever the hell that little amp
was....he can't remember the name).

A.T.

Alan Thompson

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Mar 15, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/15/99
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"Theme For An Imaginary Western", what a fucking awesome solo, the well-place
harmonics there used to give me chills. Any "deedly-deedly, 15 note-per-second
wanker guitarists" should be made to listen to that recording for a lesson in taste
and feeling in soloing. BTW, that song was written by Jack Bruce, it was his
vision of the touring Cream as cowboys roaming the wild west of America.
Mountain's version brought it home much better than Bruce's quirky take (it's on
one of his solo albums).

A.T.

Joe

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Mar 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/23/99
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Back in the 70's, I read the guitar player issue with Mountain. Leslie
said he used a Stramp amp (never heard of it, either) because it
distorted at lower levels. He used that at that time with his Les Paul
Junior.


Ã`

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Mar 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/24/99
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I remember Leslie West Using Sunn at one point, but they could have been
an inncidental rental or endorsement evaluation. I recall he blew one of
them up and the techies replugged him. Odly enough Felix Pappilardi was
also using Sunn (cabs three across and two high) for that Leg of the
tour but I believe (correct me if I am wrong) he used Ampeg SVT's. I
reacall that "Mountain" as well as "Cactus" used literally, a >WALL< of
amplifiers. I believe he may have also used Marshalls.

In those days it was what ever didn't blow up and lay down smoke. I
suppose you would get what was available. I'm sure some of the suits got
frustrated when they noticed they were shipping as many amps back and
forth to artists as was going to the stores..

You might try asking "Cy" Cyrano the head of technical operations of The
WHO..

He's probly somehwre in the UK.. this guy remembers everything... a
wealth of information...

cheers

jc'_

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