Albert King's amp
ax...@musica.mcgill.ca
Does anybody know what kind of amp(s) Albert King used to get that raw, killer sound of his?
As far as weird double bills go, the strangest I ever saw was, get this, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra
opening for John Lee Hooker, way back in the early 70's in the Village. I believe it was at the Cafe a GoGo. Strange
evening.
Danny Smith
In article <50kqgc$s...@sifon.cc.mcgill.ca>, ax...@musica.mcgill.ca wrote:
>Does anybody know what kind of amp(s) Albert King used to get that raw,
killer sound of his?
>
Kustom things, with the metal-flake vinyl tuck-n-roll cover.
As I recall, it had a plastic horn in the cabinet, which helped
him achieve that piercing icepick-to-the-brain tone.
No effects boxes that I can remember, just full-on HBs, and
the meaty attack he got using his (huge!) thumb. All that added up
to the Al King tone, that to this day give me chills.
Danny Smith Amdahl Corporation
da...@amdahl.com
The opinions expressed here are mine, not Amdahl's
(They made me say that....)
Harvey Gerst
Danny Smith wrote:
>
> In article <50kqgc$s...@sifon.cc.mcgill.ca>, ax...@musica.mcgill.ca wrote:
> >Does anybody know what kind of amp(s) Albert King used to get that raw,
> killer sound of his?
> >
> When I first saw him play, ca. 1970, he used one of those nasty
> Kustom things, with the metal-flake vinyl tuck-n-roll cover.
> As I recall, it had a plastic horn in the cabinet, which helped
> him achieve that piercing icepick-to-the-brain tone.
> No effects boxes that I can remember, just full-on HBs, and
> the meaty attack he got using his (huge!) thumb. All that added up
> to the Al King tone, that to this day give me chills.
Danny,
What you saw was an Acoustic Control Model 260 amp head with a 261 bottom
which had 2 Altec 15" speakers and a blue 14" x 6" high frequency horn.
The amp had a built in fuzz tone which Albert never used. He did
occasionally get into feedback, but only on rare occasions.
--
Harvey Gerst
Indian Trail Recording Studio
http://users.aol.com/harvgerst/records/studio.html
Indian Trail Records
http://users.aol.com/harvgerst/records/records.html
Gil Ayan
In a previous article, ai...@lafn.org (Gil Ayan) says:
>I saw Albert again at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1996. He
Ooooppppsss! Make that 1986, sorry.
Gil
--
Carl Fiadino
ax...@musica.mcgill.ca wrote:
>Does anybody know what kind of amp(s) Albert King used to get that raw, killer sound of his?
>
>opening for John Lee Hooker, way back in the early 70's in the Village. I believe it was at the Cafe a GoGo. Strange
>evening.
>
>
Jazz Chorus. Carl
Gil Ayan
In a previous article, ax...@musica.mcgill.ca () says:
>Does anybody know what kind of amp(s) Albert King used to get
> that raw, killer sound of his?
I had the pleasure to see the great Albert King twice. Forst time at a
Jazz Festival in Sacramento, CA back in 1985. At the time he was using a
small Peavey amp which was sitting on a chair during his performance. He
was driving the living daylights out of the poor little thing! I didn't
really care for his tone then, it seems to me that Albert King was a real
trooper, he probably just play through whatever amp he had at hand -- in
the true spirit of the blues! Also on that bill was Robert Cray, before
anyone knew who he was...
I saw Albert again at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1996. He
played with Santana and was somewhat outshadowed by him. I quote ALbert:
"30 years ago we used to all hang out at the Fillmore West, but then this
guy (Carlos) got too tough for all of us!" What a day that was.
Gil
--
Troubleman
ai...@lafn.org (Gil Ayan) wrote:
>Gil
>--
I saw Albert play live once; he was using a funky old Acoustic stack,
with a ported horn on top. I winced, until I heard him play through
it. He got a singing, stinging, Albert King tone. I've no idea how, I
always hated those things....
Troubleman
Harvey Gerst
Troubleman wrote:
>
> I saw Albert play live once; he was using a funky old Acoustic stack,
> with a ported horn on top. I winced, until I heard him play through
> it. He got a singing, stinging, Albert King tone. I've no idea how, I
> always hated those things....
Troubleman,
Just to set things straight, the horn wasn't ported, but it did sit in a
sliding track so it could be pushed back during shipping. I've heard
Albert play through a variety of amplifiers and guess what, his tone was
in his hands, he simply used the amp to get the sound out to others and
the Acoustic 261 was a good match for him.
"Hate" is pretty strong word. I loved the old Fender twins (especially
with a pair of JBL D120F's except for lugging it around), but the
Acoustic amps were a good match for many players back then.
I'm sorry if some of my "kids" made you mad, but maybe some of my other
"kids" helped balance that out (JBL "F" seies, some of the Moreley
pedals, Yamaha early amps, part of the Rhodes piano, some of the Charvel
and Jackson amps, the early Ross Mega 800, some of the big Ross PA
cabinets, the Sunn Collosium and Vox Churchill and a few other things
I've long forgotten about). Life is all too short, enjoy it.
Troubleman
>"Hate" is pretty strong word. I loved the old Fender twins (especially
>with a pair of JBL D120F's except for lugging it around), but the
>Acoustic amps were a good match for many players back then.
Old Fender Twins are cool; its probably one of the few amps I actually
where I actually "like" the sound of JBL's. The Acoustic stacks on the
other hand..... they worked for Albert; I was way underwhelmed to say
the least.
Troubleman
Ed
jay...@smart.net (Troubleman) wrote:
>Troubleman
If you've ever been to clubs where true bluesmen play, they don't all
have pretty tones like SRV. Some of those guys, like Albert, are not
really anal about their gear, and often use what they have based on
reliability more than tonal characteristics. A lot of blues guys have
that harsh, thin, piercing tone which cuts through easily, but is not
the most ear-pleasing tone. I find it hilarious when people who
search for the "Blues tone" in a '59 bassman and strats with the
texas-wound-fat-strat-pickup thing, and of course, the Ibanez TS
pedals. Few guitarists realize that true blues guitarists rarely have
access to this kind of gear. Instead, a more likely rig is something
like: Stripped-down Gibson Firebrand "The Paul" straight into a Music
Man combo. Is this any less "blues" than the SRV clone rig? I think
not.
Daddy-0
Ed wrote:
>
> If you've ever been to clubs where true bluesmen play, they don't all
> have pretty tones like SRV. Some of those guys, like Albert, are not
> really anal about their gear, and often use what they have based on
> reliability more than tonal characteristics. A lot of blues guys have
> that harsh, thin, piercing tone which cuts through easily, but is not
> the most ear-pleasing tone. I find it hilarious when people who
> search for the "Blues tone" in a '59 bassman and strats with the
> texas-wound-fat-strat-pickup thing, and of course, the Ibanez TS
> pedals. Few guitarists realize that true blues guitarists rarely have
> access to this kind of gear. Instead, a more likely rig is something
> like: Stripped-down Gibson Firebrand "The Paul" straight into a Music
> Man combo. Is this any less "blues" than the SRV clone rig? I think
> not.
You got it. Ever see Hound Dog Taylor's gear? Ever *hear* Hound Dog's
tone? Like a flock of geese being pounded through a wood chipper. He
played an Eko or some godawful thing. And he's one of the greats.
herr...@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
> You got it. Ever see Hound Dog Taylor's gear? Ever *hear* Hound Dog's
> tone? Like a flock of geese being pounded through a wood chipper. He
> played an Eko or some godawful thing. And he's one of the greats.
Hound Dog played a Teisco Del Ray with his name on the headstock.
A signature model perhaps? Yes, his fuzztone was amazing.
Gimme back my wig,
Al
MichaelP1
In article <32328F...@urp.ilk.org>, Daddy-0 <dad...@urp.ilk.org>
writes:
>
>You got it. Ever see Hound Dog Taylor's gear? Ever *hear* Hound Dog's
>tone?
Like a flock of geese being pounded through a wood chipper. He
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>played an Eko or some godawful thing. And he's one of the greats.
>
>
This is my vote for the "visual imagery" line of the month.....Great line,
Daddy-O
Mike
Perry Roper
Gil Ayan wrote:
>
> In a previous article, ax...@musica.mcgill.ca () says:
>
> >Does anybody know what kind of amp(s) Albert King used to get
> > that raw, killer sound of his?
Seen him 5 years or so ago and he used a roland Jazz chorus 120. I think that the Roland was a
regular amp for him in his later years.
Perry
Troubleman
>If you've ever been to clubs where true bluesmen play, they don't all
>have pretty tones like SRV. Some of those guys, like Albert, are not
>really anal about their gear, and often use what they have based on
>reliability more than tonal characteristics. A lot of blues guys have
>that harsh, thin, piercing tone which cuts through easily, but is not
>the most ear-pleasing tone. I find it hilarious when people who
>search for the "Blues tone" in a '59 bassman and strats with the
>texas-wound-fat-strat-pickup thing, and of course, the Ibanez TS
>pedals. Few guitarists realize that true blues guitarists rarely have
>access to this kind of gear. Instead, a more likely rig is something
>like: Stripped-down Gibson Firebrand "The Paul" straight into a Music
>Man combo. Is this any less "blues" than the SRV clone rig? I think
>not.
I've see the best bluesmen on the planet play live; I stood three feet
from Albert Collins all nite, I was twice that distance from Hubert
Sumlin. I sit around and listen to old Hound-Dog Taylor records. I
know what the old bluemen sound like. I still hate the overdrive
characteristics of that Acoustic amp. It worked wonderfully for Albert
King; I tried one and hated it. I've tried master volume CBS Fender
Twins - hate them too. Its about whatever tone works for you. If you
can get YOUR tone outta a Teisco guitar and a Best Products transistor
amp, go for it. I've played through some real cheese boxes (Alamo amps
come to mind) that did only one thing well, but for that one thing
were quite usable. For me, that Acoustic was not one of them.....
Just my opinion; your's may be diametrically opposed......
Troubleman
Troubleman
Perry Roper <he...@3-cities.com> wrote:
>Perry
He used a Roland Jazz chorus 120 for his sessions with Gary Moore....
Troubleman
