So I found this video of the new "Skynyrd" from 1997 and I absolutely love the guitar tone. Almost sounds like a harpsichord in a way. From what I can find this is a custom Tele style guitar, with Strat pickups, paired to a Fender Super Twin. Would it be possible to get close to this tone with a stock MIM Strat?
Hughie Thomasson guitar tone with new "Lynyrd Skynyrd"?
- Thread starter bebyb
- Start date
arct
Senior Stratmaster
Thanks for that. I wept to see him, haven't watched any in quite a while.
Nothing there but Hughie and singles and professionally volumed professionally compressed big tranny Fender amp. Just like each and every time I ever did see him. He told me last time I saw him, year or so before he died, he got some grit out of a couple different pedals depending on which one he felt like using, but that was for that last go around with The Outlaws.
So yes, you should be able to get close to that. And then play like him. That's the real trick.
DISCLAIMER: Opened for them 40 almost 5 years ago, when the live one was gigantic they had to reschedule some stuff at some local college flatbed festival things and boy oh boy did we get lucky, buncha trailer park goofs playing with Them. I don't remember any pedals for him or Billy, just good old volume. I am, to say the least, biased.
So I'll get out the live one tonight, I could use it. Every guitar player could use it actually.
rct
Nothing there but Hughie and singles and professionally volumed professionally compressed big tranny Fender amp. Just like each and every time I ever did see him. He told me last time I saw him, year or so before he died, he got some grit out of a couple different pedals depending on which one he felt like using, but that was for that last go around with The Outlaws.
So yes, you should be able to get close to that. And then play like him. That's the real trick.
DISCLAIMER: Opened for them 40 almost 5 years ago, when the live one was gigantic they had to reschedule some stuff at some local college flatbed festival things and boy oh boy did we get lucky, buncha trailer park goofs playing with Them. I don't remember any pedals for him or Billy, just good old volume. I am, to say the least, biased.
So I'll get out the live one tonight, I could use it. Every guitar player could use it actually.
rct
jackblues
Strat-Talker
Of course its possible.
Heavy strings, heavy pick, lots ot bright compression, high gain on something like Vox AC15. Also you need to hit those strings like its your last time.
Heavy strings, heavy pick, lots ot bright compression, high gain on something like Vox AC15. Also you need to hit those strings like its your last time.
Nate D
Dr. Stratster
That’s really cool.
arct
Senior Stratmaster
Thank You. I am lucky to have that memory. And I was even luckier that all the way up in 2005 he remembered those gigs. Not me, not my band, but he remembered how happy and relaxed they were to not be grinding it out in giant arenas for a couple weeks, just being The Outlaws for an hour and ahalf at a time. Awesome. And even luckier that Hughie and Dix and the guy doing Billy parts, last name Campbell I believe, actually sat at the bar at the old House of Blues in the old Showboat down there in AC and chatted us up for a few drinks.
They did Prisoner that night. That guy doing Billy had half the crowd in tears he was so good at it, the singing AND the guitar parts.
rct
Yes you can. He's essentially playing a strat with his 3 pickup tele. Strat in bridge and middle pickup combination.
I guess what I am hearing is a somewhat distorted amp with the volume on the guitar rolled down. Right before he starts the intro to Sweet Home you can what looks like a quick volume knob adjustment on the guitar. I play in a country band and I play a strat with an overdrive pedal and I use that tone pretty often with the volume knob on the guitar rolled back.
While It doesn't appear so in this video he also used the Orange Tortex .60 picks. Pretty thin but they add a brightness to the sound heavier picks can't quite deliver. I discovered them by accident a few years ago and I can't quit them. I would give one a try.
Don't dismiss that old Peavey Classic 100 setup behind him either. He was a pretty regular user of the PV Classic Series amps during his Skynyrd years.
I guess what I am hearing is a somewhat distorted amp with the volume on the guitar rolled down. Right before he starts the intro to Sweet Home you can what looks like a quick volume knob adjustment on the guitar. I play in a country band and I play a strat with an overdrive pedal and I use that tone pretty often with the volume knob on the guitar rolled back.
While It doesn't appear so in this video he also used the Orange Tortex .60 picks. Pretty thin but they add a brightness to the sound heavier picks can't quite deliver. I discovered them by accident a few years ago and I can't quit them. I would give one a try.
Don't dismiss that old Peavey Classic 100 setup behind him either. He was a pretty regular user of the PV Classic Series amps during his Skynyrd years.
Jimbo99
Senior Stratmaster
Looks like a Tele with a B-Bender he used for Green Grass & High Tides ?
equipboard.com
Hughie Thomasson's Guitars | Equipboard
Hughie Thomasson's gear and equipment including the Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar and Peavey Deuce VT Series 212 Combo. Get the gear to sound like Hughie Thomasson and get their tone.
Thank you all for the replies! Yeah I know Ed King dialed it back to about 1 or 2 but I feel like this tone has a little bit more overdrive on it. Maybe the volume knob about 4 or 5?
Yeah it's hard to say. It will depend on the amount of gain used after the guitar, the voice of the amp, volume of the amp, pick attack , type of pickups etc. I don't think there is a magic number, you just have to go by ear. If not a lot of gain is used one may get that sound at 6 or 7. if a moderate amount of gain is used it may be at 1,2 or 3. Also some overdrive pedals and the lead channels on some amps don't clean up very well at all by rolling the guitar volume down.
Then there are the small hidden things like if the guitar has a "treble bleed" mod to where "none" (loosely speaking) of the high end gets rolled down when you turn down the volume unlike a standard wired guitar where the tone gets duller as you turn down the volume. Keeping the treble frequencies will have some effect on where that sound is at on the dial too. 6-month-old well played strings probably aren't going to help either!
Thank you so much! So I just picked up my first tube amp, Peavy VK100 through a Fender 4x12 cabinet. I am using a MIM maple neck Strat with stock pickups on the neck and middle and a Seymour Duncan Twang Banger in the bridge.Yeah it's hard to say. It will depend on the amount of gain used after the guitar, the voice of the amp, volume of the amp, pick attack , type of pickups etc. I don't think there is a magic number, you just have to go by ear. If not a lot of gain is used one may get that sound at 6 or 7. if a moderate amount of gain is used it may be at 1,2 or 3. Also some overdrive pedals and the lead channels on some amps don't clean up very well at all by rolling the guitar volume down.
Then there are the small hidden things like if the guitar has a "treble bleed" mod to where "none" (loosely speaking) of the high end gets rolled down when you turn down the volume unlike a standard wired guitar where the tone gets duller as you turn down the volume. Keeping the treble frequencies will have some effect on where that sound is at on the dial too. 6-month-old well played strings probably aren't going to help either!
That sounds like a good start!
Seriously try an Orange Tortex .60 pick sometime for a little extra twang. It will take some getting used to if you already use heavier picks but the sound difference is noticeable. A compressor pedal may be something else to consider if you don't already use one.
I will for sure! I'll see if they have some of those picks at the store when I pick my guitar up. I'm in the Nashville area so I would be surprised if they don't.
For sure! And it is very hard (for me anyway) to replicate that exact sound from that recording. Ed King's tone during the tribute tour didn't even seem to be exact. Seemed to have a lot more treble or something.
That is super cool you got to open for him! Yeah I got my first tube amp yesterday...Peavey head and Fender cabinet...we will see how close I can get!
arct
Senior Stratmaster
Peavey Classics for me, from...probably mid 77 up until I got married in 1980. Couple a year, but man we were rough on them.
rct
rct
That "2nd position" strat tone can be somewhat elusive depending on the amp, volume, dirt and the type and height of the pickups. I like that "out of phase" sound but sometimes it doesn't carry well in a band setting and I find when playing at gigs I have to go to just the middle pickup and approximate that sound because my sound in the 2nd position is just too weak/muddy to be heard effectively. But my aftermarket bridge and middle pickups on my strat are voiced a little darker than the typical strat pickups for those positions.
I also never knew they used the Peavey VTM amps as seen in this video. I would still love to get my hands on one of those.
I am still using my 2005 PV Classic 30 head into a 212 cab with Celestion Vintage 30s to gig with.
I also grew up surrounded by Peavey equipment. Because of that back then I viewed Fender amps as being "less than" ha ha.
Here is a rehearsal video and interview prior to the Volunteer Jam where you can see the many Peavey amps and other gear.
Also, can you recommend a good Seymour Duncan Strat pickup for the middle and neck? The Twang Banger I bought is apparently reverse polarity from the stock MIM Fender pickups and even though I have the wires reversed the compensate, I lost the hum canceling effect.
