Looking to nail some Eric Johnson tones from a Mk V

[Zlofengir]

Ok, before anyone says anything, I know EJ doesn't play Boogies. But I know it's possible to get those chimey overtones from a Mk V...

Suggestions?

 

[sprocket]

You ll need an EchoPlex 3 . Amp Volume at around 5-7 , Bass should be at around 5-6 , Treble , Mid at 5 . Presence should be off .

Try to experiment . & Google it buddy . He s got a Fuzz Face also .


Lots of stuff in there , the way you ll play also .

He s got a Chandler Tube Driver .

 

[Zlofengir]

You ll need an EchoPlex 3 . Amp Volume at around 5-7 , Bass should be at around 5-6 , Treble , Mid at 5 . Presence should be off .

Try to experiment . & Google it buddy . He s got a Fuzz Face also .


Lots of stuff in there , the way you ll play also .

He s got a Chandler Tube Driver .

I'm not trying to emulate EJ's FX, just the straight tone... I heard Joe Bonamassa nail it with a Dumble on YouTube; but he didn't show, or discuss the settings.

I use a Real Tube and Blue Tube for my overdrive tones... Both are incredible, B.K. Butler is the MAN!

 

[Markedman]

Eric's tone can easily be achieved with any set up. The trick is, after getting a decent sound with the gain just high enough until the amp starts to break up, set the delay to a slight echo, then, this is most important thing, put a goose-down pillow between the speaker and your microphone, it must be goose-down, a foam pillow will impede the direct sound too much.
While all the other guitar players struggled to learn "Smoke on the Water," "The Cliffs of Dover" was my first song.

 

[TimeSignature]

Overdrive channel of some sort.

I'm gonna take a guess and say turn the treble to ... say.... zero...

Medium gain.

I'd throw some compression in front.

 

[gonzo]

boogies dont' sound like marshalls.

on the clean side, you can approximate a Fender Twin, but it's still not the same.

 

[Zlofengir]

boogies dont' sound like marshalls.

on the clean side, you can approximate a Fender Twin, but it's still not the same.

I know Boogies don't sound like Marshalls; I was thinking more along the lines of EJ's Dumble tone. Theoretically, it's more of what's in front of the amp; mainly a Tube Driver and an Echoplex. I'm going to pull out my Butler Blue Tube pedal, and SP compressor (set more as a boost) and do some knob twiddling, switch flipping, and EQ tweaking and see what I can come up with.

 

[gonzo]

i've seen EJ live 4 times, and of course on all the vids available

i've never seen him live play anything but marshalls and fender twins


when you have a specific tone in mind, go to the source.

 

[masque]

his dirty rhythm tone during the "ah via musicom" days was done with a Dumble and he also uses that same Dumble in the in the instructional video he did for hot licks around that same time.

in recent years he has removed the Dumble from his live his live rig.

he also played a Boogie back in the late 70's for a while....that Boogie may have even appeared briefly on his seven worlds disc.....if not there then i'm pretty sure he would have used it on some of the Electromagnets stuff.

and as a sidenote, i can come fairly close to getting in the EJ neighborhood of tone on my Mark V by running channel 1 in tweed mode withe gain at about 65% and running a Gigigty pedal in front of the amp to darken the tone a bit and beef it up a hair to emulate his BK Tube Driver..........add lots of delay and some verb or course.

 

[Markedman]

i've never seen him live play anything but marshalls and fender twins

Eric plays at the small 300 seat theatre, "Infinity Hall," here in my hometown twice a year or more, he has a couple of different amps, other than Fender or Marshall, the names of which you can get from his website. He has a ton of gear on stage and I'm sure it's his small rig because the stage is very small, was built in 1883 and has not changed. The place is exactly same today as it was in 1883 with a mint Meyer sound system added. The lower the volume, the better the sound. Eric played here with Mike Stern in October. I took some pictures with my iPhone for a friend so he could see what he used on that date, but the pictures were blurry so he looked up the names of the amps on Eric's website.

 

[Zlofengir]

his dirty rhythm tone during the "ah via musicom" days was done with a Dumble and he also uses that same Dumble in the in the instructional video he did for hot licks around that same time.

in recent years he has removed the Dumble from his live his live rig.

he also played a Boogie back in the late 70's for a while....that Boogie may have even appeared briefly on his seven worlds disc.....if not there then i'm pretty sure he would have used it on some of the Electromagnets stuff.

and as a sidenote, i can come fairly close to getting in the EJ neighborhood of tone on my Mark V by running channel 1 in tweed mode withe gain at about 65% and running a Gigigty pedal in front of the amp to darken the tone a bit and beef it up a hair to emulate his BK Tube Driver..........add lots of delay and some verb or course.

Thanks Masque... I'll give that a shot with my Real Tube and Blue Tube pedals; I'm gonna pass on getting a Giggity, I have 10 too many distortion boxes as it is!!

 

[masque]

his dirty rhythm tone during the "ah via musicom" days was done with a Dumble and he also uses that same Dumble in the in the instructional video he did for hot licks around that same time.

in recent years he has removed the Dumble from his live his live rig.

he also played a Boogie back in the late 70's for a while....that Boogie may have even appeared briefly on his seven worlds disc.....if not there then i'm pretty sure he would have used it on some of the Electromagnets stuff.

and as a sidenote, i can come fairly close to getting in the EJ neighborhood of tone on my Mark V by running channel 1 in tweed mode withe gain at about 65% and running a Gigigty pedal in front of the amp to darken the tone a bit and beef it up a hair to emulate his BK Tube Driver..........add lots of delay and some verb or course.

Thanks Masque... I'll give that a shot with my Real Tube and Blue Tube pedals; I'm gonna pass on getting a Giggity, I have 10 too many distortion boxes as it is!!

you're very welcome! good luck! and before you slam the door on the giggity you may want to you tube some videos of it…..it's not a distortion box at all…..it's way more of a tone shaper……the primary reason i bought it was because of some videos i saw on you tube of a guy dialing in EJ tone and the giggity being a huge part of what he did.

 

[masque]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-D-bEGIacg

 

[gonzo]

i've never seen him live play anything but marshalls and fender twins

Eric plays at the small 300 seat theatre, "Infinity Hall," here in my hometown twice a year or more, he has a couple of different amps, other than Fender or Marshall....

i did not say he doesn't play thru other rigs..

i only said i've never seen him play thru other rigs.


bottom line:

those recorded tones that he is renowned for, he got them live on stage using marshalls and fenders, when i saw him.


there are probably a hundred different ways to approximate his sound using other stuff.

 

[Zlofengir]

Masque- I've checked out the videos and specs on the Giggity, and while it is a cool pedal, I don't have the need for one right now. That's the beautiful thing about the Mark V, you can get so many tones out of it without any external effects. Right now I just have an Xotic SL Drive and SP Compressor in front of my amp; a new delay is on the wish list... That's gonna have to wait though.

Getting the EJ tone would be useful in the studio, but it's not a priority in life; after 35 years of playing, I am gonna sound like me, no matter what I play through.

 

[masque]

i agree with that.

 

[Zlofengir]

It's funny that no one noticed "chimey overtones" and considered that I was going after EJ's clean sound.

I'm listening to several of his CDs and noticing how his sounds change, and trying to nail what the "it" factor is...

These just rock me... From Bloom http://youtu.be/jcK1jl4yHrE http://youtu.be/-ji1CBZnzW8