Walter Trout & MKV

[Chester]

Saw walter Trout again last night at the Ferry in Glasgow. As usual, an excellent night of outstanding guitar playing in a tight band that have been together since the ice age

Looks like he dumped the MKIV heads he used for years, and played through a MKV head on Ch3. Couldn't see settings closely, but it's a safe bet he was using MKIV mode, without any pedal help. No foot controller in sight either

Throughout 2 hours of playing, he had not switched channels, modes or EQ settings once, but achieved a huge range of attack and sustain through PUP selection and volume knob control only. Awsome tone all night, and I now have a benchmark against which to set up CH3 on mine, which has so far proved to be my weak spot

40 years on the road and still loving every minute of what he was doing - inspirational :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[JOEY B.]

without any pedal help. No foot controller in sight either

Throughout 2 hours of playing, he had not switched channels, modes or EQ settings once, but achieved a huge range of attack and sustain through PUP selection and volume knob control only. Awsome tone all night, and I now have a benchmark against which to set up CH3 on mine, which has so far proved to be my weak spot.

That's what I call "doing it old school". The complexity of the new pedalboards, MIDI, etc..., has made his kind of craftsmanship into a lost art. The people that cut their teeth on single channel amps, do this style without giving it a second thought. 8)

 

[litesnsirens]

I cut my teeth on single channel amps, and if there hadn't been 35+ years of music written and recorded since then I could easily still get away with it. I kind of miss the simplicity of it but my bands cover such a wide range of music even within the classic rock genre, what's a guy supposed to do,and then you got the Mark V slapping you in the face with all these options, I find myself jonesing for the multiple-channels.

On the other hand it's cool to hear of a great player who, with 9 modes available, has found a single tone within this beast that is so great he just does the whole night with it. That must be some kind of tone he's dialed in. I mean it's not the same as if he was using a single-channel and squeezed the best out of it. We all know the insane range of tone this amp offers, All I'm thinking is too bad Chester didn't take a pic of those settings to post up here for us all.

 

[bartchamdoh]

My favorite player,love his phrasing and tone...nuff said.

 

[redline]

Went to see Walter a couple of months ago in Seattle. He used two strats and just one channel on his Mark V head for the whole performance. He is obviously a very impressive guitar player and even though I really like a couple of his albums (Outsider is my favorite), I remember standing there, listening to him play and thinking that most of his songs sound kind of the same...

 

[MrMarkIII]

Went to see Walter a couple of months ago in Seattle. He used two strats and just one channel on his Mark V head for the whole performance. He is obviously a very impressive guitar player and even though I really like a couple of his albums (Outsider is my favorite), I remember standing there, listening to him play and thinking that most of his songs sound kind of the same...

... It's the blues, it's supposed to sound like that 8)

 

[bartchamdoh]

I'm his biggest fan lol but i didn't like ''the outsider'' his new cd ''common ground'' is awesome

 

[Trev57]

I think Walters best album is his live recording 'No More Fish Jokes'. To me he is just one of those players who was born to play live. Most real Blues players sound best live in my opinion. It must just be the atmosphere of a real gig that comes over in their playing. Having had my Mark V for a while now, I would say that the biggest problem I have, is being spoilt for choice. I never seem to be able to settle on any sound. I always think there is another tweek in there. Maybe I should have kept that Soldano after all?

 

[redline]

Went to see Walter a couple of months ago in Seattle. He used two strats and just one channel on his Mark V head for the whole performance. He is obviously a very impressive guitar player and even though I really like a couple of his albums (Outsider is my favorite), I remember standing there, listening to him play and thinking that most of his songs sound kind of the same...

... It's the blues, it's supposed to sound like that 8)

The other great blues player I went to see back in March was Joe Bonamassa and he utilizes a lot more tonal variety in his playing style...but he also used about a dozen guitars, 4 amps and a large pedalboard during his performance. I didn't think his songs sounded kind of the same... just an observation.

 

[golfnguitarz]

Went to see Walter a couple of months ago in Seattle. He used two strats and just one channel on his Mark V head for the whole performance. He is obviously a very impressive guitar player and even though I really like a couple of his albums (Outsider is my favorite), I remember standing there, listening to him play and thinking that most of his songs sound kind of the same...

... It's the blues, it's supposed to sound like that 8)

The other great blues player I went to see back in March was Joe Bonamassa and he utilizes a lot more tonal variety in his playing style...but he also used about a dozen guitars, 4 amps and a large pedalboard during his performance. I didn't think his songs sounded kind of the same... just an observation.

Joe kills! Haven't seen him live (except on a tv concert), but I have been listening to A New Day Yesterday. I will definitely check him out when he comes through town again.

 

[bartchamdoh]

Love both these guys but i often wonder why joe gets tagged as a blues guitarist check the bcc cd.

 

[Don]

without any pedal help. No foot controller in sight either

Throughout 2 hours of playing, he had not switched channels, modes or EQ settings once, but achieved a huge range of attack and sustain through PUP selection and volume knob control only. Awsome tone all night, and I now have a benchmark against which to set up CH3 on mine, which has so far proved to be my weak spot.

That's what I call "doing it old school". The complexity of the new pedalboards, MIDI, etc..., has made his kind of craftsmanship into a lost art. The people that cut their teeth on single channel amps, do this style without giving it a second thought. 8)

I love it when I'm allowed to use just a guitar and my tweed Deluxe clone. I set the amp up so it's clean when the guitar is turned down and dirty when the guitar is cranked up. Sometimes I get lazy and control the gain with picking pressure alone. It's fun to "play the amp". It's very responsive.

If I do use a pedal, it's a germanium fuzz pedal and I leave it on for the whole song and control the gain the same way as I do the amp.