So every few years after the market becomes too flooded with new amps and boutique gear that people chase after, Glen comes back on RUclips to remind us that Trainwreck is still the king!
Every time I watch these videos (many, many times) there's a little part of me that wants to cry and put my guitar back in it's case. It's like the first time I heard Randy Rhoads play. I mean, how can we ever even come close to that tone from the amp? That touch and expression on the neck that Glen has? It's absolutely joyous to watch, but I do feel like a man that has taken up painting as a hobby, then discovers he's living next door to Picasso.
Always a pleasure to hear you finesse the guitar Glen. The SG is a great addition to your already incredible arsenal and the Wreck of course has warmly welcomed her into the family.Keep putting out your great vids!
I know I'm just a RUclips commenter right now, but I'm being serious when I say this is one of the best guitar tones I've ever heard. I'm currently 27 years old, and I've been playing guitar since I've been 11. I'm an audio engineer now and I think it just doesn't get any better than this. Absolutely stellar playing into an incredible amp.
Thank you for the kind words and ears on this! I did something a little different with my recording on this video and my other with the same SG Les Paul. Specifically this room is tiny and very dead sounding. That said it’s right next to a bathroom that is quite live. On this I used close mics on the 4x12, but I also put some condenser mics in the adjacent bath room and propped the door open to the live room just a couple inches inches. I blended the mics together and got for some nice natural ambience. Actually on one of these two SG videos you can hear a little crash, which was a bar of soap falling into the tub!
@@GlenKuykendall The ambience sounds so nice! That's awesome you utilized your space creatively. I always prefer a natural ambience like that over a reverb plugin. I heard the crash in this video right around 3:41 haha. Thanks for taking the time to share about the recording process for this video, I really appreciate it!
Glen, my father just mentioned this amp in a conversation we had lately about amps. So I’ve been looking around here for some reviews and all that. I wasn’t really expecting to find an awesome guitarist as well. You are amazing! Subscribed!
Excellent guitarist. I liked a lot his instrumental demo song, that was released in 1990's Guitar Player magazine. And also Mr. Kuykendall did a great guitar work on the Alter Ego - Fear (1989) album. 🎸 🔥 🎶 🤘
Wow Glen, I haven't heard you in ages; in fact since I bought your cd Can you hear it ring. I think that was the title lol. You are just so amazing, your touch, precision and tone leave me like someone has hit the pause button on my life ;) Thanks for this thoroughly amazing display of your talent. Cheers Billy ;)
Fabulous Glen. Just in the process of building my own express clone. I know it won’t sound as good as this but hopefully somewhere close enough Keep the new videos up please ! Loving your playing.
Hey Glen, That makes sense. You going for the compressed and oversaturated tone completely makes sense now. Then you got it!!! You do that tone justice. As I said before, I am so not a Carlos Santana fan. I would far rather listen to you play, and I do mean that as a complement. The Lyric is definitely not a darker cable. It is a more open and dynamic and truer cable that actually gives an even faster response. If you type in Derek Ferwerda Trainwreck in you tube. You'll see a few clips of the train wreck with a little more gain. I like your opinion. And thank you for the compliment on the playing :-)
Glen you sound outstanding...When a great guitar player plays his great gear and he knows how to recorded that's magic.....Glenn I have a request: please make a video how you record your sound/video successfully. What audio Software, mics and how you make it work for you....that sounds so great.
Correct, I'm using a Royer ribbon mic plus a Sennheiser e906 positioned a little lower out of view. Also in the bathroom just next to this room I had a Neumann U67 mic to pick up some slight natural reverb in there, then I kept the door to my right slightly open. In one of these two videos with the SG you can hear a sharp crash at one point, which is a bar of soap falling into the tub!
I’m building one of these with a Stancor A3801 output transformer like Ken Fisher used in the earlier Express amps. I’m really looking forward to the test and tune sessions once it’s done.
Glenn, you are an exceptional player. You can sound good without a 62 SG and a Trainwreck too. On the other hand, having a 62 SG and Trainwreck doesn't hurt of course :)
Good questions, though I wish I had taken better notes! I'm pretty sure I used Neve 1073LB pres on this. I also mixed in a little bit of ambience from a room mic (Neumann u67) placed next to this room with the door cracked slightly open. That added a little low end ambient thump off to the left almost like an old Robin Trower recording. I almost always run the bright switch in the full bright position (and did on this) which is down on original Trainwrecks. There is no doubt that the bright switch adds to the clean to mean range on these amps, giving more clarity and a clearer sound when the guitar is backed off.
@@pavelm9078 Because it sounds better and it's touch sensitive just the way I want an amp to be. Dumbles have their own thing going but it's not THIS thing. Which I like a lot better.
So many players fall all overthemselves when you say the word "dumble" but Dumbles don't do it for me. Trainwrecks DO. Working on building my own Express clone now.
I just found my copy of Glenn's soundpage from Guitar Player Magazine, 1990. Cool. For those who don't know, it's a playable record the thickness of a heavy sheet of paper.
Awesome! As the GP article describes that was just some improvisation during a studio sound check. Thought it was interesting so I sent it in! Thanks for reaching way back into the catalog. The clip did also make it onto my "Can You Hear It Ring? CD later on in the mid 2000s, and it's out of print but perhaps still available on Itunes.
@@GlenKuykendall ah cool. She's a keeper I'm sure. Man it would be cool to see a video of some gut shots of your trainwreck! There is so little about them out there. I'd love to see more !!
Hey Glenn, I have had the exact opposite with all of my train wrecks. That would be 6 to date. The variation sweep I get from clean to dirty is most definitely enhanced with a solid core cable. Even with my 58 Les Paul Junior.
You are right I should try some different cables! That said, I do have two videos up here without the bright switch ON so I have tried it on occasion. This video: ruclips.net/video/xfX5cmSMPyo/видео.html and this considerably lower gain studio session track (just audio) ruclips.net/video/_--ussgWLdc/видео.html
That's awesome Glen. I really would love to hear your tone with the gain backed off. See you don't get that muddy bass with a little separation. I think it would sound killer.
OH OK, about 9 years ago I went check out a Bludotone a guy had for sale and got to play his Train Wreck . I did not buy the BludoTone after hearing the Train Wreck that was not for sale.
Thank you for the note! In this video I was totally improvising, so tab wise I would have to sit down and figure out what I played, ha! That said maybe I should offer tab on this and my other videos as this isn’t the first request. I do offer guitar lessons online, just search my name on google and you will find my web page for more info. Thanks!
@@GlenKuykendall I'm gathering parts to build an Express clone and I listen to this video for inspiration and I'm slowly getting it, the problem being that my fingerpicking skills are way underdeveloped. So this makes me work for it. The closest thing I have to an Express is my Mesa Blue Angel driven with a Tube Screamer and cranked up. This makes a touch sensitive rig but of course, not quite the same....
Most folks don't realize I bought most of my gear to use on stage many years ago when things were much more affordable. My '59 Les Paul was $3725, and my first Trainwreck Express amp that's in most of my videos was $850 "back in the day" as they say.
Glen, would you ever consider selling your Trainwreck? I bought your CD about a decade ago and have obsessed over the tone ever since. Furthermore, I got the chance to play some TW's at Ultrasound Studios in NYC around the same time and that sound has just stuck with me ever since. I have made it one of my missions in life to own a TW and would love to own yours as it's one of the very best I've heard.
Just occurred to me :) I want to hear you play through a totally non-special amp, all other things being equal..... when you play as well as you do, with such nice guitars, it's hard to tell WHAT AMOUNT the amp itself is contributing.
Thank you for the info! Have you ever tried the amp with a 2x12 cab and/or attenuator. I’m mostly into lower volume solutions except for my Mesa, it’s sentimental
Hey Glen, you're very welcome. I'd rather listen to you play than Carlos Santana any day of the week.. Maybe this is our difference. I've never been a Santana fan. Having grown up in Puerto Rico alongside of members of his original band, I find Carlos very on surrendered to read them and tone outside of what suits him. Treat yourself to a lyric cable by evidence audio. When Kenny designed his amps, he had solid core cable made for him personally by Bill Lawrence. You will hear a drastic difference with a solid core cable. I will still maintain that you have the chops and the experience to find the sweet spot with no bright switch. I don't know if you remember this, but having lived in Kenny's basement since 1979, he hated the bright switch on the amps. She only put it there to accommodate the demands of his clients. The ones on my amps were cosmetic and weren't even wired up. You have probably the best arsenal of Les Pauls of any of the rec players that is out there really playing
I go back and forth between actually using higher capacitance cables (perhaps even two in series!) with the bright switch ON, or even just one low capacitance cable and the bright switch OFF. That said both my Express amps go from clean to mean better with the switch ON, but may actually sound better with it OFF when going for just ONE tone, at mostly ONE guitar setting. Anyway, the use of the bright switch or NOT both have their + and - in my opinion but does help the clean to mean range (with "even" net volume levels) which I'm addicted to!
Glenn, this is Derek Ferwerda owner of the first trainwreck rocket Amanda made in 1990... You're playing and the amps town is great as usual. Thank you. I would like to respectfully ask you to consider something. Re-record this using no bright settings, rolling back on the bay so it doesn't saturate and zero affects before or after the recording. You are too good of a player to be drowned out by somewhat saturated bass response and any effect whatsoever will kill the dynamics about you, that awesome guitar and the amp. In my own train wreck video I actually make a comment about how mediocre my own Les Paul sounds and how fabulous your sounds. Regardless, I think that you're hurting your own dynamics and out of the app without much bass that starts to saturate. Also I have had for expresses. Two from the Pacific transformer era and two from the Stancour era. This one sounds particularly good. Please consider all this and I'd love to hear a recording with flat EQ on top of it.
Thank you for the kind words! I tried it with the bright switch OFF, but here are my thoughts. With the bright switch OFF the cleans are too muddy and dark, and the volume of the cleans have more apparent volume drop when controlled from the guitar. With the bright switch ON however it does get buzzier and compressed when pushed, and the bridge pickup gets perhaps too biting. That said, I wanted to favor a wide clean to mean range at one amp setting and then, control it all from the guitar knobs in one take. I'll admit I'm running the amp gain perhaps too high to start with, BUT I wanted some higher gain options for the controlled feedback moments which are always fun to throw in. On the Express the bass knob is on 1/2, and at mix down there was no bass added. The Royer ribbon mic however accentuates the low end especially up close and the room mic, being a Neumann u67 (placed in a live room just next to this one with the door between cracked open) adds some low end favor and nice ambient bloom. Another compromise there but many folks find an Express too bright and thin, so I was going the other way on purpose. I was going for more of a Billy Gibbons type fatness in the low end, somewhat loose and saturated. Also at times I was pushing the neck pickup right into the edge of amp breakup, but that did show the touch sensitivity as sometimes my touch lightened up just enough to clear it up. I'll admit there is a little bit of Lexicon reverb added (sorry) but to be honest the room mic is where even most of the ambience is coming from. I wanted to show more of a produced studio sound VS just an amp in a room tone. In the end most of the saturation and mud on the neck pickup was simply running the guitar volume just a little too high at times so it's more operator error when i played it than the set up! That said please specifically check out 4:04-4:14 where I FINALLY found the sweet spot for cleans on the neck pickup, even with the amp cranked as such. Anyway here is an video example posted by KY Headhunters Gregg Martin that was some of the inspiration to capture a fat room sound (in his case a cranked Marshall out in the live garage next door, ha!) He gets some great tones out of his vintage SG and he was probably only using an Iphone to record it, along with the simple garage trick: ruclips.net/video/YjH-HShEysk/видео.html
Hey Glen... I posted one of my Trainwreck videos on your RUclips site for you to listen to.... I was wondering if you ever got a chance to listen to it? Derek
I definitely did. The one with your Rocket and Les Paul. Very nice playing and tones! That said to be honest, I can tell you simply go for different tones than I do. I'm specifically NOT going for a tight bottom end, and I actually like a compressed tone and feel for certain things. I was going for more of a Clapton/Cream sort of swampy fatness to it, like pushing the bass control a bit too far on purpose. I also tend to favor the bright switch ON with my Express amps as long as I'm playing the amp quite far up to minimize most of its effect. Its more the upper mid range boost of the bright switch I like, and then I work on dampening the very last bit of top end extension that I don't like. We can debate cords though I sometimes specifically like high capacitance darker sounding cables, here being a pair of Mogami Golds in series ON purpose. The cables and bright switch have their compromises BUT I actually like the overall result. Ambience wise, in the video mix it was part Lexicon reverb and part a u67 tube mic in the next room (a bathroom) to add in natural liveness. My recording room is a small, very dead foam lined vocal booth of only 6x9, and a totally raw dry recording in there is simply VERY blah!
On the neck pickup the sound is too compressed for my taste, but the dynamics are insane (similar to a VHT/Fryette Deliverance) and the bridge pickup produces one of the best rock sounds I've heard. Do you know how this express compares to other expresses and what "copy" or "inspired by" amp comes closest to exactly this express? Thanks!
Hey Glen, again your Dale Hall (God rest his soul( recording sounded great. Here's what I did on my mediocre Les Paul and my Rocket a little over a year ago ruclips.net/video/4W48lTmFboM/видео.html
I still want to encourage you to lose the bright switch and find a balance. I think you're playing is definitely good enough where you would respond more to the dynamics in the tone than the level of saturation. I have been playing out of only train wrecks since 1984. And you're just about the same. Give it a shot. Trust me :-)
Great to see a player who really knows what they’re doing with the volume and tone controls and dynamics! Sounds amazing
Always nice to see Glen and his Trainwreck. I was a student of his in the early 90's.
So every few years after the market becomes too flooded with new amps and boutique gear that people chase after, Glen comes back on RUclips to remind us that Trainwreck is still the king!
Ridiculously gorgeous tone!
Can't get enough of your AWESOME TONE......Fine playing Glen !!!!!!!!!!
Every time I watch these videos (many, many times) there's a little part of me that wants to cry and put my guitar back in it's case. It's like the first time I heard Randy Rhoads play. I mean, how can we ever even come close to that tone from the amp? That touch and expression on the neck that Glen has? It's absolutely joyous to watch, but I do feel like a man that has taken up painting as a hobby, then discovers he's living next door to Picasso.
You are so kind, thank you! GK
always loved his equipment and playing...dont know why he isnt more well known..
Always a pleasure to hear you finesse the guitar Glen. The SG is a great addition to your already incredible arsenal and the Wreck of course has warmly welcomed her into the family.Keep putting out your great vids!
This is incredible sounding , need some new uploads from you Glen !!
So good. Jesus. Best tone I've probably ever heard.
Great to see another video from you Glen. Amazing tone as always! Thumbs up!
I just removed the duplicate post, thank you for the kind comment!
This amp gives me thrill. I listen to you again and again and I just want to cry because this tone is so beautiful! Amazing 🎶
Really Played the AMP as much as the GUITAR. That AMP has a wide dynamic tonal spread. Really nice Quality video.
Masterful as always Glen. Thanks for sharing some of your gems. Cheers!
I know I'm just a RUclips commenter right now, but I'm being serious when I say this is one of the best guitar tones I've ever heard. I'm currently 27 years old, and I've been playing guitar since I've been 11. I'm an audio engineer now and I think it just doesn't get any better than this. Absolutely stellar playing into an incredible amp.
Thank you for the kind words and ears on this! I did something a little different with my recording on this video and my other with the same SG Les Paul. Specifically this room is tiny and very dead sounding. That said it’s right next to a bathroom that is quite live. On this I used close mics on the 4x12, but I also put some condenser mics in the adjacent bath room and propped the door open to the live room just a couple inches inches. I blended the mics together and got for some nice natural ambience. Actually on one of these two SG videos you can hear a little crash, which was a bar of soap falling into the tub!
@@GlenKuykendall The ambience sounds so nice! That's awesome you utilized your space creatively. I always prefer a natural ambience like that over a reverb plugin. I heard the crash in this video right around 3:41 haha. Thanks for taking the time to share about the recording process for this video, I really appreciate it!
i have his CD and listen to it all the time
very nice Glen, appreciate you sharing.
I just removed the duplicate post, thank you for the kind comment!
Man this tone wanna make me cry also so melodic tone Jesus Christ
Wow, wonderful sound and guitar playing!
Glen, my father just mentioned this amp in a conversation we had lately about amps. So I’ve been looking around here for some reviews and all that. I wasn’t really expecting to find an awesome guitarist as well. You are amazing! Subscribed!
absolutely gorgeous playing my friend , love it.
Thank you!
Never fails to blow me away with his outrageously great playing and tone👏👏👏
That was amazing, that amp is the total package. I would take one of these over a Dumble any day 😄
Great playing and amazing tone! This video along with others have inspired me to order the parts for my express build. Thanks for sharing.
Guy77
That guitar and amp are made for each other.
Outstanding... I felt that down in my bones man. Holy shit.
Awesome. Thanks for watching!
Stunning playing!! Stunning tone!!
Beautiful tone awesome player
Best sg tone I've ever heard
just astonishing tone.
Amazing tone and finesse... love what you did at the end!
The Trainwreck is stunning sounding
Excellent guitarist. I liked a lot his instrumental demo song, that was released in 1990's Guitar Player magazine. And also Mr. Kuykendall did a great guitar work on the Alter Ego - Fear (1989) album. 🎸 🔥 🎶 🤘
You are a master Glen.
My God listen to that f*cking TONE.
Wow Glen, I haven't heard you in ages; in fact since I bought your cd Can you hear it ring. I think that was the title lol. You are just so amazing, your touch, precision and tone leave me like someone has hit the pause button on my life ;) Thanks for this thoroughly amazing display of your talent. Cheers Billy ;)
Fabulous Glen. Just in the process of building my own express clone. I know it won’t sound
as good as this but hopefully somewhere close enough Keep the new videos up please ! Loving your playing.
I had the pleasure of playing a 1962 SG ebony block and they are the best guitar ever made.
Do you even make videos any longer?
Hey Glen,
That makes sense. You going for the compressed and oversaturated tone completely makes sense now. Then you got it!!! You do that tone justice. As I said before, I am so not a Carlos Santana fan. I would far rather listen to you play, and I do mean that as a complement.
The Lyric is definitely not a darker cable. It is a more open and dynamic and truer cable that actually gives an even faster response.
If you type in Derek Ferwerda Trainwreck in you tube. You'll see a few clips of the train wreck with a little more gain. I like your opinion. And thank you for the compliment on the playing
:-)
Simply Amazing Glen, Congrats !!!!
Glen you sound outstanding...When a great guitar player plays his great gear and he knows how to recorded that's magic.....Glenn I have a request: please make a video how you record your sound/video successfully. What audio Software, mics and how you make it work for you....that sounds so great.
heyjoe1963 looks like a Royer ribbon mic
Correct, I'm using a Royer ribbon mic plus a Sennheiser e906 positioned a little lower out of view. Also in the bathroom just next to this room I had a Neumann U67 mic to pick up some slight natural reverb in there, then I kept the door to my right slightly open. In one of these two videos with the SG you can hear a sharp crash at one point, which is a bar of soap falling into the tub!
Sounds killer! Forget Dumbles.
I hope you are still makeing music with this set up, would like to hear howl songs , maybe over backing tracks would be fastest.
Amazing tone n playing-thanks Greg!
Fabulous playing! Great Tones!
I’m building one of these with a Stancor A3801 output transformer like Ken Fisher used in the earlier Express amps. I’m really looking forward to the test and tune sessions once it’s done.
Glenn, you are an exceptional player. You can sound good without a 62 SG and a Trainwreck too. On the other hand, having a 62 SG and Trainwreck doesn't hurt of course :)
Can definitely hear the drummer leading the time. well played
Insane the attack and harmonics on this amp. I guess if I was gonna throw Ferrari money at an amp, I’d want it to perform like one.
Great tone.
Thanks!
Nice tone! didn't know you played like that bro! :)
Thank you! Cool to see you here
You will love it!!
Awesome!
I had not seen this one yet, what's the tune(s) he's playing, it still sounds as incredible as ever!
Thank you! It’s just me improvising.
That second song...🔥
I just discovered via Pete Thorn channel this incredible amp ! ....bouuuuh....have to win money (lot of) to offer one ;)
What is the mic pre you are using for the royer?
Also when you have the bright switch on is it up or down position?
Good questions, though I wish I had taken better notes! I'm pretty sure I used Neve 1073LB pres on this. I also mixed in a little bit of ambience from a room mic (Neumann u67) placed next to this room with the door cracked slightly open. That added a little low end ambient thump off to the left almost like an old Robin Trower recording. I almost always run the bright switch in the full bright position (and did on this) which is down on original Trainwrecks. There is no doubt that the bright switch adds to the clean to mean range on these amps, giving more clarity and a clearer sound when the guitar is backed off.
love it!
Thanks!
Man that made my day. I know Dr Z and Ken traded info and ideas, do you think any of Dr Z's amps get into this zone of tone?
Z Wreck Jr.
An original RX ha a lot of train wreck dna. Very unforgiving amp though.
Sweet!
I'd take this over a Dumble, any day.
I second this comment ^^^
And why exactly?
@@pavelm9078 Because it sounds better and it's touch sensitive just the way I want an amp to be. Dumbles have their own thing going but it's not THIS thing. Which I like a lot better.
@@Turboy65 I completely agree.
Absolutely 💯
Holy hell that was awesome!!!1
Good stuff man.
Can you play LPC 1954 RI? How P-90s will sound like here?
more videos Glen
Wow!
So many players fall all overthemselves when you say the word "dumble" but Dumbles don't do it for me. Trainwrecks DO. Working on building my own Express clone now.
Hope the clone turns out nicely! They are fun as heck amps to play.
Awesome player !!
That amplifier sound incredible. Have you played the Komet Concorde? How would it rate against the Trainwreck Express?
I just found my copy of Glenn's soundpage from Guitar Player Magazine, 1990. Cool. For those who don't know, it's a playable record the thickness of a heavy sheet of paper.
Awesome! As the GP article describes that was just some improvisation during a studio sound check. Thought it was interesting so I sent it in!
Thanks for reaching way back into the catalog. The clip did also make it onto my "Can You Hear It Ring? CD later on in the mid 2000s, and it's out of print but perhaps still available on Itunes.
@GlenKuykendall hey man .beutiful stuff. My buddy is wondering if your burst is now in the hands of tom bukovac? .
It is not!
@@GlenKuykendall ah cool. She's a keeper I'm sure.
Man it would be cool to see a video of some gut shots of your trainwreck! There is so little about them out there. I'd love to see more !!
Used to have one of these. SG LP ebony block with Maestro vibrola. Bought it for £375. Sold it for £875. Shoot me now.
dang!
Hi, great sound and video! Just wondering, are ypu playing any songs here that i have not heard before?:P or are u just playing around?
Just improvising!
You're a hell of a player.
Fanatastic!!! Which speakers are in the 4x12?
25 watt G12M greenback Celestions dated 1972
Hey Glenn, I have had the exact opposite with all of my train wrecks. That would be 6 to date. The variation sweep I get from clean to dirty is most definitely enhanced with a solid core cable. Even with my 58 Les Paul Junior.
You are right I should try some different cables! That said, I do have two videos up here without the bright switch ON so I have tried it on occasion. This video: ruclips.net/video/xfX5cmSMPyo/видео.html and this considerably lower gain studio session track (just audio) ruclips.net/video/_--ussgWLdc/видео.html
It takes skill to get all that out of that amp and guitar.
dang
How the fuck man this tone is produced
That's awesome Glen. I really would love to hear your tone with the gain backed off. See you don't get that muddy bass with a little separation. I think it would sound killer.
ruclips.net/video/_--ussgWLdc/видео.html
Did you used to live in Alvin TX ?
No, different guy!
No, different guy!
OH OK, about 9 years ago I went check out a Bludotone a guy had for sale and got to play his Train Wreck . I did not buy the BludoTone after hearing the Train Wreck that was not for sale.
I want the tab for this composition.
Thank you for the note! In this video I was totally improvising, so tab wise I would have to sit down and figure out what I played, ha! That said maybe I should offer tab on this and my other videos as this isn’t the first request. I do offer guitar lessons online, just search my name on google and you will find my web page for more info. Thanks!
@@GlenKuykendall I'm gathering parts to build an Express clone and I listen to this video for inspiration and I'm slowly getting it, the problem being that my fingerpicking skills are way underdeveloped. So this makes me work for it. The closest thing I have to an Express is my Mesa Blue Angel driven with a Tube Screamer and cranked up. This makes a touch sensitive rig but of course, not quite the same....
How many banks did you have to rob to be able to afford a trainwreck, a 59 les paul, and a 1962 sg?
Most folks don't realize I bought most of my gear to use on stage many years ago when things were much more affordable. My '59 Les Paul was $3725, and my first Trainwreck Express amp that's in most of my videos was $850 "back in the day" as they say.
Glen, would you ever consider selling your Trainwreck? I bought your CD about a decade ago and have obsessed over the tone ever since. Furthermore, I got the chance to play some TW's at Ultrasound Studios in NYC around the same time and that sound has just stuck with me ever since. I have made it one of my missions in life to own a TW and would love to own yours as it's one of the very best I've heard.
@@southport65 what a stupid question
White Buffalo I can answer that one for Glen. “No.”
One has to ask the question...... would Superman sell his cape ?
Just occurred to me :) I want to hear you play through a totally non-special amp, all other things being equal..... when you play as well as you do, with such nice guitars, it's hard to tell WHAT AMOUNT the amp itself is contributing.
No doubt. He could probably make a Crate sound amazing. That overdrive tone IS amazing though.
You could play a $59 Walmart guitar through that amp and it will sound awesome.
It may have covered but what speakers are in that cabinet? Thanks
Celestion G12M 25 watters frpm 1971 w/pulsonic cones. I've had them in this cab since 1989. Cheers!
Thank you for the info! Have you ever tried the amp with a 2x12 cab and/or attenuator. I’m mostly into lower volume solutions except for my Mesa, it’s sentimental
@@GlenKuykendall That would be the speaker Ken F. used to tune these Amps. from what I am told, some call em' pre Rola speakers.
Sorry-Glen.......
Hey Glen, you're very welcome. I'd rather listen to you play than Carlos Santana any day of the week.. Maybe this is our difference. I've never been a Santana fan. Having grown up in Puerto Rico alongside of members of his original band, I find Carlos very on surrendered to read them and tone outside of what suits him.
Treat yourself to a lyric cable by evidence audio. When Kenny designed his amps, he had solid core cable made for him personally by Bill Lawrence. You will hear a drastic difference with a solid core cable. I will still maintain that you have the chops and the experience to find the sweet spot with no bright switch. I don't know if you remember this, but having lived in Kenny's basement since 1979, he hated the bright switch on the amps. She only put it there to accommodate the demands of his clients. The ones on my amps were cosmetic and weren't even wired up. You have probably the best arsenal of Les Pauls of any of the rec players that is out there really playing
I go back and forth between actually using higher capacitance cables (perhaps even two in series!) with the bright switch ON, or even just one low capacitance cable and the bright switch OFF. That said both my Express amps go from clean to mean better with the switch ON, but may actually sound better with it OFF when going for just ONE tone, at mostly ONE guitar setting. Anyway, the use of the bright switch or NOT both have their + and - in my opinion but does help the clean to mean range (with "even" net volume levels) which I'm addicted to!
Glenn, this is Derek Ferwerda owner of the first trainwreck rocket Amanda made in 1990... You're playing and the amps town is great as usual. Thank you. I would like to respectfully ask you to consider something. Re-record this using no bright settings, rolling back on the bay so it doesn't saturate and zero affects before or after the recording. You are too good of a player to be drowned out by somewhat saturated bass response and any effect whatsoever will kill the dynamics about you, that awesome guitar and the amp. In my own train wreck video I actually make a comment about how mediocre my own Les Paul sounds and how fabulous your sounds. Regardless, I think that you're hurting your own dynamics and out of the app without much bass that starts to saturate. Also I have had for expresses. Two from the Pacific transformer era and two from the Stancour era. This one sounds particularly good. Please consider all this and I'd love to hear a recording with flat EQ on top of it.
Thank you for the kind words! I tried it with the bright switch OFF, but here are my thoughts. With the bright switch OFF the cleans are too muddy and dark, and the volume of the cleans have more apparent volume drop when controlled from the guitar. With the bright switch ON however it does get buzzier and compressed when pushed, and the bridge pickup gets perhaps too biting. That said, I wanted to favor a wide clean to mean range at one amp setting and then, control it all from the guitar knobs in one take. I'll admit I'm running the amp gain perhaps too high to start with, BUT I wanted some higher gain options for the controlled feedback moments which are always fun to throw in. On the Express the bass knob is on 1/2, and at mix down there was no bass added. The Royer ribbon mic however accentuates the low end especially up close and the room mic, being a Neumann u67 (placed in a live room just next to this one with the door between cracked open) adds some low end favor and nice ambient bloom. Another compromise there but many folks find an Express too bright and thin, so I was going the other way on purpose. I was going for more of a Billy Gibbons type fatness in the low end, somewhat loose and saturated. Also at times I was pushing the neck pickup right into the edge of amp breakup, but that did show the touch sensitivity as sometimes my touch lightened up just enough to clear it up. I'll admit there is a little bit of Lexicon reverb added (sorry) but to be honest the room mic is where even most of the ambience is coming from. I wanted to show more of a produced studio sound VS just an amp in a room tone. In the end most of the saturation and mud on the neck pickup was simply running the guitar volume just a little too high at times so it's more operator error when i played it than the set up! That said please specifically check out 4:04-4:14 where I FINALLY found the sweet spot for cleans on the neck pickup, even with the amp cranked as such. Anyway here is an video example posted by KY Headhunters Gregg Martin that was some of the inspiration to capture a fat room sound (in his case a cranked Marshall out in the live garage next door, ha!) He gets some great tones out of his vintage SG and he was probably only using an Iphone to record it, along with the simple garage trick: ruclips.net/video/YjH-HShEysk/видео.html
Aah, yesum.
Hey Glen... I posted one of my Trainwreck videos on your RUclips site for you to listen to.... I was wondering if you ever got a chance to listen to it?
Derek
I definitely did. The one with your Rocket and Les Paul. Very nice playing and tones! That said to be honest, I can tell you simply go for different tones than I do. I'm specifically NOT going for a tight bottom end, and I actually like a compressed tone and feel for certain things. I was going for more of a Clapton/Cream sort of swampy fatness to it, like pushing the bass control a bit too far on purpose. I also tend to favor the bright switch ON with my Express amps as long as I'm playing the amp quite far up to minimize most of its effect. Its more the upper mid range boost of the bright switch I like, and then I work on dampening the very last bit of top end extension that I don't like. We can debate cords though I sometimes specifically like high capacitance darker sounding cables, here being a pair of Mogami Golds in series ON purpose. The cables and bright switch have their compromises BUT I actually like the overall result. Ambience wise, in the video mix it was part Lexicon reverb and part a u67 tube mic in the next room (a bathroom) to add in natural liveness. My recording room is a small, very dead foam lined vocal booth of only 6x9, and a totally raw dry recording in there is simply VERY blah!
On the neck pickup the sound is too compressed for my taste, but the dynamics are insane (similar to a VHT/Fryette Deliverance) and the bridge pickup produces one of the best rock sounds I've heard. Do you know how this express compares to other expresses and what "copy" or "inspired by" amp comes closest to exactly this express? Thanks!
Hey Glen, again your Dale Hall (God rest his soul( recording sounded great. Here's what I did on my mediocre Les Paul and my Rocket a little over a year ago
ruclips.net/video/4W48lTmFboM/видео.html
I'll put an order in on a Lyric cable to check it out!
I still want to encourage you to lose the bright switch and find a balance. I think you're playing is definitely good enough where you would respond more to the dynamics in the tone than the level of saturation. I have been playing out of only train wrecks since 1984. And you're just about the same. Give it a shot. Trust me
:-)
This is like Jimmy page meets Mike McCready and the song is since I been loving two
Yesterday I learned 3 pearl songs I didn't know yet
dang!