What gear have you used to recreate some of Clapton's iconic guitar tones? Let us know in the comments! Table of Contents: 00:00 Introduction 00:40 Clapton's Rack Rig Breakdown 03:10 What Gear are We Using? 06:11 "Forever Man" 07:59 "She's Waiting" 09:49 "Bad Love" 12:01 "Pretending" 13:59 Conclusion
I was a big fan of mid80s Clapton and did it in 1987 or so with a mini rack setup: Ibanez UE405 Compressor and chorus then out to the Quad- patch I made under the name 'Clapton was God' eq to scoop the mids, touch of single slap delay, reverb and the all important LESLIE SPEAKER simulator - back to the UE405 for a second longer delay when needed...all in the FX loop of my frankenboogie (NZ made mesa boogie clone branded 'Rockit'.) with singlcoil pickups this produced a sound very close to the mid-80s clapton sound (nb Soldano was not a thing until 1988 so was not part of his sound on those mid 80s albums). For dirt there were two options - dirty channel on the amp, or TS10 upfront. Either worked for different types of his sound - e.g. TS10 for playing slide a la the 1985 live version of Motherless Children ruclips.net/video/8pQMOF9PMQs/видео.html and the amp for heavier, fuller distortion. I still have all this gear and still use the patch!
Some clarification: (1) There was no overdrive on the guitar, just the 25 db midboost. (2) He didn't have the Soldano rig in the studio until "Journeyman." "Behind the Sun" was recorded with Marshall Amps. (3) A big part of the Soldano Clapton sound were the Electro Voice EV12L Speakers he was using in his Marshall cabs.
When I was 15 I got the book, “Eric Clapton: The Complete Recording Sessions, 1963-1992” and used to sit and obsess over it. It has what guitar(s) he used for each session and was so cool to read/look over and over again while listening to one of the session calls he was doing listed in the book. It doesn’t mention amps and effects, so this was really fun to watch. Nice job, Mason and James!
Got to see Eric and Mark Knophler when they did that tour back in 1988 I think. I was a teenager but it was so great and both men were each having a creative peak in that era.
Great video! Journeyman was my first Clapton album, and I’ve always loved the tone on that era’s songs. I never realized he used so many of the positions on the Strat’s 5-way switch! The guy playing nailed it!
Andertons was just talking about this earlier as they were doing a segment regarding "Last Train Home" by John Mayer. Nice to see the parallels. :) thanks Mason and Vertex Team
I had totally forgotten about some of these songs. I immediately opened up Spotify and went back to the 80s.Must adds fo sho to the Rock playlist! Thanks!
Everyone else is making videoes about John maters tone on last train home but he was influenced by claptons 80s tone for that song so it’s great to see a video showing where it came from in this first place thank you
This was awesome! Went by way too quick! I’d love to see all eras of Clapton, and maybe a deeper dive on this one where it gets into greater details, like really geek out on it! Thanks so much!! Fantastic!!
Love the Clapton tone from this era and I was a proper Clapton fan than... i thought Behind the sun was done with the old blackie and Marshall amps as he toured after that and did Live Aid with his Marshall JCM 800s and even an old Roland Space echo during that tour... love that sound.. Layla on Live Aid got me hooked on copying his stuff...then August and Journey Man saw the Soldano and the new rig? Great video tho... Love your stuff...
Killer stuff, Mason! And James is a monster. I love that era for Clapton. The Journeyman record from '89 is also great. That year he also did one with Elton John called "Runaway Train" from The One, and these kind of tones were all over it.
What a great review of what I agree was EC’s best tone, and also awesome impersonation from James! I hoped you would also cover the tones from From The Cradle, particularly the ones using hollow-body Gibsons. Cheers
@@VertexEffectsInc I think that EC also used an Univibe effect for the solo of Bad Love (the Hendrix style with a Wah), but I never managed to find out if Pete Cornish rack-mounted one for him, like he did for David Gilmour. Cheers
if on the one hand it is right to congratulate you for this very interesting work of sound research and effects setting... on the other hand I think of the magnificent, visceral and simple sounds that Clapton obtained in his best records of the seventies with Blackie, Brownie , two pedals and simple combo amps and I realize that the super-racks of the 80s were a mix of advertising contracts and status symbol ostentation (the more stuff, leds and knobs the better!)...but d 'besides that was the time and that's how it worked. Clapton currently tours the world with two Fender Bandmaster combos (replicas built by Dumble), three Strats, a wah and a Leslie, and the sound is still excellent. 😅
There, the guitar was straight into the amp, which was a music Man. But it got better through the years until 1983. The same rig. There are some bootlegs in RUclips, which are very similar to JUST ONE NIGHT, but the guitar sounds much fuller, and Eric is also more powerful
@@pabloperez4063 I read somewhere(back then) that Knopfler was using MM amps around that same time. I went out and bought one. Dire Straits 'Dire Straits, and JON were very inspirational for me when I was younger, still love them. Cheers Bro. :)
That album has some of Eric’s best playing on it too. Double trouble is one of the best live guitar solos ever recorded in my opinion. Just like a prisoner from behind the sun album is the best guitar solo of all time for me.
I'm a pianist, organist, keyboardist, and we use our pedals a little differently obviously but i could swear that on She's Waiting, he's using some kind of chorus pedal or rack module... there was a resonance his tone had in the 80s that usually sounded like some chorus was present, you can especially here this in live 80s versions of Wonderful Tonight with the Soldano rig, but maybe it's just me
Gibson SG, Fender 40th anniversary Stratocaster with Lace Sensor pickups, Vox Wah, Boss compressor, Boss overdrive, Echoplex & a Fender Tremolux amp head with the 2 x 10 cab. I even blocked my Stratocaster bridge.
This was excellent really enjoyed thanks :-) be great if you did a full 80s era detailed rig rundown style video on E.C eg going through each rack piece one by one...
@@VertexEffectsInc No worries - that whole album is drenched in wah, as is the follow up "24 Nights Live" album. Love this video of how with a few pedals you can get pretty close...
@@nedward5871 Where else does Clapton's dual SLO rig get paired down to a mixer and two $200 guitar pedals and reissue 1x12 Fender...pedals have certainly democratized a lot of these big rigs over the years and just keep getting better and better in my mind.
The SLO100 Head came out in 1987, two years after Forever Man was released. Clapton was still using MusicMan Amps up until around 1987 when the SLO100 came out. Blackie was still his main guitar on the Behind The Sun album also, no Clapton Strats yet. Great approximation of those tones though, and recorded so well!
Correct, however there were versions of the Clapton strat and mid-boost that were being used at that time and have been confirmed by his tech. The overall sound from that era is what we were going for, not one specifically and the Dean Markley amps that he used in the mid-80's were pretty close to a Hot Rodded Marshall JMP/JCM800 type sound - but I think that rig was just in stereo, but used the SDE-3000, Tri Stereo Chorus, and DBX160x compressor...so many of the same elements in the rack. Our attempt was more "broad" but I think we're in the ballpark in spite of that in any case.
@@VertexEffectsInc I think your attempt is awesome, sounds fantastic and I've always loved that mid-boost sound from back then! I think his 80's tones were the best, a lot of people disagree but the live sound he got on the 13 piece band nights on the 24 Nights live album are just beautiful. I think it's really cool that you've done this, and shown everyone a new approach to achieving those tone without having all the gear. Thanks for making superb content!
It's really interesting how different Eric's Soldano rig was to Mark Knopfler's. I was perusing a fan site, and I was surprised to learn that Mark Knopfler's rig involved the two Soldano heads being utilized one after the other, with the guitar tech needing to drastically change settings between the amplifiers between songs. They used both Marshall cabinets whilst in use, and were simply switched back and forth between each song. Can you imagine that? Having enough "fuck you" money to ask for ". . .an expensive reverb." (Mark's words) and just having a tech do all of your channel switching and sounds by hand song-to-song. A fascinating example of pre-midi amplifiers and what went into enormous stadium shows.
1. The push to use chorus was really big among those tasked to help Eric produce hits in the 80s when he was, let’s say… Not as inspired…🥃🥃🥃… even he mentioned that it kind of harmed the legacy of those recordings. But it led to the best tone of his whole career live… In the 90s! I’m glad you’re not overdoing the chorus in these examples. 2. My Boomer family and mentors are always complaining that he sounded best with his Les Paul and the blues breakers in 1966. But if you turn off the chorus, he is kind of playing Gibson (mid circuit) into Marshall (SOldano) … they kind of got their wish! 😂
Can't help but notice that when talking about the 6L6s you showed a pic of the tonemaster Fender which I believe is solid state! Killer video though, you've helped my rig in so many ways!
I didn’t catch it, I just told our Videographer to put a twin reverb on there, that was probably the first clean image that he saw there was a PNG - he’s not a gear guy to know the difference. If that actually send somebody down a rabbit hole, I’ll be shocked.
This is a great video. Forever man was recorded with Blackie and god knows which amp in the studio though likely to be his tweed twin or indeed a JCM800. I have been chasing that particular tone for some time. Taking into consideration production mods - it is very similar to the tone he had on the soundtrack for Edge of Darkness. At home I have a Marshall 50w Vintage Modern combo (purple tolex!) and as well as an EC strat with Noiseless, I have a vintera 50s strat. The vintage modern has a tone stacking option with two channels and a dirty great 'fat' type switch for more mids. I can get that tone using that set up (the V50s pick ups are weaker than the Noiseless and easier to get a rounded 'older' sound - sometimes the noiseless can be a little sterile.'. I would also highly recomment a pedal called a Vertex Ultraphonix which is basically a dumble clone - as well as (trust me) a Joy Taichi dumble clone. Good strat pick ups through either of those into an amp with good Middle EQ will get you clapton tone of circa 83 to 85 and then turn the pedals up and fiddle with their mid response and you will get a more modern (say 2004 to 2016) EC tone. The Soldanos are hard to emulate. EC had so many clean and crunch options on those amps that I guess you needed to be in his head on stage to know exactly what he was doing. Add to that he was using a JCM 800 to drive a leslie pedal and that again is another tone.
Jon! Thanks for the feedback, so glad you dig the Ultraphonix! It never leaves my board! A lot of the Behind the Sun was a Dual Dean Markley 120W set up which was basically a JCM800 with reverb.
@@VertexEffectsInc That’s new info. I knew he had the DMs but thought they were for stage only as it was around 84 he was using a mixture of amps (Pros and cons tour with Roger Waters in stage was different to what he used to recording the album. One of the engineers told me he used a Twin in studio for pros and cons and Edge of Darkness).
Forever Man is by far his best 80's sound to me and one of my favorite solos ever. When that solo kicks in it's one of the most gut punching tones ever from a Strat. It's brilliantly simple but ridiculously effective. It's a perfect example of how something as simple as "attitude" can make more of a difference than technical wizardry.
I see videos like this and wonder if Clapton will see it at some point. Hope he will bring out some of his 80s hits again live while he is still playing on stage. Maybe even bring out the Soldano one more time.
Enjoyed the video to learn about his gear but was hugely disappointed by the tones, which on my monitor speakers appear to be potentially (at least) EQ'ed wrong?! I guess they sound vaguely like EC - I made a patch on my Helix that is pretty bang on and I include in my videos ☺
It's not very TSC, but the look of it is. The closest I've found is the Red Seven Wave, Neunaber Tri Chorus, or the Free The Tone Tri Avatar. All of them are digital except the Red Seven, which is analog but mono.
Yeah that D-my-R is cool...does it get just Leslie if you want that ? I'm looking to mix the chorus from my Deco w a rotary pedal for a UniVibe alternative Thanks
Eric’s first rack was a Bradshaw rig he got after seeing Steve Lukathers during the recording of Behind The Sun. Luke is playing on Forever Man with Eric.
Yes...similar set up however, with some changes. Still used the Tri Stereo Chorus, Roland CE-1, Roland SDE-3000 in a parallel mixer with 2x Dean Markley amplifiers that we're like 120W JCM800's with Reverb. Still the same basic overall tone.
@@miaoupha2370 they are pretty much like the fender custom shop 69, with low resistance (about 5,9 k). I agree that straight to the amp they are kind of thin, but since they are “humbuckers” they handle overdrive very well.
I feel totally inadequate, I thought I pretty much nailed most of these sounds/tones with an MXR Red Compressor, a fuzz face box and my 64 white Fender Bassman...oh well, just don’t have the bux to do any closer.
The middle tone control is the TBX, a passive tone control that rolls itself out of the circuit as it approaches 10. Fender has used it on several guitars. The BOTTOM tone control is a 25db active midrange boost. While these guitars are hotter than a passive strat with the volume on 10, there is no built in overdrive.
Well...sorta...there are two stages and each adds a different distortion. This guitar uses dual gang pots for the guitar tone control. I think the "sound" is in the electronics, not the passive tone up front. There is a dual pot tone control, then a gain stage treble boost, then a volume control that feeds the mix control on one end and also feeds another boost circuit. The mix control mixes the treble boost on one end with a low and high cut circuit (mid boost). The second stage has a topology for a totally different distortion so the mix circuit changes from treble boost with a distortion spectra to a mid boost with a different distortion spectra. The output impedance is very high and varies with the mix control setting. However, since the pickups are buffered (do not see the cable capacitance) the high output impedance will be treble cut only like a tone control, not the frequency peaking shift, Q and amplitude change with rebel rolloff that you get from normal passive guitar pickups and guitar cable.
Great Episode Mason, I saw Eric at the Medowlands in the 80's on the Journeyman tour.... was mind blowing!! Influence on me till this very day!!! Stay Groovy!!!
Love these types of demo's....I'm just getting on a journey of streamlining my gear and effects To start I got a lovely hardtail Troposphere strat and a Tone King amp and starting my board up with a Strymon Deco which can handle the modulation/echo and saturation that I need w an always on pedal Basically trying to keep pedals to a minimum so a good wah pedal and lead boost Don't even think I'm going with fuzz Haven't bonded with one yet after a dozen tries so F it LoL I've an Xotic Super Clean boost which might fit the bill but definitely trying to go with quality not quantity on this journey So really thinking about going w a Vertex boost for lead Hearing good things about them Good stuff Mas keep em coming
This is why I stopped watching That Pedal Show. I'd mentioned Clapton's tone from this era in the comments. And they took the time to personally reply that nobody liked that tone. And then I didn't want to be friends with them anymore :D
But they were right! Clapton never had a good sound imho, but his generic cheap plastic 80s sound has got to be one of the worst guitar sounds of all time. Rigdoctor did a great job to replicate it though, but I can‘t think of anyone who wants to sound like that?!?
Cause of the Mayer song? Well...if you look back at our social media, you'll see this was recorded over a month ago, not a reaction to anything "of the moment".
Not exact the same as this since you can't control the mixes of both loops and the dry I don't think, but you could choose several parallel mix options.
Hi, Great video. Thanks for the images showing the pedals you used on each section of each song. Just wondering if you could give us some direction to the settings you used. I understand there was to be a link somewhere? Keep the great work Rod
I'd use a TC Nova Delay or Nova Repeater; the latter has a subtle modulation available and both have the essential ducking delay. Klark-Teknik still sells a rack chorus that's under two bills and does the Dimension C/D thing, likewise one of TC's smorgasbord line, the Boss Dimension re-issue and the Waza CE-2 which doesn't quite have the desired thickness of the venerable CE-1, but might do. Absent Lace Sensors and a TBX circuit, I'd probably stack a Nobels ODR1 and TS9 and see where that leads; might be better with something like a Klon clone replacing one of the other two, (for greater transparency) but I wouldn't run the whole mess through completely clean amps, and I doubt Clapton did, either. He may in fact have used different gear live than in the studio to get essentially the same sounds, but he certainly got them, because I heard them all on the Journeyman tour.
Nova is cool, one of my faves in fact, but not as 2290 as the Flight Time. None of the chorus’ you mentioned are like the 1210 or the Tri Stereo. I think we could have got closer with the TSC choice with something like a Lil Wave or even a Neunaber Tri Chorus. But the SCF is very 1210 ish. You can buy a disaggregated TBX and house it into a pedal if you want. I’ll also show you how to do it in a future video.
Maybe I'm deluding myself, but I still hear a lot of Leslie tones in some of these tracks. No doubt you're right, but maybe two choruses add up to a Leslie. Especially on some of the live stuff, like 24 Nights
There was a Leslie simulator in the rack...I don't think it was on these particular tracks...it was definitely on "Badge" and that was played on the live stuff for sure even though it was from the Cream era. What song that we did here did you think was Leslie in particular?
Ha I think my brain just amalgamated the whole decade. Listening again you’re spot on with these. But then what do you think is going on in “It’s in the way that you use it”?
What gear have you used to recreate some of Clapton's iconic guitar tones? Let us know in the comments!
Table of Contents:
00:00 Introduction
00:40 Clapton's Rack Rig Breakdown
03:10 What Gear are We Using?
06:11 "Forever Man"
07:59 "She's Waiting"
09:49 "Bad Love"
12:01 "Pretending"
13:59 Conclusion
I was a big fan of mid80s Clapton and did it in 1987 or so with a mini rack setup: Ibanez UE405 Compressor and chorus then out to the Quad- patch I made under the name 'Clapton was God' eq to scoop the mids, touch of single slap delay, reverb and the all important LESLIE SPEAKER simulator - back to the UE405 for a second longer delay when needed...all in the FX loop of my frankenboogie (NZ made mesa boogie clone branded 'Rockit'.) with singlcoil pickups this produced a sound very close to the mid-80s clapton sound (nb Soldano was not a thing until 1988 so was not part of his sound on those mid 80s albums). For dirt there were two options - dirty channel on the amp, or TS10 upfront. Either worked for different types of his sound - e.g. TS10 for playing slide a la the 1985 live version of Motherless Children ruclips.net/video/8pQMOF9PMQs/видео.html and the amp for heavier, fuller distortion. I still have all this gear and still use the patch!
@@scottoharamusic Nice...sounds like you were locked in! Amazing!
forgot the Jim Dunlop Wah was at the start of the chain - gotta have that too
@@scottoharamusic yes indeed!
I’m sorry lol.
Some clarification: (1) There was no overdrive on the guitar, just the 25 db midboost. (2) He didn't have the Soldano rig in the studio until "Journeyman." "Behind the Sun" was recorded with Marshall Amps. (3) A big part of the Soldano Clapton sound were the Electro Voice EV12L Speakers he was using in his Marshall cabs.
When I was 15 I got the book, “Eric Clapton: The Complete Recording Sessions, 1963-1992” and used to sit and obsess over it. It has what guitar(s) he used for each session and was so cool to read/look over and over again while listening to one of the session calls he was doing listed in the book. It doesn’t mention amps and effects, so this was really fun to watch. Nice job, Mason and James!
Thanks for watching and big shout out to James on this one!
Loved the Journeyman and Rush sound track albums. Also, John Mayer's new song reminds me of 80s Eric Clapton.
Got to see Eric and Mark Knophler when they did that tour back in 1988 I think. I was a teenager but it was so great and both men were each having a creative peak in that era.
Classic!! That would have been something to see!
Great video! Journeyman was my first Clapton album, and I’ve always loved the tone on that era’s songs.
I never realized he used so many of the positions on the Strat’s 5-way switch! The guy playing nailed it!
Heck yea!!! He’s mostly a middle position guy.
Love me those 80s/90s strats with lace sensors 😍😍😍
All day
Andertons was just talking about this earlier as they were doing a segment regarding "Last Train Home" by John Mayer.
Nice to see the parallels. :) thanks Mason and Vertex Team
Thanks for watching!!!
I had totally forgotten about some of these songs. I immediately opened up Spotify and went back to the 80s.Must adds fo sho to the Rock playlist! Thanks!
Yes!!! Mission accomplished
I love those tones - especially into August and Journeyman before he did the From the Cradle album.
Heck yea!
There’s no Clapton like 80’s Clapton!
Yes! No snow, no show ;)
I'm so happy we have pedals now and we don't have to haul rack gear around. Great video Mason🤘
Yes! Thank you!
7:21 sweet move with that pinky cranking up the volume and then adjusting it again!
trick of the pros!
Everyone else is making videoes about John maters tone on last train home but he was influenced by claptons 80s tone for that song so it’s great to see a video showing where it came from in this first place thank you
Always good to reference the source!
OMG Thank you @VertexEffects Mason for putting this together and putting this out! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 Now I’m constructing this together.
🙏🙏🙏 my pleasure
Bad Love sounded the best, and kudos to James for those bends!
James is amazing, thanks for watching Phil!
For my Father's Day present this year I'm getting to see Clapton live in Nashville from the 11th row. Can't wait just to be in the same room with him.
OMG, amazing!
Latest John Mayer tone!
He's definitely gotten into the 1980's Clapton for sure. Sounds great though!
This was awesome! Went by way too quick! I’d love to see all eras of Clapton, and maybe a deeper dive on this one where it gets into greater details, like really geek out on it! Thanks so much!! Fantastic!!
Yes...a Clapton retrospective over the eras!
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks! I’ve already watched this a half dozen times. You guys really nailed those lead tones!
@@jerryvahnknight218 James killed it!
Love the Clapton tone from this era and I was a proper Clapton fan than... i thought Behind the sun was done with the old blackie and Marshall amps as he toured after that and did Live Aid with his Marshall JCM 800s and even an old Roland Space echo during that tour... love that sound.. Layla on Live Aid got me hooked on copying his stuff...then August and Journey Man saw the Soldano and the new rig? Great video tho... Love your stuff...
This is gonna be great!
Yes indeed!
Killer stuff, Mason! And James is a monster. I love that era for Clapton. The Journeyman record from '89 is also great. That year he also did one with Elton John called "Runaway Train" from The One, and these kind of tones were all over it.
Yes indeed! Thanks so much for watching and the support! James is the BEST!!!
No mystery here. Lace sensor pickups in a strat Plus!
Great stuff, always loved this period for Eric too! The fact that some hate this era of tone makes me love it even more 😅
I love it...great tones here!
This is really making me want to break out my Clapton Strat again. Fantastic work!
You should!
Damn great video Mason. This era Clapton is very special for me. Holy Mother tone is great too
Me too...great tones!
What a great review of what I agree was EC’s best tone, and also awesome impersonation from James! I hoped you would also cover the tones from From The Cradle, particularly the ones using hollow-body Gibsons. Cheers
Thanks for watching! Full credit to James on this one, he did great!
@@VertexEffectsInc I think that EC also used an Univibe effect for the solo of Bad Love (the Hendrix style with a Wah), but I never managed to find out if Pete Cornish rack-mounted one for him, like he did for David Gilmour. Cheers
@@andrekovacs7954 there was no Uni-Vibe on this rack...you might have been hearing a Leslie simulation or a slow chorus.
@@VertexEffectsInc Sorry, I meant Univibe in the solo tone from Pretending and not Bad Love. Cheers
@@andrekovacs7954 Pretty sure it's Leslie or Chorus.
This wouldn't have anything to do with John Mayer's new song would it? Lol! Cool video man.
Nope, you can easily verify this by seeing our social media ans that we were posting about this over a month ago when we filmed it.
👌👌exactly what brought me to this video dude
Nice wah playing. Tone is in the foot!
As the old saying goes...
I use a 89 Clapton strat with a peavey delta blues.... job. Done
That's still a cool rig!
Great video, had no idea about that parallel gain stage thing! Great playing from James as well
It's one of the keys for sure!
Sounds great! I especially like the forever man tone. Sound kind of modern and kind of classic at the same time
Yes indeed! Thanks for watching!
if on the one hand it is right to congratulate you for this very interesting work of sound research and effects setting... on the other hand I think of the magnificent, visceral and simple sounds that Clapton obtained in his best records of the seventies with Blackie, Brownie , two pedals and simple combo amps and I realize that the super-racks of the 80s were a mix of advertising contracts and status symbol ostentation (the more stuff, leds and knobs the better!)...but d 'besides that was the time and that's how it worked. Clapton currently tours the world with two Fender Bandmaster combos (replicas built by Dumble), three Strats, a wah and a Leslie, and the sound is still excellent. 😅
Playing is fantastic!
Heck yea...James Rules!
Clapton's "Just One Night" double live album with Albert Lee was his best tone.
👍 nice
There, the guitar was straight into the amp, which was a music Man.
But it got better through the years until 1983. The same rig. There are some bootlegs in RUclips, which are very similar to JUST ONE NIGHT, but the guitar sounds much fuller, and Eric is also more powerful
@@pabloperez4063 I read somewhere(back then) that Knopfler was using MM amps around that same time. I went out and bought one. Dire Straits 'Dire Straits, and JON were very inspirational for me when I was younger, still love them. Cheers Bro. :)
That album has some of Eric’s best playing on it too. Double trouble is one of the best live guitar solos ever recorded in my opinion. Just like a prisoner from behind the sun album is the best guitar solo of all time for me.
I was just listening to these tunes thinking about how to comp them! Thanks for the video
Happy to help!
Journey Man was my favorite along w Dominoes
Absolutely! Two greats!
Man I love the rack era - so much equipment for such dull tones 😂
I'm a pianist, organist, keyboardist, and we use our pedals a little differently obviously but i could swear that on She's Waiting, he's using some kind of chorus pedal or rack module... there was a resonance his tone had in the 80s that usually sounded like some chorus was present, you can especially here this in live 80s versions of Wonderful Tonight with the Soldano rig, but maybe it's just me
And that's why we used chorus on many of these tracks and talked about that in the original rig.
That was great. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, will do!
Great vid! Now I bought a huge Board to build this EC-System! Clapton is god!
Right on! I dig your style!
That drive sound on Pretending is thiccccccc
Heck yea! The Clap-Tone!
Gibson SG, Fender 40th anniversary Stratocaster with Lace Sensor pickups, Vox Wah, Boss compressor, Boss overdrive, Echoplex & a Fender Tremolux amp head with the 2 x 10 cab. I even blocked my Stratocaster bridge.
Nice!!!
Wow - they nailed that on Forever Man.
James killed it on that!
This was excellent really enjoyed thanks :-) be great if you did a full 80s era detailed rig rundown style video on E.C eg going through each rack piece one by one...
Yes indeed! Rig Autopsy!
@@VertexEffectsInc :-)
Thx for posting! Great vid and incredible playing.
Thanks! James killed it!
Thanks for the cool Demo guys!😊
Thanks for watching!
I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!!
Thanks for tuning in!
Great playing for sure!
Yes indeed!
Really nice - Pretending lead guitar is missing the wah but otherwise nailing the tones.
Shucks...
@@VertexEffectsInc No worries - that whole album is drenched in wah, as is the follow up "24 Nights Live" album. Love this video of how with a few pedals you can get pretty close...
@@nedward5871 For sure, and with just a Deluxe Reverb resissue no less.
@@VertexEffectsIncSo good - helping to lay waste to the "if only I had xx amp and xx rack effect..."
@@nedward5871 Where else does Clapton's dual SLO rig get paired down to a mixer and two $200 guitar pedals and reissue 1x12 Fender...pedals have certainly democratized a lot of these big rigs over the years and just keep getting better and better in my mind.
The SLO100 Head came out in 1987, two years after Forever Man was released. Clapton was still using MusicMan Amps up until around 1987 when the SLO100 came out. Blackie was still his main guitar on the Behind The Sun album also, no Clapton Strats yet. Great approximation of those tones though, and recorded so well!
Correct, however there were versions of the Clapton strat and mid-boost that were being used at that time and have been confirmed by his tech. The overall sound from that era is what we were going for, not one specifically and the Dean Markley amps that he used in the mid-80's were pretty close to a Hot Rodded Marshall JMP/JCM800 type sound - but I think that rig was just in stereo, but used the SDE-3000, Tri Stereo Chorus, and DBX160x compressor...so many of the same elements in the rack. Our attempt was more "broad" but I think we're in the ballpark in spite of that in any case.
@@VertexEffectsInc I think your attempt is awesome, sounds fantastic and I've always loved that mid-boost sound from back then! I think his 80's tones were the best, a lot of people disagree but the live sound he got on the 13 piece band nights on the 24 Nights live album are just beautiful. I think it's really cool that you've done this, and shown everyone a new approach to achieving those tone without having all the gear. Thanks for making superb content!
@@GuitarSmartsPodcast I'm with you 100%, great tones there!
Thanks, Rigs Doctor! I have been waiting for tips like this.
You bet!
Great episode. Some of my favorites from EC. Great job.
🙏🙏🙏 thanks for watching
Great video nicely done
It's really interesting how different Eric's Soldano rig was to Mark Knopfler's. I was perusing a fan site, and I was surprised to learn that Mark Knopfler's rig involved the two Soldano heads being utilized one after the other, with the guitar tech needing to drastically change settings between the amplifiers between songs. They used both Marshall cabinets whilst in use, and were simply switched back and forth between each song.
Can you imagine that? Having enough "fuck you" money to ask for ". . .an expensive reverb." (Mark's words) and just having a tech do all of your channel switching and sounds by hand song-to-song. A fascinating example of pre-midi amplifiers and what went into enormous stadium shows.
1. The push to use chorus was really big among those tasked to help Eric produce hits in the 80s when he was, let’s say… Not as inspired…🥃🥃🥃… even he mentioned that it kind of harmed the legacy of those recordings. But it led to the best tone of his whole career live… In the 90s! I’m glad you’re not overdoing the chorus in these examples. 2. My Boomer family and mentors are always complaining that he sounded best with his Les Paul and the blues breakers in 1966. But if you turn off the chorus, he is kind of playing Gibson (mid circuit) into Marshall (SOldano) … they kind of got their wish! 😂
Thanks for watching and for sharing this comment! Hope you dug it!
This great as I'm about to embark on Clapton Project band covering those 80s tunes , outstanding information thank you !
Have fun!
Behind the mask - give it a listen and listen loud!
What a great video guys, enjoying every sound!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Can't help but notice that when talking about the 6L6s you showed a pic of the tonemaster Fender which I believe is solid state! Killer video though, you've helped my rig in so many ways!
Well the original Tonemaster was 4 6L6's Just started watching Will see
I didn’t catch it, I just told our Videographer to put a twin reverb on there, that was probably the first clean image that he saw there was a PNG - he’s not a gear guy to know the difference. If that actually send somebody down a rabbit hole, I’ll be shocked.
@@VertexEffectsInc a small error in an otherwise flawlessly video
@@mitchellwiley9377 we'll take it out the videographer ;)
This is a truly excellent video . Could you do one on Robin Trower 's 1975 Winterland Concert . ?
Thanks for watching! We'll have to check it out!
I always liked his tone on Bad Love 👍
The best!
This is a great video. Forever man was recorded with Blackie and god knows which amp in the studio though likely to be his tweed twin or indeed a JCM800. I have been chasing that particular tone for some time. Taking into consideration production mods - it is very similar to the tone he had on the soundtrack for Edge of Darkness. At home I have a Marshall 50w Vintage Modern combo (purple tolex!) and as well as an EC strat with Noiseless, I have a vintera 50s strat. The vintage modern has a tone stacking option with two channels and a dirty great 'fat' type switch for more mids. I can get that tone using that set up (the V50s pick ups are weaker than the Noiseless and easier to get a rounded 'older' sound - sometimes the noiseless can be a little sterile.'. I would also highly recomment a pedal called a Vertex Ultraphonix which is basically a dumble clone - as well as (trust me) a Joy Taichi dumble clone. Good strat pick ups through either of those into an amp with good Middle EQ will get you clapton tone of circa 83 to 85 and then turn the pedals up and fiddle with their mid response and you will get a more modern (say 2004 to 2016) EC tone.
The Soldanos are hard to emulate. EC had so many clean and crunch options on those amps that I guess you needed to be in his head on stage to know exactly what he was doing. Add to that he was using a JCM 800 to drive a leslie pedal and that again is another tone.
Jon! Thanks for the feedback, so glad you dig the Ultraphonix! It never leaves my board! A lot of the Behind the Sun was a Dual Dean Markley 120W set up which was basically a JCM800 with reverb.
@@VertexEffectsInc That’s new info. I knew he had the DMs but thought they were for stage only as it was around 84 he was using a mixture of amps (Pros and cons tour with Roger Waters in stage was different to what he used to recording the album. One of the engineers told me he used a Twin in studio for pros and cons and Edge of Darkness).
@@jonorourke4857 I read that there were even some JC120's in there during the recording as well as four 4x Input JCM800's.
@@jonorourke4857 good album
Forever Man is by far his best 80's sound to me and one of my favorite solos ever. When that solo kicks in it's one of the most gut punching tones ever from a Strat. It's brilliantly simple but ridiculously effective. It's a perfect example of how something as simple as "attitude" can make more of a difference than technical wizardry.
NAILED IT!
🙏🙏🙏
I see videos like this and wonder if Clapton will see it at some point. Hope he will bring out some of his 80s hits again live while he is still playing on stage. Maybe even bring out the Soldano one more time.
Fingers crossed!
Good video my man, really enjoyed it!
So glad you dig it! Thanks for watching!
Enjoyed the video to learn about his gear but was hugely disappointed by the tones, which on my monitor speakers appear to be potentially (at least) EQ'ed wrong?! I guess they sound vaguely like EC - I made a patch on my Helix that is pretty bang on and I include in my videos ☺
The Keeley "Dyno My Roto" is great for 80s style chorus. check it out. A Keeley Katana boost can also help get the sig model thing.
It's not very TSC, but the look of it is. The closest I've found is the Red Seven Wave, Neunaber Tri Chorus, or the Free The Tone Tri Avatar. All of them are digital except the Red Seven, which is analog but mono.
Yeah that D-my-R is cool...does it get just Leslie if you want that ? I'm looking to mix the chorus from my Deco w a rotary pedal for a UniVibe alternative Thanks
@@VertexEffectsInc The Keeley Dyno My Roto is attempting to reproduce the sound for a mono signal
@@simply3141592654 I don't find it that close, I've had a few come through.
Eric’s first rack was a Bradshaw rig he got after seeing Steve Lukathers during the recording of Behind The Sun.
Luke is playing on Forever Man with Eric.
Yes...similar set up however, with some changes. Still used the Tri Stereo Chorus, Roland CE-1, Roland SDE-3000 in a parallel mixer with 2x Dean Markley amplifiers that we're like 120W JCM800's with Reverb. Still the same basic overall tone.
This is very cool.
Thanks for watching!
Those lace sensor gold sounds fantastic.
Total sleepers
@@VertexEffectsInc I had one of those sets in the 90’s and trade it for some EMGs :-(
😂😂😂 we’ve all been there
I hated those pickups because I thinknthey needed a full effect rack to sound good. Straight into an amp, not so much.
@@miaoupha2370 they are pretty much like the fender custom shop 69, with low resistance (about 5,9 k). I agree that straight to the amp they are kind of thin, but since they are “humbuckers” they handle overdrive very well.
Great review, tone and feel. Well Done👍🎸 thx
Glad you liked it!
Nice job guys.....bravo
Thanks for listening
Love the Clapton shirt James is wearing!
No Snow, No Show.
Great video, excellent song choices, subscribed
Awesome, thank you!
Can't wait :-)
Yes, me too!
One of the best Clapton tone vidio iv seen
Wow! Thanks! All credit goes to James' playing!
I feel totally inadequate, I thought I pretty much nailed most of these sounds/tones with an MXR Red Compressor, a fuzz face box and my 64 white Fender Bassman...oh well, just don’t have the bux to do any closer.
A scooped OD/distortion pedal will definitely do a lot.
The middle tone control is the TBX, a passive tone control that rolls itself out of the circuit as it approaches 10. Fender has used it on several guitars. The BOTTOM tone control is a 25db active midrange boost. While these guitars are hotter than a passive strat with the volume on 10, there is no built in overdrive.
Well...sorta...there are two stages and each adds a different distortion. This guitar uses dual gang pots for the guitar tone control. I think the "sound" is in the electronics, not the passive tone up front. There is a dual pot tone control, then a gain stage treble boost, then a volume control that feeds the mix control on one end and also feeds another boost circuit. The mix control mixes the treble boost on one end with a low and high cut circuit (mid boost). The second stage has a topology for a totally different distortion so the mix circuit changes from treble boost with a distortion spectra to a mid boost with a different distortion spectra. The output impedance is very high and varies with the mix control setting. However, since the pickups are buffered (do not see the cable capacitance) the high output impedance will be treble cut only like a tone control, not the frequency peaking shift, Q and amplitude change with rebel rolloff that you get from normal passive guitar pickups and guitar cable.
Very enjoyable and informative video thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
Great Episode Mason, I saw Eric at the Medowlands in the 80's on the Journeyman tour.... was mind blowing!! Influence on me till this very day!!! Stay Groovy!!!
I bet it was amazing!
Looking for some help on setting Cream and Clapton's tones on Boss GT100..
Hmmm...probably use some old Marshall amp settings with 4x12 Greebacks and a Fuzz sound into it.
Love these types of demo's....I'm just getting on a journey of streamlining my gear and effects To start I got a lovely hardtail Troposphere strat and a Tone King amp and starting my board up with a Strymon Deco which can handle the modulation/echo and saturation that I need w an always on pedal Basically trying to keep pedals to a minimum so a good wah pedal and lead boost Don't even think I'm going with fuzz Haven't bonded with one yet after a dozen tries so F it LoL I've an Xotic Super Clean boost which might fit the bill but definitely trying to go with quality not quantity on this journey So really thinking about going w a Vertex boost for lead Hearing good things about them Good stuff Mas keep em coming
its a good one, I think you'll love the Boost and it's transparency and the volume EXP control is cool too.
@@VertexEffectsInc Probably wouldn't even use that function so was wondering if version 1 is the same circuit just w/o that feature ?
@@paulcowart3174 v1 is the same, also has the EXP feature but is almost twice the size, v2 is much smaller.
Behind Sun was a great CD... a lot of great songs there...If I remember right Phil Collings produced that album.
Yes indeed!
3 songs were produced by Lenny Waronker and Ted Templeman.
@@jaycareaga9929 great tunes!
Great playing!!
James is amazing!
Gotta try the new SLO pedal from Soldano now. Try also the Keeley Dyno My Roto
Dyno my roto is the one for this tone 🙏🏼
Just awesome!!
Glad you like it!
This is why I stopped watching That Pedal Show. I'd mentioned Clapton's tone from this era in the comments. And they took the time to personally reply that nobody liked that tone. And then I didn't want to be friends with them anymore :D
Maybe now that Mayer’s on board with it they’ll change their tune
But they were right! Clapton never had a good sound imho, but his generic cheap plastic 80s sound has got to be one of the worst guitar sounds of all time. Rigdoctor did a great job to replicate it though, but I can‘t think of anyone who wants to sound like that?!?
@@stevenvandemsky7290 John Mayer slowly raises his hand
@@jasonkina7208 Hahaha. Like him or not, but Mayer has a great sound…
Guess we are all jumping on the same train now
Cause of the Mayer song? Well...if you look back at our social media, you'll see this was recorded over a month ago, not a reaction to anything "of the moment".
@@VertexEffectsInc but me watching this is XD
Just my 5 cents; the old Boss LS-2 is great for parallell mixing in two effects in to your dry signal, and its a 50$ pedal!
Not exact the same as this since you can't control the mixes of both loops and the dry I don't think, but you could choose several parallel mix options.
Not wanting to be pedantic, but the photo at 0:45 - that’s from Knebworth 90.
Great video though :-)
If there’s an Armani suit and loafers, it’s really all the same look for about a five year period
Soundtrack for the movie heat
More like "Lethal Weapon" sans David Sanborn
Hi,
Great video. Thanks for the images showing the pedals you used on each section of each song. Just wondering if you could give us some direction to the settings you used. I understand there was to be a link somewhere?
Keep the great work
Rod
Here are the BPMs and keys for each song:
Pretending
Key: A
BPM: 98
Forever Man
Key: D
BPM: 111
Bad Love
Key: G
BPM: 125
She’s Waiting
Key: C
BPM: 95
Great video!
clap tone!!!
lol!
Hahahaha! Yes! The incomparable Clap Tone!!!
Interesting that the EVH amps borrow things from the Soldano and the Marshall - EVH used Soldano for a bit before his own amps came out.
Don't forget about the Mesa Boogie Dual Rec...also an SLO circuit.
Forever Man was recorded using the original Blackie and a Boss Heavy Metal pedal. Way before the Claton strat came out.
With 2x Dean Markley's in parallel akin to a Hot Rodded JCM800 with his Bradshaw system.
I guess the Music Man hes plugged into you can see at 2:25 behind him is fake
ruclips.net/video/0gDvR1sZ6I4/видео.html
I'd use a TC Nova Delay or Nova Repeater; the latter has a subtle modulation available and both have the essential ducking delay. Klark-Teknik still sells a rack chorus that's under two bills and does the Dimension C/D thing, likewise one of TC's smorgasbord line, the Boss Dimension re-issue and the Waza CE-2 which doesn't quite have the desired thickness of the venerable CE-1, but might do. Absent Lace Sensors and a TBX circuit, I'd probably stack a Nobels ODR1 and TS9 and see where that leads; might be better with something like a Klon clone replacing one of the other two, (for greater transparency) but I wouldn't run the whole mess through completely clean amps, and I doubt Clapton did, either. He may in fact have used different gear live than in the studio to get essentially the same sounds, but he certainly got them, because I heard them all on the Journeyman tour.
Nova is cool, one of my faves in fact, but not as 2290 as the Flight Time. None of the chorus’ you mentioned are like the 1210 or the Tri Stereo. I think we could have got closer with the TSC choice with something like a Lil Wave or even a Neunaber Tri Chorus. But the SCF is very 1210 ish. You can buy a disaggregated TBX and house it into a pedal if you want. I’ll also show you how to do it in a future video.
Maybe I'm deluding myself, but I still hear a lot of Leslie tones in some of these tracks. No doubt you're right, but maybe two choruses add up to a Leslie. Especially on some of the live stuff, like 24 Nights
There was a Leslie simulator in the rack...I don't think it was on these particular tracks...it was definitely on "Badge" and that was played on the live stuff for sure even though it was from the Cream era. What song that we did here did you think was Leslie in particular?
Ha I think my brain just amalgamated the whole decade. Listening again you’re spot on with these.
But then what do you think is going on in “It’s in the way that you use it”?
The newish soldano pedal does exactly this
Good job
Thanks