Brilliant performances with crap gear

[sondich]

Have you ever found out that a recording/performance that you've held in high esteem was made using bad/weird equipment?

John Frusciante said he played Under the Bridge on a beaten Fender Jaguar with messed up intonation. The percussion track on Heroes by David Bowie was made in part by banging an ashtray on a table. (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/david-bowie-heroes-19691231)

I have to think there are tons of stories of classic performances being turned in with cheap equipment that just happened to be around.

If you know any, lay them on me.

Steve

[Wagster]

It's not the gear, it's what's between the ears.

[Teleplayer]

It's not the gear, it's what's between the ears.

Blasphemy. It's all about the $175 NOS tube in the V2 position of your $9,000 bedroom amp.

;)

[sondich]

It's not the gear, it's what's between the ears.

Agreed.

If I had mad skills, I'd purposely use $75 guitars just to make a point. I've got to think some actual artists do this.

[Ocelot]

This thread is dangerously close to invalidating the existence of TGP! lol. You mean you can create brilliant music without a Dumble and a VOS '59 Les Paul? WTF?

[Baminated]

Blasphemy. It's all about the $175 NOS tube in the V2 position of your $9,000 bedroom amp.

;)

:rotflmao

[Baminated]

Rumored that EVH recorded the Beat It solo through a Boss distortion Pedal into the board direct

[DC1]

Happens all the time. And nice gear too.

Is there a point here?


dc

[fenderlead]

Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man had an Acoustic guitar (played by Keith) recorded onto a 60s lo tech cassette recorder using a mic and then replayed and put to studio tape with a studio mic on an extension speaker.

Charlie Watts also played a toy drumset on Street Fighting Man.

[sondich]

This thread is dangerously close to invalidating the existence of TGP! lol. You mean you can create brilliant music without a Dumble and a VOS '59 Les Paul? WTF?

LOL. I have no problem with expensive gear. I just resent the implication of a meaingful correlation between quality of play and quality of gear.

Using a golf analogy... give Tiger Woods your $100 golf clubs to play with and he may shoot 2-3 strokes higher than normal. Maybe two strokes because he's not used to them, one because they're not as good. Now take Tiger's clubs to your local course and you'll probably play much worse than normal because $3000 clubs are made for people with finely tuned swings.

I digress but you get my point. $3000 clubs aren't going to help the average duffer. Cheap gear isn't going to mess up Tiger's game much.

Anyhow, rock and roll is not golf. What was my point?:facepalm

[DC1]

I'm still looking for the guy who says he can play well because he has nice gear.

People talk about this mythical creature, but I have never seen one around here.

Some guys with nice gear, can't play too well, but they love gear. Others play very well indeed, and use the different sounds musically.

It's all good.


dc

[steve108819]

Speaking of percussion, a tray of silverware was used in Metal Gods by Judas Priest. I realize that's not really what this thread is about, but I thought it was interesting.

[fenderlead]

Plenty of basic Acoustics on well known songs.

Kurt Cobain, EVH, Keef etc.

EVH and his Franky and Ibanez Destroyer were not up market items either.

Clapton and his Champ.

Stones and solid state Vox's.

It should basically go

1: Songs and ideas and concepts and playing

2: ...................

149: ..................

150: Gear

[sondich]

Happens all the time. And nice gear too.

Is there a point here?


dc

Just curious what kind of tones/sounds have been made by respected artists on the cheap. Talented people recording quality music on good gear is fine but probably not that unusual.

[fenderlead]

Bill Wyman used an early 60s very cheap Japanese bass that he modded a bit, on a fair few Stones recordings and he still uses it for some things and says it sounds great.

[tnvol]

It happens both ways all the time. Great music can be made on crap gear, but it doesn't mean you have to do it that way to prove a point.

[The Kid]

LOL. I have no problem with expensive gear. I just resent the implication of a meaingful correlation between quality of play and quality of gear.

Using a golf analogy... give Tiger Woods your $100 golf clubs to play with and he may shoot 2-3 strokes higher than normal. Maybe two strokes because he's not used to them, one because they're not as good. Now take Tiger's clubs to your local course and you'll probably play much worse than normal because $3000 clubs are made for people with finely tuned swings.

I digress but you get my point. $3000 clubs aren't going to help the average duffer. Cheap gear isn't going to mess up Tiger's game much.

Anyhow, rock and roll is not golf. What was my point?:facepalm

I agree. Very well put.

[AnotherAvatar]

Fender Champs -

http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/amplification/instrument-amps/guitar-combo-amps/1957-tweed-champ-combo-214382/review

[drolling]

Back when Tom Waits started singing thru' a bottom-of-the-line bull-horn (cheapness = more distortion!) & recording with Marc Ribot (Swordfish Trombones/Raindogs), I read an interview where he mentioned salvaging percussion instruments from the local junk yard; His 'brake drum' was just that, apparently - an old car part. When asked who it was played, IIRC, he replied something like "Ahh, I just hit it with a rock, or something.."

And this probably doesn't count, but I'm also reminded of when the Los Lobos guys started running their vocals thru' a SansAmp - it may have just been on that side project (Latin Playboys) - but the point was to make it sound like it was recorded with an old, broken microphone. Very effective!

[Ray Gianelli]

I'm still looking for the guy who says he can play well because he has nice gear.

People talk about this mythical creature, but I have never seen one around here.

Some guys with nice gear, can't play too well, but they love gear. Others play very well indeed, and use the different sounds musically.

It's all good.


dc

Well, once I got good gear and discovered it wasn't the issue that left just me and my technique. At that point I just started practicing more.

So good gear did that for me :)

Didn't Hendrix just play off the shelf Strats? Didn't stop him from sounding amazing!

[Custom50]

like every white stripes song is pawn shop guitars/amps and they made a few great records

[monty]

Depends on your standards I guess. A Fender Jag to me isnt crap gear, and if Eddie posted his rig from VH1 in the effects forum he'd get laughed out of there.

[SamBooka]

Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man had an Acoustic guitar (played by Keith) recorded onto a 60s lo tech cassette recorder using a mic and then replayed and put to studio tape with a studio mic on an extension speaker.

Charlie Watts also played a toy drumset on Street Fighting Man.

And I think it is Honky tonk woman that has a drumstick and a bottle of Jack.. when the producer wanted a lower note Keith took a swig.. take that with a grain of salt.

[soldersucker]

K_DOnKJ232M 50 dollar craigslist rig never sounded so good.

[wundergussy]

Houndog Taylor

[disfrontman]

I don't know if this qualifies as "crap gear," but there's one famous, generally revered rock guitar that was made from household junk--and then used live for decades and could be heard on 200 million albums worldwide.

Brian May's "Red Special" (a.k.a., "The Fireplace" or " The Old Lady"):


Binding from countertop edging
Bakelite plastic nut, black perspex (plexiglass) pickguard
Body made of pine blockboard with mahogany veneer and an oak insert
Oak fingerboard painted black
Giant mahogany neck (carved by hand with a pen knife) from a discarded fireplace mantle, complete with wormholes
Trem springs were the valve springs from a motorcycle engine
Trem bar was part of a motorcycle saddlebag frame--the plastic tip coming from a knitting needle
No fancy nitro finish here--Rustin's plastic coating over body, neck, and fingerboard
Bridge hand-machined from a block of aluminum


May wanted a Strat but couldn't afford one, so he and his dad, Harold, did some experiments and put their own together for cheap, even though neither had prior luthier experience. They hardened their own steel for the knife-edge part of the trem, rewound the Trisonics to May's custom specs, and devised the radical switching scheme. The chambered out parts of the body were specifically designed for feedback-assisted sustain, something that May had been fascinated with after seeing Jeff Beck use it.

Here are some vintage pics of the work in progress.
(http://mattw04.webs.com/infoonredspecial.htm)

And here's an interview (start from the 2:00 mark):
cPD7_hQk7hk

The ultimate DIY guitar project. Made of crap, perhaps, but ultimately far more than the sum of its crappy parts. Probably would be worth a million at auction (not likely to happen in May's lifetime!).

[BMF Effects]

Houndog Taylor

First person I thought of. :aok

[AnotherAvatar]

Well, once I got good gear and discovered it wasn't the issue that left just me and my technique. At that point I just started practicing more.

So good gear did that for me :)

Didn't Hendrix just play off the shelf Strats? Didn't stop him from sounding amazing!

Ray, that's a fairly advanced observation, and more to the point, an honest one not often seen out side of the highest levels of 'competitors'.

[toocommercial]

Is there any truth to the rumour that Slash used a Series A Strat with Dimarzios for Appetite for Destruction?

[Dave Shoop]

I agree that a weak player can sound just as bad on good gear but I believe the clubs the Pros use and have set up specifically for them are more than "2 to 3 strokes" on a Championship course. A $100.00 set I would think would make a much larger difference to a Pro. We probably have some serious near Pro golfers here that could give a more educated opinion but that's my guess. I'd like to hear what the Pro level golfer would say about that.

[Prof.Fuzz]

Houndog Taylor

Yes Sir!

"When I die, they'll say 'He couldn't play shit, but he sure made it sound good.'" --Hound Dog Taylor

[Phoebe]

Nobody's ever taken a decent photograph with anything other than a Leica, Nikon, or Hasselblad. It's never been done and never will.

Hell, every time I look at musician's classifieds, half of us make it a point to say we have "pro gear". Obviously the dudes that can't make that claim suck.

[Muhrenson]

http://www.youtube.com/embed/7QLbi4E3-hI
i'd say marc ribot.

[EL 34 X2]

I'm a big David Lindley fan. For his regular 6 string stuff during the El Rayo X era I always saw him with old Silvertones and Teiscos. I wondered how those were setup. Some of those cheap guitars can sound and play great with enough work and attention.

A lot of his live slide work went through his Dumble. I don't know what he used with the other guitars. Of course he's one of the guys that can make most anything sound great.

[DC1]

Well, once I got good gear and discovered it wasn't the issue that left just me and my technique. At that point I just started practicing more.

So good gear did that for me :)

Didn't Hendrix just play off the shelf Strats? Didn't stop him from sounding amazing!

I heard he would go through racks and racks of guits to find one he liked. The ones he bought off the shelf were often for gifts.

Besides, I love Jimi, but I don't give a DAMN about what he used. I have my own vision for my own music.


dc

[magicaxeman]

Does it get any more basic than seasick steves 3 string's on a tatty old lump of something that "may" be wood.. and cheap little amps?

ehSzUX4dDRc

[DC1]

Does it get any more basic than seasick steves 3 string's on a tatty old lump of something that "may" be wood.. and cheap little amps?

ehSzUX4dDRc

Works for him.



dc

[dognmoon]

George Marinelli who has spent years as Bonnie Raitt's guitarist plays a Mexi strat that he bought retail when his was stolen on the road.

And I chatted with Buzz Feiten in a GC a few years ago about his tone on the Weckyl record "Synergy" (if I remember the name correctly). I was gushing over the tone and humping his leg and he said it was a solid-state Crate with a chalk circle on the grille so that they knew where to mic it. And he ran a BOSS comp in line but stuck in the back of it- always off- but he liked the way it buffered the signal. :)

[Whiskeyrebel]

Wasn't Kill Em All recorded with Hetfield playing an Electra bolt-neck copy of a Flying V?

[sondich]

Depends on your standards I guess. A Fender Jag to me isnt crap gear, and if Eddie posted his rig from VH1 in the effects forum he'd get laughed out of there.

Back in the late 80's/early 90's I think old Fender Jaguars could be picked up pretty cheap. John's had intonation problems but he thought it sounded cool. I have to agree.