Does a Strat tone get much better than Robbie Blunt's on Robert Plant's "Big Log"?

[SoCalSteve]

ROBBIE BLUNT

"BIG LOG"

When you're filling the huge shoes of Mr. Jimmy Page, you had better get a good tone. So when Robbie Blunt got the gig as Robert Plant's first post-Zep guitarist, he conjured the haunting, bell-like Strat sound on this track from Plant's solo debut. Blunt used his '56 Strat (which sported a '54 neck) and a Fender Princeton Reverb to create the clanging single-note lines, lazy bends, and double-stop stabs that would become his trademark.

For your listening pleasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZQL22xOmUM

[hellbender]

I cop that lick to demonstrate my strat to non guitar people.

Gets em everytime, very recognizable even when I butcher it.

[sergv]

Awesome tune and tone!

[daddyo]

Robbie Blunt - the forgotten hero of the stratocaster. I remember reading the guitar was a 55 or 56.

[Anthony M]

Perfect match of tone and licks.

Thanks for a wonderful memory. Haven't heard that song in years.

By the way, whatever became of him?

[TNJ]

That's alot of what a Strat is all about, IMO.
NO confusing that for a Lester! :D

S>
j

[drgonzoguitar]

One of my favorite recorded tones! Great post!

[HurricaneJesus]

The answer is 'yes.' Check Ed King's strat tone all over Skynyrd's 'Second Helping' album. Not convinced? Same band. Different album. Different guy. Skynyrd's 'One From the Road' check Steve Gaines' tasty strat licks.

[VaughnC]

I'm a Strat-o-nut of the highest order, but I just don't get that anemic type of Strat sound. Oh well, some like green, some like blue...such is life ;).

[SoCalSteve]

I'm a Strat-o-nut of the highest order, but I just don't get that anemic type of Strat sound. Oh well, some like green, some like blue...such is life ;).

Vaughn! You're killin' me! I'm open, whose tone do you prefer? I'll take a listen. I'm talking clean here. I prefer Blunt's tone over Knopfler's.

But for dirty it's Trower and Blackmore for me.

[andyland6]

I thought I read an interview with Robbie Blunt and he said is was a Mesa Amp/ Clean channel played very loudly in a hall...Which I thought was wild at the time.

[funkycam]

I love strats, but the Big Log tone is kinda generic & overcompressed to my ear....


I'd take SRV's riviera paradise...

[KeithC]

That's just one example of great Strat tone. That's why we love us some Strats.
So many tones, so little time.

[fretless]

That is a fantastic clean tone, and it's about as "Stratty" as they come.

For my money the best strat clean tones ever are from James Wisley when he played with Chris Issak. Think "Wicked Game" and you'll see my point.

[reddgeetarzan]

Great tune- great feel and great tone.

It does make me think of the Wicked Game tone too.....good stuff indeed!

[HHB]

I love it, it took huge balls to play clean on the first Plant album, everyone was posed to dump on Blunt and he totally curvballed em

[keninsyr]

Love this tone but isn't the signature line "Happy Together" by the Turtles. It always made me think of that tune.

[hellbender]

I thought I read an interview with Robbie Blunt and he said is was a Mesa Amp/ Clean channel played very loudly in a hall...Which I thought was wild at the time.


Holy Crap! That's my rig!!!!

[Tone_Terrific]

I'm a Strat-o-nut of the highest order, but I just don't get that anemic type of Strat sound. Oh well, some like green, some like blue...such is life ;).

EXACTLY! It's great to have tone in that range available and it is Stratty, but I don't want to live there. I prefer the SRV big neck tone, for example, but cannot argue with the way it is used in that vid. Some like apples, some prefer plums.:D

[datguytim]

Blunt gets amazing tones on those 1st 2 Plant LPs. I've been diggin' the 1st one lately & you gotta give props to ANYONE who jumps in to the guitar position w/Plant. Robbie didn't even try to fill the master's shoes - he wore a NEW PAIR! Kudos to Blunt.

[jw112]

i know i'm going to get some heat for this BUT....

sorry, i think mayer has the strat tone

recorded with a camera phone!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgVAXJRah1A

dont like that one?? try this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEgUUTkqRRQ

... or is it just me?

[arthur rotfeld]

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w319/robbieblunt/DSC_0095.jpg

[rex kwon do]

I thought I read an interview with Robbie Blunt and he said is was a Mesa Amp/ Clean channel played very loudly in a hall...Which I thought was wild at the time.

I'm not a 100% sure about this, but from the information I have gathered over the years (only because I have also thought it was the greatest Strat tone I have ever heard), it was a 1956 Strat through a Blackface Princeton Reverb turned up just before breakup. I think that was in a guitar mag of some kind right after that record came out in '82-'83.

Now we all know that famous guitar players tell the truth about their gear, don't we?:jo

[Tadams]

Great player & tone. I love the solo on In The Mood.

[madscientist]

i know i'm going to get some heat for this BUT....

sorry, i think mayer has the strat tone

recorded with a camera phone!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgVAXJRah1A

dont like that one?? try this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEgUUTkqRRQ

... or is it just me?



BIG +1 on this. Mayer's tone is it right now.

To me, the Plant tune sounds like a generic '80's guitar tone. Great tune, don't get me wrong, great playing, but the tone is very 80's.

[andyland6]

I'm not a 100% sure about this, but from the information I have gathered over the years (only because I have also thought it was the greatest Strat tone I have ever heard), it was a 1956 Strat through a Blackface Princeton Reverb turned up just before breakup. I think that was in a guitar mag of some kind right after that record came out in '82-'83.

Now we all know that famous guitar players tell the truth about their gear, don't we?:jo

I'm 99.9% sure about the Mesa/strat combo. I still have the Guitar Player interview here . I'll try and dig it up.

Small amps won't deliver that kind of clean. Thats a bunch 'o' watts behind that sound.

[Anthony M]

I may have read a long long time ago that he used a TC Electronics Chorus pedal as part of "that" sound. I'm not sure when the TC Chorus came out, or I could be confusing this with another artist. But to my ears, there is a flangy/chorus or something other than reverb going on in that recording.

[madscientist]

I may have read a long long time ago that he used a TC Electronics Chorus pedal as part of "that" sound. I'm not sure when the TC Chorus came out, or I could be confusing this with another artist. But to my ears, there is a flangy/chorus or something other than reverb going on in that recording.


I agree..I definitely hear the chorus.

[sausagefingers]

I spent a lot of time with that track over the last few weeks, learning the whole thing. I love that you can hear the WOOD. Its not easy to play that clean, intonating bends just right--nowhere to hide.

[rwe333]

Gear details here: http://www.vintageamps.com/plexiboard/viewtopic.php?p=745183&sid=28c85ec4a74d05884ec4ac28261d00f1

Also: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13231059_ITM

Fine player, great tones. He was also great playing on the Edie Brickell/New Bohemians hit "What I Am".

[jazzrat]

That's beautiful but my favorite strat tone is Tim Renwick's on Al Stewart's stuff like.
Year of the Cat
The Dark and the Rolling Sea.

[GuitarDude]

I love strats, but the Big Log tone is kinda generic & overcompressed to my ear....


I'd take SRV's riviera paradise...


agreed. i mean its a cool strat tone don't get me wrong, but i cant think of many other smoother strat examples.

[Randaddy]

That is a fantastic clean tone, and it's about as "Stratty" as they come.

For my money the best strat clean tones ever are from James Wisley when he played with Chris Issak. Think "Wicked Game" and you'll see my point.

:agree

[hamstrat]

Love this tone but isn't the signature line "Happy Together" by the Turtles. It always made me think of that tune.

I thought I was the only one. When I play this it's hard to keep going into "Happy Together". The first time I heard it on the radio I thought that if they went after George Harrison for "My Sweet Lord" and "He's So Fine" this would be automatic.

[MBreinin]

Nobody makes a Strat sound as good as Eric Johnson. John Mayer does have some wonderful tones though, as does Wisley. I think of Wicked Game as THE quintessential clean Strat tone.

Mike

[daddyo]

That's beautiful but my favorite strat tone is Tim Renwick's on Al Stewart's stuff like.
Year of the Cat
The Dark and the Rolling Sea.
Dude, you're right. Tim Renwick.

[Ronnie99t]

Well, I really donät dig the sound i the op, like someone said, to much 80's:dunno

My favorite strat sound is with out a doubt this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RheBZB9ojd0&feature=related

Really fat and nice:RoCkIn

[FeloniousBishop]

There are a lot of Strat sounds I like better than that. To me the sound of each note is squished together and occupies a small sonic space with little depth, and sounds over-processed almost like the clean sound of a Rockman. I like a bigger more organic sound that occupies more space with more detail.

Funny how the same sound is perceived so differently by so many people.

[dk123123dk]

Isn't there some chorus and compression on that track? IMHO you can't really hear the true character of that guitar with the effects. Great tune though, and great playing.

dk

[roomservice]

Blunt was a fantastic player - his tone and inflection just on Burning Down One Side spun me in a new direction in '82 - took me years to play anything but a solo with dirt on it again!

[jackaroo]

Too processed for my taste...if we're talking quintessential "strat sounds"

I do like that tune and in the mood (even more)

[buddyboy]

I love that song, playing, player and tone! Then again, I just luv all the tones a Strat can get, to wit:

1. This R. Blunt 80's thing;
2. The Richard Thompson thing;
3. The Jimi thing;
4. The Dick Dale thing (my current fave)

etc. etc., it goes on and on

[daddyo]

Well, I really donät dig the sound i the op, like someone said, to much 80's:dunno

My favorite strat sound is with out a doubt this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RheBZB9ojd0&feature=related

Really fat and nice:RoCkIn
That's my favourite hat too!
Seriously, Blackmore was a bad*ss. That is a great sound!

[rwe333]

That's my favourite hat too!
Seriously, Blackmore was a bad*ss. That is a great sound!

INCREDIBLE sound!
But when I think of clean Strat tones, Ritchie's not the first that comes to mind.

[talpa]

I have an extremely rare 12" 78rpm long play of this I bought when Big Log was released as a single. The cover is just a bright red background w/ Plant in a turqoise blue chromakey kinda thing. Here's a photo:
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=37051

But, you should hear the flipside - it's the only disc you can find the cut. It's called Far Post. Just an unbelievably cool riff from Blunt in this same guitar tone. It's the total package for me, try to find a copy you might dig it.

[robelinda2]

I have an extremely rare 12" 78rpm long play of this I bought when Big Log was released as a single. The cover is just a bright red background w/ Plant in a turqoise blue chromakey kinda thing. Here's a photo:
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=37051

But, you should hear the flipside - it's the only disc you can find the cut. It's called Far Post. Just an unbelievably cool riff from Blunt in this same guitar tone. It's the total package for me, try to find a copy you might dig it.

I have that 12" too!

[JohnnyGtar]

I love that song, playing, player and tone! Then again, I just luv all the tones a Strat can get, to wit:

1. This R. Blunt 80's thing;
2. The Richard Thompson thing;
3. The Jimi thing;
4. The Dick Dale thing (my current fave)

etc. etc., it goes on and on

:BEER:agree:BEER

[Mondoslug]

Small amps won't deliver that kind of clean. Thats a bunch 'o' watts behind that sound.
I dunno...recording-wise you can make a Princeton sound like a Twin.

[andyland6]

I dunno...recording-wise you can make a Princeton sound like a Twin.

Yeah...but that tone seems loud to me. You can hear it bounce off the room.

I also remember the quote "Rarer than Rocking Horse Shit" when he talked of a Gretch he owned.

[Mercury25]

I spent a lot of time with that track over the last few weeks, learning the whole thing. I love that you can hear the WOOD. Its not easy to play that clean, intonating bends just right--nowhere to hide.

I think you should buy a Strat so you can play it properly. ;-)

[Mondoslug]

Yeah...but that tone seems loud to me. You can hear it bounce off the room.

I also remember the quote "Rarer than Rocking Horse Shit" when he talked of a Gretch he owned.
Cool...I think I remember reading soemthing when that album came out. Other than that I don't remember sh*t about it. :)

[Baby Evil]

I absolutely adore the song and playing, and for me, Blunt is the best guitarist Plant ever worked with, but the tone is too icepick covered in 80's sauce (too much chorus and compression and bad reverb) to me.

Jan

[Ulysses]

I loved all of Blunt's work from "Pictures At Eleven" on but that Strat tone sounds a little muted to me. I like a Strat a little more open sounding. Here's one of those songs that I'm burnt out on hearing but still love the Strat tone he gets live on this version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU95bY-BK58


Still, I can think of some Strat tones I like better. Some of Jeff Beck's "Rough and Ready" and "Jeff Beck Group" clean tones and some of Blackmore's as well. Rory has a few moments, too.