Eagels Hotel California- what amps?

[Sparky6string]

This question has been in my mind for a long time. Those tones are just incredible! Anyone know what amps they used? And what guitars too for extra credit?

[cr8z4life]

Well, cant answer most of that but obviously there is a twelve string acoustic .....and sounds like a tele for alot of the leads.......as far as the rest.........anyone?

[jackaroo]

I think Felder was using a 59 LP and a tweed Deluxe. I don't know about Walsh's bit...sounds like single coils...I've seen him use a Tele on the song.

JD

[cr8z4life]

Here is a little nastalgia........dont know about the actual recording but these guys sound good no matter what theyre playing!!!

Anyway, on this old clip.....tele, acoustic, and double neck SG!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ7IVmQVAjQ

[tmac]

Not sure about the recording but from what I recall on that tour Felder used Mesa Mark I's and Joe Walsh used a Fender 75. I'm pretty sure that Joe used a Tele for the song Hotel California.

[pgissi]

Not sure about the recording but from what I recall on that tour Felder used Mesa Mark I's and Joe Walsh used a Fender 75. I'm pretty sure that Joe used a Tele for the song Hotel California.

Sound like walsh has some light phasing on it also and its also present in life in the fast lane more so

[zombiwoof]

I have heard that on that album some stuff was through a Roland Cube, the old orange ones that Walsh supposedly had some design input on. It was designed to sound like a Twin. Yeah, I know, solid state!

Al

[Fifthstone]

One of my all time favorite songs. Yes, I'm pretty sure the recording was Walsh on Tele and Felder on LP. No idea on the amps though.

[Fifthstone]

Here is a little nastalgia........dont know about the actual recording but these guys sound good no matter what theyre playing!!!

Anyway, on this old clip.....tele, acoustic, and double neck SG!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ7IVmQVAjQ

Thanks for posting. Never get tired of seeing that clip. And Walsh and Felder look completely coked out.

[ratkent]

And Walsh and Felder look completely coked out.

If that's what it takes then where's my bump?:hiP

[guitarznamps]

Don Felder has said that he played the Hotel Californis lead with his 59 Les Paul through a late 50's Tweed Deluxe. Thats him right after Don Henley says "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave..." Don used the same guitar and amp for the solo on "One of These Nights". What a sound!! Joe always used Fender amps in the old day's too. Both had great tone dont you agree?

[cffluntouch]

I remember reading an interesting article somewhere about Felder's Deluxe that he used on most of their stuff. It was heavily modded. Someone might be able to google it somewhere. For some reason I was thinking it was a blackface Deluxe reverb though. Nope I was wrong, it was a modded Tweed Deluxe.

[pgissi]

Nope I was wrong, it was a modded Tweed Deluxe.


Sounds like tweed, fat and brown with a Les Paul. BF deluxe with the les paul would not be the same

[bobcs71]

I can't find the article but I remember reading that Joe Walsh used Fender Super Reverbs & some AC30s at that time.

[Sparky6string]

We're starting to zero in on this- thanks to everyone that has chimed in here. Both guys had amazing tone on that record- something I marvel over every time I hear it. I've heard it said that LPs + tweed = flub but that doesn't seem to be the case on that record.

Besides the tone, the playing is really tasty by both players, especially Felder. After all these years those solos and fills still haven't gotten the least bit stale.

[jackaroo]

I'm telling you...like in post 3 it was a 59 LP into a tweed Deluxe.

[speedtaco]

...and they kicked Felder out of the band!?!?!?!?!? Didn't Genn Frey write 'Smuggler's Blues' ! I love the Eagles, thanks for the link.

[BluesForDan]

Joe used to work with radios, tvs, and other electronics. He was modding amps decades before people ever thought of it. I would highly doubt any Fenders he used were stock.

[zombiwoof]

You might be interested in this:

I used to know the guy that was the assistant to the engineer on those sessions (Szymscyk? or something, how do you spell that?), he worked on the sessions and he told me how they recorded the long solos on Hotel California (studio). They initially just improvised/jammed over the solo sections and recorded a bunch of takes. They listened to the playbacks of the various takes, picked the best parts, and cut an edited version from the good parts. Then they learned the compiled solo from the edit, and re-recorded it in a continuous take for the final product. It was cool to learn how they did it, just thought I'd pass it on.

Oh yeah, he also spilled some sordid tales about Linda Ronstadt and her bass player, Balloon Dick. I won't repeat those here!

Al

[speedtaco]

You might be interested in this:

I used to know the guy that was the assistant to the engineer on those sessions (Szymscyk? or something, how do you spell that?), he worked on the sessions and he told me how they recorded the long solos on Hotel California (studio). They initially just improvised/jammed over the solo sections and recorded a bunch of takes. They listened to the playbacks of the various takes, picked the best parts, and cut an edited version from the good parts. Then they learned the compiled solo from the edit, and re-recorded it in a continuous take for the final product. It was cool to learn how they did it, just thought I'd pass it on.

Oh yeah, he also spilled some sordid tales about Linda Ronstadt and her bass player, Balloon Dick. I won't repeat those here!


Al

That's great stuff. Thank you for sharing. Any other tidbits?

[Randy Van Sykes]

Oh yeah, he also spilled some sordid tales about Linda Ronstadt and her bass player, Balloon Dick. I won't repeat those here!

AlCome on...you can't just say Linda Ronstadt and Balloon Dick and not go further with the story! :munch

[zombiwoof]

Let's just say that Linda found out why they called him Balloon Dick! And it does involve balloons!

Al

[Teh RedWizard]

Linda baby,I hearby present,ba ba bum bum...BALLOON DICK!:crazyguy

[amphead777]

So far as getting that humbucker sound now, listen to "Hotel California" on the Sheptone site. Sound good to me.
http://www.sheptone.com/hum.htm

[mrface2112]

...and they kicked Felder out of the band!?!?!?!?!? Yep. And for me, without Felder, it's not really the Eagles. The combination of Joe Walsh and Don Felder was just deadly.

Every time i start "mentally hating" the Eagles, i take one listen to that live version of Hotel California and it's like everything's right with the world again.

cheers,
wade

[Redfish]

I agree. I'll never forgive Frey and Henley for letting thier greed break up one of the great guitar duos of all time. If you've never heard it, check out "You can't argue with a sick mind" for some great guitar work by Walsh and Felder.

[larry rolando]

I think Felder was using a 59 LP and a tweed Deluxe. I don't know about Walsh's bit...sounds like single coils...I've seen him use a Tele on the song.

JD
Jack I am sure you are correct in every way. I ask Felder one day at Westwood Music after One of these Nights came out what he used on the solo. He said a P90 Les Paul Junior into a Tweed Deluxe. Since that was on the album before Hotel California, It makes since to me. He was also one of the first guys to get a Boogie also.

[jackaroo]

I just read an interview where that's what he said is all. I just remember it.

[ultrevex]

I've always thought that Walsh's phaser lead tone on this song was oddly similar to the EVH Van Halen 1 lead sound... that chewy, lowest speed phase 90 thing that you can really hear on the attack.

[Randy Van Sykes]

You might be interested in this:

I used to know the guy that was the assistant to the engineer on those sessions (Szymscyk? or something, how do you spell that?), he worked on the sessions and he told me how they recorded the long solos on Hotel California (studio). They initially just improvised/jammed over the solo sections and recorded a bunch of takes. They listened to the playbacks of the various takes, picked the best parts, and cut an edited version from the good parts. Then they learned the compiled solo from the edit, and re-recorded it in a continuous take for the final product. It was cool to learn how they did it, just thought I'd pass it on.

Oh yeah, he also spilled some sordid tales about Linda Ronstadt and her bass player, Balloon Dick. I won't repeat those here!

AlSeems that is one of the best ways to achieve a great solo.
I heard an interview with Bob Ezrin where he commented on how the outro solo for Comfortably Numb was recorded with Gilmour...many takes of improvising, then edit together the best parts.

[mbratch]

You might be interested in this:

I used to know the guy that was the assistant to the engineer on those sessions (Szymscyk? or something, how do you spell that?), he worked on the sessions and he told me how they recorded the long solos on Hotel California (studio). They initially just improvised/jammed over the solo sections and recorded a bunch of takes. They listened to the playbacks of the various takes, picked the best parts, and cut an edited version from the good parts. Then they learned the compiled solo from the edit, and re-recorded it in a continuous take for the final product. It was cool to learn how they did it, just thought I'd pass it on.Interesting. Not too different from how Beethoven composed symphonies and other pieces. He kept a music notebook and wrote musical/melodic ideas into it. He would compose a piece of music drawing from ideas in that collection.

[telelion]

Interesting stuff as we know they did not have the tools of today to work with and did indeed achieve some glorious guitar sounds. Also, let's not forget Bernie Leadon's lucious ambient sound and B string bender work (influenced completely from Clarence White) which defined their earlier work as much as their much heralded harmonies. I would imagine BF Fender of some sort.

Yes I have read the Felder book. There are not too many bands that had as much major help from the "sidemen" as them. Leadon, Meisner, Felder, Walsh, Schmit, and of course always special help from JD Souther or Jackson Browne when they needed it most, for arrangement, a song, whatever. I have great musical respect for Henley and Frey but they are not natural songwriters(or at least prolific) as proven by taking two decades to release the very mediocre, "Long Road out of Eden." They always use collaborators and they didn't really write that many themselves though some were great and other than Hotel(for the most part) they were a singles group.

I also say, take away a number of the classics attributed by the "others" and the Eagles are not 1/10 as popular. Examples: Take it Easy(Jackson Browne, Peaceful Easy Feeling(Jack Tempkin), Take it to the Limit(Meisner), Hotel(Felder), Life in the Fast Lane(riff by Joe Walsh), Victm of Love(mostly written by Felder)One of these Nights(Felder owns it guitar wise), Long Run(Felder harmonizes the guitars), New Kid(JD Souther,),and even the one new semi-classic, How Long(JD wrote it in 1970).

Sorry for the rant. I just can't help myself.