i hate demos done w/ tele's

[fritferret]

i like tele tones, but that sound is just so specific that i have a hard time trying to imagine what a standard strat or lp style guitar would sound like. and i'm always look for ways to dial out brightness without ruining a tone and a lot of pedal demos w/ tele's i can't tell wear the brightness is coming from.

anyone else feel that way? also, folsk who p[lay primarily tele's, are you frustrated by a lack of tele demos compared to strat and lp demos?

[DanHorse]

Its really useful when you get demos like Burgerman's who uses a tele and a humbucker guitar very often in the same demo.

I know what you mean though, but if a demo is done with a tele and the brightness not dialled out you can get a better idea of the pedals suitability with it.

[ruger9]

I feel opposite. Being a tele guy, I find most demos DON'T use teles, and you're right- the tele sound is so distinctive, hearing how a pedal sound with a strat or LP doesn't do me nearly as much good.

[Prititing]

As a tele user, I love it :)

[JeffOlson]

I hear you. It is nice when a demo will use different guitars. PGS is pretty good about that. However, I usually play a Tele because they have such a clear tone. ;)

[fritferret]

i find it particularly frustrating, because most of the tele demos of stuff i'm interest in is full of excellent playing with great setting (not just doing a low, everything at noon, everything at full kind of thing). in the last year, though, i've been itching more and more for a tele....maybe that's their sinister plan: to bring me to the other side!


and yeah, burgerman's demos are great and a great example of what i'm talking about: his demos makes me more interested in tele than the stuff he's demoing. i'd probably own an amp 11 if i had found a couple of good demos using a strat or lp. maybe if i played a tele more often (ie. owned one) i'd be better able to gauge what i'm hearing from those demos. ......did you see what just happened there? a justification for another gutiar!

[fritferret]

I hear you. It is nice when a demo will use different guitars. PGS is pretty good about that. However, I usually play a Tele because they have such a clear tone. ;)

you're right. listen to bonamassa here. very different tone, but still really nice. this is in the range of tele tones i really like:

NuSPOwQ3v3c

[Seegs]

I only have teles and only listen to demos with teles...when I can't find one I listen to a strat demo and am reminded why I don't play them anymore;)



Chow,
Seegs

[roknfnrol]

you're right. listen to bonamassa here. very different tone, but still really nice. this is in the range of tele tones i really like:

NuSPOwQ3v3c

Yeah, that sounds great. That kind of drive and sustain would probably work great with any guitar though.

[JeffOlson]

^ Hah! I still loves Strats, too, but almost always only on the neck pickup. When I play my Brian Moore M/C 1, I am reminded why I prefer single coils to humbuckers (i.e., clear vs. muddy). ;)

[jb1911]

Love me some Tele.

[ChorusCrackpot]

If you hate demos done with tele's, then don't watch demos done with tele's. Simple, as, that.

[BlueHeaven]

Other than a twanging, clean bridge tone from a Tele I don't think they are any more or less "identifiable"(sp?) than a Strat. A demo with singles and 'buckers is always a good idea though.

[screamingduck]

i find it particularly frustrating, because most of the tele demos of stuff i'm interest in is full of excellent playing with great setting (not just doing a low, everything at noon, everything at full kind of thing). in the last year, though, i've been itching more and more for a tele....maybe that's their sinister plan: to bring me to the other side!


and yeah, burgerman's demos are great and a great example of what i'm talking about: his demos makes me more interested in tele than the stuff he's demoing. i'd probably own an amp 11 if i had found a couple of good demos using a strat or lp. maybe if i played a tele more often (ie. owned one) i'd be better able to gauge what i'm hearing from those demos. ......did you see what just happened there? a justification for another gutiar!

After years of first playing Les Pauls and then about a 10 year run playing Strats, about 15 years ago I swtiched to an old '62 Tele with a '59 neck and have not looked back since. It had a crappy Strat-style pickup in the neck position that I switched out for a sweet Bill Lawrence fat single coil. Now I can get those classic bridge pickup tones a la Roy Buchanan or Danny Gatton and when I switch to my neck pickup I get thick almost Les Paul tones great for soloing and jazzy chording.
That Tele gives me everything I need and the cleans are crystal clear. Loves me some Telecaster!!!
Quit fighting the inevitable and come on over to the beauty that is a Telecaster my friend!!!!

[thesjkexperienc]

I would say the same thing about humbuckers. Especially with fuzz demos as they all tend to sound the same. Single coil demos allow the nuances of the pedal to come through.

[rydia is hot]

I hate demos done with Strats. Such a boring sound.

[ES330]

I use a Tele ALOT !!! So DIG the Tele demos !!!!

[Occam]

Poor Gretsch and P90 guys rarely get any demo's.

[tjs]

I feel the exact opposite - I think that, barring the use of multiple guitars, all demos should be done with tele bridge pickups because they are probably the best "middle ground" of any pickup. They have (or at least can approach) the punch and clarity of a humbucker, the lower output and tight bass of a strat, the chime of a Gretsch, etc. When I hear a demo done with a tele I can get a pretty good idea of how it would sound with most other guitars, but the inverse is not necessarily true.

[Warse22]

Have to disagree. I find most demos are done with Strats, which have to be the most distinct sounding guitar, ever. And usually it's someone wanking on blues riffs.

[tapeup]

I only have teles and only listen to demos with teles...when I can't find one I listen to a strat demo and am reminded why I don't play them anymore;)

Chow,
Seegs

No more Les Pauls Seegs? I'm with you on the fondness for Teles, but I remember when you seemed to get equal use out of Les Pauls it seemed, or am I not remembering correctly? Cheers! Still loving my Dual Classic! How about you?

[Smitty Pedals]

After years of first playing Les Pauls and then about a 10 year run playing Strats, about 15 years ago I swtiched to an old '62 Tele with a '59 neck and have not looked back since. It had a crappy Strat-style pickup in the neck position that I switched out for a sweet Bill Lawrence fat single coil. Now I can get those classic bridge pickup tones a la Roy Buchanan or Danny Gatton and when I switch to my neck pickup I get thick almost Les Paul tones great for soloing and jazzy chording.
That Tele gives me everything I need and the cleans are crystal clear. Loves me some Telecaster!!!
Quit fighting the inevitable and come on over to the beauty that is a Telecaster my friend!!!!


I've also plaid mainly a Les Paul for the last 30 years and never owned a Fender let alone a Telecaster or even played one until about a month ago. I finally bought one and it is the most awesome guitar ever. My Les Paul sounds like mud in comparison. I will aways love the power of the Les Paul but the Tele is just so articulate. It is AMAZING. I LOVE IT.:JAM

I predict this is going to turn into another Telecaster appreciation thread.

[Nielsnielsniels]

I wish gearmanndude would buy a better mic, or atleast try to sort out his recording. I don't care about the teles. His clean sound always sounds so shrill and empty. I love his demos but the sound quality leaves me frowning sometimes, I much prefer the Pro Guitar Shop demos.

[Seegs]

No more Les Pauls Seegs? I'm with you on the fondness for Teles, but I remember when you seemed to get equal use out of Les Pauls it seemed, or am I not remembering correctly? Cheers! Still loving my Dual Classic! How about you?

At that time I was mostly playing my R8 and tele...I had to sell it awhile ago due to shoulder problems...anything over 7lbs is too heavy...miss it to this day but the teles help to ease the loss...

Chow,
Seegs

[cheameup]

I dont mind as long as you get a decent listen to the clean tone first . you can work out whats its doing from there

[((TechnicolorSkyline))]

As a tele user, I love it :)

^ this :aok

[Zero G]

I'm not a tele owner, but demos by killer players like Mike Hermans make me want to own one.

[analogmike]

The solo on Stairway to Heaven sold a million Les Pauls.

Pretty good demo.

(done on a Tele of course)

[mild]

^ LOL mike :D

I dunno, I think using a Tele for a demo is a great idea - it's a sound that we're all familiar with, and every recording pro has one at a session. Everyone's played a Tele at one point or another... it's probably the most "translatable" guitar sound you could pick.

I'd much prefer hearing a Tele over some evil 7 string shredding machine that I'm never likely to make eye contact with for fear of disease...

[Cream]

I suppose I can see what you mean. I hate the sound of Les Pauls and skip through the parts of demos that use them. All sound the same to me, TBH.

[fritferret]

The solo on Stairway to Heaven sold a million Les Pauls.

Pretty good demo.

(done on a Tele of course)


agreed! a good lp sounds like a tele!

to be clear: i'm not bashing teles. i'm saying that effect demos tend to make me want a tele, not the pedal or amp being demoed. that's in part because i have a hard time hearing whether the treble that can come w/ a tele is coming from the guitar or the gear being demoed.

[tapeup]

The solo on Stairway to Heaven sold a million Les Pauls.

Pretty good demo.

(done on a Tele of course)

Rotflmao! Best post in this thread...and I knew there was a reason I liked you Mike!...oh wait, it's also because of your bad-arse pedals and pedal ingenuity! Cheers!

[Jet Age Eric]

I think that, barring the use of multiple guitars, all demos should be done with tele bridge pickups because they are probably the best "middle ground" of any pickup. They have (or at least can approach) the punch and clarity of a humbucker, the lower output and tight bass of a strat, the chime of a Gretsch, etc.

I totally disagree. I think 99% of all bridge pups are shrill and thin, and all I hear is the edginess of the pup. I think neck (or at least middle position) single coils is as close as you can get to a neutral platform, and I think Tele neck pups are as close as you can get to a "best" platform (fuller and chimier than Strats). -E

[Xevamir]

Tele's just have the straight up "guitar sound" that everyone can relate to.
That's probably why they're so common in videos.

Also, I only have one(nice) guitar. And it's a telelcaster.
Would it be practical for me to go and by another guitar just because someone got bored watching telecasters in gear demos?
Nah.

[notnac]

Also irritating to me is when people use strats to demo pedals and they refuse to use anything but the bridge pickup. About 70% of the time I use a strat I'm using the neck pickup. I've noticed most beginners gravitate towards the bridge because it sounds louder and brighter. But it can also sound like an icepick in the ear if not done right.
People demoing pedals should use all pickup positions.

[notnac]

Originally Posted by tjs http://img.thegearpage.net/board/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?p=10562817#post10562817)
I think that, barring the use of multiple guitars, all demos should be done with tele bridge pickups because they are probably the best "middle ground" of any pickup. They have (or at least can approach) the punch and clarity of a humbucker, the lower output and tight bass of a strat, the chime of a Gretsch, etc.


No way! Teles are brighter than strats and the bridge is the brightest of pickups. Unless you are playing country music you need to seriously roll back the ton on a tele bridge position. Actually I won't play teles unless forced to. People already give strat players crap for being too bright. The tele bridge as the standard???!!! Absolutely not.

[Xevamir]

No way! Teles are brighter than strats and the bridge is the brightest of pickups. Unless you are playing country music you need to seriously roll back the ton on a tele bridge position. Actually I won't play teles unless forced to. People already give strat players crap for being too bright. The tele bridge as the standard???!!! Absolutely not.

My friend plays a Fender Strat and it's much brighter and harsher than my Tele.

The sad thing is his guitar is the custom shop John Mayer Strat.

[Blues Lyne]

No way! Teles are brighter than strats and the bridge is the brightest of pickups. Unless you are playing country music you need to seriously roll back the ton on a tele bridge position. Actually I won't play teles unless forced to. People already give strat players crap for being too bright. The tele bridge as the standard???!!! Absolutely not.

I understand what you are saying, but can also see tjs is saying. In my experience a Tele bridge pickup with the tone rolled back a bit is much fatter sounding with dirt than a strats. It can get a tone that is kind of in between a single coil guitar and a humbucker.

When I got my Danocaster, it sent me scrambling to find a different bridge pickup for my Nash Strat (Lollar Special S, which is supposed to be thicker toned strat pickup). I ended up with a Vintage Vibe SP90 (more P90 sound in a strat size pickup) trying to get something that would get as fat and nice sounding as the Don Mare Super Sport in the Danocaster.

No knock intended on Lollar pickups. I love the Blonde's in the neck and middle position, but a Tele bridge raised the bar for me on bridge pickups. Like Mike pointed out, listen some of those Led Zeppelin Tele tones. Nothing thin or ice picky there.

[tjs]

I totally disagree. I think 99% of all bridge pups are shrill and thin, and all I hear is the edginess of the pup. I think neck (or at least middle position) single coils is as close as you can get to a neutral platform, and I think Tele neck pups are as close as you can get to a "best" platform (fuller and chimier than Strats). -E


So basically a tele demo with both neck and bridge pickups makes us both happy.;)

I actually used to agree with you - I couldn't stand most bridge pickups and played on the neck 95% of the time no matter what guitar I was using. Then I found the right tele with an absolutely perfect bridge pickup (a bit hotter than standard, but not to the point where it sounds overwound) and everything changed for me. Now I use mostly teles and jazzmasters and spend about 80% of the time on the bridge, with the other two positions used mainly for clean and low-gain lead sounds.

[tjs]

you need to seriously roll back the ton on a tele bridge position.

Well that's what it's there for.:rotflmao

Seriously, I've come to realize that you can do most anything with a good (which in my opinion is just a bit hotter than vintage) tele/jazzmaster bridge pickup in conjunction with the tone knob. Sure, you've got to roll it down to keep from slicing your head off on clean sounds, but that extra treble on tap comes in handy when you're using fuzz pedals and need a little extra "cut". And the decreased bass and increased upper midrange compared to the neck pickup may sound a little harsh in isolation, but in the context of a full band mix that harshness turns into much needed clarity.

In comparison, neck pickups sound wonderfully fat and warm but there's usually too much bass and not enough midrange for my purposes (except for things like volume swells and ambient stuff that I want to be warm and sit back in the mix).

[gmann]

As a tele user, I love it :)

Abslutely! Most Lester demos sound boring to me I guess cause I hear so many and they sound kinda the same. Tele's, that's where it's at IMO!

I'd like to see more demos done with P90 tho.