OD pedal for Duane Allman tone?

[skiraly017]

Looking to get that "Ain't My Cross To Bear"/Live At The Fillmore great singing lead tone. Since a cranked Plexi is out of the question, what will get me there?

 

[davebc]

So I guess a cranked Twin w/JBL's is probably also out of the question.
Unquestionable one of the greatest magical, most illusive tones ever recorded, from one of the best and most influential guitar banditos to ever sling a burst.
WAY too much mojo for a box.
There's a guy at the Les Paul Forum who absolutely nails the "Cross To Bear" and I mean scarey nails it, using a Les Paul w/ paf's through an old BF Pro Reverb with old JBL's, no pedals. He has an AB tribute band. His other guitarist gets close using a cranked BF Deluxe with a Cerwin Vega and doesn't take anyones head off.
The key is that cranked, old school, natural tube compression, ripping overdrive. My Klon has gotten me close. So has my Matchless Lightning 15, and my Lesters cranked through my Vic Twins, or my old Marshall. I've had way more success using amps straight in like Duane.
I've loved that tone since hearing it in 1970', but have been a complete failure at getting it with a pedal, only by using a cranked amp.
It's a beautiful thing imo that his studio tone on the AB albums is fairly clean, at time super clean in fact.
I'd really be interested to hear some pedal recommendations myself.

 

[jero]

My experience is that a BJF BBOD with gain at less than 12 0 clock gives a great plexi like overdrive, even on a Fender amp

 

[Tom CT]

You need an OD that simulates JBL D120s. I don't think one's been made...yet.

 

[pacomc79]

The "talent boost" is especially required for his slide playing J/K. I have no Idea, he was a magician.

 

[nashvillesteve]

The Hotcake into a cranked Ghia will boost it to get this sound wonderfully.

 

[bluesbreaker59]

I've had good luck with a cranked up Vicky Double Deluxe, my Les Paul with Duncan Antiquities on the bridge pickup with tone rolled back to 7, and a Crowther Hot Cake, and just a tiny bit of reverb (to simulate what Duane is getting At the Fillmore), this gets me as close as I'm ever gonna get.

I had a 50 watt Marshall and a 4x12 cab, and that was also nice, especially with a little boost from the Crowther Hot Cake. My problem is that I can't play slide like Duane, so simulating him exactly is difficult. However, I can cop some of his "normal" playing abilities, if I listen to enough Allman Bros stuff. Right now I'm listening to the American University CD.

 

[burstone]

I don't know of any pedal that can do that, but my Landgraff DO set in "marshall mode" into a '68 Pro Reverb and a '50s les paul sure makes me grin a lot...

 

[moodog]

I'm with DaveBC on this one. There is no substitute for a cranked amp at those volumes.

My girl is a big Oasis fan so for her birthday I got her tickets to see them. To my surprise the band Jet opened for them. I saw them in a large outdoor amphitheater. We stayed out in the parking lot for the first song or so by Jet (I personally could have stayed out there all night). When we got out of the car I could clearly hear Jet's amps cranked and what a great tone I might add.
When we got into the show the volume was almost overwhelming and we had seats in the middle section towards the back (close to the nose bleed seats).
Of course I got to checking out what amps (and what I could see of pedals).
All they had were two Hiwatt stacks for the singer. A Marshall stack, Vox AC-30 for the guitarist.


The only thing mic'd was the AC-30! All the amps were cranked and I did not see a pedal board on the floor...
I fell in love with their tone. Very,,, The Who meets AC/DC.
When Oasis came on all their amps were mic'd and you could tell...

+1 for raw Rock-N-Roll!

 

[Craise]

Was it a twin with JBLs? I thought it was marshalls with JBLs??
Anyone know what D and D were using on the Atlanta Pop Festival CD?
I love these shows, almost more than the fillmore. Same set up as fillmore? 100/50 marshalls with JBLs? fuzz? But when it really comes down to it ...it's all in the fingers...if you can play the riffs, bends and vibro, then you're set...you can get a close enough tone out of a RAT. IMHO

 

[Bonedance]

An old blackbox Marshall BLuesbreaker pedal will do the trick.

 

[Seegs]

What about an older Menatone 5 knob Workingmans Blue...JTM45 in a box works also with Clean Fenders...

Chow,
Seegs

 

[Rollo Timbre]

I just got one of the new small box Blue Collars, and with the gain around 12:00, my first reaction was to do a little Allman Bros.

 

[davebc]

For years I've been looking for the right pedal that would get me there when I want to use my Dual Professional, now thats 100 watts of clean and loud.No succes yet beyond cranking up, which definitely out of the question w/ that amp.

 

[nashvillesteve]

...Crowther Hot Cake. My problem is that I can't play slide like Duane, so simulating him exactly is difficult.

Thumbs up on the Hotcake.

As for the slide playing, I'm 99% certain that he was playing in open E tuning, which makes it a kajillion times easier to cop his licks. Seriously. Statesboro Blues is just in E (or was it D? Oh, well)... But it's seriously all single notes at the 12th fret, then for the licks, you drop back to the 10th fret. Then sometimes you slide up to the 13th fret- for the "blue note" (3rd)..., and then you can do that little "top 3 strings extension box on the blues scale where you learned all of the albert king solos" with the slide as well.

The hardest part about playing slide is a) muting, b) getting a good vibrato from side to side if you're not used to it- start really slowly and smoothly and build your way up to Duane's speed. The main thing is just to play one note at a time. It might be easier to start learning slide with simpler material, like Clapton's unplugged album, which I believe most of the slide tunes are in open G. Open G is a good slide tuning, but I find that open E affords more licks in the higher range of the scale while still in "root position" (if you consider such a thing possible when playing with a slide).

I use a duane allman copy corricidian (speed?) pill bottle slide... I liked heavy slides at first, but on electric with medium action and .010's, a light slide is easier to not "fret out" with... besides, after you get used to it, it's all hand motion anyway and you don't need the weight of a heavy slide to get a good vibrato sound. It's kind of like building a non-slide vibrato technique with heavy strings- learning to work "against" them to get a natural sound, then after that is achieved, you can use lighter strings and "just do it." In my experience, the same goes for slide weight. I also use it on my pinky, which is not the most common way (on the ring finger). I still make sure the weight I'm throwing around for vibrato is my arm weight and not the slide and it also lets me use 3 fingers for playing. Slide is a lot of fun...

 

[StompBoxBlues]

Thumbs up on the Hotcake.

As for the slide playing, I'm 99% certain that he was playing in open E tuning, which makes it a kajillion times easier to cop his licks. Seriously. Statesboro Blues is just in E (or was it D? Oh, well)... But it's seriously all single notes at the 12th fret, then for the licks, you drop back to the 10th fret. Then sometimes you slide up to the 13th fret- for the "blue note" (3rd)..., and then you can do that little "top 3 strings extension box on the blues scale where you learned all of the albert king solos" with the slide as well.

The hardest part about playing slide is a) muting, b) getting a good vibrato from side to side if you're not used to it- start really slowly and smoothly and build your way up to Duane's speed. The main thing is just to play one note at a time. It might be easier to start learning slide with simpler material, like Clapton's unplugged album, which I believe most of the slide tunes are in open G. Open G is a good slide tuning, but I find that open E affords more licks in the higher range of the scale while still in "root position" (if you consider such a thing possible when playing with a slide).

I use a duane allman copy corricidian (speed?) pill bottle slide... I liked heavy slides at first, but on electric with medium action and .010's, a light slide is easier to not "fret out" with... besides, after you get used to it, it's all hand motion anyway and you don't need the weight of a heavy slide to get a good vibrato sound. It's kind of like building a non-slide vibrato technique with heavy strings- learning to work "against" them to get a natural sound, then after that is achieved, you can use lighter strings and "just do it." In my experience, the same goes for slide weight. I also use it on my pinky, which is not the most common way (on the ring finger). I still make sure the weight I'm throwing around for vibrato is my arm weight and not the slide and it also lets me use 3 fingers for playing. Slide is a lot of fun...

I usually hate "me too" responses...but REALLY....folks ought to read this post carefully, a couple of times, and really let it sink in.

I loved also the description about the "Albert King, top three strings extension" pattern. Know exactly what you mean, with all of it, and got new insights (I also liked the mention of arm weight instead of slide weight, and even though I've been playing for years, and slide, I always thought about string gauge...thinking I always had to at least have 12's, and really overlooked that a slide could be so much lighter that you could go down in gauge on strings).

Just, generally, a really excellent post, and great advice!

 

[StompBoxBlues]

C'mon guys, this is really some great advice for slide guitar playing.

I taught myself slide, by just buying a slide and trying to mimic Duane Allman, Robert Johnson, Blind Wille Johnson (the most amazing slide guitarist I know of), and others. I never thought enough about it because I thought of myself as a "regular" guitarist all the time, but I always tried to play a little slide.

I picked up slide books here and there, but they were too often too elemental (told me things I already knew) but NashvilleSteve just gave more information (USEFULL INFORMATION) in three paragraphs than you usually get in a whole "secrets of silde guitar" book in the whole book.

Okay...it's New Years Eve, I'm drunk, and having a good time, but it's still true. Let's get with it folks and say THANKS! for the advice and celebrate the new year!

 

[Jollyb]

I highly reccomend the G2D Creamtone.

http://www.g2d.co.nz/productdetail.php?ID=1

Fantasic pedal..........more to Duanes tone then just gear though..........but this pedal will help you get there . :AOK


The custom Overdrive kicks ass too.........their sound sample of that one does NOT do it justice.

 

[Roe]

I would have started with the amp and speaker - not a pedal. perhaps a germino club40 (with6v6s for less volume) into a 1x12 cab with a g12, or SA12 HP, or weber california.

 

[slider313]

If you want to get that tone at a lower volume level,a princeton reverb with either a JBL or an Altec Lansing, on 7, with a TS9 and of course a les paul on the neck pickup. I used this set up(princeton/altec/ts9) and also nailed his solo tone on blue sky( a blend of neck and bridge p/u with the bridge volume on 7 neck on 3 tone on the bridge p/u set to 5).