Zeppelin Guitar Sound

[beechstudio]

There has always been discussion on the late great John Bonhams drum sound. But, does anyone have any info on Jimmy Page's guitar miking technique? Particularly the 1st and 2nd albums. My favs!

[not_so_new]

Not just the 1 and 2nd.... I think his guitar sounds got better and better. I LOVE the sounds on the first and second albums but the later sounds are really really special.

"Houses of the Holy" (the song) yummmm......

[beechstudio]

Yeah..........Physical Graffiti was a great album! The production though I felt was a little bland. Maybe it was in the mastering. I don't know. Good tunes!

[Shawn1272]

I remembering readying that Page was really fond of small tube amps (Supro?). Not sure of the mics, pres, etc.

shawn

[Rodney Gene]

The Telecaster was a big contribution.

[waxnsteel]

Take it out of context, and 90% of his electric guitar tones were crap. Half the time he was out of tune.
Fill in the rest of the band and it was pure magic.
The acoustic guitar sounds, though were phenomenal.

[wwittman]

well not just A telecaster... MOST telecaster don't sound anything like that.,
But I have seen and heard a few 1958 telecasters that DO sound that amazing.

I know Jimmy said that Whole Lotta Love was a Vox 7120... but I don't know if the Supro and other small amps was in use on the first two records.
Sounds more like Marshalls to me, especially on LZ 1.


I know on acoustics, he was very fond of the RCA ba6a compressor as well.

But mostly, I'd think in terms of very SLIGHTLY overdriven guitars .... not the mondo distortion that's au courant today.

[nlc201]

There's a rumour going around that "Black Dog" was actually recorded direct through several 1176s to produce the distorion. There might be something on the Universal Audio site on this. I'd look myself but it's Saturday night and I'm slightly intoxicated...... dfegad

[MadGuitrst]

Isn't it pretty obvious that IV was recorded direct.?

I agree that 90% of the tones suck. Yet, I love that album to death, I cut my teeth on it. And, if nothing else, they were unique and indentifiable.

[not_so_new]

WHAT!!! His tones are KILLER. To each their own but "90% of the tones suck"??? I guess we hear things differently.

[MadGuitrst]

Maybe it's in how I said it.

What I mean, if you listened to single tracks of his guitar I don't think they'd sound very good. They are obviously run direct, sometimes using the board or whatever for distortion, very jagged, brittle and thin.

But, take those sounds, overdub like crazy, put them in with the rest of the band......sprinkle the Led Zepplin magic on it all amd voila....magic. As a whole, I love every thing about IV, including the tones. It's just that iso'd, they'd obviously not exactly be big, fat, organic amp tones.

Just my 2 cents.

[mitgong]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say: Direct my ass!

[84K]

He used a Telecaster on ZEP 1 and 2. It was played through a Supro Thunderbolt amp. The other albums saw him playing a variety of guitars and amps. He grew into the Les Paul in the last 2 records with the occasional Gretsch, Fender, etc.
He got into his Les Pauls and having them wired 4 conductor to produce fender tele and strat tones with many other possibilities.
He also used a Fender Blender pedal on a bit of the later stuff.

[neve1073]

check out terry manning's guest forum at prosounds web.

he recorded zeppelin III.....

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/ind...42c28fd6c35c79

[BrianBrian]

Originally posted by nlc201
There's a rumour going around that "Black Dog" was actually recorded direct through several 1176s to produce the distorion. There might be something on the Universal Audio site on this. I'd look myself but it's Saturday night and I'm slightly intoxicated...... dfegad

That's what Andy Johns says here:
http://www.uaudio.com/webzine/2003/april/index8.html

I heard somewhere that Page often just used a Marshall with all the dials 3/4 of the way up, but I can't source this.

[BrianK]

If you gave ANYONE in the world that Communication Breakdown tone and said "Let's go!" they would laugh you out of the studio. I must agree with that "in context" remark - on anyone else's album, those sounds usually would not work.

One of Jimmy best attibutes was, as a producer, he made the guitar sounds small and reedy (compared to Cream, Black Sabbath, Blackmore, Fleetwood Mac). This allowed the drums and bass to be HUGE. Note that songs like "The Ocean" and Kashmir" have BIG gaps in the guitar part to allow you to hear those great drums. Obviously , he wasn't all about having the *best* guitar tone, just a functional one with creative colours.

I am told he used to use more then one mic - somethimes behind the cabinet, or a close room mic. Just to add some dimensionality to things.

BTW - form the man himself, Jimmy and I had talk about old 1970's Yamaha handmade acoustics; he says that is largely the guitar he used in the studio for Zeppelin tracks. Certain ones are fantastic, but none are usually worth more than $400. He asked me to find more and gave me his manager's number in case I did. I sold him a few old Tone Benders and a Memory Man.

[Zeppelin4Life]

Page got that fuzzy tone (black dog, no quarter) thru two 1176s. he usually recorded with a supro and WLL was a Vox 7120

jimmy page didnt get the biggest sound in the studio. but damn he got the best live guitar sound in rock. Listen to the HTWWW album.

[Rodney Gene]

Originally posted by wwittman
well not just A telecaster... MOST telecaster don't sound anything like that.,
But I have seen and heard a few 1958 telecasters that DO sound that amazing.

MOST telecasters aren't being played by Page...

The Telecaster was a genuine bonafide contribution to Page's signature tone on those albums (1/3 IMO)
Wouldn't / Couldn't have gotten the tone with a Strat or Les Paul...possibly a JR with P-90's...but the Tele's tone contribution was huge.
The bridge pickup uses a ferrous plate underneath the poles...(tradionally in those days non-potted) which alters the magnetic field adding particular mids and harmonics (that tele 'bite' and 'twang') that can't be gotten anywhere else.
Kieth Richards or Pete Townsend wouldn't have sounded the same with a Les Paul either.

Ultimately the combination of all the elements is what get's it.

P&B,

[warhead]

Originally posted by mitgong
I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say: Direct my ass!

I heard the same thing about "Black Dog" and if you listen to it, there sort of is a fuzzy DI thing going on.

?

War

[mitgong]

Originally posted by BrianBrian
That's what Andy Johns says here:
http://www.uaudio.com/webzine/2003/april/index8.html

I heard somewhere that Page often just used a Marshall with all the dials 3/4 of the way up, but I can't source this.

I stand somewhat corrected. Hrmph.

[rynugz007]

His guitar tones are all over the place teles, pauls, strats, marshalls, supros, vox, direct, room mics, close mic etc...... The consistency lies in the special sauce which is jimmys technique, his ear and the riffs. If you have a great riff, played by jimmy page it really would be difficult to make it sound bad. He has that raunchy, drunken bluesy thing going on in everything he plays that completely drips with vibe. Probably my favorite guitar player of all time

[doorknocker]

Originally posted by wwittman
well not just A telecaster... MOST telecaster don't sound anything like that.,
But I have seen and heard a few 1958 telecasters that DO sound that amazing.

Well, besides the fact that it's the player more than anything else, I think the Telecaster's potential is often not fully realized.
Country twang, Steve Cropper-style chunk, I love it all but the Tele can do so much more. I once had a great late 60ies Tele that looked like the one that Page plays in the early Yardbirds/Zep footage that's around. The rosewood neck surely contributes to the bigness of the sound but hook up a Tonebender-type fuzz through a Marshall and be amazed. I had the Fulltone Soul Bender but didn't like it. On the other hand I get amazing sustain with my Jap Tele thru a Danelectro FabTone. The Prescription Electronics YardBox is also supposed to be great, haven't tried it yet though.
Don't forget that Page was heavily influenced by his predecessor in the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck. Beck got outrageous tones with the Tonebender/Tele combo and most of all, with his hand and mind.

If you want the Les Paul sound, then get a Les Paul but I really like going from a slim rhythm sound to a big, creamy solo tone with a Tele.

Andi

www.doorknocker.ch

[beechstudio]

I read in Guitar World in the early 90's. that on the song 'How Many More Times' (Zep I) Jimmy played through a Leslie with the rotating motor turned off. Kind of a fuzzy tone, but I guess it worked for the song.

[silverdisk]

Originally posted by rynugz007
His guitar tones are all over the place teles, pauls, strats, marshalls, supros, vox, direct, room mics, close mic etc...... The consistency lies in the special sauce which is jimmys technique, his ear and the riffs. If you have a great riff, played by jimmy page it really would be difficult to make it sound bad. He has that raunchy, drunken bluesy thing going on in everything he plays that completely drips with vibe. Probably my favorite guitar player of all time

I secand that!... unweildy yet technical... i love the sound of the solo on Heartbreaker.... esp the sound of the pick digging into each note.... friggin balls out

[biggator6]

he's also been reported to use old 3-knob tonebenders quite a bit... that would certainly add to the buzzy/fuzzy tones.
"-)

[BrianK]

ALL Tone Benders sound different, too. I know he used the two-knob ones a lot.

Don't forget the Danelectro guitar and Fender Electric 12-string he used too. And who knows how many more guitars?

Like everyone, he had lots of guitars and amps to try and use. It ain't all Tele and Supros, or Les Paul and Vox 7120.

[Mystr Tiger]

Here's an interesting page (from a site dedicated to Led Zep) that lists Page's gtrs and amps.

http://www.led-zeppelin.org/reference/gear.html

And, from the same site, an interview where Page himself describes some of his recording techniques - real fun stuff:

http://www.led-zeppelin.org/reference/int23.html

[warhead]

Originally posted by silverdisk
I secand that!... unweildy yet technical... i love the sound of the solo on Heartbreaker.... esp the sound of the pick digging into each note.... friggin balls out

Somehow the solo for Heartbreaker is the best, and quite possibly the worst solo ever in Zep history.

I mean there's parts that are great and there are parts that are painful to listen to. It really sort of falls apart in the middle, the man tried to play too fast and it just chops up and farts out in there.

War

[silverdisk]

Originally posted by warhead
Somehow the solo for Heartbreaker is the best, and quite possibly the worst solo ever in Zep history.

I mean there's parts that are great and there are parts that are painful to listen to. It really sort of falls apart in the middle, the man tried to play too fast and it just chops up and farts out in there.

War

Or.......
was it that his genius was too fast to be physically done?!?!?!?!;0

but seriously, its true that it wouldnt have worked if it wasnt Page, Plant, and Bonham and that whole mystique and dynamic.... i mean, when i hear Page-esque licks by other bands it usually sounds dumb or like obvious Page moves.... like the way Stevei Ray's moves .....to me..... were actually just alot of Hendrix's moves IN MY OPINION

[remo]

for some reason i think he used a Danelectro guitar a fair bit.. actually I think he used it HEAPS.