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#1
05-20-2021, 04:02 PM
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Eric Clapton Sound
Hi all,
I got rid of my electric guitar about 10 years ago, so this question is just to satisfy my curiosity. Can you tell me what equipment EC used to get the sound he used in many of his lead riffs? The sustain seems to just go on forever, and the sound was unlike any thing I was able to create with my guitar and amp back then. An example of what I'm referring to would be the Derek and the Dominos song "Presence of the Lord". 
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#2
05-20-2021, 04:58 PM
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You could start here:
https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/th...-dominos-layla For someone as famous and influential as Clapton, there must be plenty of other sites where geeks discuss his gear in minute detail. Such as: https://www.whereseric.com/the-vault...set-historical https://www.thegearpage.net/board/in...k-tone.657575/ Of course, you have to factor in his touch and control, and the studio technology of the time. Using the same guitar and amp would only start you off in the right direction - it wouldn't get you all the way!
__________________
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen.
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#3
05-20-2021, 05:18 PM
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Presence of the Lord was a Blind Faith tune, a few years before Derek & the Dominos. Clapton has played so many guitars and amps over the years, particularly early on. On the Beano album he did with Mayall, he was playing a Les Paul. For a lot of the Cream years, he was playing an SG. He played an ES-335 during Blind Faith and may have used it sometimes with Cream too. Switched to a strat for Derek and the Dominos and had mostly played a strat for the last 50 years, but he still pulls out an ES-335 sometimes for a few tunes in concert. For amps, I’m pretty sure he was playing an old Marshall 1959 in the Beano era, but I don’t know what all he’s played over the many years since. Probably a lot of stuff.
-Ray
__________________
"It's just honest human stuff that hadn't been near a dang metronome in its life" - Benmont Tench
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#4
05-20-2021, 06:11 PM
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JonPR,
Thanks for the reference material. Back when I was a teenager, I had a no-name single pickup guitar and a Vox amp. I would sit and adjust the EQ settings and mess with the fuzz box to try to get that EC sound. Never happened.
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#5
05-20-2021, 06:12 PM
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Quote:
That tone you love was recorded on tube mics probably, professional amp and mic placement, the old recording consoles, studio grade, likely tube, compression... So many other factors involved including the use of a Wah pedal. People still argue over Eric's "Beano" tone, and in that case we know EXACTLY what he used! The arguments all revolve around the recording and amp and mic placement. There are many things an individual can do to enhance sustain and "fatness" of tone. In fact when Eric worked with fender on his signature model, he ended up with Lace pickups, and later vintage noiseless pickups and a 25db mid-boost put in! Why? Probably to get consisten sustain and fatness live no matter the challenges of the venue. Hope it helps knowing you did nothing wrong!
__________________
I only play technologically cutting edge instruments. Parker Flys and National Resonators
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#7
05-20-2021, 06:41 PM
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Blue,
I was struggling with a way to describe the sound I was talking about. "Fatness" seems to work well. Glad EC and the engineers in the studio were able to come up with that sound. I love listening to those songs. Thanks for filling in some of the mystery.
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#8
05-20-2021, 10:01 PM
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Just sit in your bedroom and practice 14 hours a day for the next few years.
 (If I remember correctly, that's what Clapton did.)
__________________
Tacoma Thunderhawk baritone, spruce & maple. Maton SRS60C, cedar & Queensland Maple. Maton Messiah 808, spruce & rosewood. Cole Clark Angel 3, Huon Pine & silkwood. Cole Clark Fat Lady 2 12-string, Bunya & Blackwood.
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#10
05-21-2021, 06:18 AM
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Quote:
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Breedlove, Landola, a couple of electrics, and a guitar-shaped-object
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#11
06-01-2021, 09:28 AM
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I was looking for EC's tone from his first solo album when I bought my first electric guitar and amp. Think "Let It Rain."
Got lucky the first time with a 2000 MIA Strat Deluxe w/Vintage Noiseless pickups and a 4x10 Fender DeVille amp. Pretty darn close, anyway.
__________________
2002 Martin OM-18V 2012 Collings CJ Mh SS SB 2013 Taylor 516 Custom
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#12
06-02-2021, 01:52 AM
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One word.....Volume!.
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#13
06-02-2021, 03:59 AM
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Quote:
__________________
Ray Gibson SJ200 Taylor Grand Symphony Taylor 514CE-NY Taylor 814CE Deluxe V-Class Guild F1512 Alvarez DY74 Snowflake ('78)
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#14
06-02-2021, 05:26 AM
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I don't think it was strictly volume. I was in a garage band back in my teens, and I used to joke that "what we lacked in talent, we made up for with volume". I still was never able to get that sound that I'd hear on any album that Clapton played on.
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#15
06-03-2021, 06:46 AM
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Quote:
Personally I think the "height" of his good tone days came when he was playing mainly Gibson SG's and ES335's, more so than the post Cream Strat playing Clapton. His Strat sound was always great, no doubt, but more refined. His Gibson days a lot more "on the edge" and fiery. His "woman" tone back in the day won him a lot of fans and admiration. Have a look here at his description of how he achieved it: But, the main lesson I derive from it is not so much the gear and settings he uses for tone but all the wood shedding he did to achieve his sound, especially his vibrato. He really emphasized that in this interview. It's not talent and gear alone. There's very little instant gratification in guitar playing. You have to really put in the hours, no matter the style you play.
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Best regards, Andre Golf is pretty simple. It's just not that easy. - Paul Azinger "It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so." – Mark Twain http://www.youtube.com/user/Gitfiddlemann
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