Added: 3 years ago
From: voodoolabvid
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  • where did you have the tone control on the strat?

  • Nice video. I'd like to hear all of the heads w/ pedal setups going at once.

  • the tone with Fender is better than with the cranked Marshall ;)

  • great tone and serious gear! but i think that what makes 80% of Eric's tone is the way you pick the strings ( cassical EJ way of plucking ) and the phrasing which is very >EJ-like! that is the most important piece of gear in this video!

  • is the lower cabinet a 1965 b marshall 4x10? because i have one and wanted to know haha :)

  • oh my lord. amazing gear. amazing tone. amazing playing.

  • Cool...thanks for that,as i have been trying to get that sound lately. To my ears,

    the Fender sounds the best. I was about to buy a Marshall,but now I am thinking

    Fender. What do you think of the Vintage Modern 50 watt Marshall for that anyway? Thanks I play a Tony Bruno design Vox Ac30 now...have you tried the EC tone with

    a Vox?

  • Yeah...240p :-P

  • what is the rackmount case you are using? Thanks!

  • Well I can afford none of these items so hopefully I can make my old Crate Blue Voodoo half stack and Les paul custom attain this tone through my digitech gsp1101. yeah, not quite the same.

  • How do you keep the guitar from humming ond squeling like crazy.I have tryed to get some of these tones but the 60cycle hum is off the charts.love the vid,thanks

  • Hey great video. I got a quick question. Are you cutting some of the highs with the bridge tone knob in order to help get those warm sounds? I believe EJ does. If so, how far are you turning down the tone knob? Most of the time when I turn the tone knob way down on my EJ strat is also looses a lot of the signal strength. Thanks!!

  • Very nice!

    Great video.

  • or just download guitar rig and buy a simple pedal for your computer and you save to much fucking money xD

  • Wow! As an EJ fan for ever.... you have all but nailed the tone. Kudos to you. VERY nice.

  • This is a sweet video, and you have equally sweet guitar skills!

    I was wondering, what kind of tube is in that Tube Driver?

  • @PetaBeata89 B. K. butler

  • Cool.

  • this guy is the real deal and all, amazing tone, but all this gear and holy grail tone searching takes the fun out of the music if you ask me.

  • @madatown Thanks and I agree. That's why when I'm not 'working", I just play acoustically or through a tiny tweed deluxe so I can just enjoy the beautiful raw tone of a guitar.

  • @madatown "holy grail tone searching" is an amazing and fun quest. It's one of the only things my Dad and I have in common. We go to guitar shows and look for the newest and best gear. It does not take the "fun" out of music by any means.

  • @Funkyryno I guess to a point it could be fun, and I could never discount what you get out of it. But when you're taking winds out of pickups, or using 100 feet of patch cord, extremes like that, it can get a bit overwhelming.

  • @madatown well if you ask me, if i dont like the tone, music isnt fun for me. but thats just me.

  • I heard this guy named Eric Blaszczak who sounded almost exactly like EJ live..Eric B's tone was actually smoother than EJ's .was awesome.this is a good video too.very good tone here

  • Definitely a lot drier with the VHT, but then that's what they're known for.

  • Hi James,

    i'd love to know which marshall that is ? Super lead plexi or JTM45 ? something else ?

    thanks !

  • @fend14 That one should be a 1966 JTM50. I also had a 1970 Super Tremolo in that recording rig that also sounds amazing. Loud as jet, but great tone! :)

  • @voodoolabvid thanks a lot ! 

  • you really can't beat the sound of an old plexi and an echo plex.

  • hey you gave me some good ideas, thanks a lot!

  • sounds amazing, i does james santiago have a website or email i could contact?

  • @Jpalmieri4 Best thing to do is send me a PM here. I'm not on all the time, but I will get it! Thanks, JS.

  • What are the eq and gain settings of the bk and the green pedal ? also , is it possible to use a tube screamer after the bk pedal and achieve the EJ violin tone ? Thanks and be blessed !!

  • @hollis1974 EJ uses a Fuzz Face to get the more violin-tone in his sound, i'd recommend trying that

  • @hollis1974 The knob settings on the green pedal won't match anything out there. But good news is that it's almost out. It's called the Giggity pedal and hopefully in the next couple months, it will be widely available.

    Use the Tube Screamer before the Tube Driver. I've had good experiments with it that way. If you put it after, you take away a lot of the fat bottom that the Tube Driver adds. Good luck!!!

  • Great job.

  • Damn Ray what did you do rob a bank? How'd you pay for all that?

  • argh all i've got is a hueghs & ketner amp, an AX3000G and an ibanez i dont even know the model of! but it makes a noise xD, tube driver and strat an marshall and all the rest like this is what i want lol.

    Someone who knows about gear, maybe @voodoolabvid . .

    how does eric produce the looping at the start of his improv's etc ? i want somethin that loops so i can have a root note or watever playing like ej does. (and at a realistic price)

  • @Wiltonibanez The looping that Eric does is usually done by the MXR1000 Digital Delay rack piece that's on his rhythm setup. I think he later changed to the MXR1500. You can usually find them pretty cheap these days. I think even some of the Boss pedal units have a "hold" function now too.

  • awesome tone bro! awesome gear!

  • @rockdisipline Thanks! I've gigged that gear to near death and thankfully it all still works. Minus a few blown speakers here and there. Haha!

  • Hi there! i really enjoyed your video and found it really useful, thank you very much. Is there something similar to the "prototype" green pedal available in stores? Thanks again

  • @Fenderjohnpaul If you don't mind not having a tone control, you can always use one of the old DOD 250 pedals. Our Voodoo Lab Giggity (which is the production version of that proto) should be out soon as well!

  • Hey, what is the order of the pedals...? the order that its turned on? or...

    Guitar - tube driver - echo - amp?

    and for the clean amp, guitar - tube driver - echo - other overdrive?

    Thanks

  • @rayzguitar You got it Ray! That's it.

  • Wow, nice job on getting his tone nailed

  • @Jasn1111 Thanks! It's close enough for rock and roll! Funny thing is, I've seen EJ practice backstage through his D-Dec and sound amazing.  He's got it in the hands.

  • Thanks so much for posting this, James and Voodoo Labs! Very comprehensive, and really takes into account the playing finesse required to approximate EJ's tone! Fantastic playing, sir! God bless you and the rest of the team!

  • Great video, I have a tube driver that needs new tubes, what kind of tube were you using in this video?

  • @NORRATHBEAST Thanks a bunch! Actually, ages ago I cherry picked a nice old Mullard preamp tube for it. The one I found had a little less gain, but had a much smoother top end.

  • @voodoolabvid Thanks a bunch. What's going on with the Giggity? is it coming out?

  • James is a really excellent player! I had the chance to meet and hear him at Dweezilla.

  • @G7flat5 Thanks so much. Looks like Dweezilla is a go for next year. What an amazing experience to meet so many people with a passion for real music. AWESOME!!

  • @voodoolabvid Great, I am already signed up as well. I lent you the throw away earplugs the first night....

    The Deity pedal made that twin sound cool, I think I will get one. Thanks for the vid. and the description of pedals used.

  • Very Excellent work voodoo- I dig what you are doing, and understand not simply copying Eric out of respect etc.

  • He's trying to demonstrate how to get his sound ,not how to play like him..geez.. I appreciate labs taken the time to do this..Thanks guys

  • @aprendiendocooledit I did for the recording sessions that ended up on the Guitar Hero video game. But, in this case, since the video is being given for free, Eric would not be getting payed his royalties for writing this song. I could play the riffs, but out of respect (and some legal issues) I decided to focus on the tone which was the point of the article for Guitar Player magazine article I did anyway. Thanks for bringing up the point though.

  • @garydupuis I've played most of the pieces from that rig at various times. But i've NEVER taken that setup all out. I don't think my back would allow for it. ;-)

    I've paired down to just the essentials. Since I've mostly retired from active touring/gigs, when I do go out, it's with a 2x12 cab with either a single Marshall or Fender head. As an example, there is now something posted on our Voodoo Lab page from one of those gigs at the Baked Potato.

  • not you only got the tone.. you got the tone in you.. you play really awesome.. your style is great.. smooth.. creamy.. love it. great player yes sir!

  • @sergiobluesman Thank you very much Serg!

  • is that a 57 strat?

  • @alfo2000 It's a 57 reissue I've had since the 80s. Although, the neck was replained many years ago and I had tall narrow frets put on it. The relic look just comes from way too many bar gigs back in the day. Ha.

  • Good video, one thing though. Although Eric Johnson played/plays a strat on almost everything, Cliffs of Dover was recorded with a 60's ES-335

  • @CVP21594 Yup very true. You're on it CVP! He only plays a strat for the beginning of the solo which is admits was a punch in done later.

    Main thing is, the grear and most of the settings are all the same. You're on it CVP!

  • That guy has some Serious GEAR!!! ;-)

  • Well done, James. Thanks for providing this kind of "guitarist's public education" where other companies merely promote their own gear! Much appreciated.

  • @RockStarJazzCat Thanks! As a company, you can't expect any artist to play nothing but your gear. That's not really practical. We as a company get it and are okay with it.

  • This dude is from Line 6

  • That is really really good playing

  • Is that a modified Marshall cabinet? It's front seems tilted?

  • @Muziekschuur01 the top cab? thats the A cab presumably, most a cabs are angled like that.

  • @theboywhocantollie You got it. Top cab is the "slanted" version with the bottom being the "straight" one.

  • That tone is beautiful!!!

  • this guy's fingers make the tone sound a bit drowned

  • Great vid!

  • This guy, first off, I must say. He is a good player. He used to work for Line6 or maybe still does. I have seen him sitting with EJ, working on Cliffs of dover. I dig what he is about and what he does. We all have our idols and what gets us off. Either way, you have to give him credit for seeking out his love for tone.

  • Hi there nice video !! ;-) Could u plz tell me the specific model of your marshall ?

  • Nice video !!! Model of marshall ??

  • i see you shakin your head there at the end. believe me, you sounded awesome! that is a hard song to play. i'm a guitarist myself and i can appreciate when a young player plays so well. keep at it!

  • sweet sweet sound.

  • Is there a link to the article you wrote?

  • That was great. I always wondered why people used overdrive pedals on a quality amp.

  • Would love to try out that rig. The echoplex is my dream delay/echo.

  • donde vas sin equipo tio? jajaja

  • the pedal echo sounds like shit compared with the Echoplex! :O

  • EJ isn't using his fuzz for the lead tones. he's using it for that more compressed rythm stuff.

  • The important lessons I took away from this (most awesome) video were:

    1. You don't need a Marshall to get a base-line Marshall overdrive sound. A decent overdrive pedal can be a valid substitute.

    2. The key to getting EJ like violin tones is with the Butler Tube Overdrive as a second gain stage on top of the original.

    3. The Echoplex really does warm up the sound quite a bit. Notice how less warm it was when he used the pedal delay?

    Anyway - thanks for the insight!

  • He says "Bass, Middle, and Treble are all about half way up". So what are the EXACT settings? This doesn't help. Like I can get a concept, but still.... =(

  • @SebastianMehenka There is no such thing as exact settings, probally not even for Eric Johnson himself. There will always be variables that aren't always the same. Two pedals of the same modell can sound a bit different, each strat has a different sound to it. Hell, often a tube amp can sound different from day to day, depending on the weather or whatever. Tweak the tone using your ears, thay are much more accurate than your eyes.

  • Gets closest to the sound at 3:32

  • I was wondering the same thing! I think it's the magic of the Marshall

  • so can this tone be replicated on a small processing unit like a boss me 70 or a pod?

  • No, I've tried and it's just not the same

  • @brostomper I've tried as well. It's fun for practicing with a POD XT, but if you're really going for the Marshall cranked up and pushing air vibe, just gotta suck it up and piss off the neighbors. At least until they call the cops...

  • what you need is fuzz

  • Most tone come from hands and fingers of the player. Soulful tone anyway.

  • @sportsportsport hahahah how wrong can a person be? Tone is the sound of an instrument or instrument/amp. This tone setup sounded very close to Eric's and it's also evident that the guy in this vid has copped a few of his licks and overall style. Tone doesn't equal style.

  • what make is the y cable eric johnson only uses the best

  • does a lot of getting tht fender to sound that way have to do with running it through a marshall with a celestion v30 in it?

  • Those are vintage marshall cabs which probably have Greenbacks not V30s in them

  • Actually If you are going for the EJ tone you need to use the G12H30

  • I have gotten this same tone out of my vox rone lab...any one can thanks to this vid thanks!!!

  • On the recording, he used his ES-335 for 95% of the song, NOT a strat. That being sad, live, he gets a thick tone out of the strat like you did here! Well done!

  • Is the echoplex going through the front of the marshall? Or is it run post-mic?

  • damn i really want this guys rig. so so much. so much.

  • is that a marshall plexi?

  • plexi means there is plexi man - can u see it ?

  • ??????

  • Thanks man, this helped a lot.

    Although a bit annoying that you kept playing only the first notes of Cliffs of Dover and then switchted over to some completely different stuff....

  • your right and he doesnt even play the one part of cliffs of dover the right way

  • @IClowen maybe copyright stuff.

  • @IClowen

    It's called improvising. I took lessons from this guy when I was a kid and if anybody on earth can cover Cliffs of Dover, it's James. Millions of people all around the world are playing that game to James' cover, he recorded the track for Guitar Hero. Learning something note for note is easy, blending that into your own style takes talent.

  • @davkrat5 You just owned everyone that commented negatively on this video :)

  • @TheMangasm

    haha, Thanks. Just stating the obvious and sticking up for the guy who brought the joy of guitar to my life. God it's been 20 years but I still remember sitting in lessons and just wanting to listen to James play rather than fumble my way through a lesson. James rocks and it's great to see how far his playing has taken him and all the Guitar Hero posers that play along to his recording. hahaha

  • @IClowen

    It's called improvising. I took lessons from this guy when I was a kid and if anybody on earth can cover Cliffs of Dover, it's James. Millions of people all around the world are playing that game to James' cover, he recorded the track for Guitar Hero. Learning something note for note is easy, blending that into your own style takes talent.

  • @IClowen Copyright issues. Thanks.

  • james , i have two old tube works real tube pedals and they both have a hum, ive tried a ground lift and everything else , is there a way to kill the hum or is it just these pedals. are the newest reissue bk tube drivers quiet or still have hum .

  • Anyone wants to buy it - send a message

  • Ok - So I bought the BK w/ bias.

    I STILL CAN'T GET THE SOUND?!?!? Following this. I think that little private overdrive has a trick in it...

    Or really it's in the reverb or something.

  • keep playing with it. Turn the treble down and bass up, gain at 4, volume at 4. Try putting an overdrive after or before. Use delay, or analog delay. I got a BK and love it.

  • lol no....mabe your chaining it wrong...I got the sound...I i dont even have a bk over drive....its all in your ears.

  • Eric use a fuzz face over the tube drive you can find a video with Eric´s setup in youtube.

  • Comment removed

  • hi!

    I'm designing my own amp, and i love the tone of your plexi here. Could you please tell me more info about it? Wich model is it exactly? model 1968? What tubes does it use in power section? KT88?

    By the way, are you using NOS tubes, or newer ones?

    Thank you a lot,

    Pete

  • I made some confusion, i mean is it a 100w Super Tremolo - model 1959T?

    So, it uses EL34 right?

    I was confusing with model 1968 that eric uses for rithm.

    Thanks

  • Thank you so much for this. I've been on the fence on buying a BK Butler tube driver, and this sealed the deal. I very much appreciate your time in making this!

  • Also what kind of marshall head is this? does it have bass specs? its really warm!!!

    :D :D

  • How are those cables called that go from one to two cables? Really need to buy one!!! I'm from Europe

    Thanks!!!

  • You are the most Awesomest Person Ever!!! Thank you for this!

  • any chance you could shed some light on that green overdrive you put in front of the twin?

    sounds lovely

  • He really mumbles when he says the name of that prototype pedal, but on these videos, he's representing Voodoo Labs so it'd be one of theirs. Sounds like he says Ghee-ghee ray enus...lol. Look up DOD 250 Preamp, too.

  • my only guess would be a sparkle drive type thing. but it sounds totally different and judging from the controls you see at 4:40 it is totally different. i'm really after that woman tone in a box thing and the closest by far i've found is the zendrive 2.

  • Niick, I just read some of the earlier comments and noticed that James actually posted the video himself. He's not replying to this vid anymore, but you could PM him. Recently bought a Vox Big Ben for woman tone. Goes OK, you could try that if you want. Pickup selection and tone knob setting seems important too.

  • @TheFunkify the mysterious prototype green dirt box is the upcoming 'giggity' :)

  • do you get bad feed back from this when you just leave the volume on? I have a boss ds1 and a ibanez ts9....I am haveing finding out weather I should use all of the distortion on both...or not...can you help me on what i should set my pedals on to get this type sound.

    thank you`

  • Two pedals won't get you a tube amp sound...

  • i am useing then through a tube amp...It sounds great everyone says...most love my tone...the only draw back is DAMN O_O it is loud lol....i just roll the tone knobe off.

    :D

  • Nice rig!

  • what do you mean by before the delay and overdrive??? all the way to the right or left of the chain?

  • I have aquestion i really need help with..i have a boss ds1 and a ibanez ts9...what oder should i chain these in to get this type of sound? ibanez then boss. or vise versa??

    thank you!

  • Why are you overdriving a distortion?

  • to get a thick overdriven sound....the ts9 warms things up...the ds1 adds treble and bite to it BUT...when i roll the knob off...i sound 98% like this....

  • nice set up you got going on. very neat

  • yup. have to agree with ya. funny how we can get the gear right to a tee but still not sound exactly like them.

  • its a chandler tube overdrive

  • the butler tube driver is an amazing pedal that EJ uses

  • Dudes, lay off. He's got some good chops and from what I can tell, he's a great tech.

  • Very cool - this is real close to Eric's sound. What pickup are you using on the Strat for the demo?

  • Those most accurate Eric Johnson tone in there is around 1:25, right after he adds echo.

  • i wish i didn't need to eat so i could afford all this stuff.

  • He wasn't covering it.

  • he played bits of the songs here and there tard. when he did play parts of it it sucked

  • No. Those are just Eric Johnson style licks he's playing there.

  • awesome

  • how do you controll the feed back??? is there a lot of it?

  • awesome

  • i hate you... you are more fan than me.. lol

  • dosent he use a good bit more distortion than this??

  • nope, this sounds about the right amount of distortion.

    interestingly it still doesn't sound exactly like eric.

  • Needs Eric's hands :)

  • You don't need too much distortion when you know how to play.

  • this tune was recorded in the studio with his 60's 335, not a strat..but the strat tone on this you tube video sounds awesome!! great job...wish I had that stuff!!

  • yes, but you dont have to buy a different guitar for every song you play.

  • Nice job! However, the secret ingredient is EJ's fingers.

  • that's real cool. you can get a tone pretty close to EJ's "Cliffs" tone with the right combination of pedals and post effects.

    the Marshall and the Fender tone's were very close. I doubt i'd have been able to tell them apart had i not known which you were plugged into.

    Cheers!

  • Is the echo running through an effects loop? It just sounds too clean to be running through the front of the marshall.

  • Great video!

    What pickups are you using in the strat, and where do you have the volume set on the bridge pickup?

  • te falta un chingo jajajaja el secreto para obtener el tono de eric asi para sentir como cuando se escusha asi como ke doble bueno nose como explicarlo pero es genial jaajja el secreto es una buena combinacion de tiempo entre un delay BUENO y reverb musho reverb no tanto xD io tengo una buena combinacion con un buen overdrive y utts suena super bien

  • alsoo das kenn ich aber anders

  • I heard EJ recorded "Cliffs" with an ES335?

  • yeah in 1990 he recorded the song with a brown ES335 gibson of course xD

  • nahh, you can tell a huge difference between his 335 tone and his strat tone. his strat tone has more of that violin like tone and is really smooth. and cliffs has that violin tone. just listen to his "seven worlds" cd because he used his 335 alot on there, and on "ah via musicom" you can tell he mostly uses that strat. his 335 tone is killer sounding to. he can plug into anything and give it that sound.

  • In the studio, he did. Live, it's almost always done with a Strat.

  • what kind of marshall is it? there are so many types, even in the old series....

  • awesome vintage pedals! I know eddie van halen used an echoplex on the first album.

  • Gotta another question! Did you roll back the tone knob on the strat for the bridge pickup? (Assuming its wired that way) I've read Eric does this to cut back some treble too.