WHat effects set up would i use to get a bb king sound? Effects order?

thanks,

jim

Quote from: jimbobWHat effects set up would i use to get a bb king sound? Effects order?

That's easy! Use the same FX order BB uses!  Decades of life experience> equally experienced fingers> Gibson Semi-Hollow Guitar > Amp.



Kerry M

You can Buy a Gibson copy of Lucille, and BB like's to plug straight in with no effect's cept for reverb, and he like's MusicMan amp's, I have seen him play a Twin a long time ago.
JD

Yupp we saw him two years in a row...decidedly one of the best shows of the years [80's]. He was using a Twin.
 Really pretty amazing what a guitar and amp can do...I've only seen pro's get such cool stuff going with so little, I used to think all one needed was a guitar and amp...I guess if they're the right guitar and amp...
 The Original Lucielle was replaced by a Gibson remake of it, as close as they could without the original 'Lucielle' there to go by, it got ripped off...he did well with the new one, but said he missed the old one, of course he did...bad karma happens to those who mess with others musical instruments against the owners will :evil:

little drive into a clean tube amp....

boss blues driver, or LPB or something like that should work well.

Quote from: jimbobWhats a good blues set up?

a broken heart and a bottle of bourbon...

...well, thinking again, first the bourbon, then the broken heart.  :lol:

That finger vibrato thing is what needs some excercise, unless you have it already.

I was in a blues concert a week ago. Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor was performing some bluesy stuff, small turnee with local blues band backing him. He played nice, the backing band was little too loud (if you have it at 11 all the time you can not put any more, when there is time when you should have little more volume) but it sounded more ok when we moved backwards;) so perhaps I was sitting in a bad spot first

I could not see what amps and effects he used (was not interested) but he played some Fender and Gibson looking guitars I think. But good basic tone and nice tube type distortion. I think I heard very subtle chorus effect on one piece. And his finger vibrato was really nice, not too much but in right places, so naturally you almost don´t notice it, and of course he played slide too

what happened to bb's 'Lucielle'??
just wonderin??


eamonn

Lucille left BB King and that's why he's got the blues even more

See what happened:

Lucille the Guitar - The name of the electric guitar owned by B.B. King, the renowned rhythm and blues guitarist/singer. During an interview on the 6/18/90 segment of THE ARSENIO HALL SHOW, Mr. King recalled the story of how  he named his guitar Lucille. In his early career, he was working in a small farm town night spot. Two locals got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene-filled container that was used to keep the room warm. As the container spilled, a river of fire engulfed the area. Suddenly, it was every man/woman for themselves as they exited the burning building. Quickly realizing that he didn't get his guitar, B.B. returned to the inferno barely escaping with his life as the building collapsed around him. But the mission was accomplished and his guitar was saved. The next day he found out the fight was over a woman named Lucille. He then dubbed his guitar "Lucille" to remind himself never again to do a stupid thing like running back into a burning building. TRIVIA NOTE: An episode of the detective series BOOKER/FOX/1989-90 featured a storyline about Lucille being stolen from B.B. King and investigator Dennis Booker (Richard Grieco) from the Teshima Corporation of America being sent to recover the rock and roll icon.

A lot of BB's sound comes from that little 5 way switch on Lucille.

Albert King got amazing tone with a Solid State amp. When it comes to cleaner sounding stuff, I think the guitar and technique have more to do with the tone than anything.

Believe it or not, in the in between positions of a strat, I can get some pretty convincing BB tones. Less so on my Les Paul, go figure.    To me, that says he uses that 5 way switch thingamabobber a lot for out of phase tones.

Further proof would be the mini lucille that he has. That has the 5 way switching, and I guess he's using it a log (Gibson BluesBird?).

The basic BB sound seems to be his sorta unique guitar (i.e weird 5 way switch) through a cranked up clean tube amp.  

Links on the Varitone 5 way switch:

http://www.blueshawk.info/varitone.htm

http://www.bigdguitars.com/varitonespec.htm

Amp wise, whatever amp (especially solid state) you have you could get a little more BB out of it by building a fetzer valve from ROG.

I'd be tempted to add just a little compression to fill things out.

However, it's critical to remember that a big part of every guitar player's sound is in his hands.  You're gonna have to work on the vibrato for a while (unless you've already done so).  

good luck,
travis

I've read in multiple BB interviews that he never uses the Varitone switch.  His one is all in his hands (and the guitar), just crank up your amp for a loud, clean tone that's only the slightest bit distorted.

Quote from: bwanasonicDecades of life experience> equally experienced fingers> Gibson Semi-Hollow Guitar > Amp.

Last I heard from BB his "equally experienced fingers" are suffering from arthritis stemming from his diabetes and "Decades of life experience". Thats why he sits for most of his shows now. Still when I watched him last time he was playing all kinds of weird scales and just playing his ass off. Hes still got it and IMHO could kick the crap out of 95% of the "modern" guitarist out there. Even me.

I also remember something about him saying that he almost never uses his tone control all the way open either.

Andrew

Quote from: el duderinowhat happened to bb's 'Lucielle'??
just wonderin??


eamonn

I saw a show that said the guitar was returned to him, and he just keeps it at home now and doesn't take it out anymore.

Quote from: Steve C

Quote from: el duderinowhat happened to bb's 'Lucielle'??
just wonderin??


eamonn

I saw a show that said the guitar was returned to him, and he just keeps it at home now and doesn't take it out anymore.

He's used a lot of Lucilles over the years.  BB is one of those players that doesn't have a single instrument he's used for decades, like EC or SRV.  I remember he even gave one to the Pope!

QuoteTo me, that says he uses that 5 way switch thingamabobber a lot for out of phase tones

As far as I know, BB mostly uses positions 1 and 2 (of 5 positions) on his varitone controls.  As an ex-owner of a Lucille, I can tell you that positions 4 and 5 are quite awful - like cheap single coils.  From memory, the control itself was a bunch of capacitors that cut mids and lows to make the humbeuckers siund more like single coils.  Position 2 was very nice to my ears - like very thick single coils or clean, well-balanced humbuckers.

One essential ingredient of BB's style is that he keeps his amp turned to 10 all of the time, and mostly has his guitar down at 3 or 4.  That leaves hime ;lots of scope for playing loud and soft, and crikey, does he he play with LOTS of dynamics.  Always adjusting the volume control for just the right amount of drive.  Amazing.  Caught him in his club in LA a couple of years ago.  What a thrill.

Quote from: brett

QuoteFrom memory, the control itself was a bunch of capacitors ...

...and an inductor--that is the key.

Yes, you can find the 'Varitone' circuit on the Gibson website - it's a capacitor - inductor circuit with a resonant peak. Fixed inductor, caps on the switch with one 'straight-through' position. Properly made, it can sound amazing, like the one on my Aria Pro II TS-600.

I read recently that Gibson gives BB a new 'Lucille' every two years, and he auctions the old one off for charity.

I was in blues concert some days ago and the guitar player (Mick Taylor) used wah pedal in a fixed position for some numbers. It was before some overdrive or fuzz so the wah was lost a little

I'd say just clean tube overdrive, but you might also be able to use a compressor and reverb.

I saw BB King maybe 6-7 years ago, pretty much when I was just started out on guitar. He was amazing .  My dad saw him again when I was just off at college my freshman year (so 2002?) and said that show was even better.