Eric Clapton - Strange Brew

[jrc4558]

Hey everybody.
If you heard the song, then you probably still remember the sound that Eric has there on his solo. Does anyone knows what he used?

[Rodgre]

one of the "classic" Clapton tricks is to have a two-humbucker guitar, be it a Les Paul or an ES335, and put the pickup selector in the middle, and roll the tone off of ONE of the pickups. I've tried it with either pickup rolled off and get slightly different but both usable tones. Combine that with an overdriven amp and you have some sweet and dark tone.

Roger
who really shouldn't know that much about Clapton.

[RDV]

The tone rolloff trick with a Fuzzface is what it sounds like to me. In fact the rhythm track sounds for all the world like a Fuzzface straight into the mixing board. Kinda nasty-edgy.

RDV

[puretube]

sounds very "transistor" to me...

[Ammscray]

It's a hammer grey Vox Tonebender straight into the board...he used that set-up alot for his "leads"...

[petemoore]

I would have to say some type of feedback amp, with gain on guitar volume or treble rolled off just enough to reduce saturation enough so it fades soon after a hard note is attacked.
 The sound is too in your face not to have a couple feedback looped transistors like a FF or Tonebender.
 That wrote...could be anything.
 Jh seems to get alot of gear rundown questions, answered, theorized on etc. I've never read all about early Clapton stuff, other than he used a Marshall Bluesbreaker...JTM45 with 2 X 12'' combo...looking at videos, I see Marshall stack, IIRC Selmer amps...etc. ?
 The picture of the dog that pissed on 'Clapton Is God" graphitti...too funny...
 Early Cream...before I had a Guitar... :idea: ..."That's the sound I want" !!! Hence began my long [and somewhat trubbled until sorta recently] relationship with Marshall [and other] Tube Amps.
 At that time there was no Rock and Roll radio available to me, but the Page [zeppelin] sound and Cream, it turns out, was as good as it gets anyway...
 Could be he used a little single Ge device with a rare egg in it...
 ..."and if you lose your Guitar', Pleaze don't fool with mine!!!"
 I used to really appreciate the 'wierd cream'..."As You Said",.."Pressed Rat and Warthog"...Jack Bruce being the wicked lyricist ans all...early Clapton guitar stuff ...I got tons of information from that, the guitar just sounded so 'well informed', like you couuld always trust it's truth, even through it's mind melting intrinsic learning, like there's a message in it, intended specifically for me to understand.
 Anymore, I try to replicate Exactly the conditions that were present at 'that' time as best I can...which is pretty much what I'm doing at 'This' Time..."working with available circuits and components, to get the most expressive sound possible".
 I have best luck with 'Strange Brew" [seems to lean on the treble side] using a feedback loop clipping device {FF] some how, whether FF, FF w/1Q booster in front, or Tonebender, by using/experimenting with FF type circuits, and a tube amp, and cap tuning you can come PDClose.
 I recommend piggybacking the input FF Q, it sees the 100k feedback resistor and the input from incap.
 It sounds to me as there is a fair amount of bass rolloff in the 'S.B.' guitar tones.
 I think these guys were 'in' on the mods. Manufacturers like pleasing popular musicians. They were probably often consulted to be a part of the design process. most of my heroes probably had engineers doing the actual circuit work...just picture a guy sitting around with a hot iron, some solder, a buncha parts, going dweawww dwaewwww, Chunka Chunka, WEeeeeoaoooaooooooo a aaa aa aaa, then changing one component, making a measurement/adjustment, then going Chonka Chonke Weeeeaoooaoooeoooeoeeoo, Dwaaaae  dwaaeeeeee, then trying the same basic technique with a different, but quite similar circuit.
 These guys really taught me alot of stuff. I still hold those early endeavors of sound recording in the very highest regard.
 Would it not be the coolest thing if one of them actually decided to drop in here unexpectedly? Unfortunately their histories of that era are so scattered, authenticity would inevitably be questioned.
 On another rambling note...has anyone here viewed the post entered at HC by a Mark Tremonte, depicting the Morley Bad Horsey Wah as " This pedal defines the sound of MY' [lol] Band"...sounds like something a poser would write.

[gez]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/

look in the right hand corner for 'listen again' and you'll see EC live in concert from last Saturday.  The link will probably only be there for another day or two so get it while you can...

[bwanasonic]

Although not mentioning that track specifically, the May 2004 GP has Eric answering the question about his tone from that album with:

I was full-tilt on the wah pedal for a year-and-a-half. Also, the Gibson thing was really sort of exaggerated for me. I used the bridge pickup, but with the tone control all the way off, so it was all just bottom end, and then I played on the high strings, getting a really fat tone and feeding back. I just played like that all the time. Even with power chords,  there was never any variation in my tone.

I would trust Amscray's research on this for that specific track, but I thought this general comment was interesting.

Kerry M

[StephenGiles]

I don't think EC would have recorded straight to the board back in 67, nor would anyone else for that matter. I think his sound was a straight forward Marshall amp or similar hard driven by the gibson pickups. The only pedal EVER in evidence when I saw Cream many times was a wah pedal.

[Ammscray]

Absloulte not true...lots of poeple did it, and clapton said he got the idea of doing it with the Vox TB (there's lots of pix around with him and that pedal BTW) from the Beatles, who recorded guitars direct ALL the time...

two great examples are the twin strats recorded direct for the solo in "nowhere man" and the distorted guitar in "revolution"

direct was quick and easy and allowed you to overdrive the tube stages in the old consoles, which of course isn't desirable today thanks to SS...

the other thing is, try it...Vox TB with Gibson into your 4 track or 48 track or whatever...it's there unmistakably

also clapton used the TB in the studio, not live...

[The Tone God]

I have to agree with Ammscray. It sounds like a box straight into the board. Its a fairly distinct sound that has been used by others. It was a common practice back then.

Andrew

[StephenGiles]

Well, OK but maybe there's a touch of the "emperor's new clothes" here. I personally think the guitar sound on Strange Brew sounds bloody awful along with most of the other tracks on the Disraeli Gears album. I much prefer the "Live Disraeli Gears" Bootleg. It's a shame a lot of you are too young to have experienced Cream at full volume. I was at the London School of Economics gig, well documented, when Jimi Hendrix jammed with Cream - 3/6d to get in (that's three shillings and sixpence!) in October or so 1966 - anyone else there?

[Craig V]

You were at that show?  I've heard about it in books and the Hendrix movie.  Please share.


As for Strange Brew, I can get that tone if I use a FF into a clean amp, or an amp set for clean operation.  Think Marshall at volume 2 with a FF in front.

[StephenGiles]

I remember 2 or 3 false starts at NSU which opened the show, Jimi Hendrix played Killing Floor, and Eric Clapton just stood there in amazement. It was just another Cream Gig really. I also remember seeing EC jam with the Yardbirds at the London Marquee Club and played Jeff Beck off the stage. At that time he was with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and what a sound they made!

[petemoore]

Love that stuff...
 Putting aside all rumore, and as a side note, by coincidence today I tried a Vox Treble Booster into an input buffered MP Fuzz Face with input cap blend and input gain controls.
 I did some incap modding and knob twisting, long story vry short...I'd say it's worth a try for that semi set wah type tone. I thought it was doing a PDG job of nailing the Strange Brew sound...having the small cap before the Ge as 'Q1' [the Vox TB], renders a whole new tone to the FF.

[StephenGiles]

I recorded this concert - it actually ran over time for a change. You can't fault his playing, that's the trouble in my view, nothing adventurous any more. Mind you he had Doyle Brammel (spelling?) on second guitar who seems pretty good.

[gez]

You can't fault his playing, that's the trouble in my view, nothing adventurous any more.

Agreed, though I always give him a listen when he's on the box/radio.

[WGTP]

  He may have blown Beck of the stage then, but Beck has come along way since.   I don't think Eric has!  They are both Heros!  

[StephenGiles]

I quite agree, he has advanced more than most and still finds time to tinker with cars.

[petemoore]

What do Eric Clapton And Coffee have in common