Clem Clempson Tone

refuogee

Hi All,

=

Please listen to this amazing song by Humble Pie from their live show at the Winterland Theater in San Francisco for the King Biscuit Flower Hour and tell me how to get the lead tone. And yes its in your fingers but what am I hearing? Plexi? LPs? What effects are being used? What pickup is he using neck or bridge?

Any other hints would be awesome, I don't want to emulate, I don't even want to play this song but I would like my lead tone to be a bit closer to this if possible.

Thank you.

AlanRatcliffe

Les Paul neck pickup, tone rolled off a bit. Def. a Marshall, but sounds a bit more modern than a Plexi to my ear. The second guitar is also a Gibson, but might be a HiWatt amp.

Another great clip of Pie. This time Marriot on a Strat:
=

refuogee

Thank you so much Alan, is there any effects on the lead? I mean it would be very minimal but delay or anything?

I know very little about effects but what effects would you use to to add warmth, sustain and creaminess to a lead tone?

AlanRatcliffe

refuogee wrote Thank you so much Alan, is there any effects on the lead? I mean it would be very minimal but delay or anything?

Nope. Guitar and amp only by the sound of it. Cranked amp naturally. And probably a lot less drive than you suspect and lower output pickups than many modern guitars.

what effects would you use to to add warmth, sustain and creaminess to a lead tone?

The drive of the amp is adding the sustain, the neck pickup is naturally warm and the creaminess comes from backing off the guitar's tone control and turning up the treble on the amp a little to compensate (often called "Woman Tone" 'cause that's what Clapton called it and he was the one that popularised it). The lower frequencies get more distorted than the higher ones that way. Switch to the middle switch position but leave the one tone backed off and you have a version of Knopflers Money for Nothing tone. ?