Finally... The Amp Shootout You've Been Waiting For!

[Blue Eyed Tone]

Hello tone fans, are you ready to Dumble!!!

Here's what we've got... I took a little audio clip from Larry Carlton's performance live at The Crossroads Music Festival. In the beginning of the track, the band plays 4 bars with no lead guitar over it. It's the same part that is played at the beginning of the first verse. So I took that section and created a track for myself. I then attempted to match Larry Carlton's tone as closely as I could and played the performance in a similar manner (no, it wasn't exactly the way Larry played it.)

Then I took my cut and his cut and spliced the two together in a couple of places and came up with this little sample. Part of it is Larry Carlton and part of it is me. It switches a couple of times -- see if you can tell who is who?

A little more info on this...

Every player has their own signature touch on the guitar -- we never really sound exactly like another player, so I had that strike against me right away.

Here's Ten reasons why it should be impossible for me to even get close to the tone that Larry Carlton gets:

1 -- Larry plays differently than I do (way better I might add).
2 -- Larry's Guitar sounds differently than mine -- he's using a 1968 Gibson ES-335 with the block inlays, made in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Mine is a 1984 Custom Shop ES-335 with dot inlays, made in Nashville. The difference between the pickups and the woods will give each guitar it's own signature tone. They will not sound alike.
3 -- Larry was playing in a stadium. My clip was recorded in a small baffled room, about the size of a large closet.
4 -- Larry runs his effects was different than the way I did it.
5 -- My studio mic pre is different than the one they used to record Larry.
6 -- I use different cables and a little different pedals -- I patched through an Ernie Ball Volume pedal, he probably used his Show-Bud Volume.
7 -- Larry uses D'Addario .10 gauge strings, I used Elixir .011's on this recording.
8 -- Larry's EV speaker is probably much older than mine and way more broken in. I used an EV12L reissue that has seen light usage.
9 -- Larry uses a Dumble 112 cabinet, I used a Fuchs mini 112 speaker cab.
10 - Larry uses a Dumble Special Overdrive amp that he's had for a long time. It's valued at over $50,000. The clip I made was with a Fuchs Overdrive Supreme amp, brand new, hand tuned by Andy Fuchs. Retail value $3245.

This is just a start to the differences. To find out more, sign up for our Radical Tone newsletter (formerly known as the Tone Zone newsletter) -- sign up here

http://fuchsaudio.com/newsletters

In the next issue, I'm going to describe how to get this tone in great detail.

Also, coming soon!!!! I will post Larry's and my complete clips on this forum so you can hear the two more

Until then, stay tuned!!
Michael Lewis
clearly.

[ Play Quicktime file ] versionthree.mp3 [ 788.13 KB | Viewed 1484 times ]

[Blue Eyed Tone]

Just so you know, there have been some people who claimed they could hear who is who in this clip. However, not one person has actually guessed it correctly. If you think you can hear a difference, you should email me to make sure before you vote in the poll.

Just thought you should know.
Michael Lewis

[Guest]

Dumble :
....Were gonna rev up the motor scooters

When josie comes home to stay....
sounds a little more airy, less dense, something
like that. the difference might just as well
be the guitar - no 335 sounds like the other.
and my '64 ES-345 is something else again !
i enjoy my ODS 50 regardless of which guitar and
whether it sounds like Dumble or not. the hype is just ridiculous.

[Blue Eyed Tone]

Dumble :
....Were gonna rev up the motor scooters
When josie comes home to stay....
sounds a little more airy, less dense, something
like that. the difference might just as well
be the guitar - no 335 sounds like the other.

You're exactly right, no two guitars sound the same and it is more pronounced with a hollow body instrument than a solid one. I'll be covering that in my next Radical Tone newsletter. There are a ton of reasons why I should not be able to get that close to the tone. That's one of the amazing things about the clips. But I've been saying for some time that, with the Fuchs, I can get the tones that I'm hearing on records.

and my '64 ES-345 is something else again !
i enjoy my ODS 50 regardless of which guitar and
whether it sounds like Dumble or not. the hype is just ridiculous.

I don't know that I'd say it's ridiculous. You're talking about an amplifier (Dumble) that sounds amazing, has a tone that is highly sought after and very difficult to duplicate. Since there were so few made and they sounded so good they rightfully command a huge price tag. So it's a big deal. And when someone like Andy comes along and after years of tweaking can offer an amp that rivals it in every way at a fraction of the cost -- it's a big deal. Add to this the fact that Fuchs has a five year warranty and Andy is awesome to deal with when it comes to his customers!

I feel like we are really lucky that there is an amp like this that we can actually afford. We are lucky that we have studio equipment that sounds so good and is also affordable. When I built my first studio back in 1985, it was very expensive and not near the quality that I've got now. I remember being excited when Sony offered me financing on a 24 track reel to reel digital recorder for $70,000! At the time, that was a great deal, fortunately, I couldn't afford the down payment. Now those machines are almost worthless.

It's an interesting time that we live in.
Thanks for commenting!
Michael Lewis
MichaelLewisMusic.com | RadicalTone

[hottub]

did anyone ever guess this correctly on TGP? was there ever follow up as to which part was larry's and which part was yours?

thanks
tub

[Blue Eyed Tone]

did anyone ever guess this correctly on TGP? was there ever follow up as to which part was larry's and which part was yours?
thanks tub

No one has been able to guess correctly -- even Andy Fuchs could not tell the difference. He said that it was scary how close they were. There is one kid in Finland who came pretty close and he is going to receive an album. I've written a lengthy article on the subject and will release that along with the individual clips eventually. I've been very busy and once I finished the newsletter on the subject, I decided it would be best to wait to release it because there were some things in the works on my end (marketing related) that I'm waiting to see if they pan out before I release the article. Thus my decision to wait until later to release it. Sorry for the delay. It will happen though.

Thanks for asking the question, as always, stay tuned!
Michael Lewis

[Blue Eyed Tone]

Thanks to everyone who participated in the listening contest, the contest is now over. No one scored 100% on the quiz. One young man from Finland, Sampo Kantele was the closest. I took the 7 lines and gave them each a value of 2 points -- 1 point for each half of the line. Out of a possible 14 points, Sampo scored 12. He was the only one who got it that close so he has won a CD for his listening pleasure.

I had some folks tell me that they could hear it for sure, but when challenged, they could not really tell who was who and I'll say that everyone got some lines mixed up. What I mean by that is, even if someone listened and said, okay, I think that is Larry playing, at some point they would confuse one of my lines later in the tune for Larry's and visa versa. No one has been able to listen and say there is one tone that keeps coming in and out. Even Larry's tone was changing as he played it, just by the way he was fingering and picking.

The newsletter is finished and will be released very soon and I'll reveal the answers there. You can sign up for the newsletter to find out who is who on the Josie clip or you can write to me, tell me your guess at who is who and I'll let you know how you did.

Thanks again!
Michael Lewis