Joe Bonamassa demos the ultimate metal amp...

[HowieJams]

The “noted shredmaster” in the description gave me a chuckle.

No hate on JB, he’s living a gear nerds dream for those with tan pants tastes. He’s got the EJ cascading pentatonics down, which is the best party trick aspect of his playing.

Me and my dad (LOL serious) have seen JB live a few times. I would say I’m not a fan of the music, as it is white dude blues haha. But I can appreciate the guitar focused spectacle, which made the shows fun.

Best sounding rig iteration I’ve seen from him was the Jubilee’s mixed with (2-3?) D style clones. The Jubilee is a great amp IMO, and I think the D clones he was using were circuits actually tweaked or copied of versions that sounded good (thick, more smooth than strident). ‘Real’ dumbles seem to be a bit of a crap shoot as far as sound.

I am not a fan of his music, more a fan of his playing.

 

[GuitarVacation]

I am not a fan of his music, more a fan of his playing.

Same here. Not gonna be listening to JB albums, but seeing a fella blasting cool guitars through cool gear is a good time.

Even though I don’t give a damn about vintage or ‘sought after’ overpriced stuff for myself, doesn’t bother me a bit to see a guy with the means to use it to put on a show.

And he is a skilled player, albeit not focused on music I’m into.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

Looooong ago at a time, as he still was a young guy and Gary Moore (RIP) still alive.


View attachment 443154

View attachment 443155

Yes, after checking the amp before the sound check, he asked if he could play the evening show with it.
Of course I had agreed.

A year later I met him again at a venue and he spontaneously asked if I had "this amp" with me again.
Of course I had taken it with me - and Joe integrated it into his set-up for the show.

View attachment 443156

View attachment 443158


Sorry about the blurry photos, but in the hustle I had forgotten to switch my digi cam from daylight to dark rooms

Yep. Then he Miced up a dsl back stage like he always did.

 

[skoora]

Looooong ago at a time, as he still was a young guy and Gary Moore (RIP) still alive.


View attachment 443154

In this pic he looks like either Rob Halford’s PR agent from ‘79 or Imagine Dragons guitar tech.

 

[7704A]

No Strats in real metal

Ahem.

The tone was actually not near as bad as I expected from the comments here. Great? No, but it's not a horrible Doom/Stoner/Sludge tone in my opinion. I think this comment is spot-on:

 

[Techdeth]

Ahem.View attachment 443260

The tone was actually not near as bad as I expected from the comments here. Great? No, but it's not a horrible Doom/Stoner/Sludge tone in my opinion. I think this comment is spot-on:
View attachment 443261

Ok I do love those albums dearly .
You got me . Thsts metal as it gets

 

[Beyond Black]

Ahem.View attachment 443260

The tone was actually not near as bad as I expected from the comments here. Great? No, but it's not a horrible Doom/Stoner/Sludge tone in my opinion. I think this comment is spot-on:
View attachment 443261

That right there is possibly THE greatest metal lineup ever assembled, EVAR.

And totally agree about JB, his playing and tone were cool af, but certainly not metal.

 

[70 Mach 1]

Good god that sucked.
Sounded like GC on a Saturday afternoon

 

[311boogieman]

Ok I do love those albums dearly .
You got me . Thsts metal as it gets

OK, but Iron Maiden would still like to have a word with you

 

[napalmdeath]

Amazing how such a great guitar player can sound like pure sh-t.
I would be embarrassed if I made that vid.

I actually think of going back and deleting some of my 1st demo vids because I don't like them, but even my bad ones sound better than that.

Sounded like a Roland Cube.

 

[Techdeth]

OK, but Iron Maiden would still like to have a word with you

Mercyful is more metal ! Fight me lol

 

[311boogieman]

Mercyful is more metal ! Fight me lol

No, just pointing out that Iron Mainden's 3 guitarist were notorious for all playing Fenders. Granted they were modified but yeah.

 

[DrewJD82]

Ha. Dude is acutely self-aware and non-serious.

It’s pretty funny how so much of the guitar playing world just wants to shit on the dude and refuses to acknowledge this.

Even in this thread, it seems people believe that Joe was actually attempting to play metal music, as if he lives in some kind of cave where he’s unaware what metal actually sounds like and has no clue what high gain is.

Right at the start of a podcast he did with Jared James Nichols and that Music Is Win dude, he brought a ‘59 burst in, plays a newer Murphy Lab and then the ‘59 and says “Does that sound $395,000 better? No, it doesn’t” and you’d think that clip alone would buy the guy some grace, but nope. I’m pretty sure the dead look in his eyes comes from knowing he has to share the world with people that’ll just shit on him for owning that crazy ass gear rather than giving the dude a thumbs up for earning it all.