Meet your heroes

[DrewJD82]

Ok I'll fire-up a few questions to get started this dedicated EJ thread
did you discuss his late 80's / ACL original rig in details? few things I've always wondered about for instance:
- his clean tone, THE 50's maple strat clean benchmark to me: were there some JBLs on one side in that Marshall 4x12? Or only EVs?
- What volume pot value did he have at the time in his '54 strat? standard 250k? I remember he said he experimented with 500k in the 80's for instance.
- what precise speaker models in his dirty rythm & lead 4x12? I have in mind G12H & G12-80 respectively, but lead or bass cones?

I've had one of his old Si BC183 original FF for at least 15? years, one of my preferred pedals ever. Love those things

I didn’t cover that rig much, outside of the blue Fuzz Face that was likely on his board at the time. Man, I’d love to hear that Fuzz Face you’ve got!!! What color is it? (don’t say blue, I’ll stalk you for it!)

If he even remembered what he was using back then I’d be surprised, he stopped modding/swapping parts out when the vintage gear started going up in price, to the point he no longer flattens the radius on vintage Strats when he gets them because it kills the resale value. When he said that I had to chuckle, as if he couldn’t make up that resale value by making it known he owned it, but that speaks to his character! Whatever gear you’ve seen him with for the last 30 years has been pretty stock, outside the pickups.

He used the Virginia Strat at the ACL show, which is the same Start he had for Total Electric Guitar up through the late 90’s before it fell and cracked the pickguard which is when he sold it, saying it didn’t sound right anymore. I’m guessing due to that aspect the guts were stock, he actually talked about that Saturday night saying he really wish he just kept it and waited until “I found another pickguard to try out” and I’d be willing to bet the 500k experimenting came as a result of the HS-2 being a stacked single coil and disconnecting that 2nd coil is likely where the 500k to 250k change came in.

I wanted to talk to him about speakers more because hearing his Marshall coming off the stage, that amp is DARK. I can’t get my 50-watt Plexi going into T75’s anywhere close to that level of dark, not even with the Presence and Treble all the way off. It was much brighter back in the day.

 

[DrewJD82]

He knows tone. The whole "cheap-o alkaline 9v batteries make OD's/Fuzz pedals sound better" claim he made back in the day turned out to be true. They give a smoother tone.

Hahahah the original story for a long time was EJ could tell the difference between Energizers and Duracells and he even kept it going for a while saying he preferred Duracells, not realizing people were really thinking he could tell the difference in brands. He ended up telling the origin of it a couple years ago on a podcast and it wasn’t so much his magic ears as it was noticing his Fuzz Face had a dying battery in it and he asked to pause in the studio so he could change it and after the engineer asked if it sounded better, to which he said yes and the whole joke was born.

Kinda funny that that one wasn’t an actual EJ-ism even though it has merit with the non-alkaline/alkaline thing, while there are some other EJ-isms that did indeed happen and are crazier, like this one-

(timestamped)


He could definitely teach a few courses on wasting time on the tone hunt. Pretty crazy to think this dude can play like he does and still believes he’s wasted time dicking with gear.

 

[Anje]

Man, I’d love to hear that Fuzz Face you’ve got!!! What color is it? (don’t say blue, I’ll stalk you for it!)

It's blue



No I'm kidding, sorry It's dark grey and well worn.
I actually did have a blue one, for real; but sold that one.
Yes it's really a great sounding one, very thick / fat yet still tight & clear enough. Kind of a great mix between the classic Ge & Si (BC108) ones to me, if that makes sense.
It's one of the 2 old originals I've kept, after owning a good bunch. The other one I kept is a more traditional BC108 (red); much sharper / cutting sounding, with more "air / hair" in the sound; not as "thick" / "juicy".
Those old FF are instruments on their own to me, not 2 sound / feel exactly the same, often very different actually; and when you get a "good" one that matches the rest of your rig & sound/feel you want, they offer an infinite amount of variations from some of the most beautiful clear cleans to sickest drive tones, all there under your fingers & using the guitar controls. And they love stacking with other pedals too.

Actually found an old photo of the last 3, just before I sold that blue one; the "EJ" one is on the right:

 

[Anje]

Kinda funny that that one wasn’t an actual EJ-ism even though it has merit with the non-alkaline/alkaline thing

Yes, I'm sure there is part of those "stories" with EJ that is as much of a "mental conditioning" for him (conscious or not) than actual rational / factual gear <-> sound impact; but I have to stand for the "type of battery" thing, especially in those old FF discussed above
The non-alkaline (carbon) batteries I've tried really sound and feel/react different from the today standard alkaline types. Quite obvious actually when you play those things.

 

[VonBonfire]

Yes, I'm sure there is part of those "stories" with EJ that is as much of a "mental conditioning" for him (conscious or not) than actual rational / factual gear <-> sound impact; but I have to stand for the "type of battery" thing, especially in those old FF discussed above
The non-alkaline (carbon) batteries I've tried really sound and feel/react different from the today standard alkaline types. Quite obvious actually when you play those things.

I meant to say the carbon batteries in my post above. I always noticed the overall effect was smoother tone from the eveready super classics vs a duracell/engergizer. At the time I was using a visual sound J&H, just the right hand TS side. They only lasted one show but they sounded better. They were cheap so it seemed to make sense.

 

[Anje]

Yes, older style carbon batteries make the old FF sound smoother, with more dynamics & "headroom", more open, react better to your right hand attack & guitar controls; significantly better to me for those pedals.
Newer alkaline make them sound harsher, and you loose a good bunch of that fantastic progressive clean-to-mean dynamics.
And as those old FF don't draw much current they (carbon batteries) still last long enough, no issue.
Makes it enough of a no brainer to me to spend the effort in sourcing those carbon batteries for the FF alone.

The only downside I'd acknowledge of those old FF, which is kind of related to that battery topic, is they are SO sensitive to the environment & rest of the rig you plug into; ESPECIALLY the overall power supply situation.
I've had a few unfortunate events where my rig sounded fantastic at the usual band rehearsal / studio place, but the FF, and only the FF, would become just unusable at some particular gigs. Whereas everything was unchanged. Especially for example outdoor venues with questionable/unknown power supplies.

 

[DrewJD82]

You can get cheap carbon batteries on Amazon, I got a couple packs when I started getting into fuzzes. Maybe it’s because I’m playing all new Fuzz Faces (the Hendrix and EJ), but I haven’t heard a notable difference in them yet, at the same time, my favorite Fuzz Face sound is full up and fuzzed out, so I’m not spending a lot of time rolling the volume knob down.

I’m going to build my own over the next year, I figure starting off with the FF circuit is a safe entry to tweaking pedals, but I really just want to make a set of Ninja Turtle Fuzz Faces.