tbabinec

Sentine1 +1! I love my Monaco Elite (love my Artist too). I put in SD Antiquity Humbuckers and that did the trick for me. Can get crunch, pinch harmonics, and a host of tones.

Tom&Ken - have a great birthday!

Sure do like the James Brown sound of the mid- and late- 60s, with the "in the pocket" playing of the rhythm section and the horns. The secret to the sound included 2 guitars - different at different times, but featuring Jimmy Nolen and Alphonso Kellum on There Was a Time and Cold Sweat - and often 2 drummers - Clyde Stubblefield and John Starks at that time.

Great photos - Love my Monaco Elite, it's my #1. Replaced the stock pickups with SD Antiquities. Sad news - We just lost Buck Owens, and now I just read that Bonnie Owens died. Heard her on Merle Haggard's 60s recordings, collected in the box set Untamed Hawk. Highly recommended.

Studio Cream is a mixed bag, but “live” Cream is glorious by the standards of the day. OK, some of the songs were too long, and the official legacy fills only a couple CDs. There’s a vast bootleg list of varying sound quality and performance quality, but Cream did bring some improvisatory chops to their tunes on the best live dates. Clapton’s playing on the Beano album and some rare live Mayall material recorded just before Cream shows astounding technique for that time, coming from someone age 20 or any age. In that era, for me, Hendrix rules, and then you have Clapton, Beck, Peter Green, an emerging Page, and in the States maybe Johnny Winter and an emerging Duane Allman. Buddy Guy in those days was great, but largely unknown. Who else? Jorma Kaukonen? Jerry Garcia? Zappa? Roy Buchanan would’ve kicked some butt, but his following was limited. Erase your memory tapes and listen to the live Crossroads or Sitting on Top of the World. Awesome. Oh yeah - Carlos Santana plays some amazing guitar on the first album and Abraxas.

Thanks to Muse Cafe and Chris for letting us set up and wail. I enjoyed seeing old- and new-comers. Poe nailed every vocal. Nuclear Wessel "owns" his Joe Walsh and ZZ Top tunes. Ramoniacs were killer. Loved seeing all the Hamers and cool amps. Thanks to all you long-distance travellers who graced us with your musical presence.

Me too.

Johnny Thunders - Happy b-day! Birthday presription - Cue up the Stooges' Raw Power. Now, play it at high volume.

Jimi - great rhythm and melody chord player Clapton - on Mayall's Beano album and Disraeli Gears Peter Green - With Mayall and Fleetwood Mac Jeff Beck - with Yardbirds and on Wired Carlos Santana - Abraxas is a helluva guitar album after all these years McLaughlin - Devotion, Inner Mounting Flame, his stuff with Miles and Tony Williams Stevie Ray - Caught him in a hole in the wall in Chicago right before Texas Flood Steve Cropper behind all the old Stax-Volt bands Roy Buchanan-First two Polydor albums are especially awesome. Nels Cline is doing great stuff with his various bands. Lately, I can listen without end to Freddy King, vintage BB King, Hubert Sumlin with Howlin Wolf, also Merle Haggard and Pete Anderson with Dwight Yoakum. Someone said in this thread that "It's the song." Agreed.

Awesome! What music styles do you play? Give us a tone report. How does it compare to a strat?

Saw a couple mentions of The Cult. Surely their best and best-sequenced album is Sonic Temple.

roy buchanan - first 2 polydor albums howlin wolf - moanin' at midnight/howlin wolf(rocking chair) -- ok, a collection of singles, but that's what albums were back then, and these tunes launched dozens of bands. fugazi - steady diet of nothing & in on the kill taker bb king - singin' the blue/the blues - again, singles. Not a thousand notes per minute, just the right notes.

John McLaughlin - The Inner Mounting Flame Carlos Santana - Abraxas Scott Henderson - Vital Tech Tones I & II +1 Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced & Band of Gypsys Eric Clapton - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers "Beano" album Mastadon - Remission & Leviathan Tool - Aenima & Lateralus Sonic Youth - Dirty & Washing Machine

These are current bands that have some great sound: Pelican - 2 CDs - Wall-Of-Sound guitars. Mastodon - I guess they're typecast as "metal," but they have a monster drummer, great guitars. "Remission" is awesome; "Leviathon" is the Moby Dick story - great chops on display. High on Fire - HEAVY, kinda like Black Sabbath or Helmet. Isis - Noisy guitars, long instrumental passages.

The Octavia is not the first effect I'd get, but it is essential to nailing Hendrix's solo in Purple Haze. You'll hear it all over the albums Are You Experienced and Axis Bold as Love. As others have suggested, try playing in the higher frets (10-18). Also, it benefits from being chained along with a fuzz (Analog Man has a great one). Experiment with the effect order guitar -> octavia -> fuzz -> amp OR guitar -> fuzz -> octavia -> amp.