Eric Johnson/ Andy Timmons type tone?

[The Rossness]

What mod would be the best for an Andy Timmons/ Eric Johnson type of sound? They both run a Fender and marshall amps in stereo and are known to pump OD and fuzz boxes through their amps. What mod has that fender/ marshall sound, that sounds great when pedals are going into it?

 

[Jaded Faith]

I'd recommend my OD Special mod for these tones any day.

 

[BigBrewtus]

I havent tried one but I would be willing to bet JF is right. Timmons uses two amps now for his tone. Not at the same time. Lonestar for his older stuff which can cover many fenderish tones but other tones too. Before that he was using Laney stuff I believe. On his Resolution album his recorded vintage marshalls. JMP run into a Plexi. Mesa had him try the Stilletto and he found it matched that tone. He does like the boost pedals.
Johnson has used several matches. He loved his Dumble but now mixes like you said Marshall and Fender.
I love both of these guys tones!!! I have a mod that is similar to what I hear them use but I would recommend JFs OD or a very warm vintage british module. I would love to have one of JFs ODs myself but I would ask him to install a internal gain pot to tame it up even more. Love what I have heard though!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

With his Marshall rig I think he still likes those chandler tube drivers to goose the front end for the warm drive. I dig his Stiletto tones though.That guy has sweet tasty chops.

 

[BigBrewtus]

With his Marshall rig I think he still likes those chandler tube drivers to goose the front end for the warm drive. I dig his Stiletto tones though.That guy has sweet tasty chops.

Both these guys like the TD. I had a rack unit and its even more versatile. I miss it but I just never seem to keep rack stuff. Timmons mostly uses the TD with the Stilletto. He rarely uses the gain channel on the Stilletto as he likes to just boost with the pedals.

 

[Daryl]

I got to go an Eric Johnson concert just a couple of months back and it was a killer show. Check out a little bit of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlJ_TafCTcA
You can see that he is really leaning on those Fender Twins for his sound. He also had a 59' Marshall JMP stage left.

 

[davetheslave]

+1 on loving these guys tones.I was surprised when I got close to some of Timmons tones with a stock blackface JTM module with a BB Preamp in front of it.As for that Johnson cream it's only a short matter of time before I'll be ordering a JF OD special.

 

[BigBrewtus]

+1 on loving these guys tones.I was surprised when I got close to some of Timmons tones with a stock blackface JTM module with a BB Preamp in front of it.As for that Johnson cream it's only a short matter of time before I'll be ordering a JF OD special.

Right on Dave! I think these guys tones are killer but simple. I love their use of volume control. Huge impact on the preseved tone. I did a treble bleed mod on a friends strat a little bit ago and I am blown away by how well that works.

 

[alowerdeep]

I saw a few vids of Andy Timmons playing a Mesa Stiletto as well

 

[Graham Pearson]

I agree with BigBrewtus on the treble roll-off thingy.

I roll my guitar's treble way off and, pushing through a stock ULTRA module, I get very close to Eric's singing tones.

Yes, that's right, I said stock ULTRA, although it does have a 5751 in V1 to make the Gain a little more controllable.

 

[ricky]

Eric doesn't use high gain amps. I was in Austin when he was coming up and he usually played twins with a tube screamer. Using a twin with a tube screamer is a tone all it's own and I can get the singing kind of tone using a JF Superclean with a pedal in front. It is almost counter intuitive to use a clean amp for these tones but it works.
ricky

 

[Jaded Faith]

Eric doesn't use high gain amps. I was in Austin when he was coming up and he usually played twins with a tube screamer. Using a twin with a tube screamer is a tone all it's own and I can get the singing kind of tone using a JF Superclean with a pedal in front. It is almost counter intuitive to use a clean amp for these tones but it works.
ricky

Not at all. Every time I start to forget about that combination (OD or light Distortion into a tube combo) I see a player in an intimate setting like a coffee house or brewery/restaurant here in Princeton and it makes me smile. There is a certain charm to that type of rig.

I have had quite a few guys tell me the Super Clean is amazing with pedals. I am going to have to try it soon. :lol:

 

[Mike361]

For EC tones, it's really simple. And can be cheap. Try a stock plexi or blackface, deluxe whatever you want keep the gain down and use pedals. I use a old chandler, but seriously could get it with a bad monkey pedal. You just need the low mids type of pedal. Turn your treble tone knob low and your there. It can get better with some good pedals of course, but you will be surprised how good the bad monkey can sound.

 

[Daryl]

Yep, fellas. He pretty much uses Twins for most of his tones. You have to check out this clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlJ_TafCTcA
It's got segments where he talks about his gear and what he's working on.
He still uses his Chandler and TS808, but he also had a prototype of the new fuzz face he had a part in developing. It's only a little over six minutes and it will answer some questions you might have.
I was suprised to see that he actually does use a G-Dec 30 backstage for warm ups. He makes it sound good. LOL

 

[Graham Pearson]

Hey Daryl, I think you included the wrong link in your previous post. Here's a link that has Sir Eric talking about his gear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZruE7E_4OU&feature=relmfu

And by the way, if anyone wants tabs of all the riffs Eric plays on this clip, just let me know. I taught him most of these chords about 20 years ago and he's not learned much since then.

 

[Daryl]

Hey Daryl, I think you included the wrong link in your previous post. Here's a link that has Sir Eric talking about his gear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZruE7E_4OU&feature=relmfu

And by the way, if anyone wants tabs of all the riffs Eric plays on this clip, just let me know. I taught him most of these chords about 20 years ago and he's not learned much since then.

Well it's not the wrong link, but the link you provided is better for explaining his gear. The clip I linked to was from a concert and he talks about his gear in between clips of the show.
BTW: Were you really Eric's guitar teacher?! :shock:
Too cool. 8)

 

[ricky]

No way was he EJ's teacher. I was around him 30 years ago and he knew those chords back then. I used to own a copy of Mariani which was a band EJ was in when he was 16. He played like John McGlaughlin at that time. Truly an amazing player and tone freak.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I was Joe Satriani's teacher 30 years ago and he never mentioned this to me regarding our buddy Eric

 

[ricky]

Wow, Cranky Ray! Satch talks about you and your influence on him every time we get together for coffee.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Joe always need a coffee boost to keep his chops up for my lessons.