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Topic: Which has the ultimate steel guitar tone, ZB or Emmons P-P? |
Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 9:36 am |
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Gentlemen, shake hands and come out fighting when the bell rings.  |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 9:39 am
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This will be decided in committee, as most steel guitar issues are, and will be revealed to the constituency at a proper time, and not a moment before. 
_________________
My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 9:55 am
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I knew somebody who bought a couple of MSA Millenniums and stopped worrying about that stuff - just concerned himself with playing. But that's pretty simplistic, I suppose.  Hey - let's ask Jerry!
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 10:21 am
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| The is a subjective question that cannot be answered definitively. Srictly a matter of opinion. Why even ask it? It doesn't matter. Play what you like. |
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Ken Byng
From:
Southampton, England
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 11:07 am
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Both great sounding but very different guitars. I was a ZB sales rep in the UK in the 1970's, and the huge heavy key head and removable changer head caps were both major contributors to the ZB tone along with its big maple body. Throw in the triple coil pickup and unique changer where the metal end tuners stop on the endplate and you have a guitar whose tone is the sum of its parts. I owned 2 ZB's in the early 70's and they were wonderfully quirky guitars. I had one specially made to order. We used to sell ZB's in pretty large quantities in those days.
I went from ZB to Sho~Bud in the mid-70's, and they also had great tone. In recent years I have been a convert to the Emmons push pull guitar. Very different to the ZB in tone - the Emmons has a bigger bottom end on the lower strings. The ZB has a strong mid-range and sparkly highs, while the push pull again has sparkly highs but with a less pronounced mid range to the ZB. The push pull has a full bodied twang on the bottom strings that the ZB didn't have. If anything the ZB has the more distinctive tone out of the two guitars.
My crude way of trying to describe the basic tone of both guitars, which are both tonally and sonically superb but very different. Get a good guitar of either make and you have a keeper.
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Show Pro D10 - amber (8+6), MSA D10 Legend XL Signature - redburst (9+6), Sho-Bud Pro 111 Custom (8+6), Emmons black Push-Pull D10 (8+5), Zum D10 (8x8), Hudson pedal resonator. Telonics TCA-500, Webb 614-E, |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 1:18 pm
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| After hearing a ZB for the first time I sold all my Emmons and Sho-Bud guitars and never looked back. That's just me. I love both Emmons and ZB tones. Sho-Buds also. |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 1:53 pm
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YES.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 55 years and still counting. |
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Peter Freiberger
From:
California, USA
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 2:39 pm
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| The all-push Zem Bud. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 2:49 pm
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In reality, there is no "best". There is what a person likes, and what they don't. If, indeed, there were a "best", or two or three that were considered "best", then those would be what most everyone played.
The five top players (in my book) play 5 different brands, so there really is no concensus on what you should choose. Even the cheapest and raggediest guitar has sound and beauty that neither youm nor Im nor anyone else will never be able to coax out of it.
Choose one and just play it. Talk of anything else as far as brands is foolishness, IMHO |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 3:16 pm
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Donny, I agree! 30 years ago I heard Buddy Emmons playing a single 10... I think it was an MSA... though a little Peavey Bandit amp... at Jeff Newman's place. And that glorious Emmons tone filled the entire room! From wall to wall. It has little to do with the gear and more to do with the player, his hands, his pick attack, his bar vibrato, his volume pedal technique, and what he hears in his head.
I'm reminded of the Jerry Byrd quote... If you can play it doesn't matter what guitar you use. If you can't play it doesn't matter what guitar you use. (or something like that)
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 5:05 pm
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| I think they are at different points in the tone spectrum. Each has a voice of it's own. Each person has his own opinion on what they think is the ultimate tone. |
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Brad Malone
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 6:52 pm This subject is over
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| Herb Steiner answered this question months ago..the two best steel guitars in the world for TONE are in Texas..Herb Steiner has one and Jim Loessberg has the other..they are Emmons Push-pull Guitars..that closes this subject...LOL |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 26 Mar 2012 7:16 pm
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Not really Brad. Have you ever heard a ZB played live through a tube amp? You'd change your opinion fast. ZB doesn't take a back seat to ANY guitar as far as tone goes. The ZB and the Emmons P/P both have very similar growling overtone characteristics. The ZB has more upper mids. Which means you can treble out the guitar and it will never sound thin. You can hear that on the Teach Your Children recording. Here is a photo of a brand new Retro Custom ZB that I'm getting ready to ship out. Sings like a bird. All the growling overtones you could ask for.
www.retrosteelguitar.net
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