The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm hoping some of you that knew Neil can fill me in on his guitar and amp on the 1973 Gram Parson's Fallen Angel tour?

I've scoured pictures and video, but can't get a good shot of Neil.

I'm assuming it's a Fender since the rest of the band is playing Fender and it has that high volume breakup that I associate with a Twin.

I know that he played an Emmon's later in life, but what was he playing during this tour?

Any help would be appreciated...

Thank's,
Bill

Neil told me he played a Sho-Bud Pro II. He didn't say what kind of amp he was using. Hope this helps you a little bit.

Joe

Though he didn't say I would strongly guess that he was using a Boss Tone for the distortion effect.

Joe

On this old thread, see the comments by John Macy:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=308984

John said, "I was there for all six nights at Oliver's in Boston on that tour, and it was a Bud...

I also double checked with Neil and he said "Sho-Bud Guitar and Sho-Bud amp (solid state) built by Ken Cain from San Antonio."...

Thanks to all for filling me in on this. I've been on the forum forever and still didn't find those old posts.

I love the tone Neil had on that tour. Can't believe that it was a solid state amp the way it broke up just right on the clean leads.

I even own a Pro II, but gave up playing it years ago. It has a great sound, but the long scale, string spacing and large pedals are so different from the Emmons' that I can't switch back and forth.

Bill

Bill Rowlett wrote:
I love the tone Neil had on that tour. Can't believe that it was a solid state amp the way it broke up just right on the clean leads.

Agreed. I always thought it was maybe a push pull into a Fender amp...

The only picture I’ve seen of Neil with the Sho Bud, unfortunately very low resolution. The amp behind him looks similar to the one pictured below, possibly the logo peeking over his left shoulder. Pretty sure that’s Gram’s shadow, but it’s all a bit tantalising…

I am not sure but, could the Sho Bud pedal steel be the same as the one on the cover of his Pedal Steel Chord Dictionary?

[/img]

He was using those little ElectroHarmonix overdrive boxes that plugged into your guitar and had a slide switch for on/off. He had two plugged together in series, and someone had made him a little metal piece that switched both on at the same time.

Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 Linear Power Booster

They still make them. Sweetwater $46.30!

That’s right! I think I still have one!

Not the Muff Fuzz?

That would make more sense, Frank.

I was at one of the Oliver's shows - I was in town from school in Ohio to make arrangements for a co-op job at MIT for the summer. I was walking back to the house which was right off Brookline Ave right at the Brookline town line, and noticed the flyer in the window as I was passing by - I generally looked to see who was there. I could just do the one night since I was flying out the next day. A memorable show, I had never heard of Emmylou - which is probably why I still specifically remember this.

Steel was definitely a Sho Bud - even I as a non-steel-player could tell that. I was trying to figure out how to swing a Maverick back then but couldn't do it. The distortion from the recordings that are now out there sound like a Fuzz to me, so my bet is that at least one of these plug-in effects was a Muff Fuzz. There were two versions - one that plugged into the amp and one that plugged into the guitar (I think more rare). Back in those days, I used the version that plugged into the amp for guitar. When I wanted to push the amp harder than that would go, I got an LPB-1 as a preamp to the Muff. But some people actually used two Muff Fuzzes cascaded. In fact, EHX made a couple of different versions of the "Double Muff" over the last 20 years or so, which is exactly that - two cascaded Muff Fuzzes in one box.

BTW - I think the original "Muff Fuzz" is a great sounding fuzz. I could have gotten a Big Muff - I tried 'em both but preferred the plug-in Muff.

b0b wrote:That would make more sense, Frank.

Well, it is period-correct: I bought mine around '76 or '77.

Both are period-correct. The block-letter Muff Fuzz was available by at least 1970 or 71 when I got mine. The LPB1 was available earlier, I'd guess around '68. This show was in '73. The faceplate designs on both evolved, but they were around right through the 70s.

LPB1 - https://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/eh/lpb1#pictures

Muff Fuzz - https://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/e ... z#pictures

The LPB-1 - Linear Power Booster - is just pure gain, no distortion in the circuit at all. Good for overdriving a tube amp, but mostly just increases the volume in a clean solid-state amp, until it gets ugly.

I took my information about the LPB-1 from a thread discussing the album. John Macy says he was an eye witness to the pedals being two LPB-1 cascaded. It's a huge tone! I use a Wampler Velvet Fuzz, but I am probably going to try a pair of those for the sake of experimentation.

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... d857f52739

I guess I missed that thread. John would know. I was there that one night but didn't get close enough to see exactly what was going on.

Those two plug-in boxes look exactly the same, except for the name. But one LPB1 cascading into a second LPB1 would probably overdrive the second one pretty well. I can tell you an LPB1 into a Muff Fuzz is a wicked sound.

Even more inconclusive than the photo, here’s fuzzy Neil playing fuzzy steel on the back neck (eg at 15:15) but naturally the angle cuts off just above the plug-in boxes. https://youtu.be/iz67Vc9lUXg

Those Oliver’s shows are my time travel gig so I’ll definitely see some of you guys at the bar!

Always great to hear Neil with Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels again.

Many many years ago he wrote me a bit about how he got the job, see the pictures. [/img]

Olaf, that's fascinating! Thanks for sharing it here!

Thats a keeper Olaf! Thanks for posting that!

I bought a pair of the LPB’s soon after the show but never got the dual switching thing together. I still have one of them.

I had the honor of playing with Neil (me on bass) about 20 years ago at "Gram's Place", in Tampa...it was a private home which was converted to a shrine to GP. I had always loved Neil's playing & tone, and asked him what kind of steel he played on "The New Soft Shoe" (my favorite Neil recording) He told me, & I quote "an old Hank Corwin reject" Not sure what that meant,or even who Hank Corwin was, but I think it was a Bud.
The night I played with him, he was playing a PP.