Billy Gibbons. AKA Guitar God

[flatheadpete]

Anyone else. A BFG fan? I strive for his tone with my cheap set up. What does he use?

[fillmore nyc]

Welcome to the forum, Pete!!

I cant say Im much of a fan of Reverend Billy's playing, but his tone is pretty much as good as it gets, and with his cash, Im SURE his equipment matches that. Its pretty widely known that he uses that Pearly Gates LP almost exclusively on most recorded material, and for amps, I would guess its just the absolute best of the best in old Marshalls.
Most of his shit would be made of "Unobtainium", if you know what I mean.

[toner]

What does he use?

What doesn't he use? Seriously, he's got a warehouse of amps. He probably has at least one of every vintage Fender, Marshall, etc. He's really into Marshall 18 watts though. He's gone through a lot of the boutique makers also. Recently he liked Retro King ( http://www.retrokingamps.com/zztop.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ).

[kennzo5150]

ahhhh the texas tonemeister ! that man, probably more than any one knows good tone. it is really funny he doesn't have a page dedicated too him. so much could be talked about the man. luuuuuv the rev !

[halen795]

I have always liked the ZZ Top songs that come on the radio, but never went out and bought a cd or really even given them that much credit to be honest. However, last night, VH1 had a ZZ Top concert on and I was glued to the screen! Not only are they just simply the coolest dudes around, there performance was great; they just kind of kick back and rock n roll...!!! Equally, the guitar tone was outstanding to say the least. When hearing them on the radio, I just hear a pretty good song; but the concert showed the real/true sound they have; I cannot say how impressed I was with the show, performance, song arrangement, and especially there tone...!!!
I am hooked ball and sinker; ZZ Top kicks ass!!! We need an icon here with a long bushy beard!!!

[rockerdog65]

In a recent interview (on Lick Library), Sir William said that for live work he was using the JMP 1 rack tube preamp into a solid state power amp.

And no, I couldn't believe it either!

Whatever he was using at this year's High Voltage festival, it sounded awesome. I'd assumed it was some lovely vintage amp, but who knows....

[somethin'else]

Ur, uh, I think I was weened on Tres Hombres, Fandango!, and especially Deguello and El Loco.
Billy's just one cool ole dude.
When Eliminator came out, they blew the lid off the thing.
And I didn't even CARE that Frank Beard was using supplemental drums at the time!
Those are some smart dudes I tell ya.
And Billy just Parties on that multi-tracking thing!
So cool, bringing the 'electronic' to the junkyard, and bringin' the junkyard to the Ritz.

AND, one of my other favorite albums, VH's Women and Children First, just seemed heavily influenced by that Southern Desert Boogie that ZZTop was throwin' at the time. At least Take Your Whiskey Home. It was Eddie and Billy for me!

I heard somewhere that Billy runs some real low watt amps in iso boxes under the stage or something for all that nasty mojo tone, and then's pumped through the sound system. Killer.

Their '96 (geez, '96? I just bought it last year! ) Rhythmeen is KICK TOTAL OLD SCHOOL ASS! And their working with Rick Rubin for a 2011 release?

Here's a couple tracks from Rhythmeen. Nice backline on this first one.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cia98Oirb18[/youtube]
and a classic here... gorgeous grinding bass...(Dad'blame edit: at 0:06 & 0:16 spot the smokin' tweeds! I think this is where you really wanna be, flathead, for that BG funktone. 'Tweedland.)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdQuMyVg-rQ[/youtube]

[SteadyEddie]

I think EVH was a closet Billy Gibbons fan. He's never said it, but come on. "Hot for Teacher" is basically an amped-up "Lagrange."
Good call on "Take Your Whiskey Home" I hear some of "Waiting for the Bus" in that one. In fact, I've heard a bootleg of Van Halen playing a cover of "Waiting for the Bus."
They both had that wicked grooving riff swing thing going on. Eddie just did it a bit faster.

[Dom]

Billy is such a cool dude.
We've met him in a Radio Shack store in LA and promised us free tickets for a ZZ Top show in Las Vegas (fortunately our plan was to go to Vegas for a few days). At the box office we've received the tickets and got seats in the 8th row just right in the middle of the stage. It was in the Hilton theatre.
After the show we've met him in the lounge and we said thanks for the free tickets.
He just replied 'from now on you'll get free tickets for your entire life..' and gave to a friend of mine his personal card.
The sound was superb.
And his guitar tone sounded like a blend of old Marshalls, Fender Tweeds and Blackfaces, always blended a little bit different for every song. And it sounded always more like 50W amps than 100W amps.
After the show we've met him in the lounge and we said thanks for the free tickets.
He just replied 'from now on you'll get free tickets for your entire life..' and gave to a friend of mine his personal card.

I've seen some Marshall cabs on stage (don't know if they just were sitting there for decoration) and his stack of Expandorra stompoxes.
I guess 3 overdrive pedals in series, each set up at the sweet spot on the lower-medium gain side, which sound in series together where it doesn't mud the sound but boosts the sustain and juiciness in front of a 60s Bassman head will get you straight into Billy Gibbons territory.

Cheers
Dominik

[fivecoyote]

Live, here's his rig -- enjoy!

http://www.woodytone.com/2009/10/05/the ... -live-rig/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SteadyEddie]

I saw his recent concert on DirecTV and it was pretty killin'. His chops are not quite what they used to be but he still pulls off most of the stuff he did. Overall, I thought they sounded killer and even their Eliminator stuff sounded good live. I particularly enjoyed "Rough Boy" live considering that was not my favorite era of ZZ Top.

[leadguy]

Billy's Live Rack

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/other-g ... -gear.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NY Chief]

I saw his recent concert on DirecTV and it was pretty killin'. His chops are not quite what they used to be but he still pulls off most of the stuff he did. Overall, I thought they sounded killer and even their Eliminator stuff sounded good live. I particularly enjoyed "Rough Boy" live considering that was not my favorite era of ZZ Top.

You gotta hear him do that with Jeff Beck. The Rev is great but Beck KILLS it. It's on youtube.

[mayrandp]

I'm a big fan of the early ZZ Top. Love BFG tone on the original mix of the first album.

I got the bootleg of the show in Pensacola, FL in 1970. Great playing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfVl3PnPR-o[/youtube]

[VelvetGeorge]

Tres Hombres is still my favorite, I play it on vinyl quite often in the shop.

Question: does Rev play Tush in open G or standard tuning? Open G sure makes sense for that riff and solo. I'm gonna look at some live clips on youtube and see if I can tell.
george