Vintage Celestion G12 Tone Crash Course

Johan Segeborn – the master of tone comparison videos – believes that the speaker is the single most important component in creating vintage guitar tones. He’s put together a whirlwind demonstration of a number of vintage Celestion speakers to show us why.

Speakers are such simple things on the surface, yet – as Johan demonstrates – there’s a lot of variables that make an audible difference. And if you can hear the difference on YouTube, imagine how big the difference is in the room, or in any kind of recording.

Watch the difference to hear how these speakers vary, and then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment.

A Wall Of Marshall Stacks At Home

What would a wall of 100W Marshall heads, with eight 4×12 cabs, sound like at home? Johan Segeborn has found out for us, so that we don’t need to upset the neighbours.

I swear that you can see the camera shaking from the amount of air that these Marshall stacks are moving!

I think it sounds glorious too. The room looks (and sounds) very lively – it’s adding a lot of reflections to the recording, because Johan’s using a room mic to capture this. Treat the room to take some of that away, and it would sound truly immense.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Johan’s video … or if you’re just jealous that he has somewhere to do this 🙂

Do Microphonic Guitar Pickups Explain Tonewood?

Johan Segeborn is back – and his beard almost is too – with another of his mad science experiments about tone.

Ah, tonewood – and the endless debate of whether wood makes a difference or not. (It does, and so do other things.)

This time, Johan tries an experiment with pickups. How microphonic are they, and does that explain why tonewood makes a difference?

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and join in the lively debate in the comments section there.

One Marshall Is All You Need

Continuing this afternoon’s Marshall theme (yeah, the Metro Plex module has made quite the impression this morning 🙂 ), here’s a video from Johan Segeborn looking at a modded Marshall 1987X.

This particular Marshall has been modded so that it can be switched between something like half a dozen classic Marshall circuits. Very cool, if that’s your kind of sound.

It’s also worth a watch just to see how different two guitarists sound, even through the exact same amp and speaker cab.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Johan’s video.

What’s More Important For Les Paul Tone? Saddles Or Bridge?

Johan Segeborn is back with another of his comparison videos – and minus his beard. Today, he’s comparing the difference between bridges and saddles from the 50s and 2008.

There are whole sections of major Les Paul forums devoted to the endless discussion – and decrying – of trying to capture that legendary 50s Les Paul burst tone with modern instruments. (Yours truly might be a lurker and occasional contributor *cough* to those debates …)

Johan’s comparisons are always interesting, and certainly add fuel to the debate 🙂

I don’t chase that 50s tone per se. I’ve never played an original Les Paul burst, and likely never will. And if I did, I’d need to have it through my rig (that I’m most familiar with) and have the chance to A/B it with my own Les Pauls to really understand the difference anyway.

The key thing I chase is the 3D aspect of those old vintage tones. That’s the magic for me. My own experience is that sometimes a pickup upgrade will unlock that without any other changes at all. How much of it is the pups, and how much of it is the guitar they’re going into, I don’t know.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Johan’s video. Or if you miss the beard – which seems to have generated the most comments so far!

Pure Tone Amps 7th Anniversary Custom Amp Demo

Johan Segeborn has posted a demo of the 7th Anniversary Custom Amp by Pure Tone Amps. It’s a very vintage sound that works well with all three Holy Trinity guitars – Stratocaster, Telecaster, and Les Paul.

It’s not an amp manufacturer that I’d heard of before. They hand-build every amp, and according to the website, every amp is unique. Make no mistake – these are boutique amps with pricing to match. They’re also different. Check them out. They might just appeal to you.

If you like the video, please head over to Johan’s YouTube channel to like the video and leave a comment.