New Chixfoot: Can You Hear the Marshall?
“Big Foot” is the new Chickenfoot tune being release to radio (what’s that? lol) today, and…I like it! The #1 reason: MARSHALL.
You can hear a big difference, an evolution from Joe Satriani’s big round solo-artist tone to a more rock tone – harsher (in a good way), less bassy/muddy (in a band setting), more pick attack.
I also like the mix – a less-big guitar (Joe Bonamassa are you listening…), big drums: Two keys for a woody sound. And of course Mike’s solid playing and Sammy’s never-get-old pipes.
Did I mention Chad Smith bringing out the cowbell?
A good tune. We’ll have to see if it’s “the best record I ever made,” according to Hagar. I’m betting not, but that would be a battle of opinions – no winner. But after hearing the overall sound of this tune and the fact that it’s riff-based rather than chords, I’m stoked to hear the rest.
A Few Gear Deets
Here’s Satch’s latest rig rundown, from his Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards tour – so not Chickenfoot. As usual Premier Guitar does an okay job – get some good info but leaves out a bunch….
The most interesting part of his rig are the amps, which give him a large part of his new Chickenfoot tone. Interesting to note that Satch wanted less amp compression – meaning he seems to want a more open, more woody tone.
Not that in his solo work he’s using 80w speakers in his Marshall 1960B cabs, but in Chickenfoot (most recent gigs) he was using Celestion Greenbacks (25w).
In those gigs he talks about experimenting by turning up the amp and turning down the gain (good!). He says it was “a lot of fun – you get rid of the buzz but get more sustain so it’s clearer, sounds more vintage-like. Marshalls always have that ability….”
One of Joe's Marshalls from the PG video, click to see it bigger.
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> When talking about a prototype Ibanez JS2400 (24 frets) made out of alder vs. his usual basswood, he says that alder doesn’t cut as well but it’s a little bit warmer. The actual JS2400 is made out of basswood.
Category: Celestion speakers, Chickenfoot, Joe Satriani, Marshall
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Basswood having more cut, and Alder being warmer?? I wonder if these guys ears play tricks on them as they get older. I’ve built several guitars, and in that time I’ve come to some conclusions. First, Basswood is a sub par tonewood, similar to mahogany, but with a weaker mid and low-mid tone. And Alder and ash have much more c cut than Basswood or mahogany. I never understood $2500 guitars made with Basswood. I hear statements made by veteran guitar players about tone, and the causality of tone, and I wonder if they pull it out of the air.
Exactly man! That’s why I included it…sounds a little nuts but tough to argue with the Satchmo, EVH, etc. I don’t like basswood much either, but some folks do.
Nice infos! Tks!
BTW, Satch use less amp compression, because he use TONS of drive pedals. Satriani’s timbre is very processed. Is very good, but not “woody”.
What I don’t get, is if Joe was using his Peavy Joe Satriani autograph model amps before, Is he now dissing them in favor of this current model Marshall? I personally thought he had a pretty unique tone last time around. I dig this song, but the tone? Meh… I’m picky, all my Marshalls are old JMP’s from the 70’s. Nothing Marshall’s made since has lived up to those.
now all he needs is a stock les paul. Anyways, joking aside, this band totally kicks ass. Loved the last album. He always gets great tone nomatter what gear he uses, in my opinion.
Satriani’s dissatisfaction with Peavey sounds like a problem with the relationship, along the lines of “I wanted some tweaks and nobody ever returned my calls”.