software

I went to hear a buddy of mine and his country band tonight. They were hitting all the current top 40 country stuff, some Skynrd, some ZZ, some Tucker, some old classic country. Nice mix. Lot's of steel guitar. He had the best tone. THe quot;leadquot; player had a Tele going through a DRRI amp, stock everything. His tone was pretty damn good compared to the vocalist/guitarist whose Tele into a Fender Hot Rod 2x12 sounded like it had a stinky old wet dog blanket over it. I know the guy, I used to play in this group. I went up during a break and told him to give the treble a little boost. He said, his audiences always complained about too much high end. I told him, brother, you ain't go no high end at all. It's a muddy stinky mess. But, he knows everything, so I was tortured with another full set.

Now, my buddy plays a bit of acoustic, but he's mostly a harp player. I brought him my tweed deluxe and he sounded incredible through it. He was getting compliments during breaks he said he's never gotten before. The lead guy came up with me wanting to know if I could juice up his DRRI. Then we were talking about his rig nad he was pretty unhappy with his noisey pickups. These guys were playing in an upscale Ice House (maybe it's a Texas thang, not sure as I don't see them in other states).

I need to get some recommendations from some of you country Tele players on some humbucking stacks that still sound like single coil Tele pups. I told him I'd send him an email, but I've never played much with them.

Butch? Others?

He was also beatching about needing a bigger 2x12 or something. His DRRI wasn't cutting it in big venues. So, I turned him onto Rivera and told him to also try out a 59 Bassman RI 4x10. I think he'd do well with either. On the ZZ and Skynrd stuff, he was working his volume control pretty well and as we all know a mic'd DRRI will definitely give up the goods with a little guitar volume control action.

All in all, a good life experience. But, I was the only guy in a group of 200 or so folks that gave a crap about their tone, much less one of about 10 in that group of 200 that even clapped after a song.

Now, the girls that were there... dont' get me started as I'm a married man and my wife refuses to listen to country music. But, wow. Temptation everywhere. Even for an old guy like me.

On the amp side, I haven't heard a better country amp than my friend's mid sixties BF Super. I't should have more muscle than the DRRI, but still be quiet enough to crank up without killing people. I have never heard the reissue, but if they have half the mojo as the original, here's no way he can go wrong.

As far as the pickups go, I love my JD lead for straight up country. I never muched liked the tones I heard from the Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups I heard, and while the Duncan Vintage stack is really good, it isn't as quot;alivequot; as the JD. Maybe a good shielding job would work?

I have heard great things about the Lawrence pickups, but with an 8 week wait, I'd rather just stick to Duncans.

he should try the vintage stack.

but i also think a good shielding would work wonders.

i have also noticed that the amp has a lot to do with noise. just playing a couple fenders and my dr.z then comparing them to my soldano. the fenders had a bit of noise the soldano had a bit more and the dr z is quieter, less hum, than all of them with single coil pickups, even at higher volumes. i did not however play through a DRRI. i was trying twins and an occational bassman.

i am really happy with my vintage stack for tele set (lead and rhythm) ... i did the 4 way mod too and really like all 4 sounds .. i havent found time to do the 'boost' mod yet - but it gives potentially even more versatility ...

super quiet, plenty of twang .. worth a shot

cheers
t4d

something fender and 40 watts should be just right.

You'd be surprised at how much crank flexibility i can get with my bandmaster-at 6 it's perfect for jams, at 4.5-5 it's great for clubs, at 8 with both of my d130f's-one in my open back cab, and the other in a sealed electrovoice bass cabinet it's perfect for large venues.

I just saw this thread....

If he wants a set of single coil humbuckers, the Vintage Stacks are very nice. And, IMHO, they're just as quot;alivequot; as the JD model; which I have owned an used. If the player(s) want something more high performance, check into Kinman or Bardens. Both of theose, however will set your wallet back a good bit.