A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

There's a lot of speculation about how Billy Gibbons got the guitar tones on ZZ Top's Tres Hombres album, and specifically there seems a lot of attention drawn to the song "Waitin' on the Bus."

Speaking specifically about the solo, I've read differing opinions, some asserting it's Pearly, others saying the 1955 Fender hardtail Stratocaster in different combinations of the bridge and neck positions, and still others saying Tele in the bridge position with the tone knob rolled back.

For the amp some say Brown Fender Deluxe, while others say a 1969 Marshall Super Lead 100. Some say the solo is doubled and panned, with one track tuned down a few cents, which gives the wah-like, chorus/modulated effect. But let's face it, like a lot of great players much of the tone comes down to Billy's touch. The mojo is in RBG's hands.

As I'm interested mainly in reproducing the sound of the solo in a live situation (which means I can't double it), I've found that a Les Paul, along with conservative use of a Crybaby Wah assists in approximating those tones and textures. Rocking the peddle far forward gives that very thin, trebly sound that can be heard at times. Rocking it back and "cocking" it gives the notched, mid focused tone that Pearly Gates is specifically known for. For the amp I used a cranked Marshall Bluesbreaker type circuit.

What do you fellas think?

Sounding great!

I think Billy's sound is mostly in his hands. They EQ all of his guitars to sound the same anyway (per one of the gear rundown videos). I think you did a great job.

Tasty! I agree that you nailed the tone and vibe!

Thanks for the feedback guys. Honestly, I was expecting at least one Billy Gibbon's fanatic to say, "But he doesn't use a wah pedal on that solo!" It's my attempt at a work around to get that kind of tone with a single guitar. Just for fun I may actually try to replicate how Gibbon's supposedly recorded this lead in the studio, with two guitar tracks (panned right and left), one tuned down a few cents from the other.

What a double track...Waitin for the Bus/Jesus left Chicago. To the m that was their best sound.

As usual that's a fine job there TMC. TBH I had always assumed that lead was done with a Wah of some type. I am not fully convinced yet that it wasn't. Auto-Wah in mixing maybe? I dunno, I don't know much about recording, it just really sounded like a Wah to me.

It sounds very good to me as well no matter how you ended up there. I have noticed you playing your LP (R8?) a lot lately, in your band vids too - my guess is that you’ve got some mojo going on with it that help in your quest for specific tones.

uwmcscott wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 7:40 pm It sounds very good to me as well no matter how you ended up there. I have noticed you playing your LP (R8?) a lot lately, in your band vids too - my guess is that you’ve got some mojo going on with it that help in your quest for specific tones.

It's actually an G0, which is a 1960 Historic sold exclusively at Guitar Center. This one is from 2006. I always play that particular Les Paul at gigs. It's definitely got the mojo in terms of sound and playability. Can't really see anything knocking it out of the #1 position.

That would be great to hear in a bar. Technically you were using alot more wah effect it seemed to me. Maybe amps in parallel with wah on 1?
Or just milk the wah live it sounds great

Sounds great.

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