P-90 LP Neck Pickup Eargasm Courtesy of Neal Schon

[toomanycats]

Back it the early 90s, long before you could find this stuff on the internet, I bought a VHS tape of this raw live tv studio performance by Journey on the Tom Snyder show, which originally aired on October 17th, 1981. The first time I watched it with the VCR my mind was blown, as it still is today when viewing the same footage on YouTube.

It is such a distinctive guitar tone, full and fat, even fuzzy, while at the same time hollow and woody, and yet also clear and biting. Your ears tell you that it's not a humbucker, though neither is it a Fender single coil. It's that beautiful and distinctive sound that only a P-90 can make.

As far as Neal's playing, to me he's nothing less than a god. It was Schon, along with VH and Gilmour, who inspired me to first begin playing guitar, and whose impetus in many ways still sustains my driving passion for the instrument. I mean, Neal doesn't play like this anymore, and certainly not with this sublime and passionately raw tone; but back in the day he was untouchable, a singular expressive voice of technical mastery and fiery execution combined with a penchant for melodic genius. With all duo respect to Neal and his undeniable greatness, his tone now is analogous to an old lady who wears too much make-up; he hides himself behind dense layers of gain, delay, and reverb, like an aging beauty who unartfully slathers on cosmetics.

I've gotta wonder, how much is the Floyd Rose trem contributing to the distinctive tone in the 1981 video? A guitar with a tremolo bridge often imparts a hollowness to the tone vs a fixed bridge, and I swear I can hear that quality. Incidentally, I believe that this may actually be Floyd Rose #1. If I remember correctly, Neal Schon got the very first Floyd ever made, and either EVH or Brad Gillis got #2. That would have been around this time period.

I'm going to say something pretty heavy here, but all Agile AL guitars fitted with a Floyd Rose may be considered descendants of this exact Black Gibson Les Paul played by Neal Schon in this video. Neal Schon was the first person to outfit a Les Paul with a Floyd Rose. The man had the balls (or stupidity, depending on how you look at it), to carve up the top, back, and nut of a real Gibson in order to install this new fangled mechanism. His vindication is in the tone he achieved, as well as in the longevity of the concept four decades later.

The funny thing is that my 2014 Agile AL-3000 Rootbeer P-90 sounds very similar to this when played in the neck position.




Schon on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine July 1982 issue playing the same 1977 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.

Seven years ago this guitar was listed for sale on Reverb for $12,500:

https://reverb.com/item/1221119-neal-sc ... floyd-rose

[bleys21]

That was a band at the height of their powers in 1981-1983. No click tracks, no IEM's, no autotune, just get up and play. Back then, you had to be actually good to sound good.

And you're not wrong on Neal's sound...too many effects lately, and too many notes. I know he can play as fast as anyone, but the soul got lost along the way. I'd like to see him go back to Guitar --> Tube Amp --> Speaker, and just embrace that raw fury like he used to. If I want to hear the album track, I'll put it on...live, I want to hear that amp kicking into high gear!

[tonebender]

Those that recall know that a Gibson with P90's is my all time favorite. I prefer the neck pickup too. It is the tone my ear wants to hear. Journey is not necessarily my cup of tea in that I do not think I have ever purchased any of their music. I have enjoyed their music over the years and I really appreciate Neal as a player. I too do not get much out of speed playing and prefer players like Neal, or my favorite Mike Campbell because they add tasteful melodic notes to the song that mimic lyrics. A solo is the vocals when the vocalist takes a break.

[sabasgr68]

That was a band at the height of their powers in 1981-1983. No click tracks, no IEM's, no autotune, just get up and play. Back then, you had to be actually good to sound good.

And you're not wrong on Neal's sound...too many effects lately, and too many notes. I know he can play as fast as anyone, but the soul got lost along the way. I'd like to see him go back to Guitar --> Tube Amp --> Speaker, and just embrace that raw fury like he used to. If I want to hear the album track, I'll put it on...live, I want to hear that amp kicking into high gear!

Yeah, I´m with you, Dan; I usually prefer good live tracks of the Journey songs I like. I still enjoyed listenint to them when Arnel stepped in, but now, they really lost it. For me, at least. Give me their old songs all day. I have several favorites, but I think "Send her my love" is in the top three.

BTW, what´s IEM?

[sabasgr68]

Those that recall know that a Gibson with P90's is my all time favorite. I prefer the neck pickup too. It is the tone my ear wants to hear. Journey is not necessarily my cup of tea in that I do not think I have ever purchased any of their music. I have enjoyed their music over the years and I really appreciate Neal as a player. I too do not get much out of speed playing and prefer players like Neal, or my favorite Mike Campbell because they add tasteful melodic notes to the song that mimic lyrics. A solo is the vocals when the vocalist takes a break.

You know, I always thought that Journey - with Perry specially - was an american favorite, for everyone, like if everybody love them. And they are loved, yes, but is not unusual to find people that don´t particularly care about them; yes, they like a few songs, but far from being their favorite band.

I like their first albums, not all the songs, but I like the concept; I like the Perry era, I like Augeri stuff, but after that, even though Arnel can sing, it´s not about his singing, is about Journey´s music of the last times, it doesn´t "get to you" like the old ones. And Neal´s flash-playing/souless-intros-and-solos are not helping either.

[sabasgr68]

Back it the early 90s, long before you could find this stuff on the internet, I bought a VHS tape of this raw live tv studio performance by Journey on the Tom Snyder show, which originally aired on October 17th, 1981. The first time I watched it with the VCR my mind was blown, as it still is today when viewing the same footage on YouTube.

It is such a distinctive guitar tone, full and fat, even fuzzy, while at the same time hollow and woody, and yet also clear and biting. Your ears tell you that it's not a humbucker, though neither is it a Fender single coil. It's that beautiful and distinctive sound that only a P-90 can make.

As far as Neal's playing, to me he's nothing less than a god. It was Schon, along with VH and Gilmour, who inspired me to first begin playing guitar, and whose impetus in many ways still sustains my driving passion for the instrument. I mean, Neal doesn't play like this anymore, and certainly not with this sublime and passionately raw tone; but back in the day he was untouchable, a singular expressive voice of technical mastery and fiery execution combined with a penchant for melodic genius. With all duo respect to Neal and his undeniable greatness, his tone now is analogous to an old lady who wears too much make-up; he hides himself behind dense layers of gain, delay, and reverb, like an aging beauty who unartfully slathers on cosmetics.

I've gotta wonder, how much is the Floyd Rose trem contributing to the distinctive tone in the 1981 video? A guitar with a tremolo bridge often imparts a hollowness to the tone vs a fixed bridge, and I swear I can hear that quality. Incidentally, I believe that this may actually be Floyd Rose #1. If I remember correctly, Neal Schon got the very first Floyd ever made, and either EVH or Brad Gillis got #2. That would have been around this time period.

I'm going to say something pretty heavy here, but all Agile AL guitars fitted with a Floyd Rose may be considered descendants of this exact Black Gibson Les Paul played by Neal Schon in this video. Neal Schon was the first person to outfit a Les Paul with a Floyd Rose. The man had the balls (or stupidity, depending on how you look at it), to carve up the top, back, and nut of a real Gibson in order to install this new fangled mechanism. His vindication is in the tone he achieved, as well as in the longevity of the concept four decades later.

The funny thing is that my 2014 Agile AL-3000 Rootbeer P-90 sounds very similar to this when played in the neck position.




Schon on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine July 1982 issue playing the same 1977 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.
gnaptatey0hah1jc3hio.jpg


Seven years ago this guitar was listed for sale on Reverb for $12,500:

https://reverb.com/item/1221119-neal-sc ... floyd-rose

I´m with you, I like the old Neal Schon - which is funny, because I´m talking about the young Neil Schon -, I don´t like the new Neal Schon - which is funny again, because I´m talking about the old Schon -. His work was unique.

Also, "Journey Drama" is getting tiresome; now they´re are venting out in public their credit cards issues; really? But well, I have the old Journey to enjoy myself. Thank God for cds, dvds and the internet.

[bleys21]

In Ear Monitors. Back then, all they had was wedges on stage, and you had to tie in with the drums and bass. If you're good, no one notices. If you're not, its super obvious.

These days, bands have it easy, as they can have whatever they want piped into the IEM's. Just want the click track? Done. Want a lower mix of other instruments? Easy stuff. And while this allows them to perform at an almost studio level, I miss the days when there was some danger, when they got up there every night, and you never knew what you were going to get, and you had to rise to the occasion.

TL/DR: I'm old and crotchety lol

[/quote]

Yeah, I´m with you, Dan; I usually prefer good live tracks of the Journey songs I like. I still enjoyed listenint to them when Arnel stepped in, but now, they really lost it. For me, at least. Give me their old songs all day. I have several favorites, but I think "Send her my love" is in the top three.

BTW, what´s IEM?
[/quote]

[tonebender]

I never got used to IEM's. In the end I wanted to hear the room and shelved the idea.

[toomanycats]

On the subject of in ear monitors (IEM), I hate them with a passion. I've played with a couple bands that went whole hog on the idea, and trying to integrate myself into that scenario was like putting a square peg in a round hole.

It's not just the obnoxiousness of having a hearing-aid type thing stuck in your ear. Bands that use IEMs also strive for what's called a silent stage. The performers hear everything through a personally customizable mix in their individual IEMs. The audience hears only what is coming thought the mains.

I wish I had a nickel for every soundman or stagehand that looked at me with a blank stare when I explained to them that my hand wired tube amps didn't have a direct out, and that in any case trying to bypass the cabinet would deny me the tone of my Greenbacks, Alnico Blue, and Vintage 30s.

I believe the philosophic crux regarding silent-stage IEM vs loud live performance issue is this question:

What is the "real" representation of a song, the song as captured in the studio, or it's live performance?

If one believes the studio version of a song is the "real" version, then it follows that ideally this will be replicated onstage to the full extent that technology allows.

Conversely, if one believes that a live, raw, spontaneous musical performance represents the "real" song as a fluid living, dynamic thing, and that the studio version is like a frozen laboratory specimen, then they're going to dislike IEMs and silent stage.

........................................

On the subject of Journey and the current credit card tabloid gossip:

ANYTHING that can drive a wedge between John Cain and Neal Schon and subsequently get Greg Rolie back in the band is a good thing. Let John Cain focus on his televangelism thing with his wife Paula. I'd like to see Rolie back in Journey and a return to the direction of the material covered in the Journey Through Time shows of 2018. Dean Castranova and Rolie can handle all the vocals, get Rolie on the Hammond B3, and in an ideal world get back Ross Valory.




Listening to this show, I'm struck by the "Hendrixisms" in Neal's playing on the song "Still They Ride." It's one of the more potent tools in Neal's trickbag. It occurs to me now that this Journey song was released in 1981, which was only 11 short years after Jimi's passing. Neal has also spoken about how he'd lay in bed as a kid listening to Hendrix albums.

[bleys21]

Gods, I hope so too! Journey Through Time was soooooo good. Way better than Journey has been since 83 at the latest. I still think Jon Cain was the worst thing to ever happen to the band, and getting Gregg Rolie back would put the soul back into the soulless machine that Journey has become.

Who cares about an actual frontman anyway when you have Deen and Gregg trading vocals while playing as well? Not me!

Come on Neal! DO IT!

On the subject of Journey and the current credit card tabloid gossip:

ANYTHING that can drive a wedge between John Cain and Neal Schon and subsequently get Greg Rolie back in the band is a good thing. Let John Cain focus on his televangelism thing with his wife Paula. I'd like to see Rolie back in Journey and a return to the direction of the material covered in the Journey Through Time shows of 2018. Dean Castranova and Rolie can handle all the vocals, get Rolie on the Hammond B3, and in an ideal world get back Ross Valory.




Listening to this show, I'm struck by the "Hendrixisms" in Neal's playing on the song "Still They Ride." It's one of the more potent tools in Neal's trickbag. It occurs to me now that this Journey song was released in 1981, which was only 11 short years after Jimi's passing. Neal has also spoken about how he'd lay in bed as a kid listening to Hendrix albums.