Rockabilly Tone Profile – Cliff Gallup
Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps helped to define the style and sound of early rock and roll. Blue Cap's guitarist Cliff Gallup , had a playing style in the mid-fifties that is still heavily sought after to this day. Cliff's unique style and tone is perhaps the blueprint for Rockabilly Guitar.
Below is a breakdown of Cliff's gear from the mid-fifties during his recording sessions with the Blue Caps, along with suggestions for boutique & reissue gear substitutes. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any experience with the vintage or reissue gear mentioned, or if you any have other suggestions for copping this classic sound.
Cliff Gallup 50's Gear:
1956 6128 Gretsch Duo Jet with fixed arm Bigsby
Tape head Echo & Delay
Standel Amp 26-watt tube amp 25L15 Used in studio recordings
Fender Tweed amps when playing live
Comparable Reissue & Boutique Gear
Gretsch Duo Jet ReissueFulltone Tube Tape EchoFender Vintage Reissue '59 Bassman
To cop some great Cliff Gallup licks check out eMusic.com. They have like 15 Gene Vincent albums as well as a ton of other great rockabilly guitarists. I also like Emusic because they have no restrictions on the files types like itunes, and they offer 25 free downloads for the trial account.
Below are links to two excellent articles on Cliff Gallup and his sound:
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/gvCliffGallup.html
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/soundlikecliff.html
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