How to get the Holy Bible guitar tone?

[VCK]

I'm a proud owner of a Les Paul and I'm wanting to get a sharp, angular tone out of it. I figured James' Holy Bible sound would be a good point of reference. What should the amp and effects settings be?

[CaerphillyCheese]

While it doesn't go into any detail on amp settings, toward the end of the article it does mention that during The Holy Bible 20th anniversary tour, the only effect James used on his guitar was chorus, which was used throughout the set.

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/blog/200...rs-gear-guide/

[kevoutus]

For the tour, as for modulation pedals there’s Tremolo (Mausoleum/This Is Yesterday) and Octave (Yes break) and something a bit whacky in the break for Revol. As well as the Chorus as mentioned. I know for the studio he just used a a ‘Zoom’ micro-pocket guitar processor as mentioned by Alex Silva.

[wimba]

Zoom and a Strat I was told a few years back

[UEF]

I think that the fact he used a Jazzmaster/Jaguar? for almost every song on the THB anniversary tour is a pretty big clue as to what was used - a Strat-type guitar at the very least for most stuff.

https://www.repeatfanzine.co.uk/inte...ex%20silva.htm

As for 'what you can use instead' - I liker to use my normal amp overdrive with a Boss BF-3 (or A.N.Other flanger) which gets you the basic tone. Then you've got something more intense that gets kicked in for things like the solo on Revol.

A big part of that overall sound is someone playing a Jazz bass with a pick as well, I reckon...

Originally Posted by NasalScarecrow

The album was recorded in a small concrete practice space, which I expect contributed to the tone as well.

If the above (well sourced) posts are anything to go by, I'd say there's a good chance that no speakers or microphones were used, for the guitar at least...

[darkanddivine]

Yup. As the folks above have said. Small room, strats and whatnot for the recorded sound. I was actually amazed when he played more or less none of the 20th THB shows on everything but a Les Paul.

You'll get closer to the live sound with an LP. Just have a mooch at some of the soundboard bootlegs to hear the difference between that and the album.

[Anaconda Vice]

There's definitely some Fender-y stuff on THB.

"IfWhiteAmerica..." has to be that white Jazzmaster - When he was using it on the Guitarist video, the tone was exactly the same as the verse riffs on that song.

He's also said he sometimes finds Jazzmasters too toppy live (1meg pots on single coils will do that), which likely explains why he used a strat for some of those songs live back in the day, and if he did use it on Kevin Carter in the studio, why he uses the Thinline live.

The Thinline probably sits better with the Les Pauls, too. I remember an interview with Noel Gallagher, I think it was around the time of Chasing Yesterday, when he mentioned he'd been using strats more in the studio, but didn't want to bring them out live because of how he sets his amps for the ES-355 and ES-345 that he uses most of the time live.

Now of course he's been using Jazzmasters lately, so who knows what's going on there.

[UEF]

The Drug Drug Druggy House in the Woods demo off the new GATS set sounds quite Zoom-y