BlackandRising said:

FunkyStrange said:

Oh I agreed with everything you said until that last sentence !!

do. not. disparage. the. whammy. bar.

http://prince.org/msg/7/88319?pr

His usage still stinks!!!

There.

I said it. Someone had to.

ThreadBare said:

BlackandRising said:

do. not. disparage. the. whammy. bar.

http://prince.org/msg/7/88319?pr

His usage still stinks!!!

There.

I said it. Someone had to.

I couldn't agree more, I have said this in the podcast various times, his use of the whammy bar is just plain lazy, not to mention not very good.

Ever since I think it was around October 2002 I have ranted about his use of a whammy bar and I can't believe I missed that great thread !!

I love the way he uses the Whammy Bar with the flanger. Sounds pretty unique.

FunkyStrange said:

ThreadBare said:

His usage still stinks!!!

There.

I said it. Someone had to.

I couldn't agree more, I have said this in the podcast various times, his use of the whammy bar is just plain lazy, not to mention not very good.

Ever since I think it was around October 2002 I have ranted about his use of a whammy bar and I can't believe I missed that great thread !!

I'm glad to see someone else who listens critically. I love discussing the intricacies of music. Definitely too bad you weren't in on that discussion!!

So I just realized who you were. Great podcast. I listen all the time.

[Edited 6/7/11 10:19am]

motherfunka said:

squirrelgrease said:

I wish he'd use the Clouds again. Works of art and great sustain. Those Strats have all the personality of a river carp. I do like that he embraced the whammy bar, though.

Same here. I've seen a lot of people here say they didn't like the sound of the cloud. I went to a lot of shows 91-93 when he was using it a lot and loved it much more than the symbol guitar...and his best solo ever was done on a cloud, Just My Imagination.

Is the "Just My Imagination" solo from 88' a Cloud Guitar or Model C? Can anyone confirm this as this has always been a burning question for me!

Now that we are speaking of guitars, I wonder why Prince rarely uses Cloud or even Fender strat for his clean funk chops. Ok, the Hohner may sound better for him, but I wonder if those EMGs couldnt do the job well also? I never played a Strat with EMGs, that´s why I am asking.

LectricManx said:

Digifuwill said:

I think it was the Las Vegas dvd as well.....and believe me.....I've been looking! There was a little bit of buzz around the Superbowl a few years ago with the rumors of him using the mysterious orange cloud but it never materialized on stage to my knowledge! I though I would eventually run out of stuff for my blog but I've been amazed on the amount of fans and cloud guitars out there! From the originals to the Schecters and some amazing homemade clouds not to mention all the cloud artwork as well! I've been waiting patiently for a cloud comeback and i think it will happen eventually but in the meantime I'll keep on digging for all things cloud!

http://cloudguitarcentral.blogspot.com/

[Edited 6/3/11 16:30pm]

Great website dude, I'm looking to get together a fender custom shop like the ones he is using now ( i started a thread...)

This is next on the list --- reallly want a cloud. Most likely the white and a blue one. Thanks for all the info..Bookmarked yo site

Glad you enjoy the blog and I hope you find a cloud! The white one is the classic iconic cloud but I love the blue one as well....I wish I would of got the blue one when I had the chance! When you start your custom shop i'm gonna order that cloud/strat hybred I posted in your thread...LOL!

thecloud said:

motherfunka said:

Same here. I've seen a lot of people here say they didn't like the sound of the cloud. I went to a lot of shows 91-93 when he was using it a lot and loved it much more than the symbol guitar...and his best solo ever was done on a cloud, Just My Imagination.

Is the "Just My Imagination" solo from 88' a Cloud Guitar or Model C? Can anyone confirm this as this has always been a burning question for me!

I don't think there has ever been any video leaked of that performance, but it is definitely a cloud.

motherfunka said:

thecloud said:

Is the "Just My Imagination" solo from 88' a Cloud Guitar or Model C? Can anyone confirm this as this has always been a burning question for me!

I don't think there has ever been any video leaked of that performance, but it is definitely a cloud.

It was the white Cloud that night. Someone who used to post here was at the Small Club show and said that's what it was.

squirrelgrease said:

motherfunka said:

I don't think there has ever been any video leaked of that performance, but it is definitely a cloud.

It was the white Cloud that night. Someone who used to post here was at the Small Club show and said that's what it was.

This was one of the big questions I walked around with last year

Thnx for answering

GustavoRibas said:

Now that we are speaking of guitars, I wonder why Prince rarely uses Cloud or even Fender strat for his clean funk chops. Ok, the Hohner may sound better for him, but I wonder if those EMGs couldnt do the job well also? I never played a Strat with EMGs, that´s why I am asking.

I just got some EMGs put in an old, Jackson-style guitar in my push for that old P sound. They're OK. They're midway between real Strat and Steve Vai's Jem/Passion & Warfare sound. For clean and funk, they're just all right.

I have stock Fenders, Kinmans and Fralins in my Strats. Rounder and more muscular tonally, all of them, than the EMGs -- which I'm told are flatter and more condusive to pedal/rack coloring.

I'm beginning to wonder whether the bulk of Prince's once-trademark soloing sound wasn't due largely to processing equipment that (I'm guessing) he no longer has or is too outdated to maintain.

I could be wrong but I think the original Clouds' necks were old Gibson-style. I wonder if his migration to Strats and their faster neck radius indicate where his physical comfort level with playing is these days. The strong, manic vibrato found on the old Clouds (and the old Hohner) has given way to sophomoric whammy use.

ThreadBare said:

I just got some EMGs put in an old, Jackson-style guitar in my push for that old P sound. They're OK. They're midway between real Strat and Steve Vai's Jem/Passion & Warfare sound. For clean and funk, they're just all right.

I have stock Fenders, Kinmans and Fralins in my Strats. Rounder and more muscular tonally, all of them, than the EMGs -- which I'm told are flatter and more condusive to pedal/rack coloring.

I'm beginning to wonder whether the bulk of Prince's once-trademark soloing sound wasn't due largely to processing equipment that (I'm guessing) he no longer has or is too outdated to maintain.

I could be wrong but I think the original Clouds' necks were old Gibson-style. I wonder if his migration to Strats and their faster neck radius indicate where his physical comfort level with playing is these days. The strong, manic vibrato found on the old Clouds (and the old Hohner) has given way to sophomoric whammy use.

- Yeah, never played with EMGs but that´s the impression I had. That they had a very nice clean tone, but not as rounded or muscular as the pickups you mentioned. But I always found strange that Prince rarely used them to play funk, even if his Hohner was better. We know that he loves the Strats and the whammy bar, but I saw him playing an entire recent concert with Hohner and never saw him playing a full concert with Strat.

GustavoRibas said:

ThreadBare said:

I just got some EMGs put in an old, Jackson-style guitar in my push for that old P sound. They're OK. They're midway between real Strat and Steve Vai's Jem/Passion & Warfare sound. For clean and funk, they're just all right.

I have stock Fenders, Kinmans and Fralins in my Strats. Rounder and more muscular tonally, all of them, than the EMGs -- which I'm told are flatter and more condusive to pedal/rack coloring.

I'm beginning to wonder whether the bulk of Prince's once-trademark soloing sound wasn't due largely to processing equipment that (I'm guessing) he no longer has or is too outdated to maintain.

I could be wrong but I think the original Clouds' necks were old Gibson-style. I wonder if his migration to Strats and their faster neck radius indicate where his physical comfort level with playing is these days. The strong, manic vibrato found on the old Clouds (and the old Hohner) has given way to sophomoric whammy use.

- Yeah, never played with EMGs but that´s the impression I had. That they had a very nice clean tone, but not as rounded or muscular as the pickups you mentioned. But I always found strange that Prince rarely used them to play funk, even if his Hohner was better. We know that he loves the Strats and the whammy bar, but I saw him playing an entire recent concert with Hohner and never saw him playing a full concert with Strat.

Yeah, and I heard he had EMGs in some of his Strats -- which is just wrong to me. I may have heard he had some Fender Noiseless pickups in a few models, too. The early incarnations of those left me cold, but I hear they improved in more recent years.

Well, as far as I know, all his recent Strats have EMGs and Floyd Rose...

GustavoRibas said:

Well, as far as I know, all his recent Strats have EMGs and Floyd Rose...

Yeah, there should be a law against that. A federal law, at that.

hehehehe, but in Prince´s case I understand, because - except Hohner - his guitars have EMGs (Cloud, Symbol, etc). It´s part of his sound.

I attended the 12-15-10 show in New Jersey & his gold strat he played that night had 3 noiseless single-coil pickups which shocked me. The tone was a tad different, but no real diffence whatsoever! Still miss the cloud nevertheless...

thecloud said:

I attended the 12-15-10 show in New Jersey & his gold strat he played that night had 3 noiseless single-coil pickups which shocked me. The tone was a tad different, but no real diffence whatsoever! Still miss the cloud nevertheless...

I'm betting those are Fender Noiseless pups, judging by the pole pieces.

ThreadBare said:

thecloud said:

I attended the 12-15-10 show in New Jersey & his gold strat he played that night had 3 noiseless single-coil pickups which shocked me. The tone was a tad different, but no real diffence whatsoever! Still miss the cloud nevertheless...

I'm betting those are Fender Noiseless pups, judging by the pole pieces.

Yeah that's it, I saw one on "George Lopez" show which was fitted with EMG's!

EMG pickups are OK, but they sound better through rack systems. Vernon Reid and Steve Lukather are perfect examples of that sound.

Isnt David Gilmour using EMGs on Strat also?

I think Gilmour is using EMG's. And his board/rack set up is pretty ming boggling.

But then again, Zakk uses EMG's and he uses a couple of stompboxes thru Marshalls and his sound is great too.

Threads like this and this are the reason I dig the Org so much.

in honour...

The strats would sound good if he didn't have them loaded with shitty EMG pickups. Also, his use of the whammy bar reminds me of someone who has been playing guitar for about 3 months.

steakfinger said:

The strats would sound good if he didn't have them loaded with shitty EMG pickups. Also, his use of the whammy bar reminds me of someone who has been playing guitar for about 3 months.

hey, steaky...give him his ax back

[Edited 6/15/11 13:03pm]

Sorry but I agree with steakfinger about P's whammy use. I dig his regular vibrato..very strong.

I also think he got to the locking bar a little too late IMHO.

..but having said that, I love his stock whammy solo at the end of "Private Joy" (or "Orgasm). Very "Jimi At Monterey" sounding.