Symbol, sans tremelo bar

I've never heard Prince sound better for lead or rhythm than he sounds on the Hohner tele. The Cloud guitar had a cool lead tone, too. Very unique with his amp and pedal settings backintheday. His fender strat sound has never worked for me. It sounds like total poop as a lead guitar, probably because of the sterile EMG pickups he had put in there. I thought Captain Kirk's Epiphone that Prince smashed sounded very cool, very raw. I think the Vox is a huge improvement over the Strat any day. The Symbol guitar, to me, always sounded kind of funny. Again, it may be the EMGs that my ears don't like. It's all personal preference, regardless.

steakfinger said:

I've never heard Prince sound better for lead or rhythm than he sounds on the Hohner tele. The Cloud guitar had a cool lead tone, too. Very unique with his amp and pedal settings backintheday. His fender strat sound has never worked for me. It sounds like total poop as a lead guitar, probably because of the sterile EMG pickups he had put in there. I thought Captain Kirk's Epiphone that Prince smashed sounded very cool, very raw. I think the Vox is a huge improvement over the Strat any day. The Symbol guitar, to me, always sounded kind of funny. Again, it may be the EMGs that my ears don't like. It's all personal preference, regardless.

Interesting. I agree with everything you say here, except the EMG comments. I use both active and passive pickups, and my Tele has the EMG-Ts... I used EMGs before Prince did, and they sound great. Of course, I play through an old Fender tube amp, and I think that factors BIG time, when discussing active vs. passive. However, I have been wanting to switch back to passive on that Tele, so if you have any tele pickup recomendations, please feel free to share them.

.

I can't stand the Symbol guitar's tone... it was the only low point of the Super Bowl gig. I totally agree with you on the Cloud guitar... very cool lead tone, and indeed unique. I believe both the Symbol and Cloud guitars had EMGs.

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Yes, the Epiphone sounded MAGNIFICENT on the Jimmy Fallon show.

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The VOX guitars sound great distorted. I don't think I've heard P play them clean.

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Th Hohner sounds great for both clean and distorted playing... not sure what pickups he uses in those guitars these days.

.

[Edited 10/30/13 10:30am]

Giovanni777 said:

steakfinger said:

I've never heard Prince sound better for lead or rhythm than he sounds on the Hohner tele. The Cloud guitar had a cool lead tone, too. Very unique with his amp and pedal settings backintheday. His fender strat sound has never worked for me. It sounds like total poop as a lead guitar, probably because of the sterile EMG pickups he had put in there. I thought Captain Kirk's Epiphone that Prince smashed sounded very cool, very raw. I think the Vox is a huge improvement over the Strat any day. The Symbol guitar, to me, always sounded kind of funny. Again, it may be the EMGs that my ears don't like. It's all personal preference, regardless.

Interesting. I agree with everything you say here, except the EMG comments. I use both active and passive pickups, and my Tele has the EMG-Ts... I used EMGs before Prince did, and they sound great. Of course, I play through an old Fender tube amp, and I think that factors BIG time, when discussing active vs. passive. However, I have been wanting to switch back to passive on that Tele, so if you have any tele pickup recomendations, please feel free to share them.

.

I can't stand the Symbol guitar's tone... it was the only low point of the Super Bowl gig. I totally agree with you on the Cloud guitar... very cool lead tone, and indeed unique. I believe both the Symbol and Cloud guitars had EMGs.

.

Yes, the Epiphone sounded MAGNIFICENT on the Jimmy Fallon show.

.

The VOX guitars sound great distorted. I don't think I've heard P play them clean.

.

Th Hohner sounds great for both clean and distorted playing... not sure what pickups he uses in those guitars these days.

.

[Edited 10/30/13 10:30am]

For a tele I highly recommend the Danny Gatton pickups made by Joe Barden. Unreal tone. Not cheap, but sooo good. In Prince's Hohner tele he's using Fender Noiseless Strat pickups. There's an article from his guitar tech talking about it. The Hohner is shaped like a tele but the pickup routing is strat-like. A tele bridge pickup won't fit into the Hohner route.

Doesn't he use Kinman Broadcaster Pickups in the Tele?

The Cloud guitars sound better than his Strat for his lead tones. He doesn't need the whammy bar.

I like the Hohner and the Cloud guitars' sounds/tones the best.

steakfinger said:

Giovanni777 said:

Interesting. I agree with everything you say here, except the EMG comments. I use both active and passive pickups, and my Tele has the EMG-Ts... I used EMGs before Prince did, and they sound great. Of course, I play through an old Fender tube amp, and I think that factors BIG time, when discussing active vs. passive. However, I have been wanting to switch back to passive on that Tele, so if you have any tele pickup recomendations, please feel free to share them.

.

I can't stand the Symbol guitar's tone... it was the only low point of the Super Bowl gig. I totally agree with you on the Cloud guitar... very cool lead tone, and indeed unique. I believe both the Symbol and Cloud guitars had EMGs.

.

Yes, the Epiphone sounded MAGNIFICENT on the Jimmy Fallon show.

.

The VOX guitars sound great distorted. I don't think I've heard P play them clean.

.

Th Hohner sounds great for both clean and distorted playing... not sure what pickups he uses in those guitars these days.

.

[Edited 10/30/13 10:30am]

For a tele I highly recommend the Danny Gatton pickups made by Joe Barden. Unreal tone. Not cheap, but sooo good. In Prince's Hohner tele he's using Fender Noiseless Strat pickups. There's an article from his guitar tech talking about it. The Hohner is shaped like a tele but the pickup routing is strat-like. A tele bridge pickup won't fit into the Hohner route.

Thanks. The Barden Gatton pickups do get a lot of positive reviews, etc. There are so many tele pickups out there these days... Bardens, Kinmans, Harmonic Design, Lollar, Don Mare, etc.

~G