![]() ![]() It is likely that the amp was modified (including the switch to an Altec speaker) to create more gain, yet still didn’t provide as much sustain as he would have liked. ![]() Thus Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead), Mike Bloomfield and others had their amplifiers worked on in order to get a more pleasing tone.įirst the first two albums, Carlos Santana used a Fender Twin Reverb, turned all the way up. The only way to improve their performance was to have them modified. While both had interesting qualities, neither delivered the smooth, tone-rich distortion and sustain that guitarists craved. get the details Amplifiers That Boogieīack in the late ’60s, the primary amplifiers in use were Marshalls and Fenders. What he uses currently, as well as the history of the amps, guitars, effects, and more that he has been using throughout his career. Though Carlos has played several different models over the last few decades, they have all been similar, including double-cutaway bodies, 24 frets, and humbucking pickups. Upon discovering Paul Reed Smith in the late ’70s, Santana began using a custom PRS model, and by the early ’80s, it had become his primary instrument. Carlos played the Yamaha fairly steadily for about five or six years, until 1982. ![]() This signature sound first achieved prominence on 1977’s Moonflower, a combination of live and studio tracks that was Santana’s last commercial success until the 1999 release of Supernatural. (Although he is often said to have played the Yamaha SG175, that was the original Yamaha model from which the SG2000 was developed by Carlos and Yamaha together.) This guitar, in particular, could be considered - in conjunction with the Mesa Boogie amps (see below) - the beginning of the famed “Santana” tone, with it’s smooth roundness, even sustain, and thick tonal quality. You can hear a bit more meat in his tone, although he hadn’t yet achieved the warm, singing sustain for which he became known.īy 1977, Santana’s main guitar was a Yamaha SG2000, also with a double cutaway body style, which gave him the necessary access to the highest frets. By using the volume control as an on-board signal adjuster, Santana injected a sense of dynamics into his playing which, combined with his passionate phrasing, gave him a signature edge.įor the third album, Santana (often called Santana III, Carlos had switched to using a Gibson Les Paul Standard, as well as an SG with humbucking pickups. However, it was, in part, those very shortcomings which helped Carlos create the uneven, raw sound which powered his early years. The Les Paul Special was far from a top of the line guitar, and did not have the beefy richness or warm sustain of the more expensive Deluxe and Custom models. However, the double cutaway on the SG does allow access to the topmost frets, although with only 22, the highest note accessible (without bending) is a “D” two octaves above middle “C.” This may have affected the choice to play many of the early songs in the keys of “G” and “D.”Ĭheck out the new video for this guitar and percussion-driven song by the leading Santana Tribute and Latin-rock band. While it looks cool, the fret-board is stiff, the balance is awkward (take your hands off the axe and its headstock falls toward the ground), and the sound is limited. This instrument is quite close in tonality to the Gibson SG Guitar, with which he is most often pictured on stage during that period. The P-90 pickups were closer to the single-coil pickups created in the ’40s than those used later on Fender Strats and Teles. As such, a player chooses a guitar both for it’s “feel,” and for it’s tone.įor his earliest albums, Carlos chose a Gibson Les Paul Special Guitar, first with P-90 pickups, and later with standard Humbuckers. It lives in both the acoustic and the electronic world, translating a player’s hand motions into an analog signal. The first link in the “signal chain,” an electric guitar is a unique piece of equipment. ![]() Check out the new video for this guitar and percussion-driven song by the leading Santana Tribute and Latin-rock band. ![]()
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