OT - That Carlos Santana Tone

Do you have a guitar and an amp?? what do you have. to get the tone, youll need his gear and his fingers. You might be able to get close without his fingers..
Cj

This is some stuff i found by googleing

Play the strings that Carlos plays! Developed in collaboration with Carlos' guitar technician René Martinez and designed for maximum feel, balance and endurance, the Santana Big Cores are renowned for their extraordinary sustain, warmth and richness. Created in celebration of the music of Carlos Santana, this signature string set delivers an exceptional tone that's full, round and vibrant. The wound strings are structured with a bigger core and pure nickel wrap of the highest quality — the plain strings are also slightly bigger, to best retain size and durability. Santana Big Cores are alive with the spirit of Santana. For electric guitars. Extra Light Gauging — 9.5, 11.5, 16, 25, 33, 43




Santana Guitar Models from Paul Reed Smith Guitars

Just as Carlos Santana is one of the world's top practitioners of the art of the guitar, the models that bear his name are some of the absolute finest made anywhere. The exquisitely crafted, hand-finished guitars from Paul Reed Smith Guitars (PRS) have made their instruments an industry benchmark for excellence. Models currently available include the special order Santana II, the more readily available Santana III and the entry level student edition Santana SE. Available at prsguitars.com.

I can get pretty close with a PRS custom 24, Tube Screamer, a bit of delay through a blackface Bassman/Marshal 4x12 cab. Of course gear isn't all of it: it's the hands and soul of the man. He's been playing like that for what, 40 years?

Good luck trying to cop that tone.

DaveT

here's some examples of the single coils that made the tone back when the tone was being made into a tone :-)











best regards,
mike

Carlos is my hero, because I when I was five my father bought his first record player. And the first record he bought was Abraxas by Santana. And as a little kid the sound of this music made a deep impression on me.


Years ago I read an interview with carlos's guitar roadie. Carlos orders 10 amps, tries them all, and picks the ones with the best sound, and sends 8 back.

He also marks spots on the stage floor during the soundcheck, so he knows where to stand for the best sustain, I heard.

I saw him once live at North Sea Jazz. He was constantly busy with tone and volume knob on his guitar, adjusting almost after every note he played.

Carols says: "I'm very demanding about my sound. My tone is my voice."

I never tried the tube sreamer, but I expect something like that is going to work, because you need a compressed sort of overdrive that gives you the typical overtones and sustain.


It's not all about gear though, it's also the way you play guitar. Rhythm, frases, dynamics. Play like the guitar like a cuban trumpet player.

Tube Screamer for sure.

But there's a lot more to it than that as others have mentioned.

The problem with Santana is he makes it look easy and it ain't.

ORIGINAL: John

The problem with Santana is he makes it look easy and it ain't.

technique:

It's easy for some of us, ya know

ORIGINAL: pooskie

neck pickup, tone all the way down, that's a good place to start

that spells mud

(technique)

If you're interested, go to www.carlossantana.com, click on Players, then Musicians Corner. There is a very nice tour of guitars, amps, and footpedals that he uses. It's a great site all around - the music, the musicians through the years, lots of info.

ORIGINAL: stratcat33511

ORIGINAL: John

The problem with Santana is he makes it look easy and it ain't.

technique:

It's easy for some of us, ya know

+1

Some don't understand the importance on technique. You can only get go far by "feel". They really go hand in hand though. To have both is very good.

ORIGINAL: Platano

Believe he used the SG for the first album (and Woodstock), then on Abraxas (Black Magic Woman days) he played a Les Paul through a modded Fender. The modded Fenders blossomed into Mesa Boogie. He then played a Yamaha guitar for several years and they made a Carlos Santana model. My buddy Stratton had one and a Mesa Boogie. Tone for days.. Then he moved on to PRS..

Hi Joe, yep, I bought the gear as close as I could get to the rig Carlos had at the time, a Yamaha SG2000 (weighs over 10 lbs., still have it) and a Mesa Boogie Mk1. Found that I had to CRANK the amp to get close, which was paint-peeling loud. Much of Santana's tone comes from the interaction of guitar and amp at high volumes. Ulitmately not practical for those of us not playing stadiums.

You can get into that tonal territory with more moderate volumes in a variety of ways, but I think that American voiced amps (blackface Fender, Boogie, Dumble, Fuchs) with either a really good OD Channel or a smooth OD pedal will be a good start.

I LOVE the Abraxas album. My favorites of all his tones.

ORIGINAL: ew

ORIGINAL: Cromberger

ORIGINAL: mike_mccue

Is it true that the early tone was a hot rodded Fender Princeton?

best,
mike

Hi, Mike,

I can't say for sure if it was a hot-rodded Princeton but I think it's a very good possibility that it was. The guys that started Mesa Boogie began by modding Fender amps and I wouldn't be surprised if Santana had one of their early Fender mods, then moved on to the "real" Boogies when they finally came out.

Yep. it was. For the story of the original Santana Princeton and the Boogies which followed:

http://www.mesaboogie.com/catalog/Acrobats-AUG07/History-p4-9.pdf

ew

Cool, thanks for the info guys. I wasn't sure why I remembered that and it seemed almost mythical so I figured I should ask rather than just blurt it out as a "fact".

best regards,
mike

ORIGINAL: stratcat33511

ORIGINAL: pooskie

neck pickup, tone all the way down, that's a good place to start

that spells mud

(technique)

Actually, that spells Clapton's 'Woman Tone'

I'm a drummer, so the only thing I can really pick is my well anyways, I got the free freeamp sim and put it on the singin' preset and although I can't hardly play- I FEEL like Santana and have a blast imagining how I'm shredding and I do turn it up to 11 . So I'd say that'll get you started as there are lots of fun ways to tweak it and lots of presets to start learning how much guitarists have to choose from to craft various sounds. Ara www.aratunes.us