I’ve had two Gibson ES-335’s in the past, and I never kept them. It’s not that I didn’t like them; I actually loved my first one, Rusty, and even though I have remorse over parting with Rusty, I suppose I didn’t love either ES-335 enough to hold onto them. And frankly, I didn’t even have an interest in any hollow body or even semi-hollow body guitars until I laid my eyes upon and played my beautiful “Rose.”
There’s really something special about her; especially in the tone department as she can cop natural-sounding acoustic tones to really rockin’ out crunch. To demonstrate this, I created a few clips. Before I go on, personally, I love her clean tones, and I will be using her mostly for this. And note that her pickups are not very high-gain at all. In order to get overdrive, I had to use my Timmy pedal with the gain knob at about 3pm, which is close to wide open. But she plays VERY well with OD pedals as you’ll see. So without further ado, let’s get to the clips!
Bridge Pickup – This is a quick song that features the bridge pickup, which really sounds like an acoustic guitar. Even the lead sounds like an acoustic lead, but it plays like and electric – well, it is an electric. 🙂
Middle Position (both at equal volume) – This gives you the deepness of the neck pickup and the spank of the bridge pickup. With this clip, I copped the Police’s “Message in a Bottle” riff, and added some light chorus.
Neck Position – This by far is my favorite pickup position, though I will probably use the middle position more often. This has an eery, ethereal sound! In this clip, I just closed my eyes and started playing after hit the record button. This tone really inspires me!
Short Song (Rhythm: Middle position, Lead: Bridge position) – Here’s a quick song I put together. Again, both parts are clean, and I played the lead fingerstyle. This is just a purely fun guitar to play!
Rockin’ It – As I mentioned above, the Electromatic needs help to overdrive an amp, but hey! That’s what overdrive pedals are for! Here I’m playing my song “Strutter.” Just before the chorus, I stack my Tone Freak Effects Abunai 2 on top of my Timmy for some serious sizzle. Then I activate my wah pedal just for shits and giggles. Rose can handle it!
By the way, I played all the clips through my trusty Aracom VRX22.
What can I say, but “Wow!” This is an absolutely impressive guitar, and one that I’m so glad that I added to my stable. I’ll be using her mostly in my solo gigs, but she’ll also see some band time as well.
Rock On!!!
Alrighty then, Dawg, that neck tone is superlative! I’m going to audition one of these next chance I get.
Gigged with it at my church gig today. Wow! So versatile! That neck pickup is just awesome. Added some chorus and delay and the sound was absolutely inspiring. Definitely check it out. You’ll want one. 🙂
Hey..
I just ordered the 1522 and should have it tomorrow. I am 62 years old and spent many years exclusively with a 12 string acoustic playing in church. I hated it (the 12 string). I am now starting over with the the 1522 and learning to play all over again.
Jetman1955
If you’ve been playing for many years on a 12-string, you’ve got strong fingers! You’ll love the much lighter touch of the Gretsch. So awesome!
Way to go Jetman! Never too late to make a change.
I didn’t know they sell red ones?
It’s actually brown, but the way the stain was done, in bright light, it appears to be the color of red wine. Gorgeous!