Jimmy Page... Heartbreaker

[rhmcfarland]

Hi guys,

I had a great conversation with Scotty at Proanalog last night (I'm buying a Proanalog MK II... will let you hear some clips after I get it). Scotty was telling me about Jimmy Page, and the Heartbreaker tone... Scotty says he used a Telecaster into a Vox Tonebender MK II into (get this) a Rickenbacker Transonic 200 (not a Plexi). Unbelievable! Check this out (look at the bottom of the page):

http://www.12stringbass.net/master.h...et/TomsRig.htm

Classic... trippy! Looks like a robot from The Day The Earth Stood Still.

The MKII I'm getting is an excruciatingly correct re-make of the Vox Tonebender MK II. The Fulltone Soulbender (which I have and like) is a re-make of the Vox Tonebender MK III, and sounds smoother. The MK II will have NOS Mullard OC81d transistors. I'm looking forward to it.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Hi guys,

I had a great conversation with Scotty at Proanalog last night (I'm buying a Proanalog MK II... will let you hear some clips after I get it). Scotty was telling me about Jimmy Page, and the Heartbreaker tone... Scotty says he used a Telecaster into a Vox Tonebender MK II into (get this) a Rickenbacker Transonic 200 (not a Plexi). Unbelievable! Check this out (look at the bottom of the page):

http://www.12stringbass.net/master.h...et/TomsRig.htm

Classic... trippy! Looks like a robot from The Day The Earth Stood Still.

The MKII I'm getting is an excruciatingly correct re-make of the Vox Tonebender MK II. The Fulltone Soulbender (which I have and like) is a re-make of the Vox Tonebender MK III, and sounds smoother. The MK II will have NOS Mullard OC81d transistors. I'm looking forward to it.

I've read where Page said that was the song he used his Plexi 100 watt Marshall on with the Les Paul...The first album was Tele through a Supro combo amp and possibly with that Tone bender...Sure like to know the truth?

[Zeppelinfan8790]

I read a Page interview in a guitar world and he said that Heartbreaker was done in two different places. I think this is right, but I dont remember. I'll go search for that interview.

Chris

[Zeppelinfan8790]

Alright this interview is from the Guitar Legends:Led Zeppelin that came out earlier this year. The interview is also printed in Guitar World Jan 98 edition.

"GW: What was the impetus for the unaccompanied solo in the middle of 'Heartbreaker?'

Page: I just fancied doing it. I was always trying to do something different, or something that no one else had thought of. But the interesting thing about that solo is that it was recorded after we had already finished 'Heartbreaker'---it was an afterthought. That whole section was recorded in a different studio and was sort of sloted in the middle. If you notice, the whole sound of the guitar is different."



Then there's some stuff I'm not typing.



"GW: Was that solo composed?

Page: No, it was made up on the spot. I think that was one tof the first things I played throught a Marshall as well.

GW: What led you to use Marshall amps?

Page: At the time it was state-of-the-art reliability. They were really good for going out on the road. I was always having trouble with amps-fuses blowing and whatnot. By that time I was using a Les Paul anyway, and that was just a classic setup."

So maybe he used the tele/tonebender/ric for all of it besides the solo.

HTH,
Chris

[Mincer]

I gotta say, I always *hated* the tone on that song, both the solo and the main body of the song.

[rhmcfarland]

Could be that he used the Plexi in the studio recording, but used the Rick's live.

[JOLLY]

Tom Peterson gets an unbelievable bass tone out of those amps. Of course the 12 string bass doesn't hurt anything either.

[Wattage]

Nice article on Tom's rig! Jimmy could've used a champ and it likely would have sounded awesome.

[korovamilkdud]

Never dug Heartbreaker. Didn't like the tone, and the solo sounds to me like some massive flub.

Hehe- "it was made up on the spot"

But the intro sure sound like a tele to me...hard to tell with him, because he could be splitting the coils in his Paul too!

[guymanperson]

Cmon Thats The Best Solo Ever

[HolyDirt]

Cmon Thats The Best Solo Ever

i dont like the solo, sounds really messy and sloppy, page is still one of my top 5 favorite guitarists though

[kmcguitars]

It's common Knowledge that Page used a tele and a Supro amp on Zep I
And a Fender 12 string and tele on stairway.But Heartbreaker is Classic
Les Paul/Marshall tone !! I can't see how he used anything else? The 1st
time I pluged my Les Paul into a marshall I found myself playing the solo
for... You guessed it Heartbreaker! But Jimmy page is a mythical Guy.
My favorite one is that HE played the solo on ` You really got me'
Not Dave Davies HA HA LOL !! ( He was in the studio that day)

[Wattage]

Not liking Zep isn't a crime. It took me a long, long time to appreciate Page and LZ. You'll all come around someday.

[Marinblues]

I grew up with that solo.

[Kent S.]

Page is a great player, writer, and producer ... his acustic work is clean above par, but he never should have done such a sloppy solo ... but he doesn't have an ego, and so he just left it as is ... it does have a certain energy to it, which is probably what he was going for. Still, I would have loved it if he had played something there with good technique.

[HolyDirt]

Page is a great player, writer, and producer ... his acustic work is clean above par, but he never should have done such a sloppy solo ... but he doesn't have an ego, and so he just left it as is ... it does have a certain energy to it, which is probably what he was going for. Still, I would have loved it if he had played something there with good technique.

thats exactly how i feel, i totally agree

[Wattage]

I beg to differ I think he played exactly what the song calls for. Technique is not the end all and be all of playing, so much more goes into it. An off the cuff, ragged solo with feel and energy and emotion are much more appropriate to a monstrous amped up overblown blues tune anyday of the week. I think the fact that it has stood up so well over the years is a testament to "perfect" imperfection.

[STRATDELUXER97]

It's common Knowledge that Page used a tele and a Supro amp on Zep I
And a Fender 12 string and tele on stairway.But Heartbreaker is Classic
Les Paul/Marshall tone !! I can't see how he used anything else? The 1st
time I pluged my Les Paul into a marshall I found myself playing the solo
for... You guessed it Heartbreaker! But Jimmy page is a mythical Guy.
My favorite one is that HE played the solo on ` You really got me'
Not Dave Davies HA HA LOL !! ( He was in the studio that day)

Agreed....Les Paul through a Marshall....I grew up on Jimmy Page and others can say what they will about the guy,but he was master of riffs and a magician in the studio..The band didn't too shabby over the years either as a whole...I hear more Zep being played in Florida these days than I ever have.Every station has a "Get the Led out session each day"....

[Kent S.]

I beg to differ I think he played exactly what the song calls for. Technique is not the end all and be all of playing, so much more goes into it. An off the cuff, ragged solo with feel and energy and emotion are much more appropriate to a monstrous amped up overblown blues tune anyday of the week. I think the fact that it has stood up so well over the years is a testament to "perfect" imperfection.

Reread my post please, I would have *liked and perferred* that he had played something with clean technique ... I thought that it fit the song also, but I still think that every guitarist's should never play sloppy on purpose, other than maybe a *ragged*sounding tremolo picked part, but that's kinda obvious to everyone what you are doing. I have to kinda agree with what you say here, but still imagine if he had played a clean part and how much more the notes would have have made you feel ... although, considering the title of the song, and what's it's about, it does indeed capture a lot of the feelings associated with the subject. ::::::

[Big Mike Blues]

My former teacher saw Zep at the fillmore in the day, and he was using the rick amps for the tour.

I dig heartbreaker, but there are better JP solos. His solos are cool, but his rhythm parts are what impresses me about pagey.