Is Eric Johnson a liar?

[badtone]

I would like to be "engulphed in pure Plexi Super Lead tone". :dude

Oh, yeah :dude My seats were shitty by convention, all I could hear was the Marshalls when he kicked them in :dude My girlfriend hated it "you couldn't hear anything". I was in heaven.

 

[burstone]

I would like to be "engulphed in pure Plexi Super Lead tone". :dude

The '71 50W don't do it for ya? :hmm...:lol1

 

[Ogre]

Eric

Eric is a truly good guy. I sense a bit of sour grapes from some of you guys. I'm here to tell you, I have known him for almost 30 years. I have shared the stage with him. He is hard-working, and generous. He cares about getting good tone. He is the polar opposite of the superego Guitar Hero. Listen to "Trademark" or "Zap" and tell me there's no passion there. He can do many things that most of you will never even approach. I include myself. Eric does not deserve the beating he's getting here. He's one of the good guys.

 

[PatentAppliedFor]

I love his playing, I just don't dig his tone on some stuff, too processed. I don't think most here are bagging on the guy - more like bagging on his tone.

As far as G3 goes, I saw the original tour that inspired it with EJ opening on like 1/4 of the stage that Satch & Vai had - & he smoked both those cats.

 

[cocheese]

I'm with Ogre on this one. Having lived in Austin for two years and played down there some, I ran into Eric at a few guitar stores and such. He is a very soft-spoken and genuine fellow. No big rock-star ego whatsoever. People here seem to be making personal attacks on him...calling him a liar...ripping on him for his "bad" tone. It seems kind of childish to me. If you don't care for his tone, fine...but it seems kind of like everyone is just jumping on board and putting the guy down. I just don't think that is called for here. I saw him at the TX guitar show a few years ago and it was amazing. That 335 into the Fuzz Face into the Marshall. It was one of the best tones I've ever heard.

 

[jcs]

well!!! i guess some of us dont like the early cream style tone eric uses for lead do we!!!! i like dark tones myself....i have very sensitive ears as far as high end and the early eric johnson stuff sounds too bright and happy to me ....give me a fat dark mid range when playing loud!!!! btw, i saw eric on the last tour with derek trucks in kansas city and both were great but eric ruled on his early 60s sg all night and it was frickin LOUD!!!!!!! maybe his tone is a little too dark,but he rules nonetheless....jcs

 

[jono]

I got into this fight in another thread a few weeks ago and got called a dickhead. For me Eric Johnson's tone is among the worst I've heard from anyone of his stature or level of respect or whatever. It's shockingly overcompressed, dull, lifeless, utterly lacking in dynamics and plain boring. I dont care if he's a nice guy or from Texas or whatever. That Alien Love Child live CD is appalling. And while I'm at it the playing on it's nothing all that clever either. Perhaps there is other stuff of his that is great that I haven't heard that justifies the adoration he receives and if so I'd like to hear it.
Saw a guy in a bar last week that had it all over him with a new standard and a midi Marshall.

 

[jvbjr]

I think Eric is a nice guy. However, he did have a CD that I had for sale on ebay pulled, Mariani. He says it was illegal, but I purchased it at Sam Goody at the mall. Why should I have to take that loss?

He's too much of a tweaker and can not just let it rip, and that is what you need to be able to do live. In the studio you can fiddle all day if the budget allows. Live people expect you to play and entertain, neither of which he does well when he feels his sound is off, which is always.

We will never be the player he is, but many of us can play live better since we let the little things not bother us and just do it. Eric probably has some emotional issues that could be helped by Prozac or the like. He needs to just cut loose, unfortunately for him that means turning the mids up to "5" on his amp. Most rockers have been in fights, arrested, etc...I know I have been. Cutting loose to me, before wife and kids, was much wilder than Eric is capable of being.

 

[Bluejazz]

He's obviously an endorsement whore:

Here's the other one from the Gibson wesbite:

Says Eric, "The Gibson Goldtone 2x12 is my favorite new amp. On the low-gain setting it’s the best new amp I’ve played through. It also works great with overdrive pedals."

www.gibson.com/whatsnew/pressrelease/2000/aug10a.html

 

[aroman]

Dallas Guitar Show a couple of years back. I waited out in the cold for about 90 min for EJ to come on stage. I saw him standing outside of the EMPTY stage for about 30 min. Then he came onstage and tweeked with his gear for another 20-30 min.
It was rainy and cold. I was freezing my ASS and frustrated because this fool kept tweeking with his gear.
When he finally started playing I was amazed at how BAD he sounded. Muffled, Muffled, Muffled. I left after the second song !.

 

[Bluejazz]

When he finally started playing I was amazed at how BAD he sounded. Muffled, Muffled, Muffled. I left after the second song !.

What I heard is that when he uses a Marshall, he turns the bass and treble down to zero and puts the Mid at 5 or 6 to get that sound. I forget with channel he uses..might be II.

 

[CDaughtry]

I think its the brand of batteries he uses for his pedals....:lol2

 

[Butch Snyder]

Give me Still got the blues era Gary Moore anyday.

:dude

 

[wireman24]

Vai and Satch messing with Johnson's amps?????

I have a question for Rev.WillieVK were did you hear the Satriani and vai were messing with Johnson's amps while he played on the G3 tour??? I find this hard to beleive.

 

[Rev.WillieVK]

Re: Vai and Satch messing with Johnson's amps?????

I have a question for Rev.WillieVK were did you hear the Satriani and vai were messing with Johnson's amps while he played on the G3 tour??? I find this hard to beleive.

The gist of the rumor as I remember it is that they kept turning down the volume on his amp. When I saw him in Austin he didn't wear headphones at all; when the DVD was taped a month or so later he wore headphones for part of the show. Coincidence?

I probably heard it at a guitar show or a music store. Don't think I read it anywhere. Typical rumor.

His sound was so bad, and he was so outgunned by Vai and Satch (and Mike Keneally! sp) in the flashy entertainment department... I think that people were expecting Ah Via Musicom and got middy-mushy sludgetones instead so they came up with an "explanation" for it.

BTW I saw him play around '94 and his tone and playing were jaw-droppingly good!

 

[PatentAppliedFor]

Re: Re: Vai and Satch messing with Johnson's amps?????

BTW I saw him play around '94 and his tone and playing were jaw-droppingly good!

Yeah that's the tour I saw...was great :dude

 

[jono]

I think its the brand of batteries he uses for his pedals....:lol2

Lets face it when you have that many pedals you NEED cheap batteries:lol


Can I take it from this thread that EJ is not endorsed by the LP forum?

 

[PatentAppliedFor]

He's a great player - he's just not necessarily endorsed by the Tone Zone =) These days anyhow. All of the other more vitriolic posts about him are idiotic if ya ask me.

 

[omarxx]

Hey guys, Ogre and cocheese -

I wasn't calling EJ a liar. I used that on my subject line as an attention getter because these amp builders are making him sound like a liar. I thought that it was kind of goofy for them to all quote him as saying their amp is the best. I like Eric alot and have witnessed him live quite a few times and thoroughly enjoyed his shows. I also have most of his records. He is definitely one of the premier guitar artists to come out of Texas, let alone Austin.

 

[Ogre]

Eric

No offense taken Omarxx. I will be quick to defend anyone(especially my Forum pals) who receives any character assassination. We have a wonderfully diverse cast of characters here. I revel in the differences. I also think we could better spend our time being positive. As artist types, we all need some affirmation in a world where it is in short supply.