Gibson Les Paul XR-1 - Steve Clark's Pyromania Era Guitar of Choice
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- Опубліковано 22 лис 2023
- A little look at the Gibson Les Paul XR-1, the same type of model Steve used during the Pyromania era. I go over some of the tones you can achieve with the coil tap as well as talk a little about the one I have been fortunate enough to borrow. :)
forum.gibson.com/topic/72768-...
www.mylespaul.com/threads/gib...
I have been "informed" that based on the CTS pot codes, this lovely guitar was made AFTER the 35th week of 1981. A true worn in classic I should say ! Oh and a HUGE thumbs up for the top wrap technique. I do that to all my LP's as well.
Ah, thanks for clarifying Viktor! 😁
Top wrap is the way to go.
On this American Thanksgiving Day, one of the many things that I’m thankful for is Ben sharing his immense musical talents and his love for Def Leppard.
Cheers to Ben!
Gibson should make a Steve Version and have you demo it man!!!
Gibson can't afford Joes price tag
Steve was a genuine genius. Like all guitarists he was heavily influenced by other players, especially Page. Gibson did a run, a very limited run of the XR 1 and an XR 2.
Ben - this is the third video specifically about Steve's XR 1. That no other guitarist that I know of has ever played this model makes it even more unique. Steve, as Phil once said "was into players like Adrian Balou and Page....he had the ability to hear something quirky and make it commercial".
Phil did 4-5 videos answering Steve fan questions about him as a person, his entire style, so many different issues and I implore ALL to watch the video sets. I miss Steve every day - and with all the technology available today God knows what he'd be doing. Phil does say Steve was hugely into movie soundtracks, what a incalculable loss.
Def Leppard would be an entirely different band today if Steve was still around. I kinda feel like he'd have never let the band become soft and Bowie-esque.
I got the chills when you did high n dry.
Holy shit man that is THE TONE.
Man what an instrument.
Man when you split the coil on the High N Dry riff, it was THE sound. The coil split was something he did have on the Hamer double cuts he played in addition to the LPs on that album. I've been looking all over the United States for an XR1 but I seem to either miss out or someone wants too much for one that's not in good condition. Not as in like road worn or has loads of play wear, I mean full on broken headstocks or separating neck joints and stuff. One day I'll get one.
What's too much?
@@douglardi3649 excellent condition prices for an obviously repaired neck or whatever is obviously wrong
@@Jacksonkellyfreak I have a cherry sunburst no repair issues, only missing the original truss rod cover, otherwise perfect condition
Where are you located?
@@douglardi3649 man if I bought an actual standard it would HAVE to be cherry sunburst. But an xr1 has to be the gold burst
Phil still needs to get you a Bela! 😁👏🔥🔥🔥
That's cool.
When I bought my first Gibson Les Paul (Studio, in "Fireburst", without a pick guard), not even really my first Gibson, but the one I bought was a "Paul" it was green and I just didn't play it. I wasn't driven to play at the time. My life and contentment was too good in the early 00's. I wasn't playing at all. I didn't have a guitar. Rock was dead. Time to grow up. Early 00's. Bought it, sold it.
By mid to late 00's, 2006, I'm going through stuff, I'm not great, the only thing I could think to try was buying a cheap crap with 6 strings from the hock shop and play some guitar. $100 Stat copy. Found my uncle's Hysteria (Guitar Recorded Versions) book from the 1980's and just for the heck of it, learned some of it. And Not Pour Some Sugar On Me I was playing Gods of War, Women, Hysteria. Just because. I wasn't a big fan of DL in the 80's or 90's. It was too produced for me. Not gritty or organic enough for me. This book was all I could get my hands on. I can't learn anything by ear at that time. It was practice.
It wasn't long before I was cutting a hole in the Strat pickguard to fit a JB Humbucker. Then a month or 2 later I'm buying a Brown Epiphone Vintage G-400 for $400 and installing that Seymour Duncan JB in there. It was an awesome guitar I accidentally let it go at a hock shop and really regretted it. It was an accident and it was after I bought my Les Paul Studio. When I bought the SG I had Def Leppard and Clark/Gibson on the brain. The man had good rock sensibilities. Within 2 months it dawned on me that I really SHOULD finally get a Gibson Les Paul Studio. Nothing more and nothing less. A Gibson Les Paul Studio like I always wanted. Spur of the moment, I woke up, though "I want a Les Paul Studio..." I went down to the local mom and pop music store with the intent of buying whatever LP Studio was on the wall. There is one for sure. At all times since the 80's. What's it gonna be? I saw a Blue LP Gem at one time when they were a thing. For some reason it stuck with me. Alpine White? Ebony? Wine Red? I was shocked to see the Fireburst. Steve Clark didn't play a Studio, but that guitar reminded me of this guitar. Turned out to be the best guitar I ever owned or even played.
Def leppard was my favorite band back in the 80's and although I love the band as whole I wish there was something said about Rick Allen's playing that era. He is the reason why I love drums!!!😢
I picked up a 1982 XR-1 in silver burst. It’s a great guitar. The output of the Dirty Fingers is really high, so I typically play with it tapped, then hit the switch for solos. Excellent playing as always!
I've got a Sonex 180 Custom that has the same pickups and coil tap switch. It's basically the same guitar but with a different body . It's a 1980 model that I got new for high school graduation in 1982.
this is the sound I want from my guitar.
Les Paul guitar, dirty fingers pickups, and alot, and I mean ALOT of volume.
I would never attempt to recreate what this guy did in the video
Great sound. That was a beautiful guitar in my opinion. For whatever reason it never really caught on.
Sounds great when tapped, everyone should have a least one Les Paul
What a treat to see you with an LP and you play it well! The Steve lick demos are awesome! Especially Another Hit and Run in my opinion. Great job as always Ben! Thank you for showing us an awesome, obviously well loved guitar!
I have a double cutaway Gibson with a tremolo system with locking neck. Explorer headstock. Some special they ran. Has 1 humbucker and 2 single coil pickups.
Not sure many know but Steve used quite a lot of Strats and Tele's in the studio. The video for 'Love Bites' shows Steve with a gun metal blue Fender Strat, he 'was' a Gibson bloke through and through and signed with Gibson who modded out his gear. His iconic triple humbucker creme Les Paul Kahler is the most beautiful guitar I have and will ever see.
He also had several Firebirds - one with 3 humbuckers and Kahler which was used for Ross Halfin mostly promo shots and on TV appearances.
His red Dean which is also only used in video is sublime, never seen Steve play his Dean [s] live. Sadly many of his 80 odd guitars were pawned by his then fiancé Janie Dean to feed her smack habit.
But many still survive - Steve's younger brother has several, Phil has several, Joe has one and Lorelei also has many of his beautifully modded guitars.
Poor Malvin Mortimer - DL's Road Manager was forced by Steve to wear his huge Firebird and as MM is a very small bloke Steve used to piss himself laughing seeing Malvin with a Firebird down to his knees.
MM was 'not' a guitar tech - even during the 'In The Round In Your Face Tour 88/89' both Steve + Phil did not have their own guitar techs - poor Malvin had to do it all himself.
Malvin was Steve’s tech during the Hysteria tour and Patrick Logue was Phil’s.
Ben did not know this - in all interviews Phil's done he's never said this - he has been consistently clear both he and Steve did not have guitar tech's so they relied on Malvin. I wonder if Ptrick Logue joined Leppard mid way through/towards the end of that US/Canada Tour? I say this again given Phil's very clear comments "me and Steve were always wanting our guitars to be modded but we didn't have anyone back then - so we relied on Malvin".
I fully accept your comments and thank you again. You probably already know this but "Trogly's Guitar" on UA-cam has a video solely on the XR 1 "The Riffmaster" used, while he also provides some context/history with respect to the also limited XR 2.
You've probably already seen this but if not I implore you to suss it out - this guitar is arguably one of 'the' most unique guitars ever designed and ever used. Steve was always, given his classical guitar backgrounding, looking at ways to just totally flip the 'norm' into creative brilliance.
But what I am super excited about is now you have this baby you're able to, as you've already started to - lay down some seriously heavy riffing, but also staying so very true to the stunning artistry "Steamin" left us all.
So personally - I'm super rapt and cannot wait to watch your uploads.
Steve used this XR 1 heavily in their French + German gigs and this was as you know one of the 2 guitars Steve used heavily during 'Pyro". He finally ended up getting a cherry sunburst LP with a Floyd - but then switched to a Kahler when he signed with Gibson.
@bwm5150
ua-cam.com/video/qSnxHmpfUkA/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/_IKIZNoMsNs/v-deo.html
Maybe during the recording of Hysteria there was only Malvin, but on a tour like that, you need techs for each musician anyway, but also, Phil and Steve had their techs do there tone changes, so they would definitely need one each for the whole tour.
Forgot to mention Mike Rogers, who had a book out, was Phil’s tech, and with them from the Pyromania tour through the Hysteria recording, but did not tour. Great book for die hards 😁.
@@bwm5150 Strange Ben - I have sen Phil specifically saying both he and Steve used Malvin on that tour so something funky's going on - either way it matters little, but 'is' part of the brilliant tapestry + history of this genius. As always MANY thanks.
Thats awesome buddy that you have came across that nice guitar 👍
I still love your Purple one better but still nice bro.
If leppard ever need a another guitarist you’d be the man.
My man! Can't get enough. Kudos from Colombia
Nice intro, seamless with the thumbnail
Awesome little axe.
Hey man, no offense by any means pelase, i am subscribed to your channel, i love the way you play Steve Clark music.
The next thing i say is 100% sarcastic.
Its was all good when you were talking about the guitar, but when you started playing it, i thought "the talking part was absolute waste of life"
That guitar sounds absolutely amazing. It sounds like Steve steaming Clark, and I truly thank You for that.
Thanks for sharing
Its a good thing im left handed. Id own all of these if I I played right handed. I wanted a "The Paul" so bad that I converted it to lefty.
I would love to have one if those but they’re as rare as hen’s teeth…well done…enjoy👍
That's what's up Ben 👍🎸🎧 happy Thanksgiving to everyone your journey fan alway
Awesome video Awesome guitar that I was hoping to see more of 🤘🏼
Great stuff!
Not sure about that model, but Les Paul's are all over High N Dry. You can hear that distinctive sound on Let it Go in particular.
He was playing Hamer double cuts as well on HND. But the Les Pauls he had at that point in time were 70s Norlin era standards. I believe he got an XR1 in 82.
It would be neat if Gibson and Epiphone reissued this guitar.
I'd love to hear some full lep songs on this.
I’ve been covering some of Steve’s move work with this from the Pyromania tour.
Whow whow whow
Did i just get to see your face????
Beautiful ❤
I like it
That thing looks & sounds killer. Can you do some Iron Maiden covers with it?
Nice!
What amp, gain level & EQs are you using for this, it can't all be the guitar, right? You nail the Hysteria tones in your other vids, so I was hoping to hear how to make the early DL tones as in Pyro and prior. Thanks!
Still using the Boss Me50. Just a bit more gain than usual. Early Def Leppard was all Marshall tones.
I like the videos you speaking😊 (Subtitle helps me)
Didn't he use a mod JCM 800? that high n dry tone was killer
He had an 800 of sorts and then also a JMP 1 when he got to this tour.
Hey bro would you ever consider covering since ive been loving you live from zeppelins tsrts? Id love to hear your take on it. Btw in case u didnt know page was steve clarks favorite player
Maybe a possibility, but I don’t listen to a lot of Led Zeppelin.
@@bwm5150fair enough. No pressure man
Hey Ben follow up comment, think you could do a cover of Lady Strange or Switch 625 while you have it?
I can certainly try and do as many as I can of Steve’s music 😁
@@bwm5150 Awesome!! Thank you!!
Apparently….. there’s no apparently about it Ben. It is a Mahogany body. Mahogany neck. And the Dirty Fingers Pickups did not have the name imprinted on them back then. The branding thing is a very new thing on pickups.
Congratulations on getting to play a proper guitar. 😁😎
I have a question? Did you ever ready any of the articles in my website about his gear?
🤔
I always felt that nobody ever really bothered to read anything I ever put on there. So just curious to know.
I did, I used to frequent your site and I used WaybackMachine to look again a bit for this as it is no longer active. I don’t quite understand the tone of your comment though.
@@bwm5150 nothing meant to you by it. I have always had a feeling that over all the years I put into that site… a lot of hard work and money… that I half felt that people mostly visited it just to look at the pictures and that of those who did read any of the articles and info on there never really believed much of it. Which made me feel sad and disheartened…. Partly why I pulled the plug, but I just wanted to ask you that being a guitar person and all. I hoped that you found it useful and interesting. That would make me smile.
But yeah I often think back to the site and wonder…. Did I waste my time….
As I watched this video it made me feel happy and sad all in one. I still miss him a lot.
No tone issues directed your way. Sorry if it seemed like that.
No worries. I don’t make definite statements on things I cannot guarantee with an official source that I can link too, so ‘apparently’ is needed in my opinion.
what's infuriating there's next to zero content, info, etc out there talking about his hysteria tour white triple pickup custom w the khaler trem. literally one of the most gorgeous LP's i've ever seen - steve got every damn inch out of that axe, and then some during those shows. dying know what happened to that guitar/if it still exists, etc. 🤔
I guess that’s because it was custom made. These guitars were a standard line so others have been able to get their hands on them.