"Ice pick" Telecaster sound demo?

[gwjensen]

I seem to recall there being a Vox Supreme visible in the footage, which has a particularly piercing, howling fuzz built into its very very thin and ice-picky bright channel with very scooped mids, that seems to match what's on the recording.

If we're talking telecaster tones, George Harrison's "rooftop" tones fit the "ice pick" description quite nicely, that's not to say it's a 'bad' tone though - sometimes ice-pick is tasteful and musically appropriate - we should not fear it!

The tone sounds more thin to me than ice picky... I think that can be a concern with all rosewood Teles...

 

[arlum]

In my opinion ..... Danny Gatton. One of the best Tele players ever. Live he sounded fantastic. His studio recordings could make my teeth ache. Sometime he'd play a jazz tune that sounded almost frosty.

 

[ruger9]

In my opinion ..... Danny Gatton. One of the best Tele players ever. Live he sounded fantastic. His studio recordings could make my teeth ache. Sometime he'd play a jazz tune that sounded almost frosty.

Roy Buchanan could get ice-picky too.

 

[AndrewG]

In my opinion ..... Danny Gatton. One of the best Tele players ever. Live he sounded fantastic. His studio recordings could make my teeth ache. Sometime he'd play a jazz tune that sounded almost frosty.

 

[THX1139]

The guitar solo

One of my faves.

 

[Manual Slim]

Click on Watch on YouTube

You beat me to it!

 

[hawk620]

My dear departed brother-in-law loved Telecasters for their icepick! He said it was like listening to little bells inside of his head. My reaction to it was usually run out the front door at a high rate of speed. I love the sound of a Telecaster, just not THAT sound. The tone knobo was put there for a purpose!

Yup, haven't owned one yet that couldn't be tamed by one method or another and I've owned around ten Teles.

 

[notroHnhoJ]

The guitar solo

that was actually a Les Paul Custom ‘Keef used for the solo.

 

[Johnny____]

Thanks everyone!! Come to find out I'm actually familiar with the sound, just didn't know what it was lol. I appreciate the help, and these are all very solid songs.

Didn't Joe Walsh's Tele have a sound like that?

 

[Localsaint]

1. Son Seals did not play Telecasters and his tone varied a bit but his second album on Alligator had that ice pick tone. 2. There's a bootleg of Keef doing Run Run Rudolph (I think recorded in Japan, maybe, haven't heard it in years) where he is using the ice pick tone as a murder weapon. 3. The Master of the Telecaster Albert Collins got close to ice picking but nothing compared to Keef on Rudolph.

 

[Fenderized]

I've heard of some Telecasters sounding too bright, especially the 70's ones. I honestly don't know what that sounds like lol, does anyone have any videos or songs that have that sound?
Thanks!

Listen to "Visions of Johanna" on Bob Dylan's Blond on Blond album.

 

[THX1139]

that was actually a Les Paul Custom ‘Keef used for the solo.

When I play that solo for fun here I use a LP Custom, works perfectly to get the tone. Pretty easy to get close on tele's as well but a bit different. G&L classic limited with the MDF works at getting the straight razor thang going in that style also.

 

[tfaux]

Danny Gatton for sure : , and "the Iceman" Albert Collins:

 

[tjmicsak]

With Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls, there are two main characters to the pickups. Older 50s Fenders and the PAF era Gibsons are low wind- brighter, thinner, articulate, and to some, wider ranged or scooped sounding. Then there are the later 60s and on that were higher wind- slightly more compressed, fatter, less articulate, more mid range focused. They are quite different instruments even the same makes and models over those decades. A 50s single coil Tele or Strat can be tamed with the tone pot, and later winds or Broadcasters can be made to get that earlier tone using a TBX and a treble bleed cap. While vintage stacks have that name, there is still a clear difference between Brent Mason and Don Rich. It takes the right amps and settings to handle those bright singles also. They are loved by some studio players because of the clarity, even when overdrived.
Check out the intro to Toby Keith's Beers Ago.

 

[jrblue]

There's a reason why recorded "ice pick" Tele tones are rare. The recording process itself, particularly with a competent engineers, is not going to lay down a sound like that. After all, the term "ice pick" was coined to denote an obnoxiously unpleasant extreme tone. The characteristics of "ice pick" tone are very fast attack, exaggerated treble and high harmonics, and a relative absence of bass and midrange. This is typically combined with excessive volume (as high treble content is way easier to produce than, say, low bass tones, especially in a cheap amp). When I encounter this kind of tonality, live, it's almost always a situation where a narcissistic lead guitarist wants to be heard way more than anyone else, and/or where the player enjoys all out aggression even at the expense of tonal appeal. Some slick country players can use this tone impressively, IMO, as they have the touch and phrasing to control it. Poor quality amps, or amps where the tone controls are never touched by the player, don't provide and can't handle the power needed to deliver bass presence, and just scream like a howler monkey singing duets with a banshee. The only player I ever heard live who could turn such an aggressive tone into phenomenal music expression was Roy Buchanan, who could make your hair stand on end.

 

[Toothpicker]

In my opinion ..... Danny Gatton. One of the best Tele players ever. Live he sounded fantastic. His studio recordings could make my teeth ache. Sometime he'd play a jazz tune that sounded almost frosty.

I found the opposite; I had to walk out of a DG show because his volume and tone were killing my ears. I love his recordings.

 

[Whitebeard]

I've heard of some Telecasters sounding too bright, especially the 70's ones. I honestly don't know what that sounds like lol, does anyone have any videos or songs that have that sound?
Thanks!

The Iceman - https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...64795DFA273E9E91698F64795DFA273E9E&ajaxhist=0

 

[40flash]

We all know that personal preference comes into play. What one person considers 'ice Pick" another may love. There is another factor that I haven't heard anyone mention. Many of us have some degree of hearing loss. From years of driving race cars, dune buggies, motorcycles and other loud toys I have some hearing loss in the higher frequency ranges. When I have my hearing aids in some tones seem Ice picky. When I don't have them in nothing is ice picky.

 

[MooseMagnet]

We need more functional adjectives for tone.

 

[enorbet2]

Guys there is a difference between Bright, even really Bright, and real Ice Pick sound and it is NOT from single coil p1ckps, at least not only. There are 3 main causes of true Ice Pick with Telecasters and it takes more than one of these in combination to get there, ads if anyone really would.

1) Completely and totally flat body - Because the Back and Top are absolutely parallel this causes standing waves. How strong and at what frequencies this plays out depends to some degree on body resonance.

2) Speakers and cabs - This is far more difficult to asses just from common specs, because specs rarely show system peaks or valleys especially ones that detract or emphasize the system response of all these interactive components. Generally one just has to try them out as a system.

3) Amplifier, especially the power amp - It is exceedingly rare to hear true Ice Pick tones with any guitar, even a particularly problematic Tele, through singled ended amps like Champs. This is because single-ended amps (one power device and especially with a vacuum tube) tend to produce primarily even ordered harmonics which are consonant by nature. We perceive this as "smooth".

Push-Pull amps if biased too cold as in for higher output specs when pushed hard develop "Crossover Notch Distortion" and effect absolutely non-musical because it has literally zero to do with the signal from strings and pickups. It's just harsh AF. So if and when you hit such a power section hard with a guitar that has a particular emphasis in a nasty area of frequency, producing harsh overtones, especially if including Crossover Distortion AND through speaker/cab combinations that reinforce such frequencies, you get true Ice Pick.

Here's an anecdotal reference. For a time I played with a 2nd Guitarist who was using a Fender Humbucker Tele through a Silverface Super Reverb pushed HARD. This was back in the mid 70s when we could dime 50 watt amps in almost all clubs. He took a solo and hit a note that hurt my ears on the opposite side of a 40 foot wide stage. There was a couple dancing right in front of him about 30 feet from his amp but being an elevated stage was right at their ear level.

Mid dance step the lady literally sagged as if she had taken a bullet to her head. THAT's True Ice Pick.