I love the electric warm tone from Django last recordings, specially that from 1953 sessions... I just wanted to dedicate one topic to the settings (guitar, amp, pickup and strings available nowadays) we should use to recreate it.
I think one of the best options might be this one, but I haven't tested the combination...
Eastman 16" or 17"
Stimer Modèle S.T. 48 Pickup
Stimer Modèle M12 Amplifier
Argentine strings
What do you think about? Which are your settings to get close to that tone?
Thanks,
SERGIO
Comments
(Nuages - March 10, 1953)
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Vive Django!
Any idea about the object of this topic?
A Dupont Vieille Reserve (about as close as you can get to a real Selmer)
Stimer pickup
Stimer M12 amp
We have all this equipment here and I've tried it on several gigs. Really brings you back! So 50s Django!!
Of course, if you can actually find all the real vintage gear you'd be even closer! But I don't know anyone who actually has an original Stimer amp that works, and a real Selmer will cost you $30K!!
You could use the Eastman if you wanted to recreate some of Django's archtop electric sounds. Like the tone on the stuff he did with Ellington. I think most people agree he was using an Epiphone Zenith (probably with a DeArmond pickup) and an Epiphone tube amp.
Keep in mind, it's highly unlikely that Django put much thought into any of his gear choices. He usually just played what was given to him....although he did express a severe disdain for American archtops (but played them anyway) and seemed to prefer a Selmer petite bouche above all (but also owned a Busato and played other French guitars as well). So he wasn't completely aloof, but certainly didn't switch gear at the rate some contemporary Gypsies do (I've lost count of how many Debarre, Ferre, and Schmitt models there are now, they endorse everything!)
Since I mentioned the Ellington sessions....I've always found it interesting that Django ended up doing so much performing in the US on a non-cutaway. Obviously didn't cramp his style....I've tended to shy away from the non-cutaway archtops but I'll probably just get one at some point because they do often sound a lot better!
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But I'm a little bit confused... I know Django had different tones during his career, but the sound I'm talking about -that from 1953- was from a Selmer with a Stimer pickup and Stimer amp? Or did he use an archtop with DeArmond pickup as he did with Ellington?
Could I find anywhere a clip emulating that tone with nowadays guitar, amp and pickup?
I guess a good place to start would be '70's Phillippe Catherine (if possible try to find "The Viking" with Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen or "September Sky"), he comes really close to Django's '53 sound, his setup is basically a Gibson 175 and usually a compressor through a small jazz-tone oriented (non-tube) amp like a Polytone. In my ears he sounds closest of all "archtop" players to the '53 "Nuages" sound. This is however his sound with him playing, I tried to copy this years ago and came close but couldn't nail it exactly
anyway, my two cents
kind regards
Frans
I'd say you get a more twangy sort of sound with the Stimer/Selmer and a bit thicker, darker sound with the DeArmond/archtop.
It would be nice to know which set ups did Django use in the different recording sessions he performed after 2nd WW... If anyone knows exactly what guitar, pickup and amp he was using in specifically any of them, it might help too...