Nice to see another Frank fan here! Not sure why his name never came up, by 70s standards he had some ferocious chops. No off-the-shelf gear at all other than Fender Heavy picks I think. I’d be curious as to what fellow CtC members think of Marino’s picking. This is one of my favorites:
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Sure thing!
Forum pro-tip, for future reference: to split off from an existing topic > new (related) topic, you can hit reply, then click the reply arrow icon in the upper left of the composer and switch to "reply as linked topic. Kind of a hidden feature but useful in cases like this!
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Thanks @Brendan, much appreciated and thanks for the tip.
@MelodicGrit I love that tune, kind of like his own unique take on Hendrix on steroids. Some great fast picked lines and some very tasty outside playing. His vibrato is killer too.
I liked the shots of his gear at the end of that video.
Have you heard his version of Red House? Best version ever recorded IMO. He gets jazzy with the changes.
@aliendough Yes, every so often I will break out some Marino and listened to the whole Real Live album last week; been digging into the back catalog since. I’ve got all of it, including some studio sessions but he really shines live.
I love this version of Red House, it’s got many of the best Frank-isms in one long and excellent tune. The jazzier parts always remind me of the Allmans’ Filmore album. What strikes me often when listening to the live stuff is the uniqueness of his base tone… it’s very clean by today’s standards. Single coils in an ancient SG through solid state amps with .008s, not something you see or hear being done really. Great stuff!
Did you know several years ago Gibson had a Frank Marino SG in the works? It never came to market but was in one of their catalogues around… 2012 I think.
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No I didn’t know about the SG, but I’m reading about it now and it looks cool! I actually owned an SG about 8 years ago. I bought it because of Tony Iommi and, of course, because of Frank Marino.
I found the following info on his website:
I used to use Acoustic 270 heads with JBL 15" speakers. Alot of people thought I used tubes but I didn’t start with that until Mahogany Rush IV, and even then I only used them in the studio…never live. For awhile I used some tube heads live in the 80’s but I found them to be very unreliable. I now use a Pre-Amp that I custom build for myself, along with whatever high output power amp I can find…Crown, Ashley, Yamaha…you name it. The sound is largely made up by the method of playing. I can use just about any amp and EQ it till it sounds reasonably like my own, although I prefer to just use my own and forget about the hassles. I’ve even toyed with the idea of selling the design for my amp to the guitarists who want it, but it’ll probably be a while before I get the chance to get around to that.
Someone else asked him about his amps and he said:
Well, I’m still using the homemade pre-amp (sort of a cross between a Boogie and a Fender twin) along with 15" Fane Acoustics speakers when I play live, but I use only my old Marshall in the studio, and have done this on every record beginning with Mahogany Rush IV.
15" speakers aren’t something you hear a lot of guys using either.
This Albert King version is a guitar bible. So so good.
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I’d forgotten about his use of 15" speakers. There are so many one-offs in his tonal chain it’s no wonder that he sounds unique. SGs are cool but I’ve never owned one, it’s mostly Vs for me. I’d be interested in a Gibson FM model if they ever put it out. Fingers crossed.
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That version of “I’ll Play the Blues for You” is one of my favorites. He’s got a cover of “Things I Used to Do” from the same sessions that’s excellent too. I’d like to hear him put out a release of just blues/jazz-oriented songs, but his last studio album was in 2001 so that’s wishful thinking.
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Amazing, I hadn’t heard that. Marino does a great jazz blues that’s very organic and gritty sounding. I like.
that would be amazing! I wonder what he’s up to, I hope that’s he’s ok and in good health.