This has been discussed a little in KPA forum. For a long time I wanted a 335 for it's tone. (Alex Lifeson & Kerry Livegren used one) Spending a few years recording it I can't say that I can hear the hollowbody-ness of it. listen to Rush 2112 does that sound like a 335? I want to think I do, and it does sound different, but in reality, I don't see the purpose of a 335 besides looks as I don't believe the acoustic part of it gets transmitted through the pickups that much and I start to wonder why they were even made. I can record that and my Les paul custom and I know which is which because I know them, but both just sound like electric guitars on recordings. That being said, the 335 will feedback a bit easier...
335 owners. Can you hear it?
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I think the 335 is different when paying at gig volume. The body resonates differently. I also think the attack on the string is a little softer. I hear the same thing with the attack on chambered bodies. I had a chambered Les Paul that exhibited the same softer attack. I really liked that. I have a 335 and a 339. I like the difference in them enough that I haven't sold either of them.
I hear the difference on a clean channel or lightly broken sounds. Once you get above a certain level of gain on them they all (335, 339, LP) start to sound the same. That can be a good thing. You can still get the medium or medium high gain sounds out of them like a Les Paul but when you dial the gain back you get a sweeter warmer sound.
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There is definitely a bassier tone to the 335. If I try to play through a marshal profile, it is definitely bass heavy that I have to dial it down. I wonder if this is the difference between the 335 and a Les Paul? That it's less "tight"? That might explain the semi acoustic nature of the instrument.
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First....Lifeson's is an ES-355.
(Yes....I know what you meant. Don't take it personally - I am a major Rush nerd.)Can you 'hear' the difference on record? Meh. Depending on the player I sometimes have trouble telling the difference between a Strat and an LP on a recording. The recording is so far removed from 'live'.
At times, Eric Johnson will play a 335 and/or LP. You've got to be paying attention to not mistake it for his Strat. You can hear it - but it's not as distinct as you'd think.
I believe it can be as much about the guitar and how it feels in your hands. How that is influencing how you approach it. You can't play an acoustic with the same technique as an electric. I mean...you can try, but it won't work so well.While not as stark a difference.....different electric guitars provoke different things out of you.
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There is definitely a bassier tone to the 335. If I try to play through a marshal profile, it is definitely bass heavy that I have to dial it down. I wonder if this is the difference between the 335 and a Les Paul? That it's less "tight"? That might explain the semi acoustic nature of the instrument.
Someone on here posted a les paul and 335 in a blind taste test. I guessed the right one by what you said -that 335's can be a little looser.
That being said when I bought my 335, I had a choice between 2 newer Memphis ones and my 1999 Nashville one. One of the New Memphis ones was VERY bright and the other one the body seemed to resonate in a bad way to me like a 100.00 acoustic. I had a friend who had a late 60's one and it was very bright and snappy also. Mine on the other hand is very dark and thick but not really bassy. I made the mistake of putting a JB in mine once and went back to a 57 classic but added the + version. ( I sold the original) It has A2 Mags so that makes things a bit looser normally as well so I can't contribute that all to the 335 design in my case.
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First....Lifeson's is an ES-355.
Hate to correct you, but I am a SUPER major RUSH nerd. Lifeson played a tobacco 335 for much of the early years until the neck got damaged and he retired it. He didn't get the white 355 until around the Farewell to kings era. There is a pretty easy to find interview with him where he says all this. I saw Rush before 2112 was recorded and he was using it then and on every album before that. I believe he recorded 2112 with it as well.
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At times, Eric Johnson will play a 335 and/or LP. You've got to be paying attention to not mistake it for his Strat. You can hear it - but it's not as distinct as you'd think.
I know, when he switches, the tone is surprisingly very similar as one wouldn't expect. I recall an interview with him saying on the recording of cliffs of dover he goes between his 335 & strat.
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Hate to correct you, but I am a SUPER major RUSH nerd. Lifeson played a tobacco 335 for much of the early years until the neck got damaged and he retired it. He didn't get the white 355 until around the Farewell to kings era. There is a pretty easy to find interview with him where he says all this. I saw Rush before 2112 was recorded and he was using it then and on every album before that. I believe he recorded 2112 with it as well.
You're right, of course. I had it in my head he bought the 355 with the advance from the first album. THAT was a 335.
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The way that guy makes one guitar sound like 5 is amazing. That - and the fact that there isn't just one Alex Lifeson 'sound'. Sure...his 80s chorus helped that decade's sound, but that's just one of the many tones he'd use.
I've heard people say "I want to sound like Alex Lifeson...." and the answer is usually "Which album? They're all pretty different." -
The 335 isn't a full hollowbody with the bridge attached to the top and the strings anchored via a tailpiece to the edge of the top - like a 330 or some of the other early Gibsons. It has a solid block down the full length of the middle of the body with the bridge attached through the top to that block and the strings anchored close behind the bridge. It is only a semi-hollow but it does get some extra resonances from the much larger body and the two the hollow chambers either side of the block.
I once listened to a demo a guy did on Youtube of a 335, a 339 (same general idea but with a smaller body) and a Les Paul. The progession from the darker bassier tone of the 335 to the brighter less bass heavy tone of the Les Paul was clearly audible across the three with the 339 intermediate in tone. If you put 52-11s (egt D'addario 116s) on a Les Paul you will get plenty of warm lower end response. Played clean through something like a Fender Twin, it would sound nothing like an LP with 008s on it.
Clapton played the very well known solo on Crossroads live (from Wheels of Fire) on a 335. I gather he used pretty light strings - certainly he did back in the Beano period - I have read that at that time he used a standard electric set (originally with a wound G etc) moved across one string (so the origanal set's A string used as the 6th string E and so on) and banjo 008 for the 1st string.
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I once listened to a demo a guy did on Youtube of a 335, a 339 (same general idea but with a smaller body) and a Les Paul. The progession from the darker bassier tone of the 335 to the brighter less bass heavy tone of the Les Paul was clearly audible across the three with the 339 intermediate in tone. If you put 52-11s (egt D'addario 116s) on a Les Paul you will get plenty of warm lower end response. Played clean through something like a Fender Twin, it would sound nothing like an LP with 008s on it.
I own a nice example of all three of these guitars and I would agree with this. I would also add that I hear the same graduation with the high end. The Les Paul having the most present high end and the 335 having the darkest high end, the 339 in the middle.
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I got my first ever 335 a few weeks ago.I think it definitely sounds different.
Also, feedback is SOOOOOOOOOO much easier to get
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the fact that there isn't just one Alex Lifeson 'sound'.
I never really thought his sound was outstanding but his writing and playing is.
My favorite rush album is ATWAS live. I know it better than any recording. and he played a (admittedly) crappy tobacco Les Paul with overcompressed pickups and a screwed up neck.
Probably the worst sounding label recordings produced of him. He's one of those guys where you don't say "I wish I could play that/sound like that" but " I wish I would have thought of that"!
Listen to ByTor on a killer stereo where you can hear all the details, it's like sex when he builds it in the middle with the echoplex. Listen carefully to every note and swell.
I've heard people say "I want to sound like Alex Lifeson...."
Same as above, They likely really mean, I want to play like him, not sound like him because as you wrote, he doesn't really have a "sound" but a style. He's in a league of his own.... Man I really got off my 335 question into a Lifeson swoon.
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The 335 isn't a full hollowbody with the bridge attached to the top and the strings anchored via a tailpiece to the edge of the top - like a 330 or some of the other early Gibsons. It has a solid block down the full length of the middle of the body with the bridge attached through the top to that block and the strings anchored close behind the bridge. It is only a semi-hollow but it does get some extra resonances from the much larger body and the two the hollow chambers either side of the block.
I think this is right on. The solid block makes it like a narrow solid body with hollow wings that add resonance.
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If you can hear both acoustic and electric sounds, there's a fair chance the tiny latency between both might be messing with your perception of the sound.
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If you can hear both acoustic and electric sounds, there's a fair chance the tiny latency between both might be messing with your perception of the sound.
I didn't think of that, but it could be what I experience. I've had other acoustic/ electric players report the same thing.
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That interaction between the acoustic sound and the sound from your amplification is definitely a thing - particularly at low levels. Our brains pay a lot of attention to the onset of sounds and the direct acoustic sound arrives first at the ear and when you exclude it significantly with sealed headphones etc you get a different result. The recorded sound on playback lacks the acoustic element unless you mic the instrument directly as some jazz archtop players do.
BTW in my post above I made a typo - I referred to putting medium gauge strings (eg 52=11 D'Addario EXL 116s) on an LP - I meant to say the 335 of course. Bigger strings are going to help excite the top more strongly at modest volumes and generally sound bigger and warmer and darker than light strings - and they sustain better too. Serious jazz types often put heavy flat wound strings (eg56-13) on their archtops - sometimes with shorter scale lengths - to get the classic jazz sounds.
