Johnny Hiland, Silhouette Player

[GuitarHack]

Saw Johnny last night at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh. He tore it up! What a player, and he makes it look so easy.

Johnny played one guitar all night, a Silo in Orange Firemist (looked like it to me) with a tort pickguard and stock white pickups in the middle and neck. He made a couple comments how he'd just gotten a chrome TV Jones installed in the bridge earlier that day, and he seemed to like it a lot. I was close enough to see his switch settings, and he sounded great on all of them.

His bass player was rock solid on his Big Al, too.

Sorry for the poor quality pics...thanks to the cell phone, we now have pics of everything, and they all stink :

 

[GuitarHack]

One more thing...Johnny must've played 5 or 6 songs before he even touched up his tuning. The man does not baby the guitar, and he was all over the whammy bar, and that Silo just stayed in tune. I think he tuned twice the whole show. When he finally did tune the first time, he cracked "Strange, this guitar was in tune when I bought it"

 

[Colin]

Great thread, I can't wait to catch up with Johnny in Jan

 

[fogman]

awesome!
thanks for sharing.

 

[jabba]

The thing that struck me when I first saw some of the youtube videos of Johnny playing a stock silo at Namm was how incredibly twangy the guitar sounded when he played it. I know I shouldn't totally be suprised (he is Johnny Hiland after all) but the twang he squeezed out of that guitar made me see the guitar in a new light...it's a loaded twang machine.

 

[Paul Warren]

Mr. Hiland did sound great and fluid as always. We were the opening act for the show and our bass player really liked the Big Al and now wants one. He played a Stingray for this show. I had a couple of people inquire about my Autumn Redrise 7. I really enjoyed the crushing metal tone it got. Fun show!

 

[Progdude]

Whats the new bridge pickup Johnnys using in the pics?

 

[threeminutesboy]

"He made a couple comments how he'd just gotten a chrome TV Jones installed in the bridge earlier that day"

Thanks for sharing that

 

[GuitarHack]

Mr. Hiland did sound great and fluid as always. We were the opening act for the show and our bass player really liked the Big Al and now wants one. He played a Stingray for this show. I had a couple of people inquire about my Autumn Redrise 7. I really enjoyed the crushing metal tone it got. Fun show!

Paul, I took a few pics of you guys, but none of them turned out. A couple guys around me were asking each other about the Autumn Redrise finish.

You guys sounded great, and really pounded it out! The sound out on the floor was excellent. It was a great set, and everybody I talked with enjoyed it.

 

[fogman]

The thing that struck me when I first saw some of the youtube videos of Johnny playing a stock silo at Namm was how incredibly twangy the guitar sounded when he played it. I know I shouldn't totally be suprised (he is Johnny Hiland after all) but the twang he squeezed out of that guitar made me see the guitar in a new light...it's a loaded twang machine.

position 2 (bridge and middle pickup) has lots of twang!!!!

 

[Sweat]

position 2 (bridge and middle pickup) has lots of twang!!!!

Yep totally agree, and thanks for sharing GH nice pics and very cool

 

[ernesto]

I was at the show. I was glad to see all the Ernie Balls being used! .... Mr. Warren's tone was immaculate. (and his guitar is exceptionally beautiful) Mr. Hiland's tone was definitely in the twang zone. (My ears are still ringing from his dual Fender Twins) Now.... if we could only get Misters Landau and Wood to use Ernie Balls.....


ern

 

[Colin]

Don't forget Johnny has a Live CD coming out for all of us that can't get out to see him live.

 

[Butch Snyder]

If you think Johnny's Silo twangs a lot, go to his youtube vids where he's playing his Tele. The Silo, albeit a great guitar, doesn't twang compared to his Telecaster.

 

[SVTScruggs]

Thanks for the kind words...i love my Big Al 5 and playing with Johnny is and has been an amazing experience!

 

[Big Poppa]

Butch what is your point? I forgot this is the fender forum....

SVT Shawn Great to see you with the gig!

 

[SVTScruggs]

thanks BP...got my new StingRay Classic 5 in the mail yesterday and gigged it tonight...you know it sounds good when the tone deaf singer turns around and says..."I love that bass...it sounds great!" lol

 

[Butch Snyder]

Butch what is your point? I forgot this is the fender forum....

Nope, I didn't give any props to Fender. I just stated my feelings about tone. That said, I would never take a Fender over an EBMM. And if someone wants Tele tone (from the bridge pickup), the Albert Lee SSS easily delivers that.

Now, if Johnny had decided to use an AL SSS the twang of his Tele wouldn't even begin to come into play...

 

[Colin]

Now, if Johnny had decided to use an AL SSS the twang of his Tele wouldn't even begin to come into play...

EBMM sent a bunch of guitars to Johnny and the Silhouette was the one that he liked/picked. It covers more ground tone wise

 

[GuitarHack]

Thanks for the kind words...i love my Big Al 5 and playing with Johnny is and has been an amazing experience!

Shawn, nice to see you weighing in here, and you were just killing it on Saturday! Your "thumb-popping thing", or whatever Johnny called it , was jaw-dropping. Love your playing, you and the drummer were just locked in, there were many favorable comments about the rhythm section at the bar (which was dominated by the Southeast Guitar and Amp Show crowd) after the set.

Here's the only semi-decent pic I got of you (but the Ernie Ball Hat is on backwards), hope you don't mind: