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Headphone Echoes: Monster Guitars and Their Masters — Carlos Santana, The Note That Refused to Die

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Luis Gonzalez:
Headphone Echoes: Monster Guitars and Their Masters — Carlos Santana

The Note That Refused to Die

Boiling Frogs

Santana’s Tone Was Never Just “Sustain”

Most players get this wrong.

They chase gain, distortion, compression… thinking sustain is something you add.

But Santana’s sound isn’t built that way.

At Woodstock, it was accidental. Instability, overloaded amps, and a reactive P-90 SG that barely had control of itself. The note didn’t die because the system couldn’t quite let it go.

Later, it flips.

Controlled humbuckers. Midrange focus. Simplified circuits. Amplification tuned to hold instead of explode.

Same illusion. Different architecture.

The real trick is not making the note louder.

It’s removing whatever keeps ending it too soon.

And that’s where it gets interesting.

— Gonzo

Read on at Boiling Frogs Blog

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