AboutAndy Expertise I am very familar with all sorts of questions pertaining sublime and the groups members.Whether it be about brad's songs,tattoos,guitars,amp,recordings,there isn't much i can't answer,and if i am not able i am willing to research until i can find one.
Experience Saw sublime play at the 1st warped tour on august 17th 1995 at the tweeter center(was the blockbuster pavillion then),saw Long Beach Dub Allstarts perform in 2002 at the electric factory in philly.I have been playing guitar for 8 years and have both published versions of sublime guitar tab,plus can play almost 90% of sublimes music to a tee.I also have connections in the tattooing industry,and knowlege about the bands tattoo's from various interviews,pics,live show tapes,and a segment from tattoo magazine featuring opie ortiz,who inked alot of the band.Have Also been following the LBC music scene since 1995
Organizations OSU wrestling and athlectic alumni
NJVMA(vet med assoc
Publications " "
Education/Credentials OSU University,BS Animal Science,wrestling
Expert: Andy Date: 11/27/2007 Subject: Brad's ibanez
Question QUESTION: i read in your previous answers that brad's ibanez's s-470 was a custom. does
that mean that it is different from the common black s-470's and if so how can
i get one or get one made exactly like brad's s-470
ANSWER: He did have and play an s-470 for a while.The custom he had is no longer made.It was an ibanez saber series s-540.It came with the custom made symbol on the 12th fret.I've looked for one myself..but i'm happy with my s-470 that i bought new.Only thing i did was upgrade pickups to the semour duncan JB(jeff beck) in the bridge and the jazz in the neck.
So to get brads model look up the ibanez saber series s-540..i'm sure you can get one on ebay or through a dealer if you look enough.Hope this helps,take care,.,.,andy=}
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QUESTION: your answer was helpful i bought the s 470dxqm in that blue color yesterday it
sounds awsome and is very versitle. my next question is did ibanez make that
guitar for brad custom and how long was he playing the 470 before switching to
a 540 and did those 2 gutiars have similiar features? or were they exactly the
same? thanks
ANSWER: Good purchase on your part.The guitars are just about the same.I think the s-470 replaced the saber series model to be honest.If you look up online pictures of the s-540FM you'll see the guitars are identical feature wise.The s-540 is the guitar you see in his videos was the s-540 for sure.It wasn't a custom model for him...they were available to the public.
I'm not sure how long he had the s-540 for before switching to the dan macdonald custom..but most videos after 1995 have him playing the custom excusivley,take care and good luck with the new guitar,,..andy=}
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QUESTION: thanks again but 1 more and last question what strings did he use and what
pickups did he use? the stocks ones? i thought i saw something about he
used different pickups in it. thats important to me cause pickups change the
sound of a guitar dramitcly or at least i think so and i want my 470 to sound
as much like sublime as possible. thanks ( and how do u know so much about
sublime did you know bradley nowell or are you just a huge fan?
Answer The pickups on the ibanez were stock as far as i know.String wise i'm sure he played 10's on the high e.I play 11's on the high e cause i like to get heavy once in a while..but it still sounds really good.The nice part is the strings don't break as easy.Going with 9 0r 10's will indeed give you a nice sound but i can almost bet you'll bust a high e string if you play reggae,,mainly due in part to the picking patterns and steady up/down beats.
In brad's custom made model(dan macdonald) he had a semour duncan jeff beck in the bridge(JB model) and an old humbucker out of a trashed dean.
What i did was to put the JB in the bridge like brad and i put a jazz in the neck,,and soon i'll spice up the single coil too!! Semour duncan himself likes the combo of the JB/Jazz the best...so that's why i choose that combo.
The JB itself is great for distortion/lead..and when you mix it with the single coil you get the best clean/reagge sound you've heard!! I would try it out for sure.One thing if you really want to sound like brad is to get a good amp to..he played a mesa boogie triple rectifier..but i gotta tell you it's expensive.One of the best amps on the market and one that tons of people play..but for the head/1/2 stack you'll likely pay 2,500-3,500 bucks easy.
Hope this helps buddy,.,.,take care..and congrats on owning the new s-470,.,,.andy=}
