Truthfully, the first time I heard ZZ Top I didn’t really want to sound like Billy Gibbons. My introduction to the band was as a teenager, watching a compilation of the MTV videos they had put together for their best selling album Eliminator. 

I had only recently started playing the guitar, and at that time was taking both myself and my musical endeavours very seriously. So I wasn’t drawn in by the furry guitars, long beards or comical dancing.

Although I enjoyed the songs, I dismissed them. I mistakenly thought that ZZ Top offered nothing more than catchy choruses and funny gimmicks and I certainly didn’t fully appreciate the quality of Gibbons’ guitar playing.

Thankfully, it didn’t take me long to come to my senses.

As I have matured and listened to more ZZ Top, I realised that no amount of furry guitars or novelty dances can detract from the quality of the musicianship in the band.

Billy Gibbons is an exceptional guitarist, and his impact on the blues has been profound.

Throughout his career he has brought the blues to a mainstream audience. Eliminator alone sold over 10 million copies in the U.S.

In addition, along with Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins, Gibbons has played a key role in defining the sound of ‘Texas Blues’.

He is an amazing guitarist and has a killer tone that has long been the subject of scrutiny in guitar magazines and on forums.

That is what we’ll be looking at today – the gear that Billy Gibbons used and continues to use to craft his signature Texas tones.

Opening thoughts

It is not easy to sound like Billy Gibbons.

ZZ Top have been performing for over 50 years, and have released 15 studio albums. During that time, Gibbons has experimented with a huge variety of different tones and effects, and ZZ Top’s material has ranged from soft, synth-laden 80s pop rock to fuzz laden hard rock.

In more recent years, Gibbons and his bandmates have favoured a heavier sound. This was illustrated on La Futura – their most recent studio album. In particular, Gibbons has adopted a much heavier tone and uses fuzz as a key part of his sound. 

As a result, a lot of the material online and the ‘Rig Rundowns’ that look at Gibbons’ setup, focus on this aspect of his rig.

Although I will cover aspects of Gibbons’ heavy fuzz sound here, it will not be may focus.

In my opinion, the quintessential Billy Gibbons tone is that which you hear on the early ZZ Top albums – Rio Grande Mud, Tres Hombres and Fandango! 

It is also the tone you hear on Eliminator. For although the band took a different musical direction on that album, the core guitar sound remains relatively unchanged.

As such, in my opinion the heavy fuzz sound of recent albums represents a shift away from the classic Gibbons tone. Not only that, but it is a less versatile tone.  

As such, here I will be focusing on how to recreate Billy Gibbons’ signature tones from ZZ Top’s early albums.

So without further ado, here is everything you need to sound like Billy Gibbons:

Miss Pearly Gates

Over the course of his career, Gibbons has played a huge range of different guitars. These include Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters, a Gibson SG, a Gibson Explorer, various different Gretsch guitars, as well as custom made John Bolin Broadcasters, amongst countless others.

In his own personal collection, it is estimated that Gibbons owns over 450 guitars!

However, of all of the different instruments that Gibbons has played, there is one guitar that defines both his tone and his image.

Known affectionately as ‘Miss Pearly Gates’ (or ‘Pearly Gates’ for short), this is Gibbons’ 1959 Gibson Les Paul.

So the story goes, Gibbons had been looking for a Les Paul after seeing Eric Clapton holding one on the back of the 1966 John Mayall Blues Breakers album. He initially didn’t have much luck in finding one, until he heard that there was a local rancher trying to sell one.

Around the same time, Gibbons leant his car to a girlfriend who used it to drive from Houston to California for a film audition. She got the part, and Gibbons and his friends nicknamed the car Pearly Gates, joking that it had divine powers.

His girlfriend sold the car, and sent Gibbons a $250 cheque. Gibbons went and bought the Les Paul on the day the cheque arrive and from that point onwards, the guitar was known as Pearly Gates.

1959 is widely considered to be the year that Gibson produced its best guitars. Pearly Gates is still in its original condition and having been played by Gibbons for so long, is now one of the most desirable Les Pauls ever made.

Gibbons was actually offered $5 million for the guitar, but refused to sell it. In more recent years, he has also stopped playing the guitar live.

Instead, he plays a Gibson Custom Shop replica of the original Pearly Gates (more on this below).

The 1959 Gibson Les Paul

Given the key role that Pearly Gates has played in Gibbons’ career, I would recommend going for a 1959 Gibson Les Paul, a ’59 Les Paul replica, or a vintage style Les Paul if you want to recreate the tone of the early ZZ Top albums.

Original ’59 Les Pauls in good condition typically cost well over $125,000/£100,000.

Although in 2011 the Gibson Custom Shop released 350 replicas of Pearly Gates, such is the build quality and legacy of the guitar, that even second hand versions of this replica cost around $36,000/£30,000 on sites like Reverb.

Unsurprisingly then, those options are beyond the reach of most players.

The good news however, is that there are a lot of vintage Les Paul reissues and replicas out there across a range of budgets.

Luckily though, there are a whole range of modern Gibson Les Pauls and Les Paul replicas to suit every budget.

In the lower price range, I would recommend going for an Epiphone replica. Some great options to consider here are as follows:

• Epiphone Les Paul Classic
  
  
• Epiphone Les Paul Standard ’50s
  
  
• Epiphone Les Paul Standard ’60s

Moving on from the Epiphone range, one of he cheaper Gibson Tribute or Studio models could make a great choice:

• Gibson Les Paul Tribute
  
  
• Gibson Les Paul Studio

Finally, if you are looking to spend a bit more and make an investment, then either a Gibson Les Paul or a Custom Shop model would be your best choice. Some of the best options in this price range are as follows:

• Gibson Les Paul Classic
  
  
  
• Gibson Les Paul Standard ’50s
  
  
  
• Gibson Custom Shop 1959 Light Aged Les Paul
  

All of these guitars will help you sound like Billy Gibbons and with a few further tweaks to your pickups and setup (see below for more details), you can get even closer to those signature Texas tones.

Beyond the ’59 Les Paul

Although Pearly gates is unquestionably the Les Paul with which Gibbons is best associated, if you want to capture the tone of ZZ Top’s early albums, a Gold Top or Gold Top replica would also make a brilliant choice.

Gibbons himself likely owns and plays various different Gold Tops.

In 2012 though he teamed up with the Gibson Custom Shop to create a Gold Top replica with a distinctive pinstripe finish.

This is not a typical Les Paul. It has a chambered body and neck, making it much lighter than a typical Les Paul.

It is also constructed without a pickup selector. Instead it features 2 volume controls and 1 master tone control.

Gibson only produced a limited run of 300 guitars.

The good news though is that you can still buy these guitars second hand on Reverb for the comparatively reasonable price of $5500/£4500.

It is still not exactly a budget option, but if you are a massive Billy Gibbons fan, then it will do a lot to help you recreate his tones.

Beyond going down this route, there are some great alternatives across a range of budgets:

• Epiphone Les Paul Standard ’50s
  
  
• Gibson Les Paul Standard ’50s Gold Top
  
  
• Gibson Custom Shop 1957 Les Paul Goldtop

These models don’t come with the chambered body or neck. As such, they will be heavier and have less of an acoustic resonance to their sound.

Before you go out and make any drastic changes to your Les Paul though, you can get much closer to Gibbons’ tones by looking at your pickups and making a few simple adjustments to your setup.

Pickups

If you really want to sound like Billy Gibbons, I would recommend going for a set of his signature pickups. There are a few different options from which to choose here.

The first is to go for a set of the Seymour Duncan ‘Pearly Gates’ Humbuckers. These are designed to emulate the pickups from Pearly Gates. Both of the Billy Gibbons Custom Shop replicas have been fitted with these pickups.

The second and third options are both made by Cream T Pickups. This is a boutique pickup company that have long collaborated with Gibbons. They offer the ‘Whisker Buckers’ and also the ‘BFG Bangers’.

The former are designed to perfectly match the output of the pickups in Pearly Gates. The latter – which were designed in collaboration with Gibbons – are the pickups that Gibbons has used over the last 10 years or so.

Whichever set you go for, it is also worth noting that Gibbons very rarely – if ever – uses his neck pickup. In fact more recently his guitar tech has taken to disconnecting the neck pickup on his Les Pauls altogether.

I wouldn’t suggest you go to the same extreme, but I would recommend you stick to the bridge pickup when you are trying to sound like Billy Gibbons.

Amps

Billy Gibbons is best associated with Marshall amplifiers.

Although he has experimented with a whole range of different amps over the years – mostly notably boutique amp brands Magnatone and Bigtone – Marshall is at the core of Gibbons’ tone.

As he stated in 2008, when asked what gear had the biggest impact on his tone:

I would say that it was the ’59 Gibson Les Paul, better known now as ‘Pearly Gates’, plugged into a hundred-watt Marshall. [It] designed a sound that still resonates today.

The specific amp to which Gibbons is referring is a Marshall 1968 Super Lead 100W.

However, he is also known to have played a Marshall JCM 900 Dual Reverb, Marshall Bluesbreaker and a JTM45, amongst others.

Apart from the 1968 Super Lead 100W, reissue models of all of these amps are still available. So if you are looking in a higher price bracket you can buy the 1968 Super Lead on Reverb for around $4200/£3400.

If you are in search of authenticity then, any of those amps would make a brilliant choice.

They would also help you capture a whole range of vintage blues tones. Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Gary Moore are just 3 of the countless blues and rock guitarists to use these early Marshalls.

The consideration you have to make here – and it is a fairly significant one – is that these are powerful amps. To get the best out of them, you have to crank the volume. This is what gives you that beautiful, vintage sounding overdrive.

So if you are predominantly playing at home, in a studio, or in small venues, I wouldn’t recommend them.

Instead I would recommend opting for a smaller Marshall combo or stack, or buying a smaller amp that is voiced similarly to a Marshall.

Marshall

If you want to sound like Billy Gibbons but don’t want a big combo or a stack, then there are some brilliant smaller Marshall combos and heads. The good news is that there are options here across a range of budgets. 

My top choices are as follows:

• Marshall Origin 5W Combo
  
  
• Marshall Origin 20W Combo
  

• Marshall Studio Classic JCM 800
  
  
• Marshall Studio Vintage Plexi

Of these combos, there are head versions of the Studio Vintage Plexi, JCM 800 and the Marshall Origin 20W.

So if you wanted to build a stack, one of these smaller heads could be a brilliant choice. You could then pair it up with one of Marshall’s smaller vintage style 1×12 or 2×12” cabinets.

Alternatives

If you want Gibbons’ killer tones, but for whatever reason, you don’t want a Marshall amp, then I would recommend an amp with a similar voicing. My top choices here are as follows:

• Blackstar Studio 10 EL34
  
  
• Blackstar ART15 Artisan Hand-Wired Series 15 Watt
  
  
• Friedman Dirty Shirley Mini Combo
  
  
• Friedman Pink Taco
  
  

In recent years, Gibbons has actually recorded with the Blackstar Artisan, which he describes as having ‘great sustain and depth’.

Blackstar have built a strong reputation for high quality amps that offer great value for money. So if you are conscious about the cost of your rig, a Blackstar amp could be a great option.

At the other end of the spectrum, I would recommend going for a boutique amp from Friedman Amplification. These are brilliant amps that capture a variety of classic blues and rock tones.

Although I am not aware of Gibbons having ever gigged or recorded with Friedman amps, he speaks very highly of them.

So if you are looking to spend a bit more and make an investment in your rig, a Friedman could be a great choice.

Pedals

When we look at the pedals you need to sound like Billy Gibbons, things start to get a little tricky. Although Gibbons has used innumerable different pedals over the course of his career, there is very little concrete evidence on his specific set up.

Gibbons himself rarely speaks on the subject and most of the information online focuses on the various fuzzes and heavy overdrives that Gibbons now uses to create his heavier tones.

Long story short – it is not easy to figure out the exact set up that Gibbons used during the early ZZ Top days.

In fact it is likely that on albums like Rio Grande Mud and Tres Hombres, he relied almost solely on his guitar and amp. I

n more recent years though, pedals have played a larger part in Gibbons’ tone. So, using what little information there is available, we can put together a few options – all of which will help you sound like Billy Gibbons.

Here then I will look at some of the specific pedals Gibbons used, as well as the types of pedal he used at various points.

This will help us dial in his early vintage Texas blues tones, as well as some of his more fuzzy and overdriven tones.

The Tube Driver

During the early 1990s, Billy Gibbons used a Butler Audio Tube Driver pedal. This is a valve overdrive pedal, used by a number of notable guitarists – including Eric Johnson, David Gilmour and Joe Satriani.

Proponents of the Tube Driver swear by the pedal.

They claim that it offers an unparalleled quality of tone and versatility. Indeed, Eric Johnson has stated that his famous ‘violin tone’ would be impossible without the Tube Driver.

So if you want to sound like Billy Gibbons, and create a range of beautiful vintage tones, the Tube Driver could make a great addition to your rig.

You can buy one directly from Butler Audio for around $300/£245.

Treble booster

Around the same time, Billy Gibbons was also using an Analog Man Beano Boost.

A lot of blues guitarists avoid treble booster pedals. They worry that they will make their tone sound sharp and thin. However if you want to sound like Billy Gibbons, adding a treble booster to your rig is a great move.

Treble boosters work very well with Marshalls and other British voiced amps.

These amps are typically quite dark sounding. When you crank them or place an overdrive pedal in front of them, your tone can become unfocused and ‘muddy’.

Treble boosters stop this from happening. They tighten the sound up and give it a sizzling top end that sounds amazing.

If you want a treble booster, the Analog Man would be a great choice.

It is worth noting however that Gibbons also used the original Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster.

This was the first treble booster, and was famously used by both Rory Gallagher and Brian May, amongst others. So if you are looking for a distinctly vintage sound, that would be an amazing choice.

Having said that, it is also claimed that in more recent years Gibbons has used a Zvex Super Hard On. If that is true, it would also make a great addition to your setup.

Overdrive pedals

Throughout his career Gibbons has used a wide variety of different overdrive pedals. These include:

The Browntone Macho Man Overdrive. Gibbons used this in the early 1990s.

It is a boutique overdrive pedal with a large range that can go from a slight drive, all the way through to quite a heavy crunch. The pedal is no longer in production, but you can pick one up on Reverb for around $240/£200.

The Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive. Gibbons has used this more recently for some of his heavier, more overdriven tones. Again this is a boutique pedal, but the good news is that it is still in production. You can order it directly from Blackstone for $225/£185.

The Bixonic Expandora EXP-2000R. This is another pedal that Gibbons has used for his heavy tones. Reportedly he stacked 6 of these pedals into each other.

He set each one up in a slightly different way, to create an unusual and distinctive tone. The Expandora is no longer in production, but you can buy one on Reverb for around $250/£205.

The Paul Cochrane ‘Timmy’. Again this is a more recent addition to Gibbons’ setup, yet it is not a high gain overdrive pedal. The Timmy is famous for adding grit and warmth to a rig, whilst preserving its fundamental character.

So if you are looking for Gibbons’ early tones, this could be a brilliant choice. The original is no longer in production, although you can pick one up second hand for around $260/£210.

Alternatively, you can get the MXR Timmy.  This was made in collaboration with Paul Cochrane and offers the same great tones at a cheaper price.

Fuzz & Octavia

On some of ZZ Top’s recent albums, Gibbons has experimented a lot with fuzz and octavia effects.

In a sense, his love for fuzz isn’t new; the first fuzz he used was a Maestro Fuzz Tone, back in the early days of ZZ Top. He has however definitely taken the fuzz sound up to the next level in recent years.

The Maestro Fuzz Tone was one of the first fuzz pedals ever available, and is no longer in production. Second hand models of these are available, but they are both very rare and very expensive, typically costing around $2000/£1650.

If you want a similar sound without the expense, then I would recommend going for a vintage style fuzz pedal, like the Electro-Harmonix Satisfaction Fuzz, or a Fuzz Face Mini.

When it comes to Octavia and pitch shifting pedals, Gibbons has used a variety. This includes the Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork and various Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octavio pedals, like the JHOC1 and the JHM2.

As seems to be the case with most of the pedals Gibbons has used, these are no longer in production. Either the newer released Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octavio Mini or MXR M267 Octavio Fuzz pedal would work well as alternatives though.

The other option is to go for Billy Gibbons’ recently released signature ‘Siete Santos’ Octavio Fuzz Pedal. This combines an Octavio Fuzz with a 7 band graphic EQ to further sculpt and refine your sound.

So if you like Gibbons’ more overdriven and fuzzy tones, this could make a brilliant addition to your rig.

Pedals to sound like Billy Gibbons

If you really want to sound like Billy Gibbons, I would definitely recommend adding some of the pedals listed above onto your board.

Not only will they help you capture Gibbons’ signature tones; they will also help you achieve a variety of vintage blues tones.

Having said that, Gibbons isn’t exactly economical in his choice of pedals.

He has a lot of pedals in his setup and almost exclusively uses hand-wired, boutique pedals. So although recreating his board with authenticity will do wonders for your tone, it will also incur quite a bit of expense.

One great alternative that will help you craft a killer tone without spending so much, is to buy an ‘amp in a box’ style pedal.

There are a number of these that actually aim to recreate Billy Gibbons’ tone and any of these could work very well.

My first choice would be the La Grange overdrive and boost pedal from Bogner. This is built to recreate the sound of a Marshall ‘Plexi’ amp, and comes with a whole range of tone shaping options.

If you are looking for a new pedal, then something like the Friedman BE-OD Deluxe Dual Overdrive would also be an amazing choice.  

Conversely, if you are happy to go second hand, then I would recommend the Mythos ‘Chupacabra’ overdrive and fuzz.

This is a more specific type of pedal, but it was built to sound like Gibbons on the early ZZ Top records. So if you can track one down, it could make a great addition to your rig.

Strings

Billy Gibbons is renowned for using extremely light gauge guitar strings.

So the story goes, Gibbons used to play heavy gauge strings until B.B. King advised him otherwise. As Gibbons recalls:

BB said to me, ‘Can I play your guitar?… He strummed it a few times and handed it back to me. He looked at me rather quizzically and said, ‘Why you working so hard?…Those strings. You got real heavy, heavy strings.’ I said, ‘Well, isn’t that how to get the heavy, heavy sound?’ He said, ‘No! Don’t be working so hard!’

From that point, Gibbons started to play lighter and lighter strings. He then decided to settle on 0.07 gauge strings, which he has used for the majority of his career.

This is pretty unusual. 0.07 is a very light gauge string, and much lighter than most blues players – who typically play somewhere between 0.09s-0.11s.

Using such light strings won’t directly implicate your tone. It will however have a significant impact on your tone, because it will alter the way you play your guitar.

When you are using such light strings, you have to play in a certain way. You need to have a soft touch and a restrained pick attack, because if you don’t, you will constantly be snapping your strings.

Apparently Gibbons never breaks his strings, which is truly a testament to his precision and light touch.

If you are looking for authenticity then, you can buy a set of Gibbons’ signature 0.07 gauge strings. Personally I wouldn’t recommend going that light, as I do believe there are benefits of using a slightly thicker string (don’t worry – I’ll save those thoughts for another day!).

Gibbons does also have a signature set of 0.08s. So if you want to test your touch and precision, you could give those a try, see how you get on and then drop down to the 0.07s.

Having said that, I don’t think you need to go down that light to sound like Billy Gibbons. I think a 0.09 or even a 0.10 gauge string would also do the job.

I would argue that it is more about your pick attack and touch, rather than the gauge string, which is the key factor here.

Accessories

The final piece of the tonal puzzle is the accessories that Gibbons uses.

So the story goes, Gibbons used to play with a Mexican Peso for a pick. Now he uses extra heavy Dunlop gel picks. His guitar tech is convinced that this is not so much about tone, but rather because they glow in the dark…

I would always recommend using a pick that you find comfortable. However if you are looking for a bit of extra bite in your sound, it might be worth experimenting with a metal plectrum.

You can buy metal picks like these here for around the same price as regular plectrums. So try those out and see what they do for your sound. They will definitely help you get closer to the tone that Gibbons would have recreated with a Peso.

When it comes to slides – which Gibbons uses on songs like ‘Just Got Paid‘ and ‘Tush‘, I would recommend either going for a porcelain or glass slide.

Billy Gibbons actually has a signature ‘Mojo slide’ available in both porcelain and glass. For authenticity, either of those would make a brilliant option, but any porcelain or glass slide will do the trick.

Beyond that, the key factor is comfort.

You need to ensure the slide fits properly and that it gives your chosen finger a bit of breathing room. If it’s too snug then you will have difficulty getting it off after playing (because your finger will expand when it warms up).

You should also pay attention to the weight. If you want to play fast licks and solos then you don’t want anything too heavy, as the slide will just slow you down. Conversely, you want something with enough weight to press down on the strings.

Try a few different slides out and experiment until you find the one that works for you.

Closing thoughts

In the search for tone, it is very easy to get stuck down the rabbit hole. This is particularly the case with Billy Gibbons.

He has used so much gear and changed his set up a lot during his 50 year career. He has experimented with different sounds and totally different styles. Additionally, both Gibbons and his guitar tech seem to have a forensic knowledge and understanding of gear.

In every video and rig rundown I have seen, they talk at a deep and technical level, covering everything from speaker cones, to EQ graphs to pickup height. They then close by saying – without any sense of irony at all – ‘so it’s quite a simple set up, really’.

Try not to get caught in this rabbit hole. Focus on the key elements of Gibbons’ rig. Get yourself a Les Paul or Les Paul style guitar and pair it with a Marshall or British voiced amp.

Add a few choice pedals and maybe some new pickups, and experiment. See if you like sound, and if not, then you can adopt some of the more niche elements of Gibbons’ setup. As Gibbons once put it so well:

I believe the key is maintaining simplicity. As inviting as it may be to complicate the issue – let’s face it, capturing guitar tones… is a complex ordeal – you should not overcomplicate. Keeping it all simple is actually a great place to fall back to.

On that note, this article comes to a close.

Good luck!

If you have any questions or comments, just pop them in the box below, or send me an email on aidan@happybluesman.com. I’m here to help.

Images

Image of Billy Gibbons – Christophe Losberger (Flickr) – The license for the image is here
Rolling Stone, Audio Fanzine, Pinterest, Music Radar, Equipboard

References

Ground Guitar, Youtube, Music Radar, Dawsons, Youtube, Gibson, Guitar Hive, Wikipedia, Gibson, Youtube, Les Paul Forum, Butler Audio, Wikipedia, Youtube, Music Radar, Kitrae, Youtube, The Gear Page, Equipboard,

Links

Many of the links embedded in this article are affiliate links. As such, if you buy one of the pieces of gear I recommend, or an item from the same store after clicking one of these links, I will earn a small commission.

I never recommend pieces of gear that I wouldn’t use myself, and I include these affiliate links to ensure that I can keep this content free. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me on aidan@happybluesman.com.