Here is a tribute to one of the greatest guitar players of all time, Carlos Santana.
My best take on Carlos’ famous Mesa Boogie Mk. 1 rig, with a separate
‘rhythm’ and ‘lead’ amp channels.
Carlos Santana grew up in Tijuana, until his parents moved to San Francisco. Which
landed young Carlos in the middle of the late ‘60’s hippie movement. He got
his first break from Bill Graham (owner of the legendary Fillmore theatres).
One night famed blues guitarist, Paul Butterfield, showed up too wasted to play, and
Bill gave Carlos a shot. His soulful playing shocked everyone present, and he quickly shot
to stardom. The Santana Band brought down the house at 1969’s Woodstock Festival, and their
debut album reached No. 4 on the US charts. The following two albums, ‘Abraxas’
and ‘Santana III’ both hit No. 1.
I can say, from personal experience, that Santana could move an audience like few others.
I watched him perform a 20 minute version of “Oye Como Va” that had 40,000 people
up in their seats and dancing in the aisles. During the set he was in a sort of trance, eyes
rolled back in his head. Totally absorbed in the music.
Carlos’ most famous gear association is with Mesa amps. His early adoption
of Randall Smith’s creations put them on the map. He even put the “Boogie” in
Mesa Boogie. After his first test drive thru a Mk. 1 prototype, he commented,
“that little thing really boogies!”. Mark 1’s were first debuted on Carlos’ famed
“Abraxas” album.
For guitars, Carlos is most famous for his association with PRS. However, all of his
early hits were done on Gibsons. The debut, “Santana” album was a Gibson SG.
Abraxas, Santana III, and Caravanseri were all a tobacco sunburst Les Paul Custom.
Thereafter he played a custom inlayed Yamaha SG2000 named “Devadip” (Hindu trans.
“The Eyes of God”) until 1982 when he started playing PRS.
Carlos has won 10 Grammy Awards.
In the patch, the upper amp block is the ‘lead’ channel, the lower is the ‘rhythm’.
Sounds great with both on at once, as well. You’ll notice that I’ve got the cab blocks
set to the Redwirez Electro-Voice 12L 1x12 cabs. This is because the RW’s cabinet used
to record the IR was solid mahogany (info on their site). This is very similar to early
Mesa Mk. I’s which came with a beautiful solid koa wood cab. This gets us very close to
his actual tone in those earlier days.
Carlos' Yamaha SG2000 named, "Devadip" in the Berlin Museum
EDIT: 02/14/2012 The original "Santana Latin Percussion" patch glitched badly on download
from Axe Edit. Now simplified, it should work just fine. The "Abraxas" patch is the same
patch without the drum circuitry (just the guitar signal chain). Upper amp block is 'Lead',
lower amp block is 'Rhythm'.