Sustain: More Please!

Grant Johnson · From: Nashville TN

During band practice last night I realised that I need more sustain, especially during the ballads. I seem to be fading out a little too soon. I don't seem to have this problem practicing at home. I am playing my E9 Marlen S-10 through a Fender Super Reverb. We are a quiet band and headroom isn't an issue. I can turn up the super. Should I turn up the amp a bit more and try to coax more sustain using volume pedal technique? Should I put a compressor or sustainer into my signal chain?
I would love to hear from the experts on how they get their desired sustain.

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JB Arnold · From: Longmont,Co,USA (deceased)

Goodrich Matchbox ought to do the trick....kind of an essential little piece of inexpensive gear that gives you a lot of control right there on the steel leg. I don't think compression is a very good idea on steel except in rare circumstances. But the matchbox will give you more sustain right away, even at lower volumes.

JB

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[This message was edited by JB Arnold on 14 August 2003 at 08:38 AM.]

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

Don't run your volume pedal full throttle on the loud/fast stuff. Back it off and pick harder. Then you'll have some reserve for sustain on the soft, slow songs.

We all have a tendancy to pick too lightly on soft songs. Back off the pedal more for the attack and pick harder, then use the pedal to maintain sustain as the note dies.

Bar motion helps to keep the string vibrating, too. A bit of strategic vibrato will add emotion and help to keep the note alive.

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Greg Vincent · From: Folsom, CA USA

A small dose of delay will help your sustain on ballads as well. -GV

Rick Collins · From: Claremont , CA USA

What Bobby Lee said.

Sustain is not a noun; __it's a verb. Using it as a noun is like saying, "I need more run"; instead of saying, "I need to run more". Ex. "sustain the note"

But, we've hashed this before.

Rick

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

A quick fix is to use a bigger bar. If you're using a 7/8" bar, a 1" bar of the same length will give you noticeably more sustain. A 15/16" bar will be somewhere in between. My impression is that chrome-plated bars give a tiny hair more sustain than stainless steel bars, but this could easily enough be mere hallucination (as are many tonal perceptions, IMHO).

Johan Jansen · From: Europe

I think you don't need to pick harder.work on your bar and volumepedal technique. Think a longer tone, it helps. Vibrato on the bar doesn't help much, can make the sound'cheap'...
Listen to Paul Franklin, and his technique, on notes, almost without vibrato. Master the bar!!JJ

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Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

I'm with Bobby Lee 103% on this. There is a world of great tone to be found with the amp opened up. You will find richness, bottom-end, razor-edge, everything, at your fingertips, AND sustain, by turning up the amp and adjusting your volume pedal and pick and bar technique accordingly. It was a revelation for me.

David Doggett · Posted 14 Aug 2003 12:17 pm

What they all said above about the volume pedal and amp. Picking harder will give you better tone and sustain, but only up to point. And the type of bar and how you use it will have even less effect. Likewise, electronic stuff will not help much. Turn your amp up way higher than you need. Attack your notes with the volume pedal pulled back half to two-thirds. The rest is for sustain on the long notes. It is a special art to always come back to the same place on the volume pedal and to get a solid, even sustain without an amateurish swell. This is one of the least understood and most difficult things for beginners to get, but if you work at it, in time it becomes second nature.

If you are bumping the volume pedal all the way down on the long notes, turn the amp up. If it's already all the way up, get a bigger amp. I use to have a black face Super Reverb and it was too weak with a moderately loud group. It's about 45 watts, whereas most pedal steel players use 100 to 300 watt amps. Because of the special volume pedal technique their volume with these big amps about matches 6-stringers playing with 25 to 50 watt amps. Nobody understands this except pedal steel players and Peavey.

Hans Holzherr · From: Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland

Picking harder does not only improve "sustain" and tone, it raises the "signal-to-noise-ratio" which is important with single-coil pickups. Also, I have noticed that picking harder makes my playing more accurate.

Jackie Anderson · From: Scarborough, ME

Using the volume pedal as described really is the main thing (I think the Matchbox just lets that work right, without tonal losses), but note also that certain kinds of reverb (those with a long, slow decay, like spring reverb and some of the synthetic variations) help sustain. Reverb, though, like vibrato, sounds better (IMHO) if not overused.

Scott Henderson · From: Camdenton, Missouri, USA

I agree with the turning up of the volume.
I don't care to pick harder especially on ballads. But i will say we use amplifiers that have 30,000 watts of power for a reason head room. i don't like low wattage amps,no guts and the same place you find those "guts" you find sustain if you attack the instrument with the proper technique.
also i agree with the matchbox theory. I have a matchbox and I also have an old Lil Izzy. Don't know how it works but man does it work.
Also have you noticed in the profex presets they run the mix of the verb very high and turn down it's volume. makes for a very sweet sound also.

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Scott
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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

Grant, Goodrich 7A Matchbox. You will notice a dramatic difference in sustain.

Drew Howard · From: 48854

Yep, some good advice swirlin' around around here. Getting a Matchbox is good, crank your amp and back the pedal way off.

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Bobby Boggs · From: Upstate SC.

And if all the above fails.Buy ya a Push Pull Emmons.

No I don't play one.Don't feel like I need to.But they do have great sustain.Well maybe not all but 9 out of 10 do. Just a thought........bb

Jim Palenscar · From: Oceanside, Calif, USA

Pick harder~~~~~~~~ funny thing is when I was taking some pointers from Buddy Emmons awhile back he said that I pick too hard~~ I'm soooo confused... Smile

Terry Edwards · From: Florida... livin' on spongecake...

How many of you run your preamp volume high and back off on the master power amp control? That way you drive your tube peamp into some desireable tube distortion without blowing your neighbors away!

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Terry Edwards
Fessy D-10; Nash 1000
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Colm Chomicky · From: Kansas, (Prairie Village)

Ah, did any of you guys turn your amps all the way up about 4 or 5 PM yesterday? There seemed to be a little problem on the east coast.

David Doggett · Posted 16 Aug 2003 3:10 pm

Terry, setting your preamp volume above your master volume can get distortion at low volume in a tube amp, if that's what you want. That kind of distortion doesn't sound so great in a solid state amp. That's why Peavey recommends that for clean sound you keep the preamp gain dialed down lower than the power amp volume control.

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

Very respectfully, I would have to say that picking hard, is a bad habit. Let your amp give the volume you need. Rather than your picking pressure. After years of noting great after great, many are barely touching the strings.

Sustain is a result of many many different things. I suspect most of those things have been mentioned here. One subtle "sustain" increaser is a stronger bar pressure (with vibrato as one slides the bar.

Prior to volume pedals, many used this technique to squeeze more juice out of that fast decaying note. And once learned, it can even take a step back and gain some that was lost. Jerry Byrd is the world's absolute master at this.

May Jesus bless you all,

carl

John Bechtel · From: Nashville, Tennessee, R.I.P.

This is JMHO, however; everyone owes it to themselves to try a (Black) Phoenix Red Rajah Tone-Bar! I began using them on my steels. [both PSG & NPSG] I seriously doubt that I will ever use a Stainless or Chrome Tone-Bar again! They are soooo much better! No noise and lots more sustain! They "Stick To Your Hand ..." "Slick On The Strings ..."

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