What was Buddy Emmons' Electronic Gear?

Keenan Friday · From: Magnolia, Arkansas, USA

For those of you that were lucky to see Buddy Emmons at steel guitar shows, what was his gear setup? Did he use effects processors or amp reverb and pedals? Did he use active pedals or a certain brand of a passive pedal? Thanks
_________________
Keenan Friday
Mullen Pre Royal D-10, Walker Stereo Steel, Hilton pedal, George L cables, Livesteel Strings, (White) Fred Kelly thumbpick, Dunlop .025 fingerpicks

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

I'll be interested to see whether you get any definitive answers, Keenan.
My impression was that he was always trying new things, safe in the knowledge that he'd sound great whatever Smile

_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs

Darvin Willhoite · From: Roxton, Tx. USA

I saw him at a LOT of steel shows and he was using something different every time.
_________________
Darvin Willhoite
MSA Millennium, Legend, and Studio Pro, Reese's restored Universal Direction guitar, a restored MSA Classic SS, several amps, new and old, and a Kemper Powerhead that I am really liking. Also a Zum D10, a Mullen RP, and a restored Rose S10, named the "Blue Bird". Also, I have acquired and restored the plexiglass D10 MSA Classic that was built as a demo in the early '70s. I also have a '74 lacquer P/P, with wood necks, and a showroom condition Sho-Bud Super Pro.

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

I did a gig that Buddy was on when he was with the Everlys. He used a Nashville 400 amp and a Peavey Profex with a custom preset. I don’t know the details except there was a little delay and Reverb.
He sounded JUST like Buddy Emmons!
_________________
KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Donner, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing.

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

To echo the earlier statements, he was using something different every time I seen him. But always sounded great.

Dennis Detweiler · From: Solon, Iowa, US

Earlier years I saw him use an Ecoplex and Fender Twin. After that he experimented every year. Always trying the latest. On the 1977 Live At The Convention Lp he used a Furman PQ3 into a Session 400. After that it was different rack gear and stomp boxes. One year, a Digitech processor/modeler into a Nashville 400. He always tried the latest gear, but his tone was the same. He was into stereo chorus for a few years. Also, some loopers for solo performances. It was his creative and innovative mind along with his technique that separated him from the pack.
_________________
1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Oft times he sat with a folding chair along side him with a little white stomp box on it.
I always assumed it was a Boss DD3 delay.
Erv

Jack Stanton · From: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey

During the One For The Road era he had a ton of stuff. He had an Anvil briefcase that had a MXR Dynacomp which he has modded so the hot input of the steel pickups would be attenuated, an Ibanez analog delay, a Ibanez stereo chorus which fed the second amp, several Electra pedals- delay, distortion, phase & chorus. he used that chorus for a leslie sound. Also jammed in there was a Korg synth..( as X-911 maybe?) that he used to get horn and flute sounds. Something really neat with that- his Emmons volume pedal had a toggle switch on it so he could go between the synthesized sound and the straight steel sound (well, as straight as you could get with all those toys) simply by raising or lowering the pedal- pedal down, flute sound. Pedal up, steel sound. He would do a call and response with himself while soloing, laughing his butt off.
This all sat on some rack gear-an MXR Doubler/ Flanger, MXR Digital Delay and an MXR graphic equalizer. This also fed a regenerated signal to an analog delay pedal (Boss, I think) mounted in the back of one of his amps. This was all used when he performed Plus Nine (Minus Four). Wild! If you can find the Live in Denver CD there's a Q&A where he talks quite a bit about the setup. Oh, don't forget the Goodrich Matchbox....He was truley one of a kind.

Ron Funk · From: Ballwin, Missouri

Buddy Emmons rack equipment at 2007 ISGC Convention

Dennis Detweiler · From: Solon, Iowa, US

I've been using a Rev for several years. His Rev settings seem a little odd. Does anyone know how he plugged into the power amp? Power amp in or straight through the input jack on on the combo amp? He had to be using the tone controls on a combo amp in conjunction to the Rev settings? What I'm seeing on the Rev is the treble setting around 9:00 which puts his mid shift above 800hz? He typically sets his mids under 800hz. The input volume is not pushing much and gives his tone a very treble setting, since the input volume also takes the sharpness off of the highs. Mid up/down control is within range. Color is almost off and it's a very subtle control. Bass control looks like where he would normally set. Master volume is set very low and not pushing the Rev much. He must have been doing something else with tone after it left the rack? I'm guessing he was plugged into the normal input of whatever combo amp he used and tweaked the tone a little more on it? On the 1977 Live recording he used a Furman PQ3 then into the normal input of a Session 400, thus preamping the preamp. He might have been doing the same with the Rev, getting the tube compression and minor settings from the Rev before resolving into whatever combo amp on stage?
_________________
1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8.

Ron Funk · From: Ballwin, Missouri

Dennis D -

I believe Buddy went from his rack directly into the "Power Amp In" input on rear of amp(s) / bypassing the Combo Amp's pre-amp.

I also noticed that during Emmons' performances, it wasn't unusual for Buddy to tweak the Rev's settings to pertain to the specific song he was about to play; as in this video clip just prior to his performance of "When I Call Your Name" at 2007 St. L Convention

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtXTE3GcSgw

BE's settings for his Lexicon MPX-1 are posted on the buddyemmons.com website

http://www.buddyemmons.com/MPX1.htm

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

The thing I have wondered about is his volume pedal. The only video I have been able to see his Volume pedal is in 1 of him playing Once Upon a Time in the West. You can see the full pedal top front, And then it looks to disappear completely behind the pedal bar. Lot of movement.

There was a list of Amp settings on Peavey amps at the St, Louis show. His volume was like an 8.

Keenan Friday · From: Magnolia, Arkansas, USA

Ron funk, do you remember if Buddy was using a Hilton pedal or an Emmons/Goodrich pot pedal at the 2007 ISGC?
_________________
Keenan Friday
Mullen Pre Royal D-10, Walker Stereo Steel, Hilton pedal, George L cables, Livesteel Strings, (White) Fred Kelly thumbpick, Dunlop .025 fingerpicks

Ron Funk · From: Ballwin, Missouri

Hi Keenan

A reliable source (Ernie Renn) informs me that BE never used a Hilton pedal,

but did use a variety of Goodrich VP's thru the years.

{ Remember, BE was a Goodrich dealer }

My assumption would be a Goodrich VP at 2007 Convention

Ron

Dennis Detweiler · From: Solon, Iowa, US

Ron, was he tweaking the Rev or the delay/reverb setting? I've seen him set a little longer delay on an echoplex for slow songs which may have carried over later on digital or analog settings? If I recall correctly, his tone settings were slightly different between E9 and C6.
_________________
1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8.

Ron Funk · From: Ballwin, Missouri

Dennis

No idea....

Ron

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

I don't know of anyone who understood and used effects like Buddy Emmons. I read some of his statements where he talked about using them.

He was a genius with sound and electronics use. Experimented with many types of effects and new stuff that came out.

Someone mentioned he changed settings for necks, but he would tweak or change settings between tunes also. I read his statement once where he said he was a big fan of echo and said that reverb could be too washed out and detract from the sound.

I don't remember specifically which units he used except the Lexicon PCM unit in the studio.

Someone asked about his volume pedal settings, he stated that he set his volume pedal action and relayed to the sound people at the sound check that his wide open pedal was as loud as he was ever going to be.

I know he used a Boss DD delay unit, as Erv mentioned, a lot at shows etc. One example of his use of it is in this Four Five Times video. Subtle, but tasty.

What a guy, what a musician, what a sound:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZhbtOavlIgg&feature=shares

Forum Index > Electronics		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: