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Topic: Amp/EQ settings for oldie sounds |
Per Berner
From:
Skovde, Sweden
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Posted 6 Sep 2005 10:26 pm |
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I'm planning to record a couple of old tunes in the style of Little Roy Wiggins, but I haven't found a tone that is close enough to his lap steel sound on my Legrande.
Anyone out there with some good ideas on how to approximate that sound without major hardware investments or learning new tunings? (Apart from the stuff below I also have a Yamaha DG digital modeling amp and a Boss GE-7 equalizer available for experiments)
Edit: I should point out that I'm after the tone on his later instrumentals, not some 50's lo-fi variety.
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ยด75 Emmons p/p D10 8+4, '96 Emmons Legrande II D10 8+5, Peavey Nashville 1000[This message was edited by Per Berner on 07 September 2005 at 11:09 PM.] |
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Per Berner
From:
Skovde, Sweden
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Posted 8 Sep 2005 9:53 pm
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| C'mon - SOMEONE must have tried something similar sometime? |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 9 Sep 2005 6:35 am
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Play an old guitar through an old amp
(I'm NOT kidding)
With a Fender 400, Stringmaster/Custom, or Gibson Console through a Deluxe or Twin Reverb you'll be 2/3 of the way there.
Listen to the old steel recordings. This is not black magic. There was VERY LITTLE BOTTOM END on most of the steel tracks. In some ways it was characteristic of the amps of the 50's and 60's -- and the taste of the players -- lots of highs and high mids.
Also, the pickups of that period were typically single coil and wound pretty sparsely -- 15-16KOhms was not uncommon. Also, a lap steel has a very different timbre than a pedal steel. If that's the sound you're after you'll find choosing the right instrument more productive than any amp modeling.
Use a bright tone and pick near the bridge for a 'twangier' sound. That's one way to approach it.
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1984 Sho-Bud S/D-12 7x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps
[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 09 September 2005 at 07:41 AM.] |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 9 Sep 2005 7:18 am
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Also, if you have the option, add more midrange. Many of the earlier amps didn't have that characteristic midrange dip in the voicing that we've heard since the '60s. To achieve this with a Fender Twin, crank the mids way up and back the bass down, like Larry said.
Brad
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John Lockney
From:
New Market, Maryland, USA
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Per Berner
From:
Skovde, Sweden
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Posted 11 Sep 2005 12:03 am
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| Well, going non-pedal is a no-no for me, I need my crutches... so I'll try the suggested EQ tweaks for starters. Thanks guys! |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 11 Sep 2005 1:12 am
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| As Brad and Larry said, you could try "subtractive" tone adjustment, rather than additive. Turn your amp mids all the way up, treble and bass all the way off, and work back from there. I also love those little graphic EQ stompboxes. I haven't heard the specific tone you're after, but you can get a lot of transistor radio, and old car radio type tones by setting the sliders as notch filters - try setting the 100, 400, 1.6k and 6.4k sliders all the way up, and the 200, 800 and 3.2k sliders all the way down. Then try it vice-versa. It seems to me like the 6.4k only controls hiss, but you get the idea. Or turn two sliders all the way up (400, 1.6K?) and the rest off. If you have a wah wah pedal you might try plugging it in there and use it as a notch filter too. My intuitive guess is that you want to narrow the frequency range coming through. |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 11 Sep 2005 2:41 am
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You'll never be able to duplicate an 8 string guitar sound on a 10 string instrument..the string spacing and magnetic interaction is different..
BUT, what you can do is record your steel as best as you can with NO eq. or effects, and then on playback send the steel signal out to an amplifier, and mike it with a GOOD mike ... then playback the two tracks mixing them together and experiment with the stereo width and overall eq. Possibly adding a SMALL amount of small room reverb/ambiance may help..
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| Quote: |
| Steel players do it without fretting |
 
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Michael Garnett
From:
Seattle, WA
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Posted 11 Sep 2005 8:52 am
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When I want a more "old timey" sound on my C6th neck, I don't mess with any of the controls on the amp, I just crank the tone knob of my Matchbox 7a way up and then find a good volume with the gain knob. Most of the stuff I play in C6th is in that old style, a la Bobby Koeffer. I even hold the bar like him to get a better "Grip" on the situation.
-MG[This message was edited by Michael Garnett on 11 September 2005 at 09:52 AM.] |
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Per Berner
From:
Skovde, Sweden
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Posted 12 Sep 2005 10:20 pm
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| ...this should keep me busy for a while. Thanx, guys! |
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