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Topic: Leon/Speedy/Vance style Tone swells |
Jimmy Douglas
From:
Raceview, Queensland, Australia
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Posted 14 Jun 2007 4:59 pm |
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I am looking for a way to improve the Speedy West tone swells on my PP playing. These swells really fill out the sound on Rockabilly, WS stuff and jazz. I love the tone of this old fatback guitar and the swells sound pretty good on E9 if a bit thin. I cant see how I could fit an accessible tone pot to the pp and still get it in the case.
I currently use the Fender tone/vol pedal and also set up a non pedal with the hand operated tone pot and have to switch guitars for that sound hmmmmmm
The old fender tone/vol pedal is noisy and I would like to know if there is a modern equivalent of this style pedal preferably with a lower profile.
The current pedal bleeds a lot of volume off the amp and the tech has been unable to get it back to the sound with the new closed back tone pot.
Any other Speedyphiles out there? Would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Regards,
JD  |
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Jimmy Douglas
From:
Raceview, Queensland, Australia
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Posted 16 Jun 2007 9:54 pm
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| ok, I get the picture, I will ask a drummer |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 17 Jun 2007 6:51 am
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Jimmy,
Ask over in the steel without pedals section and do a search in the old no pedals area. I use an old Fender vol/tone pedal for that sound but can't get the Speedy sound exact. One guy I worked with a while back rigged up a tone pot with a return spring that he would flick for that sound that came out of the right side of his steel. He insisted that was how Speedy did it but also insisted that the ancient Sumarians invented time travel in cahoots with the Nazis in order to track down the Holy Grail so that they can get the super powers needed to fight Dick Cheney's army of lizard shape shifters from changing the earth's atmosphere into a blend of methane and ammonia.
He was a nut but did come pretty close to nailing Speedy's sound.
My guess is that whatever Speedy used was not very complicated. If you work as many sessions as Speedy there is no time for futzing around with extra gizmos and wires.
_________________
Bob |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 17 Jun 2007 6:54 am
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| All except for the Speedy stuff, I'd say this guy pretty much nailed it. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 17 Jun 2007 7:41 am
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You might want to check out the pot values in your pedal. Changing them might help. I have a '39ish Gibson Console Grand D-7 with CC pickups. Near the pickup and next to the high string on the upper deck, someone cut a slot, and put in a lever connected to a 1 MEG pot. It works great! Danny Gatton also used 1 MEG pots in his Teles to do tone swells and wah-wah effects. The whole range of a normal 250 K pot occurs in the first 1/4 to 1/3 of a turn with a 1 meg pot, sorta dependent on the taper.
as to the loss in volume! Somethin' ain't right! Are you sure the pot is turning all the way to "10?" Check it's value, and if it's 250 k, try a 500 k. Doesn't hurt to experiment. But make sure that, whichever pot you choose, it's being turned to 10. |
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Jimmy Douglas
From:
Raceview, Queensland, Australia
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Posted 17 Jun 2007 3:45 pm
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Bob, I am awake,thanks for tip and info. There you go I always thought Krispy Kreme was the Cheney lizard shape shifters and that it was actually the Mesopotamians that invented time travel in cahoots Dr.Phil. One never stops learning the actual facts of histree.
I thought Speedy used a hand operated pot mounted on the end on his Bigsby and his Fenders had em on top.His BMI and Marlen had the pot or switch on the end. I think it is not having the bottom strings on the E9 like Leons E13 that makes the swells thin on the E9. They are too muddy on the C6. Might be time for a triple neck tuned with Speedys F#9.
I think we can concur...Speedy didnt futz
Jon, Glad to see your omniscient analytical powers are only improving.
John, Good points, 39 D7 Console Grande with CC pickups hmmmm tasty, wanna come over to my house and hang out sometime?
We are going with the 1 meg pots this arvo. Yes, pot not going all the way to 10 could be an issue (hadn't really considered that), making sure the arc is right and the pot turns all the way is an art with the pesky pulley string adjustment
Do you think it could be that some pots dont turn on as sharply as others, they should grade the rate of pots.
Well, thanks again guys, the drummer told me to beat so its lucky you all came on in, I will cancel the analyst appointment and let you know when we get this critter back in shape.
I am going to see if a low profile tone/vol pedal is feasible.
Thanks again,back to bed.
JD   |
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