Little Dreamer - taste test

[cary chilton]

I don't build so I don't know.. but goodguest sounds like he observed something cool the mixer: 560p/470 . Ralle where are you? Strat78, ?? Both you guys, can you weigh in on this spec for the mixer?
The rubber bandiness or as Mark Cameron explained to me the stringiness is fucking KEY to Ed's sound. Where the fuck does it come from??? I found a boost pedal that adds the stringiness, the Fix My Duck by Stephenson amps. I haven't played another pedal yet that adds it. Some people here scared Cameron away, so we can't ask him. Dave Friedman ain't here anymore, can ask him... however, Friedman's amps all do not have that stringiness anyway, so maybe wrong guy to ask.

[efraser68]

So you're pulling tubes to run at that volume, still seems like it would be louder than"club" with a dimed plexi

[Good Guest]

but goodguest sounds like he observed something cool the mixer:
The rubber bandiness or as Mark Cameron explained to me the stringiness is fucking KEY to Ed's sound. Where the fuck does it come from??? I found a boost pedal that adds the stringiness, the Fix My Duck by Stephenson amps. I haven't played another pedal yet that adds it. Some people here scared Cameron away, so we can't ask him. Dave Friedman ain't here anymore, can ask him... however, Friedman's amps all do not have that stringiness anyway, so maybe wrong guy to ask.

Resonant freq 605 hz compared to the 470pf/470k freq off 721 hz..or Jnewlyns or the mod 5's 330pf/470k 1.02khz...this 600hz frequency is important for evh's mid tone...got me wondering where the other amps are getting it? Harmonics from the transformers..60 hz harmonics X10 ..600hz and filters..I guess. Hmm the 605hz will also produce a harmonic at 1.2 khz..my fav VH frequency.

The fix my duck is a jfet boost w/low output z, which is the mark of a buffer ( Hi z to Low z matching)..as such they market it as a buffer but buffers only have gains of 1 . the fix my duck is a boost so it has the output z of a buffer but high gain...basically it' s probably like the ep3 pedal but a more extended high range , more boost and low z output...a good all round boost but if Cary says it does the string thing, it's worth exploring.....Maybe the other ep3 boost (NPN) with compressor is the key for that stringyness...

Every time I hear jfet boost and the word evh I think brown sound in a box and the at least dozen pedals that have come out after it with the same circuit...all jfet boost's with different names......well we know the echoplex was a modders toy way back ..maybe start tweaking them for more gain...people used to tweak the compressors for more gain ,,why not the fet...therein lies the stringyness.

Compressors are usually associated with rubber band tones and sustain...were getting closer .

[Tone Slinger]

Sounded great Rob. So you dusted off The strat that you used first here on the forums huh ? Sounded very good . I had it totally wrong. I assumed that Salt was your Fender. This is about the first time I have heard a Floyd sound SO much like a Fender 6 screw. I was pretty much fooled. IMO, alot of the 'stringy' type quality being mentioned here, concerning the amp tone, is partially the result of the vintage style 6 screw tremelo. I still believe that, but Rob just got it with a floyd, great job .

[rgalpin]

So you're pulling tubes to run at that volume, still seems like it would be louder than"club" with a dimed plexi

i made the clip in my garage. i stood in a 2 car size garage with all the doors closed, and played comfortably - i mean it was seriously loud, but i wasn't uncomfortable. it's not as loud as i expected. i guess the inefficiency of the weber pre-rolas must help.

[jnewlyn]

Been dying to get home and hear this on my computer. I'm not sure which is salt and which is pepper. When I download, I got thing 1 and thing 2 and I didn't remember which I downloaded first. Anyway, thing 1 sounds better to me but does kind of crash hard on the tops. One reason I personally moved to the 330pF/470K. Just seemed to make change the hard highs and make the mids right. (at least in my amp) Bass spec tone stack is interesting here. I wouldn't have guessed that. All in all, the tone is top shelf. Call me nuts but I'm feeling like maybe a smidge too much gain for that particular song? I could just be fooled by your muting the first two notes of the riff whereas the record sounds like he's hitting those two notes more open. That particular song doesn't sound like a lot of gain and sustain like others on that record. Considerably cleaner to my ears. Awesome playing too.

[efraser68]

Hey Rob, really digging this clip of the "salt" ...any chance you could do another clip or two playing a couple of different tunes?

[rgalpin]

Hey Rob, really digging this clip of the "salt" ...any chance you could do another clip or two playing a couple of different tunes?

sure! i played for about 20 minutes and then tried to cut it up into the most relevant stuff - but i'll go through it again - that guitar is so easy to play with the les paul scale neck but the free and loose feel of a strat - i always have a hard time getting a les paul to loosen up in my hands - don't know what it is... more salt comin' up!

[Janglin_Jack]

I like both.....Salt has the right amount of mids and compression, but seems a little loose in some phrases. Pepper has nice tight lows and crisp highs, but lacks the mids of Salt. Both are excellent. Nice playing...

Mike

[rgalpin]

Hey Rob, really digging this clip of the "salt" ...any chance you could do another clip or two playing a couple of different tunes?

here's some salty stuff...

ITO - MEANSTREET - SGMAD - ERUPTION - DREAMER
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11851937" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[JimiJames]

Nice salty garage tones Rob !
Fast Tracks on this ?

[rgalpin]

Nice salty garage tones Rob !
Fast Tracks on this ?

Thanks - Fast Tracks? What do you mean?

[JimiJames]

oops... I meant Hot Rails, but that's Pepper, right. Just needed a reference in my head...
Have you tried a 47k with that 250 or a 330/47k ?

[rgalpin]

oops... I meant Hot Rails, but that's Pepper, right. Just needed a reference in my head...
Have you tried a 47k with that 250 or a 330/47k ?

on the tone stack? no. would be interesting to try some values other than the standard ones - i've never tried anything other than 500/33k and 250/56k. honestly i'm not even sure my ear understands how to interpret the difference between the 2 standard configs. any thoughts?

[JimiJames]

Yes !
VG also put a 4.7k in place of the 10k. (V1 - 2203)
Said that most of the voicing comes from the tone stack though.
The extra mids give it more of a perceived gain.
I did this in my Cousin's MKII and there's no doubt you will here the difference.
What I did is to soldered both values in place and lifted one leg in the air. Jam on it for a few... unsolder-resolder.
He plays YJM Stratocaster's loaded with stacked hummer's and he noticed and improvement.