FX for "glassy" clean sounds ?

[Mark Hammer]

Agreed.

If I want the definition of "glassy", I need look no further than a fabulous Dutch vinyl pressing I have of Les Paul & Mary Ford's Greatest Hits.  Lo-impedance pickups direct into the board, with attention paid by someone who knew what they were doing was the very definition of clean and bright! 

[garcho]

I tried glass strings once. They didn't work out... 

[edvard]

Definitely sounds like a 12-string or double-tracking in there.

There are two distinctive notes for every pick attack, with a bit of delay between the two, which makes me lean toward the 12-string or double-track idea, although you could get a similar effect putting an octave doubler or harmonizer through a VERY short delay ('chorus with no sweep' idea).

Since you say you know the thing went direct to the board, that would explain the greater treble response (no speaker damping out at 3500-5000 Hz) although you might get a similar effect with traditional mic'ing techniques by backing the mics off the cab to lose some bass.
Maybe even two mics, one farther away to get a tiny bit of phase-canceling in the mix.

Never heard of low-impedance pickups, I'm guessing they'd have lower gain as well (which would probably help the brighter sound)?

[earthtonesaudio]

Low impedance pickups are constructed with the same materials as "regular" guitar pickups but with many fewer turns of wire.  Fewer turns means lower inductance, lower resistance, and lower induced voltage.  However fewer turns means you can use thicker wire without running out of room.  Lace Alumitones use ONE turn of aluminum "wire" which also serves as the structural support for the magnets.  They then use a step-up transformer to bring the signal back into more guitar-amp-friendly voltages/currents.
But in principle the transformer is an accessory not necessary for proper operation.  A low impedance pickup into a low impedance load is less susceptible to induced noise voltage and the resonant frequency of the pickup/cable/load can be made much higher than audio frequencies.  This is what gives them their decidedly different sound.
In my opinion the guru of low impedance pickups is a guy who posts on music-electronics-forum.com under the username bbsailor.

[ashcat_lt]

It's really the inductance that's the "problem" keeping the pickups from letting out anything you can really call treble.  I'm saying this because impedance is usually stated in Ohms, which leads a lot of folks to confuse it with DC Resistance.  Rickenbacker pickups use smaller gauge wire, which gives a higher DC resistance with fewer turns and thus lower inductance.  Mine measure something like 13K DCR, which is simillar to many "hot" humbuckers, but they are as bright and spanky as...well as you'd expect from a Rickenbacker.

So, how to reduce the inductance without replacing pickups?  Remember that inductances add the same way that resistances do.  So if you stick an inductor parallel to the pickup...  Course, I've never tried it with a inductor per se, but have done it with HB coils and can tell you that two in parallel is noticeably brighter than just one, and a completely different animal from the standard series wiring.

[garcho]

+1

...have done it with HB coils and can tell you that two in parallel is noticeably brighter than just one, and a completely different animal from the standard series wiring.

[matt239]

Re: the sound in the clip, my first question is WHY?  
I think there are much better clean sounds available, & even much better ultra-clean, thin, 80's style cleans.
Man, really not my thing, but maybe you just want it as an extreme contrast to your other sounds? It is different.

Anyway, to get close, go very very clean; guitar, -buffer-board, or guitar, -bass amp.
EQ is probably pretty flat, with bass rolled off a fair bit. - just maybe, the very high treble is rolled off some, & there may be just a slight cut @ 450Hz so it's not TOO mid-rangey.
I think there's definitely some compression, high-end studio rack gear, no doubt, but an Orange Squeezer would probably do fine.
There's definitely some chorus, &/or enhancing going on, a modern Boss harmonizer has a subtle enhance, or shimmer type setting that would work well.

For regular hi-Z pickups, a Strat or Tele would be good, or for humbuckers use bridge or middle position. +1 on wiring the Bridge 'bucker in parallel for this type of sound, easy to make switchable too.

Another trick might be to make a "bass-cut" tone control for your guitar. You put a cap in series with the signal rather than to ground, then route a pot, or a resistor on a switch around it.

I think there's a much better example of this "type" of sound from this band on "Games People Play" - at the middle to end of the guitar solo section? - It's been a while.
Edit: The sound in "Games.." is actually quite different, though it's '70s-'80s clean. Definitely a Strat. Much nicer IMHO

P.S.: I think that you could also do a sound that is suggestive of the one you originally referenced, but just "better." : More low mids, & hi mids, less "middle-mids" (450Hz) More gain, not to the point of overdrive, just get some signal in there. & Just a touch more reverb & chorus.

[edvard]

At the 3:11 mark -

I think there's definitely some sort of harmonic processing going on.
Notice how when he bends really high, the tone changes?

I'm no engineer though, so I could be wrong, just going on (limited) experience.

[Ben N]

Those tonal changes are, to my ear, what you would expect conventional pickups to do as you push the limits of their range. Or do I just have crappy pickups?

[edvard]

Dunno.
I've got stock Fender pickups on my '82 Bullet, and I never noticed that weird timbre change as I go up the neck.
Sure, there's probably some tonal changes that happen simply as a consequence of picking a shorter and shorter length of wire, but the example in the video has a sound very much like when playing a sample on a keyboard in a higher range than it was recorded at.

I won't discount the idea that I may be totally wrong, however 

[runmikeyrun]

This is so weird... I just downloaded Eye in the Sky and am listening to it while I browse this thread!!!  *cue Twilight Zone music*

[garcho]

BBE guitar rack. It's Alan Parsons, after all.

[seedlings]

I was messing withe the 'glassy' type cleans last night and liked compressor>very light trebley overdrive>eq pedal.  Tried EQ first, but it sounded better after.  I'm not taking on Alan Parson's project though.  He can have it.

CHAD

[tysonlt]

I dunno - just sounds like a clean electric (some chorus, maybe comp) doubled with an acoustic to me 

[familyortiz]

Active vs passive circuitry will also affect the tonal range. My Strat with the clapton mid boost has a much greater tone range than my passive Strat. The high end is significantly higher. Same pups on both, Fender Hot Noiseless.