Hollow-Body sim

[Willthebold]

Does anyone know of a circuit that could simulate a hollow-body using a solid-body guitar?  I've never thought about it before, but I was just getting curious.

Will

[Fret Wire]

This might be what your looking for.

http://ampage.org/hammer/files/Woody.zip

Here's the commercial version (Boss AC-2):

http://www.bossus.com/index.asp?pg=1&tmp=17

[Willthebold]

That's not quite it I don't think.  It seems like a different sound like a Gibson 335 vs a flat-top.  I don't know if this is even really all that feasible, but I was just wondering.  I'm looking for that warm thinline hollow-body sound.

Will

[Fret Wire]

I might have missed your intention. Do you mean the Boss AC-2 and Woody sound too acoustic, or not acoustic enough? They are adjustable and can go more or less. Did you listen to the Boss' sound clip?

Or do you want a tele, strat, or LP to sound like something like an Epiphone Sheridan? Something like that?

[Willthebold]

Yeah, I guess I may have been a little vague.  But you said it exactly: I want something that'll make a tele or LP or something sound like a Sheridan essentially.  Do you know if something like that exists?  Thanks for the help.

Will

[Lonehdrider]

Perhaps a piezo like bridge on the strat/tele with a bit of eq.. If theres a pedal that gave a jazzbox like sound (thick jazzbox) I'd be interested in hearing it, the feedback in a live situation with those guitars is amazing (cool if someone calls a hendrix tune in jam,8) but not cool    when your only playing say comp chords to say a swing song and get this unprovoced feedback  :x ).

Regards,

Lone

[Mark Hammer]

As the Line 6 Variax amply demonstrates, spectral content doth not a guitar make.  The physical feel of the instrument is crucial and often underestimated in importance.  Solid body guitars do not feel the same against one's chest and hands as do semi-acoustics.

Still, one can dream, can't one?  I'm the first to admit that acoustic simulators onyl provide the spectral content and do not mimic the feel or the way an acoustic makes you play.  Within those constraints, you'll want to do a few things.

First, you'll want to roll back the highs on the guitar itself.  My irritatingly frequent suggestion is to replace the tone pot with a 1meg linear pot and stick a cap of 6800pf or less on one end, and the "normal" cap of .02uf on the other end of the pot.  Now connect the wiper of the pot to the volume control.  This will make it a bidirectional tone control with "flat" in the middle and normal muting in one direction.  The 4700-6800pf cap will roll off just the upper treble and deliver a surprisingly "round" tone with single coils.  If you don't want to change the tone control, a 3900-5600pf cap between input and ground on the volume control will do all the rounding.

Now that you have a "rounder" tone closer to a HBs, you need to goose the lower midband to accentuate the fundamentals and lower order harmonics.  You can probably do that with an EQ.

There is a kind of natural compression to semi-acoustics that needs to be mimicked, so for that you probably want to stick a compressor after the filter/EQ.

Again, I wouldn't say that's all there is to it, but it will get you closer.

[nightingale]

wtb~
for what it's worth.. i play alot of different type of archtops, but when i want a really "archtopy" tone.. i pick up an old (67) gretsch corvette, equiped with hilotrons.. their ouput is very small..

maybe a modded version of tim e's: lofomofo might be what you are looking for...
hth,

[Fret Wire]

Maybe a Microamp with a little more bass response. You'd have the original tone & sound with a little more bass to make it "woody" or hollowbody sounding.

[Ansil]

hmmm

anyone ever thought of taking the billy gibbons aproach and elaborating on it



an article i read a while back in one of the major guitar magazines stated loosely remmebered


"to get all my gutiars closer together ie so they sound similar when in volume and tone when i change out for certain songs.  we ran the guitars thru a specrtum analyzer, with me strumming a G hord all the way across the neck and sampled that and analyzed it freq per freq. we then did all my guitars that way, and i had them adjust presets for eq and gain for everyone to get it closer to my main guitar."


for diy version of this.  requires a few things.

there is a computer eq program that wil show you a graphical reproduction of your freq similar to a lighted up eq but with more bands on it. it also will stop at peak input so when it starts to decay it will still show the basic curve of the particular instruments.

also has different colors to show which freq is more pronounced

anyway most studios have an eq like this,  and u can find this computer sim progam from download.com [although i haven't the foggiest what its called its been years since i did anything like this]

but basically once you have that down u know what kind of filters and or boosters u need to make to acheive the sound per your instrument

instead of trying to do all with one pedal

this is a very effective method if ou are willing to sit down and try it

n a pinch winamp and a friend to hit the screenshot works

[Rodgre]

By the way, can anyone else confirm that Billy Gibbons is an A-Number-One bullshit artist?

I've heard stories about his tall tales.... All in an effort to spark mystery and intrigue while he laughs.... I heard he even had some sort of fake weird box on stage just so people would be curious and ask about it, and he even went so far as to set up a fake office/mailing address/receptionist to field phone calls/mail about it.  That could be a lie too, but like anything out of Gibbons' mouth, take it with a grain of salt.

My question, back on topic... are you trying to get a "jazzy" hollowbody tone? A rockin' hollowbody tone?

I use an Epiphone Riviera a lot and I find that it just has a slightly less tight and focused tone because of the body resonance and the ring of the strings behind the bridge. I wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to mimic that.

The Woody and the AC-2 are all about mimicing the tone of an acoustic. Not an Epiphone Sheraton.

One of the best rock hollowbody tones to me, however.... the Beatles Casinos!

Roger

[Ansil]

regardless whether he did it or not, it works.

[Joep]

By the way, can anyone else confirm that Billy Gibbons is an A-Number-One bullshit artist?

Sorry, no! I think he is a great guitarist.......

[Rodgre]

By the way, can anyone else confirm that Billy Gibbons is an A-Number-One bullshit artist?

Sorry, no! I think he is a great guitarist.......

I agree. I think he's fantastic (and if you like him, please check out David Hidalgo of Los Lobos....)

I just heard from a prominent effects dealer who used to/might still run a big shop in Chattanooga...who used to sell Billy his Expandoras....(know who I'm talking about yet?)...that Billy had a lot of fun in coming up with far-fetched stories and explanations for his sound, and he's the one that told me about the false front for a company...

I don't doubt that the technique works though. Way too over the top for me though...

Roger

[Willthebold]

Thanks for all the input guys.  Essentially what I want is to make my SG sound something like a 335 or at least in the ballpark.  Specifically I'm looking for the crisp, chunky mildly overdriven sound.  This may be too much trouble, but I figured I'd at least investigate.

Will

[Prive]

The right and obvious way, check out the new Aria FA80 in the ariaguitars.com site, i have one, it's an incredible good looking and sounding guitar, really cheap and you have the real feel and tone for 1/10 a legendary Hollow body will cost you.

Saludos, Marcelo.