Pedal that emulates that glossy Brian May tone

[rockgardenlove]

There's the ROG May Queen, but I'm looking for the tone in the guitar orchestrations that came from the Deacy amp being overdriven.  An pedal ideas?

[trevize]

may queen?

http://www.runoffgroove.com/mayqueen.html

[rockgardenlove]

The may Queen has his harsher overdrive down sound down–the Voxes.  I'm looking for the smoother glassier tone.

[spudulike]

Then build a deacy ...

[tcobretti]

There is nothing smooth about the Deacy.  It is very abrasive sounding.  If you build any small SS amp (the ROG Little Gem for example) and drive it into distorting with a treble booster you'll get something like the Deacy. 

The smoother May tones are front p/u (or other darker p/u config) into BMTB into Vox AC30.  He picks very, very softly with the tip of his index finger to make things as creamy as possible.

[rockgardenlove]

Take the beginning guitar to "Bijou"  I want that.

If that's not smooth and glossy, I dunno what is.  It's the Deacy amp too, I read it in an interview.

[tcobretti]

Ok, that does sound like the Deacy.  Front, Front and Middle, or all three pickups, tons of echo and reverb, and some EQing to mellow it a bit. 

I honestly think it's a pretty easily copied tone.  A Boss Metal Zone would nail it, as would many of the trebly and high gain pedals. 

[spudulike]

Deacy Amp samples ... by Martin Pitcher, BM nutcase. The Deacy amp samples are about half way down the page.

http://homepage.mac.com/martinpitcher/FileSharing22.html

I had a bash at my own Deacy amp a while ago, the schematic I used is below (straight from the Mullard app notes book)

1. I tried AC128's, 125's, 126's etc but the 128's sounded ok to me.
2. Input cap/resistor to taste.
3. Feedback resistor 1M pot. Play around with the biassing.
4. Transformers used Eagle LT series from Maplin (£1.73 each)


Great fun to tweak around with 

[MartyMart]

AAhhh, so you do use maplins sometimes !! 
I have a few of those, now I have use for them .....

[spudulike]

AAhhh, so you do use maplins sometimes !! 
I have a few of those, now I have use for them .....

They were handy at the time 
I dont have an issue with Maplins though (http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=55365.0)

Actually, Bardwells do them for 85p each.
http://www.bardwells.co.uk/subcats.asp?catid=TRANF001

And the 128's were just a handful of junk-box ones.
<Edit> I got a box of AC188's recently .... might revisit this with chunkier trannies (the 188s are 1A Ic max and 1W Ptot instead of the 500mA/300mW 128s)

[d95err]

Just a note on the Deacy amp. From what I've read, the Deacy amp by itself did not sound particularly exciting. It was when pushed by a treble booster (Rangemaster, May's own design, or Pete Cornish improved) that the classic sound appeared.

[tcobretti]

BTW, the Vox version of the Deacy sounds great, and has the treble booster built in to it already.  They are also pretty cheap.

[bwanasonic]

Just a note on the Deacy amp. From what I've read, the Deacy amp by itself did not sound particularly exciting. It was when pushed by a treble booster (Rangemaster, May's own design, or Pete Cornish improved) that the classic sound appeared.

Add to that, a good mic, a good recording console, an experienced engineer, and magnetic tape! 

Kerry M

[Ed G.]

The recently-issued Vox VBM-1 is a combination of the Deacy circuit and the treble booster. Like Spudulike said, they were used together.
http://www.voxamps.co.uk/archive/vbm1.asp

I know I'm veering off-topic, but I've always loved Brian May's tone and the orchestrated guitar parts...pure genius. There's a cajun-french word for the goosebumps, it's called the frissons and I get them when I hear some of his parts.

Have you ever seen Queen play live? Just a powerful, powerful band. I've seen the video of the '85 concert at Wembley. They had the whole stadium rocking. And they just blew everyone away at Live Aid. No one was even close.

[tcobretti]

I own two of the Queen DVDs, and they are great. I would be tempted to see them with Paul Rodgers given the chance.  It's not the same as with Freddy, but I've always thought Paul was great, too, so I wouldn't mind seeing him with Queen.

[RLBJR65]

Spudulike, what transformers did you use?
The ones listed in the manual are real odd balls. I couldn't find anything remotely close to the specs.
Colne 06005 (Hammond 57318)  3.5 : 1 + 1, Primary Rp 130 ohms, Secondaries Rs 40 ohm.
Colne 06006 (Hammond 57319)  3.1 + 3.1 : 1, Primarys Rp 1 ohm, Secondary Rs 0.2 ohm.

[mac]

Have you ever seen Queen play live? Just a powerful, powerful band. I've seen the video of the '85 concert at Wembley. They had the whole stadium rocking. And they just blew everyone away at Live Aid. No one was even close.

I saw them two times, 81 in Mar del Plata, 85 in Rio, that big show...  No one was closer, well maybe the Stones.

One can buy a vox, make a treble booster and a deacy, hire the best technicians, get some coins, steal BM guitar, etc, but the truth is that it takes more than that to get closer to him. BM tones comes from the heart.

mac

[rockgardenlove]

What are the specs of the transformers used for that so I can find a US counterpart?

Thanks!

[spudulike]

Spudulike, what transformers did you use?

I had the same problems, and eventually just used the ones I mentioned :-

Driver Transformer
Eagle LT44 - Primary 20k Secondary 1k:1k (CT)
Output Transformer
Eagle LT700 - Primary 1.2k Secondary 3.2R:3.2R (CT)

Loads of places sell them, I was hesitant to use them at first but they work ok.

[col]

Out of interest what values for the input cap and resistor did you use? I have some AC141s and I'm tempted to make an NPN version with a rangemaster pre-circuit. Did you just use the speaker outs as the output? If so does it matter which side of the transformer is ground or does it not matter?

Col