That Gilmour sound

[manson]

I have that book called 'the black strat' with all the information about this guitar through the years. It does have a neck/bridge combo switch. Maybe that's part of the secret to that sound, you never know if he has it selected, although I think not. The neck and middle pickups are stock 1970 fender, the bridge is a handwound SD SSl-1.

I've modded my big muff a little, with poly caps on most places. Are there any more mods to make it smoother and less gritty?

[yeeshkul]

This morning i pulled my dusty EMistress out of the drawer and plugged the Rangemaster into it (10n input cap) + LP&VOX AC15 and i really enjoyed the sound. Long, warm, transparent, flangy tone. That's what i know from 77 Pinkfloyd boots, haha. I am not a big fan of Gilmour's FF to Big Muff swap in tlhe middle 77 myself.

[manson]

Ghehe for me it's the other way around. Allthough the older recordings like Time and Echoes with the fuzzface are great, I like the later less rough sound just a bit more

[sevenisthenumber]

He has been know to stack compression. His path at one time involved Fuzz into compression into overdrive into compression into delay. (even adding delay after the fuzz as well)
His strat wiring is also like stated earlier... (he can have bridge and neck on together) Thats his middle position.
Also. If you look closely in places you can see the highwatts behind him.

[WGTP]

I really think I have seen it both ways, with the bridge pickup and the middle.  I have also read that he used his Les Paul with P-90's.  My own experiments indicate the middle pup is the closest to the studio sound.   

[Papa_lazerous]

He has been know to stack compression. His path at one time involved Fuzz into compression into overdrive into compression into delay. (even adding delay after the fuzz as well)
His strat wiring is also like stated earlier... (he can have bridge and neck on together) Thats his middle position.
Also. If you look closely in places you can see the highwatts behind him.

area in bold wrong.....

from Gilmourish.com
1976-78/ The stock Fender bridge pickup was replaced by a DiMarzio FS-1 for the recording of Animals. The pickup stayed on for the tour, the recording of David's first solo album in 1978 and the Wall in 1979. The DiMarzio was replaced by a Seymour Duncan SSL-1 prior to the Wall tour in 1980 and the pickup is still in the guitar today. During the recording of his solo album in 1978, David installed an additional switch allowing a combination of the bridge and neck pickups.

www.gilmourish.com is worth a read for any DG fan its all there as much info as you will find in once place

hope it helps

[Ed G.]

At one time I had an original Deluxe Electric Mistress. Playing clean, the first thing I thought of was, wow, that's "Hey You"

[Papa_lazerous]

nice 

[manson]

Back ontopic :

- I've modded my big muff a little, with poly caps on most places. Are there any more mods to make it smoother and less gritty?

[nico13]

On this live8 footage David Gilmour might have used a Silicon Fuzz face as used on Dark Side Of The Moon album during the whole show as well.

[WGTP]

Interesting stuff

An easy way to get various pickups with a strat is to reverse the bridge and middle pickup on the switch.  Then  you can get the b/m combo and the b/n combo.   

[morcey2]

Interesting stuff

An easy way to get various pickups with a strat is to reverse the bridge and middle pickup on the switch.  Then  you can get the b/m combo and the b/n combo.   

It'll also keep undesireables from playing your guitar.  "Dude, I think something is wrong with your pickups!"

[ik6gpy]

Back ontopic :

- I've modded my big muff a little, with poly caps on most places. Are there any more mods to make it smoother and less gritty?

Check the Amz big muff tone stack mods in the Lab notebook (www.muzique.com). Try to boost the mids a bit.

[Murfman]

David Gilmour NEVER uses anything but his bridge pickup while playing strats. I have read this comment from him in numerous Guitar magazines. Its a simple fact. I have studied his playing and own almost ever DVD ever put out by he and Floyd and always see him playing through the bridge pickup. He plays his amps flat (no reverb) and is always sitting at that breaking point just before the amp pushes into distortion. He delays his signal, overdrives it, and compresses it. I've played with a strat equipped with active EMGs (which I feel are very boomy and punchy) I think achieving his 'sound' is actually easier with standard fender pick ups. I'm not sure why he chooses EMGs now. I know he has played through Hiwatts for decades. Pete Townsend turned him on to them initially a long long time ago.

The Big Muff Pi (Rams head variant) does cut mids significantly. He uses a few Boss GE-7s in his chain....or at least used to which would certainly help reshape the loss of mids.

It really doesn't take much to get that tone. My recipe would be...Fender Standard strat, Twin reverb, Tubescreamer (or even better Chandler Tube overdrive), and delay pedal...which is good enough for a garage band. Remember, he plays huge venues which is probably why he uses active pickups and the whole mess of other pedals.

[Sock Puppet]

O.T. but I though the N.I. guitar rig take comes pretty close. Nothing to do with stompboxes though.

Short sample & pic here for want of a better place:

http://rapidshare.com/files/85146844/Godmour.rar.html

S.

[Ben N]

Most of the information out there about his fx chain is pretty dated, a few generations old. But the sound hasn't changed a lot. I do think amps have a lot to do with it. There is a certain thing that happens between amp and guitar, in terms of warm sustain, that is very hard to achieve without a lot of dbs happening. It's not about distortion, its about moving air. I read somewhere that on a Cream tour of the US Clapton was supplied at a certain venue with Marshall 50 watters instead of 100s, because that is all they had. He hated it, because he couldn't get to the edge of feedback without massively overdriving the amps.

BTW, while he is known to run the Hiwatts (or in the 80s the red knob Dual Showmans) clean, he also runs (or used to run) an Alembic F2B preamp (same as the Fender BF/SF preamp) modified with an extra tube for more gain full time, between the pedal fx and the rack delays. So that may be where the "second overdrive" effect is happening. Then again, who knows exactly how his Muffs etc. are doctored by Cornish. I think his basic eq is also on the warm 'n' middy side, because for a clear rhythm sound he uses an eq pedal (or in the old days the Treble'n'Bass boost) to boost the highs and lows.

I wonder if some of the Muff variations, like the Whisker Biscuit or Swollen Pickle, might get something closer to the Gilmour lead sound.

I find it interesting how many posts refer to a class A amp or a Vox as the ticket, since AFAIK DG never used anything like those. Just goes to show there are a lot of ways to skin the cat.

[slideman82]

Well, that's the matter, you'll have to read again with more attention! I don't care if Fatty Gilmour used or not pseudoclass A amps, like the AC30, I've just said it sounded the same with a Strat and a FF.

[modsquad]

Not to nitpick here Murf, but I have 2 DVDs that show him playing live and he does switch betwen pickups several times in a solo or song.

[Murfman]

Modsquad-

Well, they say video never lies. Was he playing a strat? Was it in Pink Floyd, or his latest live video? I guess I should have said that he only plays on the bridge during floyd sets. He has said this in a few articles. I'll try and find them for you to read. Gilmour is funny when it comes to tech articles....his explanations on his setup is, we'll I turn this, and tweak that, and kick this...and there's my sound....then he appologizes for not being able to help us.

Reading up more on the Gilmourish site <what an awesome site!> he makes a great point about the Bigg Muff Pi and how it warms up and looses grain when your amp<s> are pushed hard and at high volume levels (just like they would in a concert). We're used to playing at home, with our wife and neighbors within ear shot...at these levels the Big Muff is at the classic fuzz sound that we're all familiar with.

I don't think anyone has mentioned that Gilmour also had a Mesa Boogie Mki slaved into his main amp...a very expensive overdrive pedal! He did play around with Fender 'The Twin' combos...like 3 or 4 stacked onto top of each other during one of his US tours. I think his About Face tour. He has always played through Hiwatts. I've never had the chance to play around with them...I'm guess their more like a Vox than a Marshall.

-Murf out

[petemoore]

  Yep, all of that.
  Probably talked about reputable tech advice early on, and got some ideas where to start.
  At one end.
  Pick your end: Speaker[s.
  We're already talking about amps then too.
  Back to the speakers...on the 'sweet' side I'd say, certainly Not heavy duty driver types, I would guess 'expensive' and 'english' work.
  And...I seriously doubt any large volume level changes are expected of out tube amp by simply turning the volume knob [making the assumption that some distortion is being wrought from output tubes seems right at least in discussing 'getting it'], scaling the rig to venue size or simply putting mics on rigs intended to produce 'x' tone at 'x' level...never have I heard what is often heard on solo's live...asking an amp to produce exactly 'x' tone, but just a good bit louder.
  So we've chosen an 'output/speaker ratio'.
  Here are examples to demonstrate what I mean by output section to speaker ratio's:
  5w tube amp with 15w rated speaker ie 3:1 [just finished VJr., into Alnico Blue surpassed itself on higher wattage amps, in fact I'm inclined to think of tube distortion as a different thing when the speaker isn't pushed as hard, having it's 'pace pushed'].
  15w tube amp into 15w rated speaker, can't say's I'd recommend it for sound or reliability.
  18w into 2x12'' Greenbacks, almost as good [IMO] as the Vjr/Blue sound, but much louder.
  So as to call into question an amps ability to distort 'more perfectly' while pushing speakers harder,,,though I really started compiling the accumulated data better yesterday [little 5w opened my eyes] it seems the sweetness of tube amp output distortion is quicly less sweet when that same setup is asked to produce same tone, but at a higher level...it seems it they just can't do that.
  There is certainly the sound of small signal clipping going on..continue to discuss at will...
  Also other high quality effects and what sounds like excellent connectivity at all times...
  And the guitar...
  Where I started is certainly not the end of the chain...just the last link before air gets in the act.
  ...after that comes: Mic, preamp, processing including comp/eq, recording device, further mixdown, transition to mass produced medium, [nice memories of Vynil records played through Goodmans w/reflex cabs and/or dynaco speakers, big stereo amps to compare etc.]...all the stuff on my side of the chain.
  I've never heard a guitar amp which sounds like that, even with effects.
  Every item from stem to stern gone over with the technicians fine toothed comb...and, IMO, all that would be of seriously reduced profundity without the lyrics...and everything else bouquue going on with..
  I can't help but think I hear a slow ramping subtle 'crossover compression' [ie rest of mix controls compression/attenuation]...when the rest of the band is attacking or loud, the guitar tone changes very subtly...probably just imigining stuff ?