Do different brands of transistors sound different?

[Gnobuddy]

Gilmour uses a wide variety of effects, and pretty much all of them set quite low.

I think Gilmour is a true master of subtlety. It's not usually the first word that comes to mind when you think "guitar hero", but it definitely applies to Gilmour, at least as far as his music goes.

-Gnobuddy

[Mick Bailey]

And don't forget all the amps that have diode clippers in them, too. Both SS and Tube. My modified Sessionette is so good many people think its a tube amp.

I also saw an SCR clipper circuit, to add to the clipping device list.

[bob p]

I think Gilmour is a true master of subtlety. It's not usually the first word that comes to mind when you think "guitar hero", but it definitely applies to Gilmour, at least as far as his music goes.

My impression is that Gilmour is deeply concerned about feeling the music that he plays, rather than being a show-off on guitar.

[darkfenriz]

We seem to have reached the conclusion that the 'Gilmour' brand of transistors sounds best.

Coincidentally I have a considerable stock of NOS Gilmour transistors, please contact me if you're interested.

[Justin Thomas]

I think Gilmour is a true master of subtlety. It's not usually the first word that comes to mind when you think "guitar hero", but it definitely applies to Gilmour, at least as far as his music goes.

-Gnobuddy

Ever heard "One Of These Days" live and in person? Subtle? Methinks not! Though, I do know what you mean and agree completely.

Justin

[Justin Thomas]

We seem to have reached the conclusion that the 'Gilmour' brand of transistors sounds best.

Coincidentally I have a considerable stock of NOS Gilmour transistors, please contact me if you're interested.

Thanks for the business idea - "now, distortion pedals that only go to TWO!" Minimum sale quantity five, and daisy-chain them together. No, seriously - personally, I use 2 or 3 distos in series, and keep the gains well under halfway. It works out okay. And you still hafta play LOUD.

Every time I meet a guitar player wanting to improve their distortion sound, I turn down the "Gain"and turn up the Volume. Once they get over their fear of big scary loud guitar amp, they INVARIABLY say, "wow, you're right! That <DOES> sound better!" Works with pedals AND amps alike.

Justin

[olddawg]

If you are playingclubs nowadays volume is a real issue. Some of the best distorted tones I have gotten was using a slightly overwound pickup equipped Japanese Squier Strat through a stock Epiphone VJ through a 12" open back cab driven by a a Rocktron Big Crush compressor, Digitech Bad Monkey (cheap TS clone), and a Beringher ($23) reverb pedal. At lower volumes Class A is where it's at. And at some point tone is in the hands. I would set the VJ behind a beat up 1960 Ampeg Rocket and plug it into the Eminence speaker I had loaded in it. The amp wasn't even on. People thought I had some kind of magic old amp, lol. Now I'm usually using a Bugera V22 ($249 no tax free shipping) with a Weber 50 Watt Attenuator that I can shut on and off with a footswitch. The other guitarist has a mountain of 100 watt Marshall stuff turned down. The Bugera sounds better at club volume. Basically there is no magic bullet or magic parts. You do the best you can with what you have at the moment. I think Santana played through some obscure SS amps at Woodstock. Still sounded like Santana. He was even on acid!

[Gnobuddy]

Coincidentally I have a considerable stock of NOS Gilmour transistors, please contact me if you're interested.

For years now, Fender Musical Instrument Corporation has been putting white pickups and knobs on a 'Strat with a black pickguard, marking up the price by a few thousand dollars, and selling them to hopeful mojo-seeking guitarists. I'm sure your NOS Gilmour transistors would go very well with the Gilmour Signature 'Strat. Maybe you can talk to Fender about putting together a package deal.

-Gnobuddy

[Gnobuddy]

Every time I meet a guitar player wanting to improve their distortion sound, I turn down the "Gain"and turn up the Volume. Once they get over their fear of big scary loud guitar amp, they INVARIABLY say, "wow, you're right! That <DOES> sound better!" Works with pedals AND amps alike.

I don't doubt you, and I personally stink at creating glorious distorted guitar tone, so I certainly don't presume to know better than you do.

The thing that keeps bugging me like a loose tooth, however is this: I can listen to a Gilmour track played back at low volume, and his distorted guitar sounds gorgeous. That means that gorgeous low-volume distorted guitar tone is possible; the thousand-dollar question is, how can we create it right off the bat, without the enormous chain of steps that lies between Gilmour's guitar and the finished sound I hear on the CD or WAV file?

Anyone who can figure out the answer to that question will make a lot of today's urban guitarists very happy.

-Gnobuddy

[bob p]

< Put on Gilmour Fanboi Hat>

I was watching a special about Gilmour on PBS the other night. It seems that he has a gift for expressing himself emotionally through music, but he's got an impediment in communicating his ideas through words. His current songwriting method is to record musical phrases on his iPhone, accompanied by senseless babbling because he can't figure out the words he's trying to express. He gives the recordings to his wife, she listens to them, and she tries to figure out what words he's having trouble bringing out. It's like she can figure out what he's trying to say even when he can't. Right now when it comes to songwriting, he's the music and she is the words. Like many great artists it seems that he's gifted in one way and impeded in another. Communication problems aside, I think he's got great emotional expression through his playing.

< Take off Gilmour Fanboi Hat>

[Justin Thomas]

I can listen to a Gilmour track played back at low volume, and his distorted guitar sounds gorgeous. That means that gorgeous low-volume distorted guitar tone is possible; the thousand-dollar question is, how can we create it right off the bat, without the enormous chain of steps that lies between Gilmour's guitar and the finished sound I hear on the CD or WAV file?

Your LISTENING to a recorded track at a low volume is no indication of how loud HE was playing as it was recorded. Another thing, listen to the CD Pulse & the DVD Pulse. Definitely very differently mixed.

I gave up long ago trying to clone what has already been done. But what I <CAN> do is to listen to myself and say, "Dave might use that... I think he'd like that... Maybe he'd even own it as his own." I don't have the man's gear, and more importantly, I don't have his hands. What I HAVE done is spent 20 years dedicating myself to how the man plays SPACE, and for a brief period, I owned a Dual Showman Reverb & period 2x15". Damn if it didn't come REAL close to Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Justin

[Gnobuddy]

Right now when it comes to songwriting, he's the music and she is the words.

And what a wonderful partnership, to have with your spouse!

In the Pink Floyd years it seems Gilmour and (Richard) Wright were the music, and Roger Waters was the words. Usually deeply depressed and/or seethingly angry words about war, a topic on which he seemed to be permanently stuck.

I would say Gilmour's traded up a long way - not only is Ms. Polly Samson a gifted songwriter with considerably more versatility than Waters, she also has a much more enjoyable personality. As a bonus, she's also very considerably more fetching.

Like many great artists it seems that he's gifted in one way and impeded in another.

On a couple of his DVDs I saw him playing the saxophone. The back-story was in the special features on one of the DVDs - he learned alongside one of his children, to help motivate the kid as well as fulfill a personal desire. He even hired his kid's music teacher to give him lessons after his kid was out of school.

I have a lot of respect for any accomplished musician (in his sixties, no less) who's willing to step back into raw fumbling beginner status, starting out all over again on an entirely unfamiliar instrument. The exact opposite of, say, Yngwie Malmsteen, who's now fat and middle-aged, but still stuck in exactly the same place musically and psychologically, white shirt open to the waist, gold chains dangling, widdling away as fast as he can on the same technically superb but emotionally trite licks and scales he's been playing since the 1980's.

There are ugly things about Gilmour's life (his wife mentioned on a DVD that legal claims from children claiming to be the product of Gilmour's one-night stands with total strangers all over the world still surface from time to time), so I'm not a fan of the man himself. But, IMO, he is a true musician in the deepest and most gifted sense of the word, and I am definitely a fan of his musical gifts.

-Gnobuddy