You must be on the right track fawning an analog man. To sound like David you will need a Hiwatt to be honest. Just sold one, not for me, too thick and chunky clean, so could not get it back.
1 Like
Yeah I got the white guitar for £550.
Result in winning that pedal as well
1 Like
He is one of my favourite guitarists and I’m therefore using that as a base for research to try and learn how people have attained certain sounds but there is a lot I like in his tone, especially from The Wall onward. His latest offerings have been equally beautiful.
Obviously Gary Moore is another but his live tone, especially in his latter years was far too harsh for my taste.
Eric Johnson also has that really smooth tone I like and was surprised to read how cranked his set up was.
So lots of research, listening and of course playing.
There are others of course
You cheater!
Not unusual but I also launched with an inspiration for Gilmour! Have a 96 Anniversary Strat in black with a black guard to prove it; its just in its case all the time. Truly one of the greatest, his timing is immense, equally when he does not play. Im a real fan. But thats where it ended, apart from Wish you Were Here I cant play any Pink Floyd, and of course, its a faux pas to play this so I dont! Once I was hooked my local shop in Bristol just happened to have a pro-tech who was into punk and where all the working musicians of the area seemed to go, so in Escariot fashion I hid my allegiances, because Pink Floyd are just not cool in the punk world. I think its to do with the big light and guitar solo as Johnny on the spot, which they find, quite a bit self indulgent. Trouble is in art theory, it actually is, and this continuum, though innocent enough at Gilmours embryonic period, to me ended up in hair metal…Ok Im going.
1 Like
Shamelessly, that said I think my only other option is to break into somewhere like That Pedal Show’ shed and steal everything and spend a year working through it all.
My Gilmour intro was far simpler. Bough the Wall album on a whim because I’d heard Another Brick pt 2 some way before then. Heard the solo’s to Hey You and Comfortably Numb and that was the end for me.
I think it’s a good place to start. I’ve used Comfortably Numb in particular as a good base in the past to practice soloing. It’s not a quick song, so easy to get into the feel of the track, pentatonics work an absolute treat on it and with the live versions it’s long! Plus there’s loads of reference material with loads of different versions available out there with Gilmour doing something a little different in many of them. While I will not be featuring in any Pink Floyd cover bands anytime soon I think it was a good base to practice from.
1 Like
Yes, Comfortably Numb my Dad knows it, voted best solo of all time isnt it? Either that or Cortez the Killer by Neil Young for me.
I was driving to Sherwood Forest yesterday having a decent time with the radio and Scissor Sisters cover came on 
loosely so called.
That Pedal Show are in Swindon now…we could work it out. It must be armoured with skeet turrets.
It is, and rightly so I think. There is just something about it.
That Scissor Sisters version is just awful. Really awful.
Hmm might mean having to navigate the Magid Roundabout. They’re probably safe.
However back to topic I see that Gilmour and Johnson both use the BK Butler Tube driver. So I’ve been looking at how that performs.
As I mentioned earlier Johnsons set up is really interesting. He has super clean Fenders and then Marshalls cranked really hard. This has the effect of fizzing the top end but also dulling any pick attack which gives him that very smooth tone he has.
This is very interesting and something I am experimenting with, as have an Orange AD30, but need to pair it with a Fender, so am looking to get a Deluxe. Two amps one ballsy, but the other tight gives great tone, I know Santiago uses this with Pixies (JCM800 and a Vibrolux). Great distortion but with a tighter body from the Fender. My experience with basic rig, guitar and amp, is have as little base drive in that, because you just cant get back to a ringing clean.
I thought Gilour used a Fulltone Plimsoul and a Big Muff?
Sacrilege, next.
Are you thinking of going for a wet / dry set up? Could be fun setting all that up. But as a bedroom guy at the moment that’s beyond ambition for me.
Gilmour certainly used Big Muff for Comfortably Numb (surely the best named pedal ever) and still does but I’m reading that he has also been using a Pete Cornish SS-2 (another to research) and more recently a Chandler Tube driver and BK Butler tube driver. The Big Muff seems to be an ever present throughout his career though, probably because he’s playing those older tracks along with any new stuff.
You’re correct that he uses a HiWatt but that’s combined with a WE 4x12 Cab and a Yamaha RA200. I think these were run wet and dry with the Yamaha being used to add some modulation (chorus).
here’s an interesting thing though, Fro the Website Gilmourish.com for his more recent live set ups.
On tour, David often uses the Big Muff in combination with a booster/overdrive. This is not so much for boosting the volume but more like using an EQ. Although David’s preferred boosters, Colorsound Powerboost and Tube Driver, are very transparent, they have more character and balls than an EQ. The Muff is set fairly mild and the booster is set up for a slight volume boost at the very edge of breakup. The result is a much smoother Big Muff tone with a natural, dynamic attack and compression. This combo with the powerful Hiwatts is the essence of David’s live tones between 1977 to present.
Yes, but its complicated, I have a switcher, but yes wet/dry at least on the distortion side; I want delay in full stereo, but you need two amps, however you cant drive two amps with one pedal because, unless they are the same, they will respond and drive up differently. But for clean delay apparently it is 200% better as one amp will behave differently in the feedback and the should weave on the tails and create some surprise interlacing of tones.
WEM starfinder is probably the most sought after cabinet ever! I deign to your better research on Gilmour, must have dropped the Plimsoul out then.
Just watched that. Weird!! But it reminds me of a funny gig I saw many moons ago.
I used to regularly go to Brecon Jazz festival. Highly recommended by the way, just for all the pub gigs. Some amazing Blues and Rock even through to Ska on all weekend. That along side some really great main stage acts if you could get the tickets.
Anyway, on Friday evening there was always a 4 piece local rock band from Brecon that would play in the same pub, same time every year. They were pro and had been doing this since the 70’s at a guess. But they were bastards. First year I saw them they were being followed by a band called Acoustic Zeppelin (also great). The song they played before the Zeppelin? Yup Stairway which contained an extended solo and he ripped. Couldn’t follow that.
Next year they were being followed by a Pink Floyd cover band. Same stunt, Comfortably Numb. My sympathy for the Floyd cover band soon melted though as they had turned up with all the technology. During the first song the smoke machine failed and the whole band disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Hilarious. techies running everywhere trying to switch the thing off.
1 Like
Haven’t found any reference to a Plimsoul as yet. More looking needed.
Lord knows how you’d achieve wet dry and running delay into both amps. I’ve only ever heard of drive to one side, modulation to the other.
Last time I looked it was 2012 on Gilmour’s rig; that same website, I think, that you linked.
You have to loop the drive pedals on the board, so they can be taken out of the signal path, so you need a one loop switcher on the board, and a two loop switcher, after the board, so you can manually designate either amp or both. The the signal can go through the delays and out the stereo out’s; it just a more complex switching system.
1 Like
How fantastic is that?
@Lowton_Red needs to see this.
Guess it helps having a thumb that’s 3 miles long. Jees hooking over at the 7th fret on an acoustic. Not sure I could manage that.
1 Like
Didn’t understand a word of that 
1 Like
1 Like
Ahhh
1 Like
He plays some fantastic stuff for sure. I have worked at a bit of thumb independence and can do the basics but not anywhere near his level.
I might build one of those 3 or 4 string Licence plate guitars he uses at some stage but not until I get my own workshop built.
1 Like
Just reading up on Big Muff’s and it appears you’re very correct with regard to the creating problems in the chain. Gilmour used particular versions that were less “noisy” and not the standard one’s that you see for sale in most places.
Lesson to one’s self on research there I think.
1 Like