Kit’s Secret Guitar, Gear, and Music Page
Guitar stuff, gear stuff, soundclips, videos, Gilmour/Pink Floyd stuff, photos and other goodies.
Contact: nasnandos@kitrae.net
Copyright Kit Rae.
NOTE - I have listed the gear and settings I use in most cases, for reference, but note that the tones may not exactly match your rig, depending on which amp you use, your guitar, pickups, and fingers :)
What do each of the pedals David Gilmour used do and how do you set them to get similar Pink Floyd tones? Which pickups and amps work best for those tones? Here is a general guide to the gear and how to get the tones. There are audio clips demonstrating building basic Gilmour tones using some of the same gear David used. These clips are designed to show what each individual piece of gear contributes to the tone. This is not a comprehensive song by song list by any means, just a general guide. I highly recommend you look at Gilmourish.com and The Tone from Heaven for much more detailed reference for all the gear David has used throughout the years. Those guys have really done their home work and have created very comprehensive websites on everything to do with David Gilmour's gear and tone, but for my website I wanted to focus on actual sound clips and settings for reference. Enjoy!
TONE BUILDING - Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse - The effects used and sound clips
TONE BUILDING - On an Island - The effects used and sound clips
TONE BUILDING - The Wall - The effects used and sound clips (coming soon)
THE ELECTRIC MISTRESS and BIG MUFF - The perfect combo for The Wall and Final Cut tones
BOOSTING A BIG MUFF - How to use an overdrive pedal to drive your Muff
DELAY / ECHO - Using delay and delay time settings
EMG DG-20 SA or VINTAGE STYLE GUITAR PICKUPS - Sound clips to illustrate the tone differences
WHAT TYPE OF AMPLIFIER TO USE - Amps that work best for Gilmour tones
FINGERS - Skilled digits and vibrating the metal bar
Here are sound clips and info on the primary pedals needed to create the fuzz/distortion tones heard in solos from songs like On the Turning Away, Sorrow and Comfortably Numb. Below is a basic description of each what each pedal does. Some very detailed info about David's Pulse rig and gear can be found at The Tone from Heaven website. Below are photos of David's huge Momemtary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell touring rigs for Pink Floyd.
(left to right) David Gilmour's 1987 custom Bob Bradshaw rig and 1989 Bradshaw rig with Pete Cornish switching system
David Gilmour's 1994 custom Bob Bradshaw modded effects rig, with a Phil Taylor pedals-to-rack rack setup, Cornish modded effect pedals mounted on top, all controlled by a Bob Bradshaw midi floor pedalboard with a Pete Cornish switching system. Note the blue tick marks by the knobs in these enhanced photos, indicating the settings in these press photos are likely Gilmour's actual settings. The tick marks are to ensure the pedal settings are the same from show to show. Gilmour has similar marks on his 2006 all-tube Pete Cornish board.
TONE BUILDING WITH EMG SA ACTIVE PICKUPS - Here are some basic late 1980s through mid 1990s Gilmour tones using some of the same pedals and pickups David used. Fender Deluxe Stratocaster with EMG DG-20 SA active pickups, exactly the same pickups used in David's red strats from the mid 1980s through the 1990s. Used on the Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell tours, as captured on the Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse CDs. All clips are played with a Fender Stratocaster through a clean, loud Fender Twin Reverb. There is an article and sound clips illustrating the difference between EMG SA pickup and vintage style Strat pickups HERE.
Pedals used, listed in chain order - Guitar > Boss CS-2 compressor > B.K. Butler Tube Driver > Red Army Overdrive (early Sovtek Big Muff, same as Civil War Muff) or V2 Ram's Head Big Muff > Boss GE-7 equalizer > Boss CE-2 or CE-5 chorus > TC Electronic Nova delay > Amp
Tone Build Example #3 - Same as above, but playing Pink Floyd's On the Turning Away solo.
Tone Build Example #5 - EMG DG-20 bridge pickup with pedal settings shown above. Playing Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb solo. GE-7 set for treble and bass boost. I turn each pedal on in sequence to hear what each contributes to the tone.
SORROW INTRO TONE - The intro to Sorrow is one of my favorite tones. I Prefer the live versions of Sorrow from Delicate sound of Thunder and Pulse to the studio version. The intro tone is monstrous and alive with feedback. An integral component to the unique feedback sound is the EMG DG-20 bridge pickup with the SPC control on 10, but single coil pickups can also be used. The tone is definitely generated by a Big Muff with the sustain full on. David had a Ram's Head Big Muff, a Civil War Russian Big Muff, and a Pete Cornish P-2 Muff on his boards for these tours. The Delicate sound of Thunder version is the Ram's Head Big Muff and I believe the Pulse version is the P-2 because it has more gain than a Civil War Muff, though the Civil War Big Muff patch on David's pedalboard can be seen on is some of the filmed performances of this song. There is also a Boss CE-2 chorus being used, a long delay, a Tube Driver set to boost the Muff, and a compressor being used to increase the gain and sustain. The sustained feedback is enhanced and fed by David's very loud tube amplifier. It is tricky to get just the right feedback to make this sound work, but the key is to load the gain and sustain with a compressor or Tube Driver to drive the Muff and, most importantly, amp VOLUME. Too much feedback and you have an overloaded mess, and too little you have to wait for the feedback. I have found the guitar needs to be a certain distance from my amp to get the feedback to come when I need it, and standing with the guitar in relation to the amp in different ways produces different types of feedback. You will find the Muff with sustain maxed will be very noisy with both a Tube Driver and a compressor running, but you won't hear the noise it when playing, and the notes are almost constant with few quiet parts.
Sorrow Tone Build - EMG DG20 bridge pickup with pedal settings shown above. GE-7 set for treble and bass boost. I turn each pedal on in sequence to hear what each contributes to the tone. This one needs to be loud to get the feedback, and I turn the SPC control on my EMG strat wide open
DAVID'S SPC and EXG SETTINGS - See this page for for photos and settings from various songs for David's EMG controls, specifically the SPC control on his EMG fitted Strats.
PULSE TONE DEMOS BY FRÉDÉRIC PEYNET - Here are some excellent Pulse tone examples using an EMG Strat and a Koch Studiotone amplifier by Frédérick Peynet (Deck from the Gilmour Gear Forum). Frédérick is among the best at capturing these tones with his gear and playing.
Gear used and EMG settings
What Do You Want from Me : EMG Stratocaster > Demeter Compulator > Cornish G-2 > Boss CE-2 > T-Rex Replica > Koch Studiotone amp. EXG-2 SPC-6 Neck pickup
On the Turning Away: EMG Stratocaster > Demeter Compulator > Cornish P-2 > Tube Driver > CE-2 > Replica > Koch Studiotone amp. EXG-2 SPC-6-7 Bridge pickup
Poles Apart: EMG Stratocaster > Demeter Compulator > Cornish SS-2 > CE-2 - Replica > Koch Studiotone amp. EXG-5 SPC-10 Neck pickup
Sorrow: EMG Stratocaster > Cornish P-2 > Cornish SS-2 > CE-2 > Replica > Koch Studiotone amp. EXG-2-3 SPC-10 Bridge pickup
PULSE BIG MUFF COMPARISONS - David used three Big Muffs in his Division Bell rig - the "Ram's Head" Big Muff, Pete Cornish P-2 Muff, and "Civil War" Sovtek Big Muff. The Ram's Head has a deep, dark tone with the mids "scooped" out. It has a wilder, more out of control feel, and a huge thundery sound. The P-2 is a more refined Big Muff with added mids (less scooped), and more controlled, uniform, and smooth tone, yet still retains the high gain of the Ram's Head. The Civil War Big Muff has a very smooth tone with slightly less gain than the other two, and more bottom end. Below are comparison clips using a Strat fitted with EMG DG-20 pickups (EXG off, and SPC on 5) and a Fender Twin Reverb.
Muff Comparison Clip - In this order: Ram's Head Big Muff, P-2, Civil War Muff
Comparison Clip - Leads. In this order: Ram's Head Big Muff and P-2 playing leads.
Comparison Clip - Chords/Rhythm. In this order: Ram's Head Big Muff and P-2 playing rhythm/chords.
TONE BUILDING WITH VINTAGE STYLE SINGLE COIL PICKUPS - When I use vintage style pickups I can get a very similar sound to the EMG SA active pickups in David's red strats used on the Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell tours by adding a Boss GE-7 equalizer set for a mids boost. Depending on how the mids are voiced in your amp and the mids in the pedals used, it is sometimes better to remove some of the mids from the tone and bring up the bottom end with an EQ.
Clips with Fender American Std Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan SSL-5 bridge pickup, which is a replica of the custom wound SSL-1 pickup in David's Black Strat. All clips are played with a Fender Stratocaster through a clean, loud Fender Twin Reverb.
Pedals used, listed in chain order - Guitar > Boss CS-2 compressor > Red Army Overdrive (early Sovtek Big Muff, same as Civil War Muff) > B.K. Butler Tube Driver > Boss GE-7 equalizer (pictured with mids scooped rather than boosted) > Boss CE-2 chorus > TC Electronic Nova delay > Amp
In 2006 David Gilmour's third solo album, On an Island, gave us some new guitar tones and some incredible guitar solos. David's live performances during the OAI tour, featured in the Remember That Night DVD and the Live In Gdansk CD and DVD, were stellar and showcase his playing in top form. I like the tones from the tour better than what I hear on the studio recording for OAI, though the studio recording sounds great too. For this tour he had a new pedal board made by Pete Cornish, the Mark II. This was a revised and simplified version of his previous MK1 effects boards. See the Tone From Heaven website for a comprehensive guide to David's Pete Cornish pedals boards.
(left to right) David Gilmour's MK2 Pete Cornish custom all-tube buffered pedal board, and a modified version of it with different effect lables from from different times in 2006. You can see a Traingle Big Muff and a T-rex Replica delay pedal mounted on top of the board in a few of these photos.
ON AN ISLAND STUDIO EFFECTS - David used the Pete Cornish MK1 board, which included a Demeter Compulator, Pete Cornish G-2, Electro-Harmonix Ram's Head Big Muff, Pete Cornish SS-2, BK Butler Chandler Tube Driver Pete Cornish T.E.S. (Tape Echo Simulator), and a Cornish Custom Stereo Chorus (modded Boss CE-2). He aslo used a Digitech Whammy WH-1 for pitch bending on The Blue, and the MXR Digital Delay Ststem II.
TUBE DRIVER, BIG MUFF, G-2 COMPARISONS - Here are comparison sound clips of the three primary distortion/fuzz pedals David used for On and Island. Clips play in this order: BK Bulter Tube Driver, Ram's Head Big Muff, Pete Cornish G-2.
Castellorization tone comparison
See my page of sound clips and gear I use for getting the On and Island studio and live lead tones HERE. ..
ON AN ISLAND LIVE EFFECTS - David used a Pete Cornish P-1, G-2 and two B.K. Butler Tube Drivers for his lead tones. One Tube Driver driver was set for a clean boost and one for overdrive. Both were newly made reissues, slightly different than the old Pulse era Tube Drivers. The G-2 is a sort of a smooth Big Muff circuit mixed with a warm germanium fuzz-distortion tone. The P-1 is a high quality Ram's Head Big Muff clone, and the BK Butler Tube Driver is a tube overdrive pedal. He also used a Demeter Compulator compressor, Boss GE-7 equalizer, Digitech Whammy WH-1, Univibe, Modified boss DD2 digital delay, Pete Cornish T.E.S. (tape echo simulator), MXR Digital Delay. Sometime during the OAI tour David added a Triangle Big Muff and a T-rex Replics delay to one of the boards send/returns.
Note that David's signature modulation effect, the Boss CE-2, has been removed from this board. As far as I can tell, David's only modulation for this tour was the external rack mounted Univox Univibe.
EFFECT SETTINGS - For this tour we were lucky enough to see some actual photos of David's rig with all effect settings shown. Below is a diagram of the MK2 board with these settings from one of the shows. The effects used and settings for each song varied from show to show depending on the venue sound and David's mood at the time. Also note that the actual board knobs are all upside down from the way they would read if the pedals were laid out properly (according to Pete Cornish from the Tone From Heaven website) to make them easier to read the knob indicator lines in the board lights, which illuminate from the bottom. On my diagram below I have shown the knob settings right side up. Gilmour said in a 2009 interview regarding this board - "I've got a pedal board that switches to a north track or a south track". As I understand it from Pete Cornish, the effects without the north/south toggle switch affect anything when on, whether the distortions or TDs are on in the north or south track. North/south just refers to the physical position of effects on the board, not two separate signal chains.
The switches on the MK2 board are labeled in this order, left to right:
COMP - Switches the Demeter Compulator on/off. David seems to use the compulator as an added gain boost for solos. If fact, he had the gain trim pot of the Compulator moved to the top as a proper control knob, which is shown at almost maximum gain here. According to interviews, David used this to accent certain places in solos, and has been seen often switching it on and off for added effect during live performances.
OCTAVE - This send/return switch is dedicated to the WH1 Whammy octave pedal used for The Blue
DISTORT - Swaps between P-1 and G-2. The P-1 is labeled MUFF, and is very similar to a "Ram's Head" Big Muff. Pete Cornish has said both distortions cannot be on at the same time and that David likes to boost his Muffs with the Tube Driver. David would only boost one of these with the boost TD, not the overdrive TD.
DIST 1/2 - This toggles between the P-1 and G-2 Muffs.
TUBE - Turns on the Tube Driver. TD#1 and TD#2 pedals are seen above this switch, one set for a light boost and one for overdrive. Tube Driver #1 is used when boosting David's Muffs, and for all slightly dirty neck position tones. Tube Driver #2 is for all overdrive tones from the Neck and Bridge pickups. I think the majority of the OAI tones use these pedals.
TUBE 1/2 - Toggles between TD#1 and TD#2
EQ - Turns on the Boss GE-7, seen on the board right side up. According to interviews, David used this EQ pedal to accent certain places in solos.
UNIVIBE - This send/return switch is dedicated to the Univibe, which was a rack mounted external effect.
DELAY 1 - Turns on the modded Boss DD-2 delay.
B/W - Turns on the T.E.S. Pete Cornish Tape Echo Simulator.
MXR DDL - This send/return switch is dedicated MXR Digital Delay, which was a rack mounted external effect
Here is the signal chain from the MK2 in order from the Pete Cornish website, with my additonal notes:
Pete Cornish Tube Buffer
Demeter Compulator
Send / Return #1 - for additional effects if required
Pete Cornish G-2 - Warm Germanium sounding Big Muff type distortion. Used with the Tube Driver #1.
Pete Cornish P-1 - Vintage "Ram's Head" Big Muff clone (sorry Pete - I know you don't like your pedals called clones). Used with Tube Driver #1.
2 X BK Butler Tube Driver plus 2 X Pete Cornish Tube Buffer
Send / Return #2 - for additional effects if required
Boss GE-7
Custom Volume Pedal insert - Used to control volume, and for volume swells for songs like Shine of You Crazy Diamond
Pete Cornish Tape Echo Simulator with Pete Cornish Tube Buffer - David uses echo delay for everything. This is a very versatile, warm sounding digital delay, based on the old Boss DD-2.
MXR Digital Delay (Rack mount) with Pete Cornish Tube Buffer
2 X Outputs with Pete Cornish Tube Line Drivers
David's MXR Digital Delay System II rack unit from the On an Island tour showing his Echoes delay time
See my page of sound clips and gear I use for getting the On and Island studio and live lead tones HERE. ..
GUITARS AND AMPS - David's primary guitar for the lead solos during live shows was his Black Stratocaster. His main amp for the OAI tour was his Hiwatt DR-103 head with WEM and Marshal speaker cabinets. In the studio he used the Black Strat and a gold top Les Paul for solos, a wide variety of amps, including an old Fender Tweed Twin 40w amp, and the Hiwatt DR-103 for some parts. Other amps can be seen in the Astoria recording studio Pocket Full of Stones video snapshots shown below, including a Marshal head, Alessandro, and others. Please visit the Tone From Heaven website for more information about David's board and effects. Gilmourish.com also has some great info about all the OAI guitars, amps, effects, and which songs they were used on.
Below are sound clips of some of the pedals David Gilmour gear has used for his lead fuzz/distortion solo tones from the Animals era to today: Ram's Head and Civil War Big Muffs, the BK Butler Tube Driver, and the Pete Cornish G-2 and P-2. This section is designed to illustrate what the differences are so it can be determined which effect was used on which song. Descriptions of each pedal are in this section.
BK BUTLER TUBE DRIVER, RAM'S HEAD BIG MUFF, CORNISH G-2 - Clips play in that order. The Tube Driver drive is set to max to get it into distorted overdrive territory. The Ram's Head is pure vintage Big Muff tone, and the G-2 brings a tone that is sort of in between the two. Strat with SSL-5 bridge pickup and CS'69 neck pickup into a Fender Twin Reverb.
RAM'S HEAD BIG MUFF and CORNISH P-2 - The Ram's Head is a darker and grittier tone with the mids scooped out of the tone by the circuit, perfect for David's late 1970's tone through the 1980s. The P-2 is a much smoother and brighter tone with more mids, good for David's late 1980's though 1990s tones. Strat with EMG-DG20 pickups into a Fender Twin Reverb.
Leads. Clips in this order: Ram's Head Big Muff then P-2
Chords/Rhythm. Clips in this order: Ram's Head Big Muff then P-2
RAM'S HEAD BIG MUFF, CORNISH P-2, and CIVIL WAR SOVTEK BIG MUFF - Same pedals as above but adding the "Civil War" Sovtek pedal. It is darker sounding like the Ram's Head, but with more bottom end, and more mids, but not as much as the P-2. Strat with EMG-DG20 pickups into a Fender Twin Reverb.
Comparison Clip - Clips in this order: Ram's Head Big Muff, P-2, then Civil War Muff
Big Muffs like to be driven hard and like a loud, clean tube amp to sound their best. Sometimes that is not enough for lead playing or solos, especially with modern Big Muffs. A Tube Driver, or similar overdrive pedal, can be used as a light boost before or after a Big Muff in the signal chain. I am not referring to a volume boost, but rather a gain boost, or more accurately a blend of the gain from two diferent pedals. Driving a Muff with a drive pedal can make the Big Muff tone come alive. It can smooth out the tone while adding some gain and mids, add dirt and grit to the tone, or help it cut through in a band mix better. While it is not necessary for a good David Gilmour tone, some modern Big Muffs and some vintage Muffs can really benefit from this type of boost. It is unknown if or when Gilmour used a booster for his Big Muffs in the studio, but he certainly did use them live during the Division Bell and On an Island tours. Both his gear tech, Phil Taylor, and pedal board builder, Pete Cornish, have noted that David like to drive his Big Muffs with a booster pedal.
I have used Tube Screamers, a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, the Colorsound Overdriver, Colorsound clones like the Color Drive, and various Tube Drivers for boosting Big Muffs. My favorites are the BD-2, BK Butler four knob Tube Driver, and the Overdriver. I never had much luck getting a sound I liked when using a Tubescreamer type pedal to boost, simply because they were too bright and drastically altered the tone of the Big Muff too much for my tastes. The best boosters are the ones that are transparent sounding, so as to not alter the tone of your Big Muff or Muff clone too much.
It is debatable, but David Gilmour may have used his Colosound Power Boost (the pedal later changed to the Colorsound Overdriver, with more gain on tap) as a booster for his Ram's Head Big Muff in the late 1970's. David also had a Pete Cornish ST-2 Power Boost clone around 1978, and later a TC Electronic Booster + (discontinued) in his 1987-1990 Momentary Lapse of Reason tour rig which he may have used to boost his Muffs. He changed to a B.K. Butler Tube Driver for his 1994 Division Bell tour pedal arsenal, which he used to boost his Sovtek "Civil War" Big Muff and as a light overdrive pedal. In the Pulse DVD you can see the active pedals on during Comfortably Numb, including the TD (Boss CS-2 > Tube Driver #1 > Big Muff > TC 220 delay). For the 2006 David Gilmour tour he had two new B.K. Butler Tube Drivers in his board, one used as a Muff booster, one for overdrive. See my Tube Driver page HERE for more info about using one.
HOW TO BOOST - What the boost does really depends on the settings of the booster and the Muff and where the booster is placed in the chain, before or after the Muff. Putting most drivers before the Muff seems to be a bit smoother, and after the Muff usually has more crunch and attack. You can get harsh top end, smooth top end, boomy lows, light lows, or whatever you want if the booster has a bass and treble control. Also which one is "driving" which has an effect on the tone - the booster drive or the Muff sustain? The Muff sustain can be set high and the drive pedal low, or vise versa. Each yields a slightly different tone. I suggest starting with the Muff sustain and booster drive both at 50%. Set the booster pedal's bass and treble to be as transparent as possible, in that the Muff tone is not colored when the booster is on. Then adjust the Muff sustain up, booster drive down, and vice versa until you get the tone you want. Keep in mind, some vintage Big Muffs sound so good at high gain that you may not see much improvement by boosting.
I typically use the Muff to drive the gain of the boost pedal. My Muffs are usually set to around 65-70% sustain and my Tube Driver set to around 10% drive. The tone of the Tube Driver is set to be very similar to the Muff tone , so when switching it on or off, there is very little change to my Muff's tone color. I also like touse a Boss CS-2 or MXR Dynacomp for light compression before a Muff to smooth the Muff fizz, even when using a booster.
OVERDRIVE BOOST
SMOOTH BOOST
BOOST POSITION IN SIGNAL CHAIN - Drive the Muff with the booster or drive the booster with the Muff
Here are my favorite setups:
Tube Driver - placed before the Muff in signal chain. Hi EQ at 4, lo EQ at 6, drive at approximately 1 to 1.5
Muff sustain at about 70-75%, tone about 35%, or whatever tone setting works on your rig in the Gilmour range.
Colorsound Overdriver - placed before the Muff in signal chain. Bass and treble at 50%, drive at 90-95%
Muff sustain at about 30-35%, tone about 35%, or whatever tone setting works on your rig in the Gilmour range.
The Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress flanger is a signature part of David Gilmour's "wet" modulated tones from Animals, The Wall and The Final Cut, as well as David's first solo album. It is also heard during the In The Flesh tour for the Animals album, and was used heavily in The Wall live shows. The Mistress is unique among flangers. No other flanger sounds quite like it. At the right settings it sounds like a very deep chorus. The Mistress also sounds very good when used after a vintage Electro-Harmonix Big Muff. The two curcuits seem to work hand in hand, creating a very mean, but liquidy smooth distortion tone. Add some warm analog or digital delay to that and you have classic Gilmour. David used the Mistress in a similar way to how he used the Univibe, rotating speaker cabinets like the Leslie, and the Boss CE-2 - to add a swirly modulation to his guitar tone for creating more space and depth.
David's first Electric Mistress was old green 18v Electric Mistress from around 1976. These sound slightly different than the later Delux Electric Mistress, but both create a very good modulation. The old green Mistress, or a clone like the Hartman Flanger are more accurate for this tone however. The Deluxe is a bit too swirly and dominant. The later Stereo Electric Mistress is a very different sound to the originals.
Vintage Electro-Harmonix 18v green Electic Mistress flanger used by David Gilmour in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the Deluxe Electric Mistress that replaced it
WHY CAN'T I GET MY ELECTRIC MISTRESS TO SOUND LIKE GILMOUR? - When I listen to the Wall and the Final Cut, I do not hear the Mistress mixed into the tone of the Big Muff solos 100%. It is much too dominant for most of those tones. In fact, I don't hear the Mistress 100% in much at all from that era. Sure there are a few exceptions here and there, like some of the solos on David's first solo album, but overall I believe David always blended the Mistress. Based on all the interview comments from David and his recording/engineering crew over the years, and listening to the 5.1 mixes, David typically recorded through multiple amps/cabs, then fine tuned the level of the modulated and unmodulated tracks in the final mix. Comfortably numb is one example of this. For clean tones it is not a problem, but a blend pedal is almost a necessity with the Mistress for when using any distortion in my opinion. My Mistress is never more than 50-75% in the mix. If you start with your Mistress at 50% in the mix, then adjust the knobs for the correct modulation, you will find you get much closer to those recorded modulations you hear than 100% in the mix. I use a Barge VB Jr. blend pedal to mix in the signal from my modulation pedals in a bypass loop with my distortion signal. The Boss LS-2 is another pedal that features the blend function, but there are many others.
Here is a sound clip using a vintage "Ram's Head" Big Muff, the Deluxe Electric Mistress, and the TC Nova delay. Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan SSL-5 bridge pickup into a Fender Twin Reverb. The Mistress is mixed in about 75%.
Shine on Blues demo with V2 Big Muff and Deluxe Electric Mistress - backing track is based on the Shine on You Crazy Daimond chords and can be found at Gilmourish.com. It's a great blues track to jam too.
More Electric Mistress clips and information on David's "wet" tone can be found on this page.
David often uses long echo delays to help create a his big, liquidy solo tones, and these delays are usually set to repeat in time with the song tempo. At times this effect seems more like reverb, but it is much different than reverb. Some songs require softer, warm analog tape sounding delays, and others require sharper, brighter digital sounding delays. Delay times typically range from 300ms-550 ms, with 3-4 repeats, but some songs require specific delay times. Below are some of the settings I use, some to duplicate the album delays, some to duplicate the live delays. See the Delays section for an explanation of the different delay types - analog and digital.
Some Standard Delay Times: 310, 370, 440, 550ms, delay level around 20%, with around 3 repeats.
Another Brick in the Wall Part 1:
delay time: 440ms -- feedback: 50-60% -- delay level: 25% -- delay type: analog/digital mix
Another Brick in the Wall Part II solo:
delay time: 440ms -- feedback: 15-20% -- delay level: 18-20% -- delay type: analog
Coming Back to Life intro:
delay time: 630ms -- feedback: 10-20% -- delay level: 17% -- delay type: analog
Coming Back to Life and other songs on Pulse:
delay time: 370ms -- feedback: 30% -- delay level: 30% -- delay type: analog
Comfortably Numb (Studio version):
delay time: 480ms -- feedback: 15-20% -- delay level: 20% -- delay type: analog
Castellorizon, Money, Young Lust, and other songs:
delay time: 310ms -- feedback: 15-20% - delay level: 18% -- delay type: analog
On an island:
delay time: 540ms -- feedback: 15-20% - delay level: 15% -- delay type: analog
Run like Hell:
delay time: 380ms -- feedback 60-80% - delay level: 40% -- delay type: digital
Shine On You Crazy Diamond:
delay time: 370ms -- feedback: 15-20% -- delay level: 20% -- delay type: analog
Shine On – Syd’s theme:
delay time: 290 ms -- feedback: 50-60% - delay level: 20% -- delay type: analog
It's almost cliche to say this, but majority of what is percieved as Gilmour's "tone" does come from his fingers and playing. Note choice is obviously key, but you really need to invest the time to learn his techniques and phrasing. You can have David's exact gear, but you won't get the tone if you do not not examine and learn his techniques and style. Study his solos, the subtle phrasing, smooth note bends, and subtle pinch harmonics and tonal variations done with his pick and thumb.
The thumb affecting the tone when picking the string is key to much of the note coloring. Finger and whammy bar tremolo is also extremely important. Gilmour's tremolo speed usually matches the song tempo. It is very smooth and David can go from finger tremolo on one note to whammy bar on the next, and sometimes he switches in the same note! It helps to have your tremolo bar cut short so you can hold it in your plam when playing. Some information on how to do this can be found here.
David rarely lets a note just sit still. It is always moving or changing. Much of what people think is the gear making a solo sound good is simply the fingers making the gear sound good. Big Muff's tend to be a bit harsh and fizzy, but when you add some fluidity to your playing it brings something out of the Muff that you can't get with any other fuzz pedal. Add a sweet chorus and some long delay over that and you are in tonal heaven.
Though this website is dedicated to Gilmour's tone, I do suggest you study other artists you like and learn their techniques as well, then mix them together to create you own unique signature sound and playing style.