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.
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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, and pickups, and fingers :) I am not a Gilmour/Pink Floyd gear expert, so your results may vary.
Modulation from The Wall Era - David gilmour's first flanger was the Electo-Harmonix green Electric Mistress from around the time of the Animals tour in 1977. It was also used on David's first solo album called David Gilmour, The Wall album, The Final Cut, and possibly on A Momentary Lapse of Reason. When the Mistress was used in conjuction with the Ram's Head Big Muff and delay it created a very smooth, liquidy, wet distortion tone unlike any other. David later switched to a Boss CE-2 chorus for an even smoother modulation to go along with his Big Muff tone. A prime example of this modulated tone is the first solo in Comfortably Numb from The Wall album, which was created with a Ram's Head Big Muff, possibly with a light overdrive boost from a Pete Cornish ST-2 treble/bass booster or a Colorsound Power Boost. The light modulation you hear on that solo may be a mix of a Yamaha rotating speaker cabinet, as has been stated in several interviews and articles, and the unmodulated signal going to another amp. It may also be a mix of an Electric Mistress going to one amp and the unmodulated signal going to another amp. Give it a listen.
COMFORTABLY NUMB FIRST SOLO - from The Wall studio album
The Wall film soundtrack version of CN was made from the same tracks recorded for the studio album, just remixed. Below is the dry channel of the first CN solo that I ripped from the 5.1 mix. It is interesting how this sounds relatively clean with very little modulation at all. The other tracks with the solo all have the delay and reverb added. This dry track may have been one recorded from a dry amp, and the other tracks may be recorded from the Yamaha rotating speaker cabinet. It is common to record a dry version of a solo so delay, reverb, and effects can be adde later in the mixing stage.
The Mistress is a very dominating effect, so this is definitely not the Mistress 100% in the final mix, but it does not sound like a rotating speaker 100% in the mix either. Likely it is the Yamaha/Hiwatt mixed, or possibly a Yamaha/Fender amp mix. David used the Electic Mistress and a rotating speaker cabinet when he played this solo live for The Wall stage shows, creating a much heavier modulation than the studio mix. The rotating speaker doppler effect of the Yamaha and the Mistress create very different sounding modulations, but can sound similar when mixed down. I prefer the lighter modulation of the studio version.
Here are clips of the first Comfortably Numb solo from The Wall recording up to Live in Gdansk for reference. David went from using Electic Mistress modulation to Boss chorus modulation, then to no modulation at all for the more recent shows.
COMFORTABLY NUMB FIRST SOLO CLIPS - From 1979 to 2006
Clips are in this order:
The Wall studio recording 1979 - Green Electric Mistress into a Hiwatt and Yamaha rotating speaker cabinet
The Wall live 1980/81- Green Electric Mistress and rotating speaker cabinets
About Face tour live 1984 - Boss CE-3 chorus
Delicate Sound of Thunder 1987/88 - Boss CE-2 chorus
Pulse 1994 - Boss CE-2 chorus and Doppola rotating speaker cabinets
Live 8 Reunion 2005 - No modulation
AOL Sessions 2006 - No modulation
Live in Gdansk 2006 - No modulation
HOW TO GET THE TONE - Here are clips of this solo from my rig with different Gilmour style chorus and flanger modulations for comparison. Signal chain: American Standard Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan SSL-5 bridge pickup -> Colorsound Overdriver set for heavy boost -> Ram's Head Big Muff -> Modulation Pedal -> Boss DD-3 Digital Delay -> Fender Twin Reverb. The settings I used are shown below.
Here are a few older clips. Audio is not that great.
Comfortably Numb Solo #1 - Strat, Seymour Duncan SSL5 bridge pickup, and Skreddy Pink Flesh Muff
Comfortably Numb Solo #1 jamming to chords - Strat, Seymour Duncan SSL5 bridge pickup, and Skreddy Pink Flesh Muff
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Copyright Kit Rae.