Posted on 01/23/2015 7:09:15 PM PST by rdb3
I was listening to Carlos Santana's "Europa (Earth's Cry, Heaven's Smile)" and it made me wonder how in the world did he do those two looooong sustains or bends in this piece? Was this an amp trick or something that can be done only in the studio? I mean, 4 second sustains are amazing. How did he do it?
Jesus Christ: You cant impeach Him and He aint gonna resign.
And a 10+ year waiting list to get one built. And if you piss off Alexander Dumble by asking him if he's started building your amp yet, he'll send you back to the bottom of the list.
Anyways, it couldn't have been a Dumble on this 1976 track. Santana didn't get his until after he saw Stevie Ray Vaughan playing through one.
And volume. I have a Marshall Plexi half stack and every now and then I'll get a wild hair up my ass and dime it out. It shakes the walls. Standing in the right place though, I can hold a note forever.
Technique 1:
Turn it up loud enough so the energy from the speakers keeps the string exited. This sustain will last forever (as long as the amp is on).
You have to have pickups that won’t squeal by themselves from the feedback.
Compression helps control it, but you still need the above feedback effect to sustain the note forever.
You can move about and find harmonics of the fundamental frequency. Pretty cool (see Steve Vai).
Technique 2:
Simple compression. This boosts the volume of the signal as the string loses energy. Won’t last forever but you can get much longer notes. It helps to have a stiff guitar so the string loses energy at a slower rate.
Technique 3:
Drive a synth with the guitar. This is more common these days as synthesizer technologies blend with traditional effects. In this case the synth is actually making the sound, triggered by the string. A synth note can have infinite decay.
Technique 4:
Use something else to keep the string exited (put energy into the string), like an e-bow, or even an old fashioned violin bow.
I think that exhausts it...
Right...almost certainly a Boogie.
Harmonic feedback. It’s a beautiful thing. Unfortunately Carlos is one who can not just play. He will insert his lefty opinions at some point in the show, guaranteed.
Controlled feedback insanity By Hendrix
Some delay and some compression, I’d imagine..
Your right.
A friend had one of those and I liked it.
Les Paul like.
==============================================
This. Even better with a hollowbody.
Yep, infinite sustain... My old Twin Reverb will make my Les Paul sing like that when I crank it, though I'll be the first to admit its 2x12 cab doesn't have the wall-shaking balls of a Marshall stack. Long ago I played for a while through a Marshall 100-watt head with a pair of 4x12s, and there simply is nothing in the world quite like that experience. Except maybe having a stage backline with 3 such stacks. I saw Blue Cheer at the old Electric Factory in Philly around 1968 -- that was the first time I experienced the power of multiple stacks. It was kinda like seeing God, you're never the same again.
Stevie Ray Vaughn.
I don’t know the tune, but “active electronics” comes to mind. If that even existed back then.
Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.
Not for the faint of hearing.
Actually, every once in a decade or so I'll give it a listen. Also sounds better slowed down by around 75%
I wanted a Twin Reverb and went shopping for one. I found a Super Twin that was in decent shape (electronically great but with the customary cosmetic wear n tear).
I started using it and was almost immediately disappointed - it was too loud! I had gone from a 65 watt single twelve Ampeg and a 60 watt single twelve Dean Markley and was used to achieving a certain amount of output concurrent with the saturation of tubes which gives that golden tone. What I wound was that most of the halls where I played couldn’t handle the Super at full volume. And anything less robbed me of the tone I sought.
Most of the Twins and Super Twins ran at 65 to 85 watts. There was a number of years where the Twin spec’d at 100 watts. I did some research and found that my monster was running at 135 watts. No wonder!
I never sold it but I did replace it. I wonder what the durn thing is worth now?
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4 seconds seems relatively short in the realm of electric guitars. Even an acoustic guitar can do that without amplification.
He might have had amps that go to 11, which opens up all kinds of possibilities.
“Hi gain amplification. Tube saturation. Its magical.”
Just like a certain dude with a a Gibson Birdland used to do
but with a little feedback thrown in.
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