[Harp-L] Re: fender bassman ltd again

[scott <checker758@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Ray Beltran <raybeltran@xxxx> wrote:
> 
> What guys are attempting to reproduce of LW's sound (when they say they want
> that LW sound) are examples they've heard from RECORDED material. In a
> (mostly) controlled  studio environment. With studio effects. And a good
> mix.
> 
> Now I know effects are a personal matter. But when someone writes "reverb is
> a must"...I really question that.
 
 
Exactly.  Any reverb and/or delay effects you hear on LW records were *studio only* effects.  They were used on the records only, and how they were applied was determined by the producer and engineer, not by LW.  When asked how the reverb effect was applied on the records, he didn't even know - he just said that the engineer was "doing it with his hand" (i.e., turning something up and down in the control room.)
 
Trying to recreate that studio sound in a live situation would not only be next to impossible, but also a bad idea for the reasons Ray points out below - reverb and delay will only wash out the sound in a live situation, making your playing sound indistinct and distant.  Or as Ray says, "mushy", as opposed clear and defined.
 
LW didn't use these sorts of effects in live situations because they were unnecessary - the room already provided plenty of reverb and delay.  In fact, when LW was asked about what type of room he liked to play in, he said, "One with a low ceiling", i.e., one that DIDN'T create a lot of reverb.  He then went on to complain specifically about large rooms that created a lot of reverberated sounds - he said he didn't like hearing the sound bouncing back at him after he'd played it, because by the time it bounced back, he'd already moved on and played something else.
 
I suppose all of this is just another way of saying you can't buy "the LW sound".  If you could, don't you think there would have been a lot more people who sounded like him back in the day, when everyone had easy access to all of the same equipment he used?  It seems likely to me that there were also harp players back then who thought the secret was in the equipment, and they WERE able to see exactly what he used on a gig, so they went out and got the same thing.  But I don't hear anyone who was able to replicate his sound then, any more than I do now.
 
Scott
 
 
> 
> Before you tack on all that other gear ON TOP of your LW rig, in an attempt
> to get that "LW sound", think about what your audience will be hearing. For
> you, on stage, right next to your amp, with delay, or reverb, or both, you
> might very well sound like LW. But as the sound goes out, and begins to
> reflect off walls and ceilings, guess what it sounds like at the back of the
> club? Lack of note definition, for one thing. "Mushy" comes to mind.
> 
> I think I've used my DanEcho pedal once or twice in all the times I've had
> it. As I recall, I used it at a gig where the room was acoustically "dead."
> 


		
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