Vintage instuments?

[mikekammer]

Hello all, I'm a big fan of the band. I was wondering if you guys have to use vintage instruments to accurately produce the Floyd sound as well as you do? See you in Cuy. Falls on the 11th. Thanks.
BTW, apologies if this has been covered before but a search came up empty!
Mike

[Eroc]

Hi Mike -
Thanks for the question! I know a few of us have posted on here about what gear we use, but I'm sure it's scattered throughout the cyberForum. Most of us have at least a few pieces of vintage gear in our setups... for example, Bob uses an older Leslie cabinet, and Jamie & Mark have some vintage guitars, pedals, etc.

With regards to my bass setup, my guitars are my vintage connection - my main bass (that I've had since 1980) is a '76 Fender Precision with stock pickups, my backup Fenders are from '73 (also stock) & '83. My Fender Fretless Precision (for Hey You) is a '78, and my Rickenbacker is a '94 - not exactly as old as Roger's but a real Ric is the only bass that can get that early Floyd/Syd-era tone. Other than that, most everything else in my setup is modern.

If you have professional gear and put the time & effort into tweaking it, it's not too difficult to emulate most vintage tones... and also not have to worry about reliability issues. Dependable gear is an absolute requirement when performing shows like ours.
Personally, I'm especially proud of Bob's ability in programming vintage sounds on his digital keyboards, along with his use of a real Leslie - very noticeable if you compare his to recordings of many other Floyd tributes.

For our front 3 microphones for lead vocals, we also use vintage Sennheiser MD409's, the kind that Floyd (& many other discerning acts of the day) used. Those are the flat black & gold mics that you see in the "Pompeii" movie and in many photographs of live Floyd from that era. Not only are they great mics, they look cool too!

That's my take - maybe the other guys will chime in with theirs!
(Below is a photo of me with my Ric, singing into the MD409 mic.)
Thanks for your support of the band, hope you enjoyed the show in the Falls and see ya soon -
Eroc

[JC]

I have a couple posts throughout the forum describing my guitar setup, but, it has changed a bit, so, here's the update:

I don't think I own anything that would qualify as "vintage" (unless you count my '93 Lipstick Red Strat that is now retired...maybe I'll get a new neck for it someday and bring her back out). All of my guitars are new (or new-ish)

I have a '52 Butterscotch Tele re-issue that I had outfitted w/ the EMG T-Set pickups. At the same time, I was trying to get another Strat exactly like my '93, (which is the exact make, model, and even color that Gilmour used on The Division Bell tour...you can see it in the P*U*L*S*E video), but, they don't make that color anymore, so, I got the closest I could get. I don't even remember the name of the color now, but, it's kind of a metallic red. I also had the Strat outfitted w/ EMG DG-20 pickups. Both of these were a present from my father in December of '06.

I had one modification made to both of these guitars: turns out that, for years, every guitar I've ever played had the volume and tone pots wired "backwards". In other words, they were wired for a right handed guitar. When they made the left handed versions, they didn't re-wire the pots...they just left them the same as the ones in the right handed versions. So, that means that when I want to turn the volume up, I turn it counter-clockwise. Well, these two guitars actually had the pots wired CORRECTLY...but, after playing the way I have for almost 15 years, I couldn't get the hang of all the sudden having to turn the pots the opposite way of what I've been used to. So, believe it or not, I had to have Mr. Cy Sulak go and re-wire my pots for a right handed guitar...go figure!

I also have a Gibson Flying V. They only made 500-and something of the particular model I have (and, apparently, mine was the first lefty version they made). It's faded cherry red and has an ebony fretboard. I'm under the impression that this was a guitar that Gibson made to just use up a bunch of leftover stock. But, man, it's an awesome guitar. I really wish I could play it more. For now, I just keep it in an open G tuning for use on "Fearless". I got this as a present (thanks again, Beth!) back in '03.

I did have a couple of mods made to this guitar: I had the magnet inside the neck pickup flipped around 180 degress, so, when I have the pickup switch in the middle position, they go out of phase (same trick that Duane Allman and Peter Green used to get that Freddy King-like sound). I also had one of the volume controls and the tone control switched around, just cause it was uncomfortable for me. You had to reach PAST the tone control to get to the volume (there's two volume knobs...one for each pickup)...seemed weird to me. I know a couple of other guys who have this same guitar and they did the same thing ironically...

I also have two Ovation acoustics. I can't remember the model name, [UPDATE: they're the Celebrity model], but, it's the only left handed acoustic/electric that I was able to find anywhere on a store shelf, (and it's also prolly the cheapest model they make...definitely a "beginner" guitar). I also got these in '06. Hopefully someday I'll get a nice Martin or, maybe a Taylor...

[UPDATE: I now have a custom Breedlove acoustic that's absolutely gorgeous and sounds amazing...when I can get to work, that is...for such an expensive boutique guitar, I'm *very* surprised at some of the features...or, lack of, heh heh...but, it was a present from a friend and I cherish it...hopefully I'll be able to get Mr. Cy Sulak to get all of the kinks worked out someday and you'll see this one at a show...as of now, I only use it for my solo acoustic shows]

As for my amp, (which I also got in '06), it's a Fender DeVille Deluxe, and, for effects, I use all stomp boxes. I use an Ibanez Tube Screamer, a Vox 60's Wah (re-issue) that I only get out when we do "Stay", (I had an original that died on me about 10 years ago...man I loved that wah...but, this one's pretty damn close!), and the rest of my pedals are all Boss's: a chorus, flanger, and digital delay.

And, just for complete-ness: I've used D'Addario strings for almost my entire guitar playing life (I used GHS Boomers for a few years when I first started when I was a kid and, I've tried other makes of strings, but, I've always come back). I normally use .10-.42 for my electrics (unless I'm tuning down for some reason, then I use the custom sets that run .10-.52...basically the bottom three strings, G-B-E, are "10's" and the top three, E-A-D, are "11's"). For my acoustics, I also use D'Addario EXP's. When I'm in standard tuning, I use the 'lights' (the bottom is an .11); whenever I'm tuning down, I use the 'mediums' (the bottom is a .13).

And, I only use Dunlop Tortex picks (the green ones). If I can find the triangular tortise shell Fender picks, I use them on my acoustics...but, they're harder and harder to find it seems...

Hope this covers everything! ;D

[Golem]

Oh, to dream of using a vintage rig! My 1st keyboard was a Fender Rhodes Mark I 73 stage, and I miss that board every time I play. Nothing compares to the real, but imitation gear sure is advancing at an amazing rate it seems. I chose to go digital back when the Korg M1 came out for the sheer simplicity and weight/size concerns, not to mention stage space and expense. As it is, I've hacked back my rig to the simplest setup I can muster, and it still comes up to over 500 pounds, and completely fills the back of my pickup!

My leslie speaker is the last of my vintage pieces I use live. It's a 1968 145 (red label) with an updated driver and a vintage Alnico jensen 15". The amp has been almost completely rebuilt and I use NOS preamp tubes and EH 6550's. I also use a custom tube preamp that is about 4 years old, so I guess that doesn't count! My boards are all digital workstations. I like them since they basically contain everything internally. Currently, I'm not running any outboard effects or tone generators, but that may change soon. Hmmm...lol

[mikekammer]

Thanks for the answers guys, interesting stuff. I've noticed some equipment on stage that looks like it may be vintage and just wondered about echo effects, slide guitar, and that kinda stuff.
Very cool!

[markbrennanmusic]

Hey Mike....I do have one piece of what I would consider legitimate vintage gear...it's my Boss CE-1 Chrorus Ensemble, but I don't use it in WYWH, because I have an emulation of it in my Rocktron Replifex processor. The Replifex also has emulations of other old pedals like the MXR Phase 90, Small Stone flanger, etc...that's about as close as I get to "vintage". i do have a mid 80's Strat that I use. And I also have an old Ovation Breadwinner 12-string. The rest of my gear consists of my Tom Anderson Classic (Strat style), a new American Deluxe Ash Strat (with the S-1 switching). I use an Epiphone electric calssical, and a custom Martin acoustic electric. My amp is a Mesa Boogie Mark IV. I now have a Heil talkbox, too (I guess this might be considered vintage). See ya t the show. Come on up and I'll show you all my gear....Mark B.