E bow

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VirtualSamana

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Any one use this with good results?

How well does it work with the POD. Does it increase the sustain?

I've heard RadioHead uses this piece of equipment. Is that how they get the sound on the opening riff of the 1st track off OK Computer?
 
The E bow will sustain a string figuratively forever. It kind of works like feedback that keeps going and going. I can't comment on RadioHead, but the E bow sounds like a nifty little toy they might use.

The E bow is a neat little tool, but I wouldn't recommend it to fix sustain problems.

Matt
 
E-bow and radiohead

I recently saw Ed O'Brien (Radiohead guitarist) playing live with Neil Finn (of Crowded House fame) :D and he used an ebow quite a bit... Don't know about the radiohead album thing tho...

It does sustain forever, but it alters the sound, and only works on one note at a time, so it may not be what you're after for the POD,
STeve
 
I love my ebow. I wish I could find it. PJ Harvey uses one a lot on her new album... On the opening of the radiohead track, that's just picking, doubled in stereo with a cello. An ebow sounds like that sound in the opening of "With or Without You" by U2. Remember to roll your tone off--even all the way--because the ebow adds a ton of brightness...
 
best use of the E-bow in a recording

Listen to "E-Bow the Letter" - by R.E.M. - (1996 - New Adventures in Hi-Fi) - also uses it on "Leave" I think....

Cool tone, and I like it, but I can't use it without another guitar player, so I rarely do.

And while it wouldn't surprise me to find Radiohead uses it, I suspect it's just one of about a hundred weapons in their arsenal, but it does sound like the riff in "Airbag" could have been played with something similar.

RB
:(
 
Collective Soul also has a lot of E-Bow scattered throughout their songs. Anything that sounds like a synth pad is an e-bow...

It's a very cool little device.

Bruce
 
thanks for all the info. I think I'll put that toy on my list

Charger - I thought that's how Radiohead got that Cello-ish sound. I read an interview with them where they talk about some of their gear and the E-bow stuck in my mind. Then I read a discription of the E-bow that basiscally said it can get tones that sound like your hired the Philharmonics to back you up. Check it out:

"Electric Bow For Guitar
The EBow is a hand-held electronic bow for guitar. The small, battery-powered unit replaces the pick in the right hand, letting the guitarist mimic strings, horns, and woodwinds with unbelievable sensitivity. The EBow produces a powerful infinite sustain, rich in harmonics for incredible guitar sounds."

I think this discription's a little over blown but if you can get some cool sounds out of the thing for $75 then I'm game.
 
Fernandez makes pick-ups(humbuckers) that can sustain indefinitely, and you can turn the sustain on and off. Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis) uses them and the effect is pretty amazing. The advantage over the E-bow is that you can play with both hands on the guitar.

I tried a friends E-bow once and it's not as easy as it looks. Whoever invented it was quite creative.
 
yeah, you can get tones like the Philharmonic (chuckle). You should play one, you will throw that conception out the window. I have used one for years, and it's VERY hard to get real-sounding strings. But it is easy to get really cool sounds with it. I don't doubt that Radiohead uses them all over OK computer, but it's hard to tell what thousands of sounds are on that album. I'm pretty darn sure that that's a sampled cello on Airbag though... you would have to be a pretty insane e-bow player to get sounds that realistic... especially with all the string-switching you would have to do.
 
Marty Willson Piper From Australian Band the church gets some pretty happening sounds with an e bow and his rickenbacker 6 and 12 string guitars :-)
 
Another example of ebowness is the band Big Country from the mid-eighties...
 
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