Specific guitar effect on a Smashing Pumpkins Song

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pisces7378

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Believe me I know how lame this sounds, but I am looking for someone that can tell me how to approximate the sound that Billy Corgan (from Smashing Pumpkins) got on the intro guitar riff for the song: "I of the Mourning" from their "Machina" record? I am interested in a VERY "airy" guitar sound like that or the guitar intro from "This Time" from the same record. Both of these songs just have very airy sounds. I am not looking for anything uber-weird. No screaming flanges, or space invader phasers... but I am tired as hell of my ES-335 into a Marshall TSL amp. I want some siry effects without going into some dreamy "wanna slit my wrist" reverb wash.

If you guys could come up with the effects that the S.P used on the two above mentioned songs then I'd be your best friend.
 
Hello Pisces,

Billy has used a number of different guitars. His main guitars are a 1974 Fender Stratocaster, 1950's Reissue Fender Strat, 1972 Gibson ES-335 and a Epiphone SG.

The intro you refer to on the 'I am one song' is actually a Fender Standard Stratocaster with a Red Lace Sensor in the bridge position, a Silver in the middle and a Blue in the neck position. The intro and solo are played on the bridge pickup.

Billy uses the following effects:

Fender Blender
Electro Harmonix Big Muff
Vox wha
Small stone
ADA Flanger
Maestro Fuzz
Maestro Phase

From what I am told, his tech swaps the power tubes from EL34's to KT88's in his Marshall JCM800 Heads with 1960A cabs.

Adjust the amplifier's gain until it just starts to 'colour' the sound of the guitar, then use the 'Big Muff' to give the sound a more rounded, 'hollow' sound.

It takes some practice, but it can be done with patience and a cheap tape recorder to compare your sound to the target sound.

I think you can capture the 'I of the Mourning' sound you are seeking in this fashion.

I hope this information is helpful...Robert
 
distortedrumble said:
......................damn
Click to expand...

ditto...

Robert, you're not by chance a Pumpkins fan? :p

I always wanted that sustain/gated Siamese Dream sound, but I found turning everything up full blast with no reverb/delay on a marshall does the job lol

(BTW, this was a joke -- there's A LOT more to it than volume!)
 
Actually, I'm not a big Pumpkins fan, but I do admire anyone who plays with a unique sound. I did some studio work a while back and one of the cover songs was 'I am one,' so it was a challenge for me to capture enough of Corgan's sound so the song would be recognizable.

I made a few calls to some friends and someone happened to know one of Corgan's guitar/equipment techs.

I'm pretty basic when it comes to playing in my own style. I prefer (like Dimebag) the solid state Marshalls. I have found they give good performance and are very rugged.

I use the distortion provided by the amp alone and run through a volume pedal and a Boss Noise Suppressor. I prefer the raw, natural sound.

I have the gain, bass and treble at 10 and the 'contour' control at about 1 'O Clock. I use a lot of reverb live, but none in the studio. I bring in any delay/reverb through the console as needed.

I have an old Arion Stereo Chorus I use on some songs and the best delay I have ever found is an antique DOD FX90. Funny thing is...this delay sounds like shit if it is plugged into a power source, but sounds great with a 9 volt battery. Go figure.

I have also found there are some sounds I can create on a 25.5" scale that I can't replicate on a 24.65" scale length. Because of this, I am really looking into one of the Schecter Blackjack C-1 guitars. Sweet....

Enough rambling for now. Hope you guys are having a great week!!!...Robert
 
Ramble away Rob, I get a lot from your posts. :)

BTW -- I've ALWAYS had issues with pedals and 60 cycle hum. Even with some power conditioning, it just doesn't seem to go away unless I use batteries (probably the fault of the pedal manufacturer).

I ended up selling all my gear (I mean, ALL of it) on eBay recently, and bought ALL new stuff. instead of a myriad of echo, delay, distortion, and reverb, I've opted ofr a Fender cyber champ which has some nice presets, but allows you to create your own. The amp sims are actually pretty good. I had an old time blues player of 35 years over recently (my old music buddy Lew) and he was really impressed with how real some of the older amp styles sounded. The midi interface makes gigging a dream, can literally program banks for each song if I want (using my behringer pedal board).
 
60 cycle hum....It's a wonder Fender ever made it as big as they did. Those are some noisy guitars!!!

When I started playing, I couldn't afford any good stuff, so I had to do with a basic amp (Fender Twin Reverb) and a DOD FX50 Overdrive. That's all I could afford.

Later on, I bought an Arion Metal Master, but felt like it colored my sound so much, I could no longer hear a difference between my guitars. On top of that, there were so many settings possible... and the noise!!!

Over the years, I kinda developed a 'simple' sound and stuck with it. Now, I play through my Marshall MG50 and that's it. I have a 100 watt solid state for big stuff, but the 50 is great for small gigs.

The interesting part is, I was just hired to replace a guitarist for a jazz/folk artist. He was amazed at the clean sound I got out of my solid state Marshall and a 1986 Squire Stratocaster with a HS-3 in the bridge position. Sweet!!!!

I really admire Angus Young's approach to his tone. He has a very basic rig, yet he has a great sound.

With my current setup, the guitar sounds very heavy...lots of midrange with just a little trebley-edge over the top. I have been told it is a unique sound, but its all guitar. I can have my wife plug in my different guitars and tell which one she is strumming with my eyes closed.

I have been working on some slide guitar pieces tonight. I play through the same Marshall M50 but turn the volume on the Strat down halfway. A 9 volt battery gives the perfect balance...not too metallic sounding, yet very twangy.

I started strumming this 'bayou' sounding thing....really kinda spooky sounding and added some slide guitar on the first notes. Then, the song changes to picked notes and abruptly takes off on a metal version of the same progression. Its wild!!!

I'm thinking about starting the song off with some crickets and maybe an owl in the background to give that 'swampy' feel along with the slide guitar intro....then the song explodes into a driving bass and ryhthm attack.

A few friends and I are working on this as a side project. We are writing an album of heavy rock/metal songs. We started with 10 song titles and started writing from those ideas...kinda like a concept album I guess.

I must be crazy mixing slide guitar and heavy metal, but I know I am on the right track when I let a non-musician friend listen to just the music and he said, "Sounds like you are mad at somebody..."

Just the kind of thing I was hoping for!!!...Robert
 
If you want to hear some 'heavy' slide, check out Lew's work on "Lew's Nutz".

http://www.the-boogiemen.com (direct linking to this song doesn't work on old vbulletin sites, the " ' " in "Lew's" breaks the link)

Done with a cheap Washburn electric and $100 crate amp (with it's gain up).
 
I'm no slide master, but it is a cool technique and I am trying to polish the effect for the intro to this song. I will definitely check out Lew's work!!!! Thanks!!!!....Robert
 
Tell me some more about the 'boogimen.' How did they compile those songs??? Is it all instrumental???...Robert
 
It was all done on cheap gear, recording live tracks to a back beat with Cakewalk 9, using Acid 2.0/3.0 Pro to loop drum hits/beats (depending on need). Most instruments were direct line into the small eurotrack mixer. The guitar gear used was listed in the gear link off the page (that's the stuff I've since sold and replaced with stuff of higher quality).

No 'vocals', but there is some spoken word and a biker doin reggae ;).

I've since put this project to rest, interest in homerecording has faded and I learned all I wanted from it. Off to rejoin the countless other wannabe superstars playing dingy bars in front of ungrateful crowds of drunk frat boys requesting Tom Petty and Aerosmith.
 
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