The ANSWER IS (from the Sonics Live Sound Operator)-

Hi Erik-

You asked the right guy because I built the pedal board that Larry is currently using.
It all starts with the amp because Larry's sound is based on being able to switch back and forth between ultra clean and distortion.
The preferred amps these days are:

(1)  Fender "The Twin"  with a master volume

or

(2) a Fender red knob Twin (also has a master volume)

Larry even used a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier head + a Marshall 4x12 recently because the backline company didn't have the right kind of Twin.

If we have the correct amp then the only pedals needed are a tuner, compressor/sustain, a DDL and a volume pedal. If we don't have the right amp, things get more complicated. Then we add a clean boost pedal, a tube screamer and an A/B box so that we can run two amps- one clean, one dirty.

You DON'T Need to go Vintage to get certain sounds. You Can do a lot with Modern Gear to make it sound old without beating it up. You can buy a Power Soak to load your speakers so you don't have to run the amp at full tilt. You don't have to slash and/or poke holes in your speakers either, you can make Buzz Speakers with a Plastic Garbage bage stretched over the front of the speaker to buzz when the speaker makes noises. There are many good (and affordable) pedals out there too.Invent your own sounds. Try to innovate off of what you hear from the Sonics sound, but not ape them.

I have seen there Backline and know their soundman. It is all Modern Gear. I could ask about what Larry uses on his guitar, but probably won't get more than a generic answer back. It is really the musician NOT the Gear.

i reckon for the you really got me tone ,rather than damage an expensive vintage amp or try to find an old harmony on ebay ,get a hollow body and send it through an old fuzz pedal (your couce really) and then into an old style amp like an ac30 ,then decrease the bass and raise the treble.

i do this to if ireally like some ones sound ill spend hours on the interweb finding out what they used ,particulaly with amps and pedals (particulaly fuzz)

I took some pics at The Sonics show at Ray Davies Meltdown - sorry can't really make out the equipment but I thought you Sonics fans might like to check them out here http://retroman65.blogspot.com/2011/06/sonics-live-ray-davies-meltdown.html

Steve

It's not "old" at all. It's a new band! They intentionally recorded it to sound like shit. That's my point.

Johnny sic said:

Sounds like a crappy cassette. It could the only recording left. That said, not sure if its that old.

The mumbling lyrics are cool and the guitar is cool but I find the distortion a little too much for this recording. But I don't think it's a huge difference to the kind that Atomic Suplex do, I mean they seem to be more consistent with it but nevertheless some bands just go for that.

I think in the distortion thing doesn't grate so much.

I think that's what they were trying for, maybe?

Johnny sic said:

Sounds like a crappy cassette. It could the only recording left. That said, not sure if its that old.

Sounds like a crappy cassette. It could the only recording left. That said, not sure if its that old.

That sounds bloody horrible and its compressed all to hell. I don't understand that type of production with the vocals heavily effected and them slammed back into the mix so no-one can understand them. And you're right, the song sounds like it might be a good tune but its kind of hard to tell through that awful production.

and listen to pierced arrows, their new band!  just as awesome...

The Rex Arms said:

dead moon were a grunge band from portland.  you can find their 7" in jukeboxes there.

 

 

Greg Shaw (R.I.P.) for his inspiration and spirit.  Also, there is a thing about putting NEW bands in a "Hall of Fame".  maybe there should be a rule like 10 or 20 years have to pass.

The Sonics
The Wailers
The Mummies
The Oblivians
The Gories
The Kingsmen
The Trashmen

DMZ

Individual Hall of Famers for me...

Sean Bonniwell

Rocky Erickson

Arthur Lee

Julian Cope

Link Wray

Graham Day

Billy Childish

Mark E SMith

white with black pickup would look amazing, i put a down payment on a 1962/63 uk vox phantom, pick it up next weekend i cant wait, it is black with a white pickguard and has the original Hank Marvin Tremolo :)

Don't know if it fits your bill, but Warren Zevons "Boom Boom Mancini" springs to mind... the lyrics relate to the career of boxer Ray Mancini and specifically a comeback fight against Bobby Chacon in the 80's.

ee.

"KUNG FU FIGHTING' by Carl Douglas and its disco

Thee Headcoatees 'my boyfriends learning karate' and nearly all the Cockney rejects early stuff is about the ICF(football hooligans)

Congratulations!.. Schecters are great value!  But are you sure you really need to "upgrade" the pups?.. Was considering changing the DDes. humbuckers on my Schecter Corsair, but found out my money was best wasted elsewhere.

A mix of tron and hb for neck and bridge sounds ideal by the way, a hbs in neck position can get excessively "dark" and muddied if you ask me... I have no experience with Filtertrons, but – like you – imagine them to be in the P90 neighborhood... which is an ecellent place to be!

Anyway, if you want to try out different options, you should try out GFS pups (on Ebay)... They do all sorts of clones and crossbreeds, and sound great (have a couple of their P90's in a cheap Epi, which rival the one in my SG jnr.)... and don't be fooled by the price, cause they're dirt cheap!

(e)

I got this pretty little guitar recently, a Schecter Vintage Solo which I call the 'poor man's Gretsch Duo Jet' and I'd like to upgrade the stock PUs. It comes with a Duncan Designed Filtertron clone in the neck and some regular Humbucker sized PU in the bridge.

It's my first Humbucker guitar so I'd like to know what you guys think, are vintage PAF Humbuckers(maybe the 55 model or 57 or 59 - all sound great to me) or Filtertrons the way to go with Fuzz? Or a mix?

The info I gathered is that PAF have about the double DC resistance than Trons and will sound more dark/warm/less trebely(is that a word?) than the Trons. As I play with P90s in another guitar, that sounds like the sound I am used to.

But there is TV Jones and his Powertrons and Magnatrons, which have higher output than the standard Filertrons. Does anyone play them with fuzz?

I've owned a bunch of 'classic' fuzz pedals over the last months, searching for 'the' fuzz sound. As usual it depends also on the guitar, the PUs and the amp how it will sound but of course there are tendencies. I sold all pedals again but my Smitty Fuzztone, a Maestro FZ-1S clone. I'd look into  Maestro or  MK2 Tonebender clones if I was you.

You could always build one:

lots of projects

more projects

Pedal kits

"BELSEN WAS A GAS"   SeX PisToLs

"HOMOSEXUAl" Angry Samoans

Just plain Cool!!  Love this site, the tunes, the members, the bands, Podcasts and the Comps!!!

So glad to be here, thanks for starting it all and keeping it going kopper.

ChazDaddy