Guitars

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ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
This is all great but still nobody has told me how to prolong my sustain. I hear that Mr Moore used to find the sweet spot on the stage that gave him feedback from the amp, and get to that position when he wanted a prolonged sustain. I'm too stupid / lazy to take the time to work all that out so can somebody tell me if there's some sort of effects pedal, or oojamacallit to do the job for me?

Thanks.
 

Basil.B

Guru
Location
Oxfordshire
Sustain, get a Fuzz or Overdrive pedal.
Also a Compressor pedal would help.
 
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SteCenturion

I am your Father
This is all great but still nobody has told me how to prolong my sustain. I hear that Mr Moore used to find the sweet spot on the stage that gave him feedback from the amp, and get to that position when he wanted a prolonged sustain. I'm too stupid / lazy to take the time to work all that out so can somebody tell me if there's some sort of effects pedal, or oojamacallit to do the job for me?

Thanks.
Generally it comes from volume & therefore pushing the front end (valve stage) of a valve amp, & digging in, attack.
Transistor/solid state amps are not as good at this trick, not to say that you can't get sustain or hold a note but my experience is that solid state are just not as good.

Fernandes used to, might still produce a sustainer pickup that was loaded onto some of their guitars. I think it is an active unit & has another device fitted somewhere to boost sustain.

Best bet for me is volume & a valve amp plus good left/right hand fretting, hard to get there if playing at bedroom levels like most do, myself included.

1 or 2 other options might work.

Firstly, if you have a valve amp, buy an attenuator, also known as a power brake/power soak.

Plug this in your 'Valve' amp, this will lower the overall power but allow you to push the front end at lower volume.

Secondly, bin/sell your current high powered valve or solid state amp & buy a nice new low power recording valve amp. These amps can run anywhere between say 30watt down to 1wattt & even 1/2 watt, usually in increments.

I have in my house ...
a 50w 2x12 Marshall that doesn't get used due to volume.
A 5w 1x10 Marshall that does get used & is loud enough to get the Police called out.
A 15w Mesa Boogie that switches between 25w, 15w & 5w in various modes which I run through an Orange 2x12 cab.
An Orange Tiny Terror 5w I think, again via Orange 2x12 cab.

A trip to a good guitar store is recommended to run through your options.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
I have one of those too.

Which reminds me, an overdrive/boost type pedal can help @r04DiE & significantly cheaper.
Originally I had a Sunn (FMIC) 15 watt 'practice amp that only had a clean channel so it was a bit flat without pedals but then bought a 'Cheesy Little Amp' Fender Champion 30 (the old one without all the built in effects) that has overdrive and reverb built in.
 

r04DiE

300km a week through London on a road bike.
Generally it comes from volume & therefore pushing the front end (valve stage) of a valve amp, & digging in, attack.
Transistor/solid state amps are not as good at this trick, not to say that you can't get sustain or hold a note but my experience is that solid state are just not as good.

Fernandes used to, might still produce a sustainer pickup that was loaded onto some of their guitars. I think it is an active unit & has another device fitted somewhere to boost sustain.

Best bet for me is volume & a valve amp plus good left/right hand fretting, hard to get there if playing at bedroom levels like most do, myself included.

1 or 2 other options might work.

Firstly, if you have a valve amp, buy an attenuator, also known as a power brake/power soak.

Plug this in your 'Valve' amp, this will lower the overall power but allow you to push the front end at lower volume.

Secondly, bin/sell your current high powered valve or solid state amp & buy a nice new low power recording valve amp. These amps can run anywhere between say 30watt down to 1wattt & even 1/2 watt, usually in increments.

I have in my house ...
a 50w 2x12 Marshall that doesn't get used due to volume.
A 5w 1x10 Marshall that does get used & is loud enough to get the Police called out.
A 15w Mesa Boogie that switches between 25w, 15w & 5w in various modes which I run through an Orange 2x12 cab.
An Orange Tiny Terror 5w I think, again via Orange 2x12 cab.

A trip to a good guitar store is recommended to run through your options.
Thank you for all that fabulously detailed info! I've got a Kustom Dart 10 FX Amp, the speaker says 15W. I think I might buy a Fuzz or Overdrive pedal as @Basil.B recommended.
 

r04DiE

300km a week through London on a road bike.

This, I like - but a bit expensive for somebody like me that can only play one song, well, two thirds of one song. Its brilliant though.

What do you all think of one of these?

d0be83027eca19d2f060c93ff7f7c439.jpg
 
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SRV Strat (love it - cant play anything like him) fender bass & acoustic and a few assorted others...
At a John Otway gig a few years ago... "I got a guitar for my birthday, tried to play it and realised I was shite... then my sister bought Blond on Blond and I thought I'm not actually that bad...."
 
Must add, as a claim to fame, I used to hang around with a girlfriend in Chiswick who's step dad had a studio in the house... apparently when I was about 14 I lent over the stable door and told the chap on guitar I thought he was quite good and could probably make records playing like that... vaguely remember it and got teased relentlessly for years by the step dad for my 'conversation' with Roger Waters...
 

r04DiE

300km a week through London on a road bike.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v
Worth a look, not heard of the EHX Crayon.

Funnily enough, I phoned my local guitar shop and told then what I want to to achieve and they recommended the CS3. They also offered that I bring the guitar and amp in and they'd look at setting it up for me. I think I have as much sustain as I can out of the amp after fiddling with the settings and I'm still nowhere near long enough for the sustain that I want, so I might just go for a pedal. At the moment I am torn between the CS3 and the Freeze thing posted earlier.

And how fast are that guy's fingers?
 
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