Early Son Volt

[MilwMark]

Does anyone know how the lead guitar tones were put together on Trace? I'm thinking on Drown and others. It's almost like a starved fuzz or the Bd-2 fizzies. But I can't find any info. It's all over the album. Ironically, that tone is all over the leads and licks on Tweedy's firs,. A.M., as well Thanks

 

[chesire]

I don't know but I'd love too. Eagerly awaiting a response more relevant than my own.

 

[Wyzsard]

The pedal steel player used dirt. I gotta give them a listen, it's been a while.

 

[backporchmusic]

Trace was spectacular. I'd love to hear the answer too.

 

[stantonmanton]

Jay Farrar = Badass

 

[spayne99]

I'm seeing Son Volt this week. I have no idea what Jay was using on Trace. Pics of his pedalboards have shown Tubescreamers and Rats. I heard he used an Arion OD back in '95.

 

[JesterR]

Great music and great tone. As for pedals, I do not think, that this is something unique. For me it's more like a cranked amp, with maybe some kind of boost (Screamer or just a boost) with right guitar and right miking.

 

[Low4]

I recently found a copy of the Guitar Player mag with the interview with Jay and Dave from '96 or so. I'll dig it out and see what it says. Mostly I remember Dave playing that Goldtop with a Bigsby into a Marshall, maybe a JCM800, and Jay playing through an AC30 and Mesa Maverick during that era, but who knows what they recorded with. Love me some Volt.

 

[MilwMark]

I recently found a copy of the Guitar Player mag with the interview with Jay and Dave from '96 or so. I'll dig it out and see what it says. Mostly I remember Dave playing that Goldtop with a Bigsby into a Marshall, maybe a JCM800, and Jay playing through an AC30 and Mesa Maverick during that era, but who knows what they recorded with. Love me some Volt.

That guitar was a thing of visual and sonic beauty. It may be I just don't know the Marshall sound that well (at least Marshall's as used w/o the gain pushed to "rock" territory). If it's just Goldtop with p90s into Marshall, that would be interesting. Because I love the tone. But when I listen closely I hear "sputtery decay", "fizzy decay", "harsh" and other adjectives used pejoratively when referring to the Boss BD-2 for instance. Would be funny if those are actually characterics of iconic guitar right into iconic amp . . .

Anyway, I look forward to anything you glean from the article.

 

[Wyzsard]

For "fizzy decay" just get a Fender Mustang amp


Could it be tremolo related ? Some of those terms you use to describe the sound reminds me of what I heard one day while playing around with OD and Distortion pedals while using my Peavey Delta Blues tremolo.

 

[BradKM]

Farrar played a Les Paul Special Double Cut w/ a custom humbucker in the bridge through a Matchless (DC30?) a lot during the early years.

After their gear was stolen he began touring with "cheaper" gear. When I saw them on the Okemah tour he was playing a Gretsch Electromatic and Epiphone Special II (modified?) through what appeared to be a reissue Bassman. The other guitarist (Rice) was an Duesenberg and SG through a Super Reverb.

They still sounded exactly like "classic" Son Volt.

 

[the embezzler]

Prescription Electronics Overdriver. Yes - Tweedy used one for a while, too. It gets starved and sputtering in the last 10% of the gain pot.

 

[artdecade]

For "fizzy decay" just get a Fender Mustang amp

Fender fixed that!
Rev. 2 is fine.

 

[luckett]

If you pan the tracks left/right, you can hear the guitars separated out. You can hear the chime of Farrar's AC30 on one track and it doesn't have the gated sound. The other track has the gated distortion.

On their Austin City Limits video, you can see their amps. It looks like Boquist is playing thru a JCM800 and a Super Reverb and Farrar an AC30 and Mesa Maverick.

I can get that sound playing a fuzz face style pedal thru a JCM800, Plexi or Bassman digital model. The trick is to turn the fuzz knob down low and set the bias low. You'll get a cleanish gated sound without the wooly fuzz. Then set the amp to around edge of breakup and use the fuzz like an overdrive with the output level high enough push the amp into distortion.

On the ACL video, it looks like Boquist is also using a tube screamer for the solo parts.

 

[dog fart]

I used to have a JCM 800(2203) and a Twin Reverb. They sounded heavenly together. For some reason I have a high pitched ringing in my ears these days. Still like me some Son Volt, even if I do have to turn it up.

 

[ThomasJ]

Does anyone know how the lead guitar tones were put together on Trace? I'm thinking on Drown and others. It's almost like a starved fuzz or the Bd-2 fizzies. But I can't find any info. It's all over the album. Ironically, that tone is all over the leads and licks on Tweedy's firs,. A.M., as well Thanks

A friend of mine loves Son Volt. Trace is the style of distortion that he goes for. Here's his setup that might help you out:

Pedal-line-friday

 

[spayne99]

Here's some pics from last nights Son Volt show in Philly. The pedals on the right are Jay's. There's an MXR phaser and an Earth Drive pedal there, but I can't make out the others. Killer show, having a pedal steel and fiddle player really brought out the best in Jay's music.

 

[sanhozay]

okemah and the melody of riot brad rice is using '69 fuzz into fulldrive into cranked super reverb.

other than cranked up amps and dirt and fuzz and tremolo! the art is in the musicians. always has been & always will be.

however, the sound isn't mere coincident, jay works hard at that sound and he pretty much perfected that soundscape of rockin americana with all kinds of eastern elements and overtones. wait...actually he just borrowed most of it from crazy horse.

if one can get a germ fuzz or silicon fuzz to play nice, or even a muff like the black keys, and incorporate it into a bands melodic platform, then the results are usually quite memorable.

brian henneman is an underrated hero of alt.country music and was THE guitar player on wilco's AM. he's a virtual master of dirty texture guitar and he really knows how to create a dirty, ugly guitar sound that sits well in the mix, that doesn't disappear but actually elevates the entire song. his guitar parts are always outstanding and the bottle rockets are one of our best bands.

 

[Low4]

I dug out the August '97 issue of Guitar Player. Boquist's Marshall was a 100-watter, with some mods, vintage Ibanez TS-9 for dirt.

 

[Dave Clinton]

Boquist talked about his guitar tone frequently in interviews, and he talked me through it when I had a drink with him in Uptown. Here it is: a 100 watt Marshall cranked with a tubescreamer, and a clean Fender silverface twin blended in. This was the foundation of all the rock tracks on Trace.