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Post subject: Fender Custom '50s Pickups & Robin Trower's Tone
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:01 pm
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The Robin Trower Signature Strat Specs says it has 2 Custom 50's pickups in neck and middle position and a Tex-Mex in bridge. So I picked up a set of the Custom '50s from a guy who bought a '56 Relic Strat that had them and he wanted some noiseless. Long story short, they sound better than both my CS '69s and CS '60s taken from a Custom Shop '60s Strat. Beautiful wide open fat tones with just the right amount of quack in positons 2 & 4 in my AmSe Strat which I also put in a Callaham steel trem block for added brightness and sustain. Sounds fantastic.

However, when trying to duplicate Rob Trower's tone using his identical Fulltone Pedals i.e. Soul bender, OCD, Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah, Deja Vibe 2 and Marshall JCM 900 amp into Celestion speakers, I get close but the only thing that pushed it over the top and kicks the high treble gain he gets is if I put a BBE Frequency Boost pedal in front of all of the above first. This gives it that biting fat edge of his. Without it, it's too soft and rounded. Listen to this clip of his Strat in action and then the BBE Freq Boost demo below that.

What I'd like to know is there anything I can do in the Strat like switch capacitor values, etc. to get that same fat high treble Robin's getting or if I need to use this pedal instead which really does nail the tone but in a slightly buzzy and unnatural way.

Any suggestions much appreciated!

Trower Playing Bridge of Sighes with Signature Strat
http://youtube.com/watch?v=x0d1HilfLxA

BBE Freq Boost Demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ClVTH8un7A


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:05 am
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I've been tempted to try one of those BBE Sonic Stomp pedals. I think that would get you pretty close as well. I know there is a YouTube link for that as well. I got it from the BBE website I think. They applied it to a video game, but the effect was significant and does pretty much what you want. I thought of Trower while I was listening to it... As dumb as that sounds...

:lol:

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:54 pm
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Hey SMark,
The BBE Stomp is a cool pedal but works much diffeerently than the Freq Bost. I have one of those as well and it does an ok job but nowhere near as good as the other. The difference is that the Stomp works good at the end of a signal chain to separate the bass and treble frequencies so they all hit the ear at the same time, because something to do with bass traveling faster than treble. However, as much as people rave about them, it sounds a little bit unnatural probably because of it's IC chip circuitry. Most of the artists who rave about it also use digital rack units, etc. so it's just more of the same digital realm they live in. The BBE Freq Boost is more like a Tube Screamer and works differently pushing the front end of your effects chain. If you put it after a fuzz, it sounds harsh and will make your ears bleed, but into a fuzz and it helsp clarify the sometimes muffled tone of a real germanium type fuzz. The thing I don't like is I took it apart and it runs with an IC chip just like a nasal sounding tube screamer. The BBE Freq Boost is supposed to be a re-issue of a Rangemaster Treble Booster that Stevie Ray and those guys used and that was made with either an OC44 or OC76 germanium transistor that gave sharp but velvety treble boost. The BBE Freq is not really that because it uses an IC chip just like a Tube Screamer and in fact, tube screamers were introduced when OC44 transistors became scarce. So the original beautiful treble boost that Page and Stevie and all the rest used to get is lost to nasal sounding IC chips. The Keeley Java Boost uses an OC44 which is why I just ordered one! (but there are several others out there who make them using the hard to find OC44 germaniums) I'll be putting it in front on my Fulltone 69 and Soul Bender Fuzz pedals and will post some clips. Yeah man!


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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:25 pm
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Okay, cool. Does the Sonic Stomp sound any better in an effects loop?

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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:02 pm
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Well I don't know if it would sound any better in an effects loop. It's designed to take your guitar's signals and re-align them so that the bass and mids and treble all reach your ears at the same time. It does a good job in a muddy situation to help clean up the tone but doesn't really add any kind of grit or overdrive, etc. It's more like an equalizer or a tone expander. I doubt if it would be able to do the proper job going through the loop since it's shaping and realigning the tone signals from the input side.


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