psychedelic

[M.D.Smith]

Get a phaze shifter pedal..if you can go to guitar center or your local guitar and amp shop, try one out....totally groovy man.

[skyver]

I have an old Yamaha multi-effects unit. It has some good sounds in it, especially the reverb, delay, chorus and flange, but I don't like its distortion sounds. Some of the combinations it gets sound really spacey, though, so maybe something like that would be suitable for the sound you're after.

Many people like multi-effects units, but the control layout can get complex. I prefer pedals because they're easier to switch while you're playing.

[banjar]

Originally Posted by skyver

Many people like multi-effects units, but the control layout can get complex. I prefer pedals because they're easier to switch while you're playing.

Aren't there multi-effects pedals?

[skyver]

Yes, there are plenty of them. I've tried a Line 6 pod; they're fairly inexpensive, and have lots of neat sounds. There are several that have multiple footswitches, like this one:



Nowadays I just like a little bit of reverb, and occasionally a touch of delay, so the only pedal I use much is the Boss DD3, although I have half a dozen other ones lying around.

[zabdart]

What's psychedelic??? Are you talking about the Brit version of it, are you talking about Hendrix, are you talking about the San Francisco sound or the LA sound? These are all different and were achieved by different people playing different guitars through different amplifier rigs and effects. There's really no one specific way to achieve "the psychedelic sound." It's more an attitude than anything else, and that attitude was specific to the late 60's and cannot be recaptured.
Just do your thing, man!

[banjar]

I'm probably talking more San Francisco than anything else. I mentioned several bands above. And I am doing my own thing, I'm interested in this for songs I write, and I'm not looking for a pure psychedelic sound or to dp;icate any one person or place. I'm just using "psychedelic" an easy starting point for discussion, to get me in the ballpark. Cause what I'm really looking for is hard edged psychedelic country surf goth, and I'm guessing there is no pedal for that.

[banjar]

So how much does the guitar matter in all of this? Do I really need a strat or a tele or an ES or can I get basically the same sound with an Epiphone or any of the other brands I've probably never heard ofm using the right effects? I'm not planning to spend more than a couple hundred on my first electric, since I really don't know how much I'll use it. Might just be a phase shift i'm going through.

[Kurt]

If you want to be genuine, you'll need to go (and I just know I'm gonna get ripped for this, but...) with analog pedals. I'd recommend you check out: analogman.com

Mike has a wide assortment of analog pedals there that will give you that '60s and '70s vintage vibe -- and, in many cases, sound files. You might be better able to pinpoint just what sound you're hearing in your head, even if you don't choose his boutique pedals (which I highly recommend). The Small Stone phaser is an inexpensive and analog way to achieve what, in my head anyway, is 'psychodelic,' and the Sole-Mate reverb, while expensive, nails the analog reverb surf sound (if you can't achieve it on your amp).

[terrapin]

Originally Posted by Kurt

If you want to be genuine, you'll need to go (and I just know I'm gonna get ripped for this, but...) with analog pedals. I'd recommend you check out: analogman.com

Mike has a wide assortment of analog pedals there that will give you that '60s and '70s vintage vibe -- and, in many cases, sound files. You might be better able to pinpoint just what sound you're hearing in your head, even if you don't choose his boutique pedals (which I highly recommend). The Small Stone phaser is an inexpensive and analog way to achieve what, in my head anyway, is 'psychodelic,' and the Sole-Mate reverb, while expensive, nails the analog reverb surf sound (if you can't achieve it on your amp).

Analogman pedals are the BOMB! But, they are pricey and the wait list is up to one year for some of the most popular. When it comes to pedals it is hard to say that analog is "best". You will never nail the David Gilmour sound with an analog delay pedal. David uses digital delay. That is just one example. People sometimes equate analog with not being solid state and that is in most cases a fallacy. Most pedals are just a circuit of transistors, capacitors and resistors intended to drive the preamp section of the amp unless you have an effects loop, and as a general rule you only want time based effects (delay, echo, reverb, tremelo..) running thru the loop. Distortion and OD are usually best out front.

[zabdart]

Originally Posted by banjar

I'm probably talking more San Francisco than anything else. I mentioned several bands above. And I am doing my own thing, I'm interested in this for songs I write, and I'm not looking for a pure psychedelic sound or to dp;icate any one person or place. I'm just using "psychedelic" an easy starting point for discussion, to get me in the ballpark. Cause what I'm really looking for is hard edged psychedelic country surf goth, and I'm guessing there is no pedal for that.

The San Francisco bands I'm familiar with usually played various Gibson models though various Fender amps, with the occasional use of fuzz tone and wah-wah pedals. The exception would be Jerry Garcia, who switched to a Stratocaster around 1970, to contrast with Bob Weir's Gibsons. Generally speaking, however, the dominant guitar of preference among San Francisco bands was either a Gibson SG or a Gibson ES-335, usually through a Fender Twin Reverb or a Fender Dual Showman piggy-back rig.
Hope this helps.

[terrapin]

Originally Posted by zabdart

The San Francisco bands I'm familiar with usually played various Gibson models though various Fender amps, with the occasional use of fuzz tone and wah-wah pedals. The exception would be Jerry Garcia, who switched to a Stratocaster around 1970, to contrast with Bob Weir's Gibsons. Generally speaking, however, the dominant guitar of preference among San Francisco bands was either a Gibson SG or a Gibson ES-335, usually through a Fender Twin Reverb or a Fender Dual Showman piggy-back rig.
Hope this helps.

So true, and we can take it farther:

Jefferson Airplane-Jorma/Gibson 335 (predominately), Paul Kantner/Rickenbacker

Quicksilver Messenger Service-John Cippolin/Gibson SG, Gary Duncan/Gibson 335 (predominately)

Moby Grape-Jerry Miller-Gibson Byrdland, Skip Spence/Gibson 335

Steve Miller Band-Steve Miller/Fender Strat or Gibson 335, Boz Scaggs/Gibson 335

Big Brother and the Holding Co.-Gibson SG's all around

Notice the virtual absence of Fender Strats or Teles and Gibson Les Pauls!!!

Almost ALWAYS Blackface Fender amps driven into power tube overdrive bliss!!!

[zabdart]

While we're on the subject, when I was in college, there was a local band, composed of two guitars a bass and drums. They never recorded because they were a jam band and theirs was a "live" sound, but -- boy, were they HOT! One guitarist played an Epiphone Casino and the other played a Guild Starfire, and they both played through blackface Fender Bassman heads driving Vox Super-Beatle bottoms. What amazing SOUND!

[banjar]

Well I'm a Gibson acoustic fan myself, so finding out that all those SF folks played electric ones suits me just fine. As a matter of fact I was looking at an ES-335 today, till the price tag showed itself.

Will any of the Epiphones give me Gibsonesque sound? They had some in the 250 range, like an SG 310 I think...

At the store today I had the salesperson demonstrate me various effects, but none of them had that sound I'm looking for (although I think reverb phase shift and tremolo was a start). He was using some Boss multi pedal and some singles hooked together. Next time maybe I'll have him try a different guitar. It just sounded thin, and I want full rich sweet sounds.

[zabdart]

Epiphone Casinos are fitted with Gibson's P-90 pickups, the single-coil pickups Gibson used before the invention of humbuckers. They're nice, "warm" sounding pickups, which deliver a sound much like humbuckers, but they don't "buck the hum." Be aware, however, that Epiphone Casinos have a completely hollow body. John Lennon used one throughout the second half of the Beatles existence.
Epiphone Sheratons feature mini-humbucker pickups. The Sheraton was John Lee Hooker's electric of choice.
You might look around for a used Guild Starfire as well, which can be had at about half the price of a Gibson ES-335. It's virtually the same guitar -- only made by a different manufacturer, with the red ones having a form-pressed body of laminated mahogany instead of laminated maple. The natural finished Guild Starfires have form-pressed laminated maple bodies. They're really good guitars, and are worth searching for.

[zabdart]

I should add that there's not a whole lot of difference between Epiphone SG's and Gibson SG's, except for the binding on the edge of the fretboard on the Gibson, and slightly higher quality electronics. People who are geeks about pickups and potentiometers can give you a better overview than I can. I assume the Gibson humbucker has more output than its Epiphone equivalent, but just how much I don't know. They both sound good to me.