Breaking down Hank Marvins style

[Thurisarz]

Been listening to some Shadows and Cliff Richard recently and i wonder how he get's his tone. He used the classic fender strat and i have heard he have used a Burns guitar also, did he use that guitar in the early days? Amps are AC-30's? Does he play with a pick or with fingers, if with fingers any special playing style? Does he have a special way to bend or is it just to bend as usual? Roundwound/Flatwound strings? Gauge?

Any Marvin fans who like to share there knowledge of him with me? Please tell me if you know something else i didn't write about. Everything of interest

*Edit:* On the track "Wonderful land" is he using slap back echo/Shower reverb or spring reverb? Cranked or in-the-middle?

 

[Kev]

Re: Breaking down Hank Marvins style

well, its a rare breed of 19 year old that likes Marvin! Ive done a good few recordings on http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=231696

See what you think of the tone there buddy, and give us a shout if you want to discuss it some more. I should get some recordings done with the new valve amp as that will definitly give a better marvin tone!

I've got a special device programmed with something called "Echoes from the past" or something like that. Apart from this, the vital ingredients to the hank sound are picking hard, single coils, heavy guage strings and a pair of wierd ass glasses :laugh2:

I know quite a lot about hank, and he even states that finding his tone was a COMPLETE accident!

EDIT: I can provide you with almost exact settings of delay and stuff from my pedal if needed

 

[Amateur]

Re: Breaking down Hank Marvins style

I am surprised to see a Hank Marvin fan. The first song I learned to play was 'Apache' by the Shadows. I know Hank started with a Strat until he got to the Jigsaw LP or may be earlier than that, like the song 'Atlantis'. He used a pick and I think he used the wah quite a bit, not the regular way people use it but changing the tone gradually with it on a few notes. In the song 'Man of Mystery' he started off bending the 4th and dominant 7th of the minor chord which I think was really cool. He seldom go to a full bend but that was one of the few times he did it. As a matter of fact I think it was a little over full on that one.

 

[Geza]

Re: Breaking down Hank Marvins style

I am another Shadows fan. My very first song I learned to play was 'Ghost riders in the sky'.

Just to answer Thurisarz's question: The Shadows used analog echo machines in the early years and all of them are obsolete today.

The last effects processor that Hank was and has been using is Alesis Q20 (1998) with the EFTP (Echoes From The Past) programming. You can find out more about his gear here: http://www.penumbra.co.nz/allthegear.html .

I know that there are several effects processors out there that you can also get the Shadows echo configurations for, but that's another question how well they can reproduce the original sound.

I myself is also in the middle of figuring out what kind of effects processor I should get for the same purpose.

And I am yet to find a website where someone actually compared a few of these Shadows effects results from different effect processors. I know that Yamaha has the Magicstomp, Zoom has 2 or 3 different models for this purpose (508, 707II, RSX2200) and also a Marshall Echo pedal.
Here you can find more info:
http://goran.tangring.com/
http://goran.tangring.com/index-filer/508patches.htm
http://www.shadowsland.freeserve.co.uk/
http://www.eftp.co.uk/

Kev, I listened to your Apache, I think it's great! What kind of effects processor do you use?

Geza

 

[Wattage]

Re: Breaking down Hank Marvins style

Not that I know all that much by Hank Marvin but Joh Jorsensen did a monster cover of Man of Mystery on his recent Gypsy Swing CD.