David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

[Guitar Toad]

I was listening to Animals earlier this week, I hadn't heard that album for a long time. I forgot how good it was. Dog's is such an awesome tune. The whole album is just solid...of course.

I assume he was using a combination of Fenders and Marshalls. Any info more specific info would be cool. I searched and found a thread that discussed his use of HiWatts on The Wall.

It's always fun to talk about Glimour's stuff...and hear others talk about it too...

 

[SpeedDemon]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

Hiwatts, Hiwatts and more Hiwatts(DR 103's if you want to get specific). And sometimes a fender twin.

http://www.gilmourish.com/welcome_index.html

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

Hiwatts, Hiwatts and more Hiwatts(DR 103's if you want to get specific). And sometimes a fender twin.

http://www.gilmourish.com/welcome_index.html

Wow, what an incredible site...it appears to be fairly exhaustive!

HiWatt's then...cool. What distinguishes a Hiwatt from a Marshall? I'm assuming that those HiWatt's are EL-34 amps, is this right?

 

[SpeedDemon]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

Wow, what an incredible site...it appears to be fairly exhaustive!

HiWatt's then...cool. What distinguishes a Hiwatt from a Marshall?

Hiwatts are very loud, and even when cranked dont have as much dirt as Marshalls. And it's my opinion that they take pedals much better. And yeah, Gilmourish is wicked. Gives you everything right down to what settings per song.

 

[flank]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

Wow, what an incredible site...it appears to be fairly exhaustive!

HiWatt's then...cool. What distinguishes a Hiwatt from a Marshall?

Hiwatts are cleaner and louder in my personal experience. Maybe not technically louder than a Marshall, but in real world experience, i think the cleaner sound provides a bigger and perceived louder sound than the Marshall. Hiwatts will not crunch and sizzle quite like a marshall, but have a huge overdriven tone if you crank them up loud enough. Even then, they are extremely articulate. They have a huge clean tone thats very woody and chimey on the high end. Beautiful clean tone. Every guitar will shine through with its own color when played through a Hiwatt. But they are devastatingly loud. Its scary. I also think Hiwatts are very full spectrum amps. They are strong in all frequencies of sound. Thats why they are stamped AP on the backplate, meaning All Purpose. You can play bass or guitar through them. The key is the Partridge transformers. These old transformers were huge and heavy, and make the tone of the amp massive.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

Hiwatts are cleaner and louder in my personal experience. Maybe not technically louder than a Marshall, but in real world experience, i think the cleaner sound provides a bigger and perceived louder sound than the Marshall. Hiwatts will not crunch and sizzle quite like a marshall, but have a huge overdriven tone if you crank them up loud enough. Even then, they are extremely articulate. They have a huge clean tone thats very woody and chimey on the high end. Beautiful clean tone. Every guitar will shine through with its own color when played through a Hiwatt. But they are devastatingly loud. Its scary. I also think Hiwatts are very full spectrum amps. They are strong in all frequencies of sound. Thats why they are stamped AP on the backplate, meaning All Purpose. You can play bass or guitar through them. The key is the Partridge transformers. These old transformers were huge and heavy, and make the tone of the amp massive.

Flank you could write add copy for Hiwatt, that's a great description. Great write-up. So that's what would make the Hiwatt's better for taking pedals: full spectrum and clean. I'm really liking the sound and description of those Hiwatt's. I see they make a 50 watter...

 

[mind_transplant]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

Hiwatts are similar to Marshalls, still EL-34 and the circuits are overall somewhat similar. The major differences are the tone stack and transformers, which combined with a few other tweaks makes for an amp with LOTS of headroom and punch. Dave also used WEM 4x12s, which were loaded with Fane Crescendos. Fanes are loud and crisp, much less "honky" than Greenbacks, and also play a role in that sound.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

Hiwatts are similar to Marshalls, still EL-34 and the circuits are overall somewhat similar. The major differences are the tone stack and transformers, which combined with a few other tweaks makes for an amp with LOTS of headroom and punch. Dave also used WEM 4x12s, which were loaded with Fane Crescendos. Fanes are loud and crisp, much less "honky" than Greenbacks, and also play a role in that sound.

Ok this is good to factor in the speakers...

That's what made me wonder, because I know he plays a strat a lot but he doesn't get much of what I think of as typical strat tone...his strats don't sound like strat's...but they sure sound good.

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

I found a link I will attach later - very strange that I was researching this just the other day.

By 1975 Gilmour was using as many as 2 Fuzz Faces at a time. He also loves the Binson Echo Plex, Electric Mistress Flanger, and the Big Muff. I feel like I hear the Muff on there.

I know Gilmour pulled out a TELE on Dogs.

The other thing to note is that Gilmour got into using an Alembic Bass Preamp (of Waters) for use on his Guitar rig as a pre during this era (John Frusciante also likes this trick).

On the Discussion of Hiwatts, check out the Kinks live - they used Hiwatts and got a good Plexi growl. I love the tone of Hiwatts, esp with a little pedal action for gain the front. The clean tones are beautiful. I would love to hear it with a Fulltone OCD in front.

Anyone here want to comment on Fane speakers?

 

[WhoFan]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

I read in an interview that one of the amps on Animals was a little wee Fender of some sort.... i forget which tracks and which amp model... Either Dogds or Pigs was recorded with a small amp.... i'll have to find that 10 year old DG interview somewhere....

Hiwatt in the UK have a Daivid Gilmour signature model..... His Hiwatts in the 70's of course were modded.....

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

David used a Twin a lot more than people think...live it was almost always hiWatts but in the studio is was often a Twin Reverb...almost always with JBL's and he didin't care how old or new it was, I have pics of David with a pair of TR's that have master volumes.

As for FX...Big Muff, Fuzz Face(s), echo units (Echo Plex, Echorec, WEM Copy Cat, Memory Man, whatever), Electric Mistress Flanger and often a chorus (old days it was a Small Clone then later on it was Boss CE-1 and or CE-2).

The HiWatts are a give however the Alembic pre's didn't come into the picture until much later, and as for the Fanes...they are they are a huge part of the HiWatt sound...I use a Sound City 50+ with a fane loaded 4x12 (the fanes are a matched set froma 1971 HiWatt cab) and those speakers are just killer!

 

[flank]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

Flank you could write add copy for Hiwatt, that's a great description. Great write-up. So that's what would make the Hiwatt's better for taking pedals: full spectrum and clean. I'm really liking the sound and description of those Hiwatt's. I see they make a 50 watter...

they are quite awesome amps. I used to have a Dr103. I sort of regret selling it (though i made big profit), but i'm sure my ears dont regret . It was simply just too loud. Its in its own league. The Hiwatt through a 4x12 is much louder than my Twin Reverb. The only thing louder would be a Dr201 (200 watter), or dare i say the Hiwatt Dr405 400 watter. That is just rediculous. But if you wanted the Bass amp head for complete and utter destruction, the Dr405 would be it :smokin:

 

[mind_transplant]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

The HiWatts are a give however the Alembic pre's didn't come into the picture until much later, and as for the Fanes...they are they are a huge part of the HiWatt sound...I use a Sound City 50+ with a fane loaded 4x12 (the fanes are a matched set froma 1971 HiWatt cab) and those speakers are just killer!

+1 While the Alembic came into the picture around DSOTM, it was only run into the Yamaha rotating speaker units, and while important it isn't part of the Hiwatt sound.

As for Fanes, they're much more "hi-fi" than most guitar speakers in terms of EQ (less middy) and minimal breakup. As I said they're the Crescendo series, and you can still get them. The key part of the Gilmour sound (apart from being David Gilmour) is being LOUD.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

I wouldnot use the term "Hi-Fi" at all to describe Fanes...JBL's maybe Fanes...no.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

they are quite awesome amps. I used to have a Dr103. I sort of regret selling it (though i made big profit), but i'm sure my ears dont regret . It was simply just too loud. Its in its own league. The Hiwatt through a 4x12 is much louder than my Twin Reverb. The only thing louder would be a Dr201 (200 watter), or dare i say the Hiwatt Dr405 400 watter. That is just rediculous. But if you wanted the Bass amp head for complete and utter destruction, the Dr405 would be it :smokin:

I wonder what would be louder...a Hiwatt, or a Komet :smokin:

 

[mind_transplant]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

I wouldnot use the term "Hi-Fi" at all to describe Fanes...JBL's maybe Fanes...no.

Really? Well maybe "hi-fi" isn't the best term, but I certainly hear them as very balanced in terms of frequency response compared to most guitar speakers.

 

[flank]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

I wonder what would be louder...a Hiwatt, or a Komet :smokin:

well, i've never played a Komet. But i can tell you that a Komet's price is definately "louder" :laugh2:

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/91.htm

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

How would the 20 watt Hiwatt Sound? Any ideas?

 

[mind_transplant]

Re: David Gilmour's amps...on Animals and Dark Side

How would the 20 watt Hiwatt Sound? Any ideas?

It won't give you the classic Hiwatt sound if that's what you're wondering, the Custom 20 is Class A with EL-84s.