East Bay Ray

[Minty]

I just really got into Ray from the Dead Kennedys, and I really want to make music like his...Does anyone know what i Can do to acheive his tone, and write creepy riffs like his? What scales does he use?

 

[Falstaff]

Re: East Bay Ray

Ray was the bomb, and "I Am the Owl" has some great guitar stuff in it. To me, his tone sounded like a Tele or Strat through some sort of big Fender amp (or Marshall set clean) with the reverb turned up high. Maybe some sort of echo, too.

He sounds like he was influenced by surf music and wacky stuff like the Cramps, so that might be a place to start.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: East Bay Ray

What kind of gear do you have? His sound is pretty much just the natural tube distortion and buckets of reverb from a cranked Fender amp...and the twang from a Tele bridge pickup. You could probably get 'close enough' with a lot of tube amps and Fender-style guitars...

-X

 

[big_black]

Re: East Bay Ray

Yep. Teles and Strats...and lots o' reverb!

You may be able to get there some P-90 loaded things, maybe alder body guitar. I've seen pics of him playing some of those weirdo-surfy guitars too.

 

[these_go211]

Re: East Bay Ray

i think there is something on him in the latest guitar world. or maybe it was last month. ? i'm sure you can search their website. but what i remember from the article is he used to run into his distortion pedal first and then into a space-echo. so his echoes had a weird quality to them. at least i think that's what read.....

 

[Minty]

Re: East Bay Ray

Do you know which issue had the interview with him?