"Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

[Dave Locher]

This is really for LLL, but anyone else who wants to should feel free to jump in.
So: the rhythm guitar sound in "Long Way to Love," what all is going on there? It sounds thick and lush and smooth and I love it. I looked at a couple live videos on YouTube and they do not sound that way live, at all.
Compression? Mild flanger? Seventeen amps?

I am not trying to perfectly recreate that tone but I have learned a lot from the other tone chasing threads and this sound always jumps out at me when it appears on the radio.

 

[Aceman]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

Great tune! I'm wondering if it isn't just like double quadruple tracked?

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

Could be. I also sense compression but don't know if it's in the guitar chain or added after?

 

[Aceman]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

Well, ANY professional recording has all kinds of compression on it all over...

Who knows what they did with the actual track. But, they are pretty distorted too, so that could be what you are hearing.

 

[LLL]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I remember that tune when it came out. :lol:

My initial, quick listen tells me there's a touch of Eventide... prolly +/- 1 cents off.

It was very common during that era for Eventide to be applied to thicken up guitar tones (without sounding chorus=y).

 

[DankStar]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

kinda sounds like they mic'ed the amp from far away with some killer natural room reverb, or had a mic close and a mic far. does sound pretty nice, you're right. I'd pinpoint the engineer/producer and determine if they have some particular tricks they typically utilize.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I remember that tune when it came out. :lol:

My initial, quick listen tells me there's a touch of Eventide... prolly +/- 1 cents off.

It was very common during that era for Eventide to be applied to thicken up guitar tones (without sounding chorus=y).

I remember it from back then, too. I forgot all about it, then heard it on a "classic rock" station a year or two ago and now it is just planted in my brain.
Is there a low-cost way to get that +/- 1 effect? I see Eventide sells one pedal to rule them all* but it surely isn't showing up as an Amazon daily deal any time soon!
I play punk/rock/alternative-y stuff so no chorus but that thick sound would be nice to get close to.

*serious, that is what they call it!

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

Although, to clarify, it is really the overall tone I like. The guitar+pickups+amp+settings+speaker.

 

[LLL]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I remember it from back then, too. I forgot all about it, then heard it on a "classic rock" station a year or two ago and now it is just planted in my brain.
Is there a low-cost way to get that +/- 1 effect? I see Eventide sells one pedal to rule them all* but it surely isn't showing up as an Amazon daily deal any time soon!
I play punk/rock/alternative-y stuff so no chorus but that thick sound would be nice to get close to.

*serious, that is what they call it!

I don't know of any low-cost solutions (I have the PitchFactor and several iterations of Eventide DAW plugins), but I know there are alternative harmonizer (also known as a pitch shifter) solutions out there that may do a similar job.

But Eventide was the original (and still) King Of The Harmonizers.

Thing is, if doing this live (Eventide or similar "harmonizer"), you'd need a stereo rig.

There is, of course, a good reason why 99 times out of 100 a guitarist's album tone blows away their live tone... the studio FX and polish.

 

[LLL]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

Although, to clarify, it is really the overall tone I like. The guitar+pickups+amp+settings+speaker.

Yeah there's hardly anything out there on the dude's gear.

I would start with the typical gear of the day (Marshall JCM800 4 holer or master volume, G12-65 speakers).

Might even be a Mesa Boogie (which were rare as a choice for that genre but did exist for some dudes; like for example John Sykes - Whitesnake) because to me it has tinges of it (low mids stick out). Could also just be a stomp or EQ set to boost a Marshall, though.

Not a ton of distortion, just a good thick grindy tone.

Les Paul with who-knows-what pickups (I had an '89 LP Custom which used stock "The Original" pickup set which were very hot ~16KOhms for bridge)

Then the Eventide on top of course.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I suspect messing with a 10-band eq might help as well. A fair amount of compression as well?
All I know for sure is they did not sound that way live. There is a YouTube clip of them in Japan at that time and the sound totally different. He has a Superstrat with what sounds like a JB and it is bright and clear and thin by comparison.
Honestly I was hoping someone would pipe in with "I have pedal X and it sounds a lot like that!" A Joyo Ultimate Drive has the same super-saturated thing but the EQ is way, way off no matter what one does with the tone knob.

 

[LLL]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I suspect messing with a 10-band eq might help as well. A fair amount of compression as well?
All I know for sure is they did not sound that way live. There is a YouTube clip of them in Japan at that time and the sound totally different. He has a Superstrat with what sounds like a JB and it is bright and clear and thin by comparison.
Honestly I was hoping someone would pipe in with "I have pedal X and it sounds a lot like that!" A Joyo Ultimate Drive has the same super-saturated thing but the EQ is way, way off no matter what one does with the tone knob.

Distorted guitars aren't typically compressed in studio... because they're already compressed (naturally via amp).

(That's not to say the whole mix isn't compressed)

I'd think you'd be able to get that amount of distortion (which isn't much) running straight into an appropriate amp... shouldn't need a stompbox.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

Are we sure there isn't some flanger in there?

 

[LLL]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

Are we sure there isn't some flanger in there?

That very slight modulation you hear... Eventides do that when set to minimal cents off (+/- 1).

When I get a sec I'll see if I can throw up a clip... cuz now I'm curious about that tone :lol:

 

[BloodRose]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

Ive no good input for you, so apologies... But, I am going to have to check out some you tube vids of Dizzy dean and the boys.. since u got that tune stuck in my head...

 

[Aceman]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I'm gonna try and make that sound with a detune and a delay with my Zoom G3N...

 

[devastone]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I remember playing that song back in the day, don't remember using any special effects though. Of course, we didn't geek out over stuff like that in those days.

It is a great sound, and definitely some slight detuning or something going on, I'll defer to LLL's superior ear and knowledge.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I just found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkcS1ZgkxX8
The sound quality if terrible, but even with the VHS-to-YouTube one can hear that the guitar sound is pretty close to the record. Now that the Eventide has come up I can hear it pretty clearly. And the lead guitar player is on that ugly superstrat from the Japan video! Wonder what pickup is in there? I'm guessing JB, just because of the era?
There are two Marshalls behind him - I would have assumed one was him and one was the other guitar player, but it seems now like he's running a stereo rig?

I think there is no great mystery here. It's a combination of them playing octaves rather than chords for the riff (watch their hands, it's obvious) and that detuning thing going on. Now that I know what to listen for it's so easy to pick out!
Thanks to all!

 

[LLL]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

RE: old video

What I see:

light-haired dude (Michael Kelly Smith) starts the riff out; keeps going.

dark-haired lead singer ("Dizzy" Dean Davidson) fiddles with guitar a little; waiting, then on the pause n hold (before returning to main riff), hits a power chord

then dark-haired lead singer ("Dizzy" Dean Davidson) just doubles up the exact same riff with whole band going...

Amps on left look like JCM800 2203 or 2204s (vertical input MVs). Cabs are JCM800s and would have G12-65s if stock.

Left-side amp section has only one mic on it.

There's another Marshall head on the right and two cabs.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: "Long Way to Love" (Britny Fox) what effects?

I just found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkcS1ZgkxX8
The sound quality if terrible, but even with the VHS-to-YouTube one can hear that the guitar sound is pretty close to the record. Now that the Eventide has come up I can hear it pretty clearly. And the lead guitar player is on that ugly superstrat from the Japan video! Wonder what pickup is in there? I'm guessing JB, just because of the era?
There are two Marshalls behind him - I would have assumed one was him and one was the other guitar player, but it seems now like he's running a stereo rig?

I think there is no great mystery here. It's a combination of them playing octaves rather than chords for the riff (watch their hands, it's obvious) and that detuning thing going on. Now that I know what to listen for it's so easy to pick out!
Thanks to all!

Yup, it’s a A pedal tone while holding the D string 7th and G 6th. Then the G 7th and 9th are used to complete the riff