Rich_S
HomeGrownToneBrewologist
Re: YES 90125 Guitar tones
OK, here it is... from the October 2004 "The 50 Greatest Guitar Tones of All Time" issue of Guitar Player magazine:
"The song that signaled the return of Yes in the early '80s features a zillion amazing guitar tones: huge power chords in the intro, chiming clean arpeggios in the breakdown, and freaky acoustic stabs, just to name a few. But the most incredible tone-and the one for which Trevor Rabin will forever be known-is the wild, harmonized solo. Rabin plugged a battered '62 Strat into a 100-watt Marshall miked with a pair of EV RE-20s. He then sent the miked signal to an MXR Pitch Transposer-set to a fifth-to get the unique sound. The solo is mixed loud enough to blow minds 20 years later.
Also check out: "Changes" from 90125 to hear Rabin get a great hollowbody tone on a Gibson Barney Kessel model."
The cool thing in my mind is that he harmonized the miked-up Marshall, rather than running Strat->harmonizer->amp. This is why it sounds like two guitars playing together in really weird (but very tight) harmony. Running the harmonizer through the amp gives you a single, weird guitar. Effects order is as important as what boxes you use.
I believe that Strat had Duncan Hot Stack pickups in it; the original red-cover ones with the thick blade magnet. I had one of those in the only Strat I ever owned, back in about 1984.
OK, here it is... from the October 2004 "The 50 Greatest Guitar Tones of All Time" issue of Guitar Player magazine:
"The song that signaled the return of Yes in the early '80s features a zillion amazing guitar tones: huge power chords in the intro, chiming clean arpeggios in the breakdown, and freaky acoustic stabs, just to name a few. But the most incredible tone-and the one for which Trevor Rabin will forever be known-is the wild, harmonized solo. Rabin plugged a battered '62 Strat into a 100-watt Marshall miked with a pair of EV RE-20s. He then sent the miked signal to an MXR Pitch Transposer-set to a fifth-to get the unique sound. The solo is mixed loud enough to blow minds 20 years later.
Also check out: "Changes" from 90125 to hear Rabin get a great hollowbody tone on a Gibson Barney Kessel model."
The cool thing in my mind is that he harmonized the miked-up Marshall, rather than running Strat->harmonizer->amp. This is why it sounds like two guitars playing together in really weird (but very tight) harmony. Running the harmonizer through the amp gives you a single, weird guitar. Effects order is as important as what boxes you use.
I believe that Strat had Duncan Hot Stack pickups in it; the original red-cover ones with the thick blade magnet. I had one of those in the only Strat I ever owned, back in about 1984.
