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Hi guys, I posted some recording clips on You Tube. Type in "Chic Berkhout" in the address bar and let me know what you think. Chic Berkhout, Johannesburg, South Africa

Hi Chic, I have had a look but theree's nothing under that name, maybe you would like to post a link ?

The link seems to take you to all sorts of other sites as well. Make sure you spell the name correctly once you have opened You Tube - chic berkhout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkBYfLkMK7Q - if you follow this link you must then open the tab under "Eric Barnfather"

Below is the link to the You Tube clips - or you can just type in "chic berkhout" in the You Tube address bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkBYfLkMK7Q

Hi Chic, I managed to have a look and think that overall you did a decent job of most of those tunes. A bit of constructive criticism would be check out some of the phrasing on some tunes, Kon Tiki in particular, as well as the echo volume which is a pet subject of mine - if you want to get it right. It's an OK sound, but could be better because the guitar is suffering from it's character being robbed by the echo unit, what I mean is the 'bite' has been removed in the typical way that it suffers through going into a non-compatible input. Is there a SEND & RETURN on your amp, it looks like one of the modern Vox amps so there could well be one. If so try the Zoom through that, then the guitar can go straight into the input on the amp and will sound more like a Strat through a Vox if you know what I mean. At the moment the guitar is lacking it's attack and typical Strat soul. Not that it's a bad sound, but it isn't as it should be and if you heard the difference you would notice that it sounded more like the records.
Maybe you don't want that and if so my apologies, but that's me trying to help you get it how I'd want it, as near to the old sound as possible. It's still a good set of tunes though.

Just checked, if your Vox is one of the newer models there is an effects loop on there, if you use that you should see a big improvement.

Hi Dave, thanks a ton for your comments. Much like you, I am determined to get the right sound, or as close to it as possible. Just some background.....I stopped playing at the age of 20 in 1970, and only decided to get back into it a year ago. So I am still very rusty, especially with how the instruments have changed. I am very keen to explore your suggestion, and will check out the Vox properly this weekend. On the top panel it has two inputs: Top Boost and Normal. To date, I plug the Strat into the Zoom RFX, and the Zoom into the Normal channel, and no matter how I play around, the sound on the videos is about as good as I can get it. I presume that the Send and Return input (if there is one) must be on the back panel. If so, you say I must plug the Zoom into that and plug the Strat straight into the Normal or Top Boost input? Then for each tune I still select the pre-setting as per normal? One other thing, will I have to loop the Zoom into the Send and Return input? I look forward to your comments - can't wait to try it, as it also frustrates me that I do not get the "bite" out of a lot of the tunes. Regards, Chic

Hi Chic, your Vox will have the effects loop on the back of the amp, so connect the OUT from the ZoomRFX into the IN on the loop and vice versa. You can then plug your guitar directly into the Vox input channel and will have much more tonal control. For early Shadows tunes I'd knock out the bass, full middle and some treble, then on the middle pickup you should hear the Gonzales / Frightened City sound. For Apache use the bridge pickup and roll off the volume to 8 or 9, that should take the spiky treble off the tone and round it off a little. Put a little bass in if yo think it needs it. You should get that clangy bottom E string like Gonzales when you hit that string. At the moment your sound is very smooth and lacks that attack, which isn't good for those early tunes.
For the later smother sounds of the Burns era, crank the bass up full, pull out the middle and push the treble until it bites. Try the middle pickup and it should be a big juicy tone like the intro to Shazam.
There will be some balancing to do with the Zoom gain/volume controls but it should sound nearer to your goal. I'd do it for you but I don't have that model Vox although I do have the Zoom 2200.
Let me know how it goes.

Hi Dave, thanks a ton for all the advice - can't wait to try it out. I will give you feedback when I've tried it. Enjoy your weekend.

Chic Berkhout wrote:Hi Dave, thanks a ton for all the advice - can't wait to try it out. I will give you feedback when I've tried it. Enjoy your weekend.

Thanks Chic I hope you benefit from what I said.