The ShadowMusic Web Community

Hi,
One of The Shadows great tunes recorded this morning.
I hope it sounds okay with the new Hall and Collins Signature Echo.

Best Regards,
Ove

That's OK as a performance of Shindig but ... if I may say so, I don't think the H&C has necessarily helped. The lead guitar sound is more reminiscent of an earlier Hank (a bit like a gentle Kon-Tiki). I also think it's a little 'dry' for Shindig: not a number that's swamped in echo but there is some.

As to why that should be, I must leave it to the experts on this site. I don't want to misquote Charlie Hall but, when he demo'd the unit at Warwick, I think he said something to the effect that if you play the tune as Hank did, the unit will ensure that it sounds as Hank did. He proved that to us all by his own performance across a range of Shads material! (It was my pleasure to be part of the backing band and it really was a memorable experience.)

I have two guesses. One is that the H&C settings you used weren't the best ones for this tune. The other is that you didn't play it in the way Hank did, but whether that's down to strings, fingering, pickup selection, picking technique or what ... I don't know.

What do others think? I may be quite wrong and I don't mind being told so!

Best wishes - Iain

Excellent Ian is a great success

Honest verdict:

The guitar strings sound dead. There's none of that Hank-in-1963 Fender Strat richness in the tone at the bottom end. Are they flat wound?

Shindig is one song where the sound of the guitar - especially in the lower registers - allows one to say with relative confidence that the strings were round wound.

Additionally, the strings sound as though they're fretting out with harder picking. That's great for much of the early stuff, circa 1960 / 1961, but Hank's sound was different - sweeter and richer - by the end of 1962.

Hi to all,
I apologize that I have not managed to let exactly like Hank on this recording. After listening to other covers recording with other well known echo units so have not so many done much better by sounding exactly like the original recording of Shindig. The sound from the echo unit is determined in large part out wish found it has on the strings. I have used following echo units before: Watkins Copycat, Klemt Echolette M40, Klemt Echolette NG51, Binson Echorec 2, Binson Echorec Baby, Vox Long Tom, Amtech AGE-1 and Alesis Quadraverb 2 with EFTP. After I started using Hall and Collins Signature Echo so I do not miss any of them.

Best Regards,
Ove

No need to apologize, Ove. I have listened to many of your sound files and I don't think you aim for replicating the original sound. I think you have your own preferences on how your guitar should sound. I know that you like the sound of choking the strings. I would also like to congratulate you to get some constructive feedback on your efforts. That is a quite rare thing on these forums nowadays!

Kurt

Hi Kurt,
Thanks,
Ove