MEAZZI Emulation

[Gary Allen]

Kingston...Definitely the best live sound..Just listen to Wonderful Land...Did Abbey Rd set up a mobile studio to record this and bring the tapes back for the full treatment ? Did Hank have the model 2 and baby binson connected in unison..?.Top Boost perhaps ? I ve never heard an amp with that tone/eq.....Any theories ?

[Tab]

I have to agree with Justin with regard to the Hank sound on the early Cliff records. Although the playing, the phrasing and the lead fills are in themselves magical (which captured our imaginations all those years ago) the sound of the lead guitar is nowhere near the definitive 'Happy Birthday' tone that many of us seek.

Most of the 'That Sound' on those early numbers came from the rhythm section, Jet's superb strolling bass lines, Tony's drum technique (discussed at length in 'Drums & Drummers) and Bruce matching rythm guitar to Tony's style. This huge section of the 'That Sound' changed dramatically after Jet and Tony moved on.

[dave robinson]

Kingston...Definitely the best live sound..Just listen to Wonderful Land...Did Abbey Rd set up a mobile studio to record this

Just been reading about the Kingston recording and the answer to the above question is yes.There was a control room set up inside the cinema, but no more detail than this. How much editing went on back at Abbey Road is anybody's guess.

[dave robinson]

Tab, I'm amazed that by listening to the likes of 'A Voice In The Wilderness', 'Nine Times Out Of Ten', 'Fall In Love With You' etc that you can't hear the sound on the lead guitar - I really am amazed.

[Tab]

Dave,

I can hear the lead guitar and I love the sound - I've paid special attention to these early numbers of late as I have been learning some of the fills to go with newly acquired backing tracks - particularly those on the 'Me And My Shadows' album including 'Gee Whizz..' Having messed around with EQ and filters etc I have reduced the backing in order to hear the lead more clearly and I have to say that the 'Happy Birthday' tone which is also prevalent on the first album is very different. You may remember we had several discussions about 'Gonzales' and 'Golden Street' a good while back on the original site.

Good thread, although I don't understand all the technical stuff.

Kind regards
Terry

[dave robinson]

Tab, did you realise that by reducing EQ to try and hear Hank's guitar more clearly, that you are reducing the same amount of EQ on the actual lead guitar ? - unless of course you have Hank's guitar on a seperate track . . . .

[Gary Allen]

Has anyone heard out takes of The young Ones (Studio version) no meazzi. Just studio reverb...Also outtakes of Gonzales with no reverb ?........I dont have them but they do exist.........

[phil kelly]

Dave, " Meazzi less nos ? i must have been listening with blocked ears all these years,, Gee Whiz , Sat Dance , mean woman , nine times , dynamite , all benefit from the Italian magic, most likely the F machine , a couple of the others maybe even questionable,
I personally feel the Antoria never came close to the magical Strat tone, Hank must have wanted to chop that up for firewood when the strat arrived,
With the greatest of respect to Roberto and all the other " Gretch Mafia " Hank and Bruces words of No ! should have been suffice , instead of people relentlessly pursuing a meaningless quest of which was eventually almost appearing an insult to their integrity.
I attended a Justin gig the other night and it was quite eye ( and ear ! ) opening, The Meazzi was awesome , so authentic , we all know its not the model Hank used, (thats been done to death )and yes it is all in the fingers, hes certainly got it in his , young talented players like him deserve positive encouragement , after all they are the players who will keep the Shads flag flying so to speak , you should check him out sometime, you would learn something, i know i have, many a time.
Regards
Phil.

[Twangaway]

In reply to Dave (twangaway) . You obviously don't know much about me because if you did, I doubt you could write all of that stuff.

I am simply pointing out facts about THAT SOUND that everyone can refer to. I did all the stuff with several Meazzi echo units in the past and none of them provided the answer, so unless I could get hold of the real deal (the Meazzi 'J' or 'F' model) I think it's a futile execise in this debate. That's not to say that a nice Meazzi tape echo isn't any good, but we're discussing music that was made with different gear to what is now available which seems to be a waste of time. The author of the book 'THAT SOUND', Roberto Pistolisi was a lovely man and I visited his studio in Italy and he recorded me playing the tunes of his choice, with what he thought was all the right gear, Meazzi echo, 1958 Fender Tremolux, Gretsch & Strat , but when he sent me the finished CD as a souvenir, the sound was anything but what I expected and was a million miles away from what we know as THAT SOUND.
In the studio I must say that the sound was very close, that close that Jim Nugent found me a 1960 Gretsch the very next day when I returned home and I had no hesitation in buying it to continue the 'experiment' over here in the UK. The problem was that a conversation that Warren had with Hank about what I was doing was relayed to me, so I ended up looking further afield and eventually realised that although the Gretsch was indeed close, the Strat through an AC15 was 'spot on' and we haven't looked back. I'm sure that if you have followed the story as you say, that you will know the rest.
Believe me there's no envy about Justin's Meazzi or anything else, but I get frustrated that people listen with their eyes - in this case looking at the Meazzi brand and being sucked in by it all, I have said on more than one occasion that I'm pleased that he get's so much pleasure from his purchase, but I don't have to believe the hype, especially when I haven't heard it for myself. I don't doubt that it sounds good, as I've heard Colin's Meazzi from The Rapiers, but I'm not convinced that it is the answer, as he always sounds 'right' no matter what he uses. My doubts are outlined earlier on the Shadows pre-Meazzi recordings.

David, I don't mind your long winded defence of your experimentation which is commendable but you do sometimes come across as a know it all even though I don't profess to know you. Am sure you are a nice chap. What you seem to fail to do is respect the opinions of others and that is quite alarming from a moderator like saying err " don't bother , I have already been there, done that and don't bother the answer is not there "

I am sorry Dave but I don't agree with such contemptuous open ended statements. Justin or others have every right to find out themselves where the quest leads them and to interfere in that crusade is dis respectful. Could it be that Justin is merely relaying an obvious opinion that unless you own one and play through one you could be talking out of the rear trumpet forgive the pun. I think we are all smitten and biased by what we collectively experience with a certain set of gear resources because we all have different perceptions of what that sound is to us personally. So your definition of " that sound " is likely to be honest but totally the opposite to someone else's , so can't we just leave it at that and not offend each other over our passion of marvelling at the technicalities of Hank's sound. I agree Hank and Bruce didn't fret over it like we do, but it's all hilarious yet serious fun eh ?

Twangaway

[dave robinson]

With respect Phil , particularly for Bruce, the dates of those recordings precede the arrival of the Meazzi by a long time. According to Bruce in his book, the first recording that the Meazzi was used on was Apache. I too hear a magical sound on those numbers, but if the Meazzi wasn't here, then it can't be that can it - or are we insulting Bruce's integrtity? I'm only stating what is well documented and I apologise if it goes against the grain, but it seems that it's what it is.

As I've said before, I'm sure Justin's Meazzi is great, I'm pleased that it brings him so much pleasure.