HALLS & COLLINS ECHO

[Teflon]

Listening go those here the Hall & Collins was the most authentic, bearing in mind the research and how new it is compared with most of the others.
That said I achieved more satisfactory results with the Zoom G3x than can be heard here, though this isn't poor by any means, but you can get more from it.

I must admit, I love my Zoom G3X, it does everything I need, and allows me to play along to backing tracks quite happily with just the Zoom, my Surface Pro tablet, and a pair of headphones (and the occasional addition of an AC Tone pedal). That said, I'd be very interested to hear of any tweeks you made to you Zoom to improve thngs, though I dare say they're probably lost in the midst of time by now.

If I may add my usual thought here, it's not just the unit you use, it's the way you play your guitar. You will never sound like vintage Hank if you don't play the way he did in those days.

If you do, it's worth comparing the various units out there. If you don't, get one you like and can afford because it really will be good enough. That's definitely my advice to myself!

I really wish you were wrong Ian, but sadly, I you're bang on. I know I play all (well, most ) of the right notes in pretty mush the right order for at least one or two Shadows numbers, but they just don't "flow" in the same way somehow. Now if someone could invent a pedal that made you sound like Hank regardless of ability / playing style, I think I'd be tempted to trade in the Zoom .

Cliff

[emielvisser]

What strikes me is that so much is sought after Hank's primal sound in the early years.
The search for amplifiers, guitars, echoes and even strings, picks.
You will no longer find it now, the equipment containing the specific parts from that time and the combinations of materials are no longer there.
Apart from that, and what has often been said, it is also the way the musician plays it.
The piano on which Chopin composed his sonatas and etudes also sounded different from today's Steinway, but the piece of music remains just as beautiful (or not)
In my experience it is more important to capture the atmosphere and essence of the music and play with it.
Find your own sound, there are many knobs and switches between the strings and the speaker, there is always a satisfying combination.
My experience is that with the minimal stuff that I use now, I have the best result.

Regards,
Emiel

[dave robinson]

What strikes me is that so much is sought after Hank's primal sound in the early years.
The search for amplifiers, guitars, echoes and even strings, picks.
You will no longer find it now, the equipment containing the specific parts from that time and the combinations of materials are no longer there.
Apart from that, and what has often been said, it is also the way the musician plays it.
The piano on which Chopin composed his sonatas and etudes also sounded different from today's Steinway, but the piece of music remains just as beautiful (or not)
In my experience it is more important to capture the atmosphere and essence of the music and play with it.
Find your own sound, there are many knobs and switches between the strings and the speaker, there is always a satisfying combination.
My experience is that with the minimal stuff that I use now, I have the best result.

Regards,
Emiel

I'm sorry to have to contradict what you said "You will no longer find it now", because I recently did find it twice.
At the beginning of February I found a Meazzi Echomatic for sale and bought it and immediately found a used TVS3 for sale and bought that too.
Each of these machines gave me what I hadn't got and had been searching for, so there's your proof, though it does depend on how much you want to spend and how much you want it. For reasons mentioned in these threads before I was convinced that it wasn't the echo that was the key and made many efforts to show it, but I got it wrong and only now do I get the full picture.

[Iain Purdon]

What strikes me is that so much is sought after Hank's primal sound in the early years.
The search for amplifiers, guitars, echoes and even strings, picks.
You will no longer find it now, the equipment containing the specific parts from that time and the combinations of materials are no longer there.
Apart from that, and what has often been said, it is also the way the musician plays it.
The piano on which Chopin composed his sonatas and etudes also sounded different from today's Steinway, but the piece of music remains just as beautiful (or not)
In my experience it is more important to capture the atmosphere and essence of the music and play with it.
Find your own sound, there are many knobs and switches between the strings and the speaker, there is always a satisfying combination.
My experience is that with the minimal stuff that I use now, I have the best result.

Regards,
Emiel

I think your encouragement to “find your own sound” says it all, Emiel.
Given the choice between being a poor man’s version of another player, or the best I myself can be, I’ll always go for the latter.

[dave robinson]

Whilst I totally agree with what Ialn has said, I also reserve the right to have put things right for my own satisfaction and get the best I can afford after spending a long time making do and not realising that my ears were shot.
Having retained my hearing I consider myself very fortunate and made a conscious decision to put right everything that happened over the past twenty years after listening to some dodgy advice from people who gained by giving it. I have finally rid myself of all the unnecessary purchases I made in twenty years of been around The Shadows scene.

[emielvisser]

Dave,
Obviously there is nothing wrong with looking for what is best for yourself and if you have found that, then that is great.
What I mean to say is that within the possibilities available to one, there are plenty of ways to create a satisfying sound of your own.
That is my experience, of course someone else will think differently.

Iain,
That's indeed what I meant.

[Iain Purdon]

Well said Dave

[Iain Purdon]

I think it’s the difference between copying someone and learning from them.

[dave robinson]

At the risk of contradicting my own advice I feel I need to explain why I bought my recent Meazzi and TVS3.
For 20 years I have been involved on the Shadow Music site posting sound files and offering to advice to people who weren't sure about equipment and always at the back of my mind wanting to save people money. I honestly don't think there is any need for a novice player to spend excessive amounts on guitars echo units and amplifiers.
These days there is an enormous choice of gear at great prices that will do the job. When I arrived here I was using a Mesa Boogie amplifier and the Yamaha FX 550 unit for my echoes and had a fabulous sound. I posted some sound files to great acclaim and even composed an instrumental called Buganvilla whilst testing a new Burns guitar.
At this time I became involved with EFTP and bought one of their Alesis Quadraverb 2 machines programmed with the Hank patches. I already owned a Quad GT that did the job and it was around that time that the sound police began to cause confusion for me, as I didn't realise my hearing was failing badly. I won't go into all the detail but I became involved and had every product that is EFTP made including the Hank Marvin amps that incidentally were never to my expectation. Only when I acquired a good Vox AC 30 did I realise the mistakes I had been making. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy a Vox AC30/4 and a TVS3 that were up for grabs at a reasonable price. I also owned the ESE Echomatic at that time which gave me great results and I couldn't hear the benefits of the TVS3 as it didn't sound any better to my ears, so after numerous folks offered advice, I sold it on.
Fast forward a few years and the NHS have solved my hearing problem which was discovered whilst being treated for throat cancer which was a bad few years of my life but on the good side my hearing is now perfect. With the lockdown I have found myself with lots of time on my hands and I took interest in my music again especially my gear and the quest for near perfection of the sound I loved as a teenager in 1963. I began with visiting the videos that the TVS team had put together and listened to Paul Gary and Spiro discussing the music and hearing what they had done on YouTube videos. Amazingly I could now hear what had been missing before and decided that I wanted to be a part of it so I worked out a way of buying the equipment needed by selling all my unwanted equipment accumulated over the years.
At that time at the end of January a Meazzi Echomatic became available as well as a TVS3 and I found I could afford both so I bought them. The prices were that good that it offset any money that I had lost with the sales of the old equipment. End of story - happy days.

[Stu's Dad]

That's a heartwarming story Dave, and given the long road you've travelled you deserve to arrive at your sound nirvana. I admire your skills and experience anyway.

But I also agree with Emiel's main point that we can make some great sounds of our own. I love the sound of my Epiphone Sheraton played through an Orange Micro Terror, my Telecaster played through a Joyo American sound pedal into my Marshall AS50, and my Classic Vibe Strat plugged into a Vox MV50 Clean without effects. None of them would satisfy what you call the sound police, but they sound good to me.

Tin hat on,

Len