by fenderplucker » 20 Oct 2009, 03:08
Well, the lead comments on the Living Doll sound file seems to have generated a lot of comment about the TVS3 and so I thought I might set the record straight with some facts.
1. Fortunately for us, the number of people who are saying that the sound on the current tour, and in particular Hank’s sound using the TVS3, is the best live concert sound in a long time, far outweighs the few who disagree. Here is just a sample of the favourable comments posted:
• The Shadows got a great reception and Hank's sound was never better live in my mind - better than Shads final tour tones. Overall sound and lighting was excellent and the fast numbers really rocked.
• The band was superb as was the sound in a place not renouned for good sound. The show was a resounding success with,in all fairness,a quite equal appreciation by the crowd of both Cliff and the Shads. It was a pleasure to see them together again,it's the way it should be. You have something great to look forward to. Hank's sound has returned to nearer the old sound we all love.
• Des - totally agree - both Cliff & the Shads were terrific. Really enjoyed it. And you're right - Hank's guitar sound was terrific.
• The sound was fantastic. When the band let rip on things like Dynamite, Nine Times Out Of Ten and The Savage they were just brilliant!
It's a long time since I heard The Shadows sounding so good. What a band!
• I mentioned how much I liked his guitar tone, that it had everything, a lot of tone, clear but not overbright, almost 3 dimensional. He told me he is using the non top boost JMI amps and not the top boost ones, Fender Custom Shop 54 pickups on the Strats, and the TVS3 echoes, also mentioning the Meazzi sound preamp built in. I have to say I enjoyed the overall performance, it couldn't get much closer to the original sound with today's equipment, and if anything, Hank's guitar tones were better than I have ever heard from him, either live or on recordings.
• The sound was brilliant and certainly got back to the old rocking sound. With all the threads on sounds I would be really happy if I could get Hank's sound from last night
• Great show....Hank certainly has that pre 1964 sound.......
• Their first set seemed to lack energy but their second set was far more energised and there were occasional hints of a good old Hank sound coming through.
• Every one has been saying that THAT SOUND is back, at least with some of the numbers played on the tour, and it is often said that HBM's sound is far better than during the 2004 tour: do you agree with these "continental" comments?
• Yes the sound of Hank was great ! Regarding the Hank Marvin guitar effect (TVS3), if you were close to the stage, the effect was great but if you were at the oposite of the stage, the effetc was low (near dry sound), but this is a normal acoustic effect, that why, when we play live, we have to put more level effect on stage than needed to get the right effect for the audience...
• I thought it was a brilliant show and Hank sounded good to me.
• I have seen the Shadows on countless occasions and all of Hanks tours and, personally this is the best I have ever seen & heard them play.
• Yes it was a fantastic show and the best I've heard The Shadows in a very long time, all the instruments seperated in the mix and Hank's sound back the way we like it tonewise.
• Fantastic show and like Dave said; Hank's sound was spot on.
• I saw the 'show' last night and, forgive me if this has already been hammered on about, I think I've just heard Hank and the boys and their best in 'modern' times. Great to see (and hear) Hank using an AC30 and what a tone. To me it has answered all the critics who have said 'even Hank can't get 'that' sound again. Oh boy, he can!
• Hanks sound was good in the first half, but I think they must have tweaked something during the interval, as his sound in the second half was superb - I could feel the hairs standing up on the back of my neck during Apache.
There will of course always be some contrary opinions (and it is also possible that the sound in some venues or audience locations is better than others), but we are very happy with the majority response.
2. Comments the cost of the TVS3 being “way too expensive…â€; “far too prohibitive…â€; “unjustified…†etc, cannot be supported unless you know the cost structure of producing such a unit. The components account for about half the cost of the unit (and that is after finding the lowest cost sources from around the world), the units are hand made and take a couple of weeks each to produce (in small batches) and mass production is simply not an option for such a limited market (there are not many people who actually want to recreate the early sound of a Meazzi and there are many relative cheap units that are perfectly adequate for modern guitarists). We have approached some electronics manufacturers and they are simply not interested in such small numbers and lean margins. However, we accept that they are expensive and this may rule them out for many. But there are also many who have purchased the units and are extremely happy with their investments.
3. On the question of which units “sounds bestâ€, that will always be a subjective assessment and some actually prefer the more high fidelity echoes of an ESE or Atlantis. However, for us the objective assessment is how close it sounds to the original recordings and Meazzis.
In developing the TVS3 we assessed how close it was sounding to Meazzis and original recordings in two ways. One was “blind†testing comparing various units against Meazzi tube tape units and, out of the Q20’s, Q2’s Magicstomps, ESE’s, Atlantis and Zooms tested, the TVS3 was the only unit that could not be consistently identified as being different to the Meazzi. The second way, recognising that there may be something special about the drum Meazzis (and not having one for direct comparison), is by trying to reproduce the sound of the early Shadows tunes. From the comments we have received on the tunes posted on the TVS website and these chat sites it would appear that the TVS3 does indeed come very close.
4. Finally, the TVS3 has the additional advantage of being completely programmable, even though it is an analogue unit. So echoes from other machines like Long Toms, Rolands, Echoplexes, Binsons, Echolettes etc and any other non-machine-specific echoes can be reproduced and selected at will.
Regards,
Paul.
Last edited by
fenderplucker on 22 Oct 2009, 02:16, edited 2 times in total.