Allan Holdsworth Leads sound so liquid, right?

Cem

Cem

Experienced
Hi guys,

First of all, this is not about technique. Let's just skip it if you are going to write tone is in the fingers. This is just about a spesific sound (Assuming that technique part of the deal is already in place to an acceptable degree.)

I need some tips about that liquid and dense without any edge type of leads. For example in the track "City Lights". Anyone with some experience of trying to sound like Allan before? I would appreciate some tips on which amps/cabs to go for especially.

 
Last edited:
It is impossible to ignore his technique, as it was mainly responsible. He described it as all hammer-ons, every note, with his pick just barely nudging the strings when needed. Try the Triaxis Lead II Yellow model, find an appropriate IR, then practice your technique.
 
Cem said:
Facepalm emoji.
Click to expand...
What deserves a facepalm is starting a discussion about Holdsworth's tone by stating "this is not about technique". He used a wide variety of different amps, guitars, and effects over his lifetime. The only common denominator was his technique. You may as well ask what types of brushes and paints you should use to paint like DaVinci. Best I can do is look to see what amp model an IRs I'm using. But it won't help you much if you don't have it in the fingers.
 
Whilst it's a rude way of putting it, can't it be taken as read that in trying to imitate any guitarist that their technique is part of their sound? I would think it's a safe assumption that a person inquiring is either directly covering their songs or otherwise deliberately imitating their technique as best as one can.
 
Holdsworth was an extraordinary player both in technique and theory. Lots of us can imitate the playing styles of our favorite players but with holdsworth really is different. As said previously, he used lots of different gear thru the years which you can find out about on the interweb. The one commonality is him.
 
Last edited:
for those who disagree that 80 percent of tone is how you play, watch this video



To save you time, Brian May's guitar tech basically explains that Brian uses very little between him and his Vox. He made his guitar when he was a kid, and to sound like Brian May you, well, have to be Brian May.
 
Thanks @flying_walrus. At least one person gets the idea.

I am not saying tone is not in the fingers, or technique doesn't matter. Wake up guys. Every post that asks for advice on tone, half of the forum comes and says it's in the fingers. Yes it is, but that's not the only thing.

I have been studying Allan and people that are influenced by him for a very long time. I have done my work on my technique, I know how important it is. I just don't need these type of answers, "if you want to sound like Holdsworth, go practice." Yeah. Sure! That's why Allan kept on messing with all that gear and go through phases throughout his musical life. Because tone doesn't matter, it's all in the fingers right? Well, it's NOT only there.

You don't have to assume everyone that asks for a tone advice is a novice. Maybe you are, I don't want to make that assumption, neither it's relevant.

This topic is not about, "How do I play like Allan?" Neither it's a general Allan tone thing either. It's a very spesific question with a right answer.

And the right answer is not, "very gentle legatos".

This is what TGP would have answered.

Thanks for the thing that I asked not to get spesifically.


And now there is a post about Brian May and how tone is in the fingers. This isn't 2006 on a random guitar forum anymore. Oh my god.

FACEPALM.
 
I'd say go for a real creamy drive...pretty present amount of gain, you don't want it to be too dynamic, more compressed. Mid-focused a bit. I saw him live in 2015, he was using two Roland JC120's actually. Could've been backline, or his.

Furthermore, Holdsworth was so incredibly underrated. His sense of harmony and technique are things that we will only begin to acquaint ourselves with in decades to come, kind of like Beethoven or Bach, who became famous way after their death.

If anyone doesn't know much of Holdsworth stuff, "Secrets" is a great album. I personally love "Sixteen Men Of Tain"
 
camilovelandiamusic said:
I'd say go for a real creamy drive...pretty present amount of gain, you don't want it to be too dynamic, more compressed. Mid-focused a bit. I saw him live in 2015, he was using two Roland JC120's actually. Could've been backline, or his.

Furthermore, Holdsworth was so incredibly underrated. His sense of harmony and technique are things that we will only begin to acquaint ourselves with in decades to come, kind of like Beethoven or Bach, who became famous way after their death.

If anyone doesn't know much of Holdsworth stuff, "Secrets" is a great album. I personally love "Sixteen Men Of Tain"
Click to expand...

JC120? Really? Wow, wouldn't have expected that. He isn't really underrated in the fusion community. He is the one that everyone looked up to. But for the rest, completely agreed. He was a god. He still is.
 
i've been trying to cop allan's tone for years, even before i had the ultra. there really isn't "one" allan tone. his sound on secrets is very different from that on other albums, in fact on each album his tone is slightly different and depends on what gear he was using at the time. i think i've got pretty close with the III. i'm using a preset signal path based on my favourite tone of his, which is from the early 1990's.
clean boost with low cut > amp > comp > eq > cab > ud stomp delays
the amp is the triaxis yellow, power tubes changed to EL84's, with some comp added in the dynamics page (just a touch, to snip the loudest dynamics). the eq is a peq with settings provided to me by one of allan's closest friends. it's basically a cut at 5k and a little cut at 10k.
the amp allan used on secrets was the dual rectifier with EL84's, but allan's friend said he never used the preamp section of any of the boogies he used....just the power section. i have tried dialling in the dual rec and it does sound pretty nice, so you could also try that.
thibault has released a pack of fusion presets in collaboration with richard hallebeek and they sound pretty great. i know at least one of those uses the dual rec.
i've released my allan presets in the past, but whenever i've heard people using them, they don't sound right. and that's because a large part of it is in the fingers. there's a certain light touch that's needed (as you say) and the guitar volume needs to be turned down to the sweet spot as well.
 
simeon said:
i've been trying to cop allan's tone for years, even before i had the ultra. there really isn't "one" allan tone. his sound on secrets is very different from that on other albums, in fact on each album his tone is slightly different and depends on what gear he was using at the time. i think i've got pretty close with the III. i'm using a preset signal path based on my favourite tone of his, which is from the early 1990's.
clean boost with low cut > amp > comp > eq > cab > ud stomp delays
the amp is the triaxis yellow, power tubes changed to EL84's, with some comp added in the dynamics page (just a touch, to snip the loudest dynamics). the eq is a peq with settings provided to me by one of allan's closest friends. it's basically a cut at 5k and a little cut at 10k.
the amp allan used on secrets was the dual rectifier with EL84's, but allan's friend said he never used the preamp section of any of the boogies he used....just the power section. i have tried dialling in the dual rec and it does sound pretty nice, so you could also try that.
thibault has released a pack of fusion presets in collaboration with richard hallebeek and they sound pretty great. i know at least one of those uses the dual rec.
i've released my allan presets in the past, but whenever i've heard people using them, they don't sound right. and that's because a large part of it is in the fingers. there's a certain light touch that's needed (as you say) and the guitar volume needs to be turned down to the sweet spot as well.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Simeon. You are the best as always.
 
steadystate said:
What deserves a facepalm is starting a discussion about Holdsworth's tone by stating "this is not about technique". He used a wide variety of different amps, guitars, and effects over his lifetime. The only common denominator was his technique. You may as well ask what types of brushes and paints you should use to paint like DaVinci. Best I can do is look to see what amp model an IRs I'm using. But it won't help you much if you don't have it in the fingers.
Click to expand...

I was not saying that his tone isn't about technique. I am assuming everybody knows how important people's techniques are to their sound. I was saying this topic isn't about technique.

Let me worry about the technique part myself.

There are still right amps wrong amps whomever you are trying to achieve the sound of regardless of if you have the technique part covered to a degree.

If you disagree with that, please don't write to my topics.

And no, you can't compare DaVinci's brushes to Allan's amp choice. That might have been acceptable to compare Allan's pick choice to DaVinci's brushes. Not the same overall effect. Amp has a big effect on tone. Do I need to state that obvious fact? If not why are we playing fractal audio but not Boss gt-8s, right?

Good luck with your future endeavours.
 
secretpizza said:
+1 to the Hallebeek Fremen preset pack. I’m nowhere near Holdsworth in technique but I can do a little legato, and the Hallebeek presets really nail that touch sensitive, warm Holdsworth tone right from the jump. Well worth the money.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'm also still stuck on the first preset ;-) A great job from Fremen who translated some of the sounds I had in my head. I really like the older tone from Allan end of the 70's and that's where we went for. Good to hear you are enjoying it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom