Axe II for Broadway Production

CactusTone

CactusTone

Inspired
So I just found out this morning that I'll be playing guitar for the traveling Broadway production of "Motown: The Musical." I'm going to show up to rehearsal with my AXE II and see what happens. In the meantime, I'm on a mission to nail the tones of that era. 60 songs to cover from the heyday. If anyone out there is familiar with the music, and has some patches to help me get going, I'd be much obliged. Cheers!
 
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Yes! Dennis Coffey is a big name:


This words from his blog are amazing:
"I remember back in the early sixties doing a session with the Royaltones at Bell Sound in New York City. We recorded two songs. One was “Our Faded Love”, and the flip side was “Holy Smokes”. [...] I was using a Fender Bassman amp during this session. I accidently loosened a tube in that amp causing it to distort. I liked the sound and used it on the session. Unfortunately the mix engineer thought it was a problem and filtered out all of my distortion or I may have gotten credit for the first use of distortion on a recording."

A pioneer!
 
CactusTone said:
So I just found out this morning that I'll be playing guitar for the traveling Broadway production of "Motown: The Musical." I'm going to show up to rehearsal with my AXE II and see what happens. In the meantime, I'm on a mission to nail the tones of that era. 60 songs to cover from the heyday. If anyone out there is familiar with the music, and has some patches to help me get going, I'd be much obliged. Cheers!
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I've played a lot of musicals. I just did a set of rehearsals for Memphis and have many others.

I'm away from the studio for a couple of days but will look at what I did. What guitar(s) are you using? I played my Gibson CS-336.

I've posted some show info and rig rundowns here - http://zazula.me
 
ETOLKIEN said:
Yes! Dennis Coffey is a big name:


This words from his blog are amazing:
"I remember back in the early sixties doing a session with the Royaltones at Bell Sound in New York City. We recorded two songs. One was “Our Faded Love”, and the flip side was “Holy Smokes”. [...] I was using a Fender Bassman amp during this session. I accidently loosened a tube in that amp causing it to distort. I liked the sound and used it on the session. Unfortunately the mix engineer thought it was a problem and filtered out all of my distortion or I may have gotten credit for the first use of distortion on a recording."

A pioneer!
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That's Sturgill Simpson's current bass player, Chuck Bartels, playing in the video. I saw Sturgill in Boulder a few weeks ago. There were no amps on stage and only one stage prop: a Detroit Lions letterman jacket on Chuck Bartels guitar stand. Motown!
 
ETOLKIEN said:
Wow, looks like a thrilling project!



I found that the Axechange presets by LVC are very interesting:
http://axechange.fractalaudio.com/search-results.php?search=lvc&fields=all&products=0&setups=0
This presets are old from firmwares 10 and 11, but can give you some ideas!
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Thank you!

Part of the challenge is re-creating a non-amp! It's my understanding that the "Motown sound " was a result of the guitar going into some sort of preamp that went direct to the board.
 
fractalz said:
I've played a lot of musicals. I just did a set of rehearsals for Memphis and have many others.

I'm away from the studio for a couple of days but will look at what I did. What guitar(s) are you using? I played my Gibson CS-336.

I've posted some show info and rig rundowns here - http://zazula.me
Click to expand...
Thank you! I'll be using a custom built Tele with Callaham hardware, and an '06 Les Paul Custom Shop with Bareknuckle pups.
 
fractalz said:
I've played a lot of musicals. I just did a set of rehearsals for Memphis and have many others.

I'm away from the studio for a couple of days but will look at what I did. What guitar(s) are you using? I played my Gibson CS-336.

I've posted some show info and rig rundowns here - http://zazula.me
Click to expand...
Saw your posts on your Superstar Rig! How fun. I did that show last April with my Triaxis and G-Major setup. Back then I thought my rig was pretty slick, but looking back . . . if I'd only had my AXE!
 
I've had some really cool old school sounds from going into my vintech 573 preamp (1073 clone) and straight into a cab, or nothing at all, maybe some compression, on the axe fx ii, and no amp. that would require a portable pre amp though. If that's what you're looking for, the JHS colour box.. 1073 in a pedal, will give you the straight into a neve sound that definitely works nicely for some tones from that era.
I'd bet the cab block's preamp tab would be something you should play around with.
Just spitballin here :smileycat:
 
I dep on the London production of Motown and they use Axe FX's. It's a very simple patch setup, mostly based on a Doubleverb model with a TS9 block and other effects. They might provide the patches for you. I think they're actually more concerned with the guitars themselves on that show. Each guitarist has a Strat, a Tele, a 335 and a Gibson acoustic.

Have a great time on the tour!
 
Congrats! That sounds extremely cool.

I wouldn't overthink it too much. Pitmonkey has it right, simple is good (but you could get fancy since 'song mode' exists for a reason...)
 
So I just got the rider today and lo and behold the tour company provides Axe Fx and MFC!! Haha! All the worry for nothing. Can't wait to see/hear what the patches are like. These little black boxes are taking over the world.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and help!
 
CactusTone said:
So I just got the rider today and lo and behold the tour company provides Axe Fx and MFC!! Haha! All the worry for nothing. Can't wait to see/hear what the patches are like. These little black boxes are taking over the world.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and help!
Click to expand...

Now THAT is cool. Next level sh!t for setting up a show (plug and play guitarists...same tone every show). I'm impressed.
 
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