Fractal Audio DRIVE models: Tape Dist

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Tape Dist: based on the clipping of an overdriven reel-to-reel Ampex tape recorder

This drive model captures the warm tape distortion of an analog reel-to-reel recorder. The model doesn't add much distortion, but it compresses the sound and makes it fat and chewy.

Cliff:
"It's just a generic tape distortion simulator. I used an old Ampex EQ curve basically."

"The tape drive is meant to be used anywhere in the chain. I've been using it after the amp to fatten things up and it work really well for that. Be careful though, the drive block is mono so you can get phase issues if you put it after a stereo effect."​

Articles:
The model's Clip Type is Silicon. Put the Tape Dist model AFTER the Amp block (but there's nothing against putting it before the Amp block either). You can use the Drive parameter to adjust the amount of distortion.

Personal note:
For some reason I always think of the song Sylvia by Focus, when using this model. I do not use it a lot (I need the Drive blocks for other things), but a couple of my presets benefit greatly from this model, placed after the Amp block, with Drive somewhere between 5 and 10.​

About CPU:
  • Fractal Audio's Drive models take up varying amounts of CPU. The Tape Dist model requires a moderate amount.
  • When a Drive block is engaged, CPU percentage will rise during playing, because CPU usage is "amplitude dependent".




Link to the list of published threads
 
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I tried this one the other day in front of the amp (at edge of breakup) with Mix set about 70%... Liked what I got. Think I saved the block..

I'll have to try it after the amp block now.
 
Had fun sticking this in front of the factory Ruby Rocket preset with Drive around 3.5 and Level around 6.5. It lets you do the clean to mean thing using the guitar's volume knob as a "dial a crunch".
 
I like using this on the back end of a clean-ish rhythm preset at 50% mix to get the chewy cutting top end you get from gain without killing the clarity
 
That Deco is a nice pedal. Never managed to get that that sound out of the tape distortion. Did anyone here try to replicate that?
Or any other tape distortion presets/blocks to try?

Brownmatthall said:
I like using this on the back end of a clean-ish rhythm preset at 50% mix to get the chewy cutting top end you get from gain without killing the clarity
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Interesting! never thought of putting it at the end of the chain...
 
stm113 said:
I've heard that Ritchie Blackmore used to use an Akai tape deck to juice the input of his Marshalls back in the day.
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I think the brand was Aiwa. http://www.woodytone.com/2009/04/20/ritchie-blackmores-tone-and-more-part-1/

I saw Rainbow on their first tour. Ronnie James Dio was not known much in the states at the time. Was EPIC. This was back when the floor section didn't have seats and you could work your way to the front of the stage.

You could see the tape deck a little off stage and his guitar was plugged into it with a long cable. So for Ritchie, it was in front of the amp. I'm not sure the tape saturation was what he was going for though. He had it rigged like a tape echo and used the preamp in the tape deck as a boost vs. the sound of the tape getting saturated by driving the input.

For the finale, Ritchie changed to a cheap Strat and did the Pete Townsend destroy your guitar thing at the end. When he went to smash the guitar, it pulled the tape deck off of a road case but there was a roadie right there to grab it before it hit the stage. It was a pretty boss move. He dove and hugged that tape deck and went down pretty hard lol.
 
I've always used this, gain around 3.3 level around 7 for some tape saturation. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
 
barhrecords said:
I think the brand was Aiwa. http://www.woodytone.com/2009/04/20/ritchie-blackmores-tone-and-more-part-1/

I saw Rainbow on their first tour. Ronnie James Dio was not known much in the states at the time. Was EPIC. This was back when the floor section didn't have seats and you could work your way to the front of the stage.

You could see the tape deck a little off stage and his guitar was plugged into it with a long cable. So for Ritchie, it was in front of the amp. I'm not sure the tape saturation was what he was going for though. He had it rigged like a tape echo and used the preamp in the tape deck as a boost vs. the sound of the tape getting saturated by driving the input.

For the finale, Ritchie changed to a cheap Strat and did the Pete Townsend destroy your guitar thing at the end. When he went to smash the guitar, it pulled the tape deck off of a road case but there was a roadie right there to grab it before it hit the stage. It was a pretty boss move. He dove and hugged that tape deck and went down pretty hard lol.
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I love stories like this!

Did you ever hear any music from Elf? Aside from the guitarist, they were the origins of Rainbow. Basically, Ritchie took everyone from Ronnie's (then) band. RJD was quite a bit more "rock and roll" (not "metal") before Rainbow. I believe he played bass and sang when they were called Electric Elf and later concentrated on singing only. Somewhere I have an album or two... Bought when I thought RJD was about the best thing out there. I started with Dio, moved on to Sabbath and then Rainbow (all of which I loved!) and finally Elf... Which was too lame for me as a metalhead.
 
unix-guy said:
I love stories like this!

Did you ever hear any music from Elf? Aside from the guitarist, they were the origins of Rainbow. Basically, Ritchie took everyone from Ronnie's (then) band. RJD was quite a bit more "rock and roll" (not "metal") before Rainbow. I believe he played bass and sang when they were called Electric Elf and later concentrated on singing only. Somewhere I have an album or two... Bought when I thought RJD was about the best thing out there. I started with Dio, moved on to Sabbath and then Rainbow (all of which I loved!) and finally Elf... Which was too lame for me as a metalhead.
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I hadn't heard RJD until Rainbow. But I was a huge Deep Purple fan so I followed what Ritchie was doing.
 
barhrecords said:
I hadn't heard RJD until Rainbow. But I was a huge Deep Purple fan so I followed what Ritchie was doing.
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Based on your story, I suspect you were already of a certain age when Rainbow came out. I was a teenager when Dio's first album was released, so this stuff was already well past done by the time I discovered it :)
 
barhrecords said:
I think the brand was Aiwa. http://www.woodytone.com/2009/04/20/ritchie-blackmores-tone-and-more-part-1/

I saw Rainbow on their first tour. Ronnie James Dio was not known much in the states at the time. Was EPIC. This was back when the floor section didn't have seats and you could work your way to the front of the stage.

You could see the tape deck a little off stage and his guitar was plugged into it with a long cable. So for Ritchie, it was in front of the amp. I'm not sure the tape saturation was what he was going for though. He had it rigged like a tape echo and used the preamp in the tape deck as a boost vs. the sound of the tape getting saturated by driving the input.

For the finale, Ritchie changed to a cheap Strat and did the Pete Townsend destroy your guitar thing at the end. When he went to smash the guitar, it pulled the tape deck off of a road case but there was a roadie right there to grab it before it hit the stage. It was a pretty boss move. He dove and hugged that tape deck and went down pretty hard lol.
Click to expand...

That is an awesome story. I dig the way it sounds in front of the amp. The tape dist. has such a subtle impact imo, but it just adds that little something that can really make a preset.
 
unix-guy said:
Or maybe his AC30 hidden inside the Marshall? ;)

I've heard the same thing. It was his secret sauce...
Click to expand...

barhrecords said:
I think the brand was Aiwa. http://www.woodytone.com/2009/04/20/ritchie-blackmores-tone-and-more-part-1/

I saw Rainbow on their first tour. Ronnie James Dio was not known much in the states at the time. Was EPIC. This was back when the floor section didn't have seats and you could work your way to the front of the stage.

You could see the tape deck a little off stage and his guitar was plugged into it with a long cable. So for Ritchie, it was in front of the amp. I'm not sure the tape saturation was what he was going for though. He had it rigged like a tape echo and used the preamp in the tape deck as a boost vs. the sound of the tape getting saturated by driving the input.

For the finale, Ritchie changed to a cheap Strat and did the Pete Townsend destroy your guitar thing at the end. When he went to smash the guitar, it pulled the tape deck off of a road case but there was a roadie right there to grab it before it hit the stage. It was a pretty boss move. He dove and hugged that tape deck and went down pretty hard lol.
Click to expand...

Funny... I just read that link, where this was mentioned at the end:

The slaving the AC30 thing is something that he did way back in ’69 until Marshall did the gain and eq mod in his Majors. Thanks to Youtube you can see shows where he has the Vox AC30 that Marshall put into a small Marshall head box sitting on a chair next to him and going into the Major.
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I think today I'm going to play with the AC20 (sounds closer to RB Rainbow era than the AC30 to me) and the Tape Drive today!
 
barhrecords said:
For the finale, Ritchie changed to a cheap Strat and did the Pete Townsend destroy your guitar thing at the end. When he went to smash the guitar, it pulled the tape deck off of a road case but there was a roadie right there to grab it before it hit the stage. It was a pretty boss move. He dove and hugged that tape deck and went down pretty hard lol.
Click to expand...

Great anecdote! I love stories like that.
 
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