Hiwatt issue on my Gilmour preset

Paulzx

Paulzx

Inspired
I've been putting together a Gilmour preset on my FM3, I'm using the Pulse tones as a reference. None of the Axe exchange stuff or other recommendations have really worked for me. They're interesting, but not close. No surprise there, I've never bought or used a pre made preset that really has, always end up making my own.

For the clean tone, I'm doing the tried and tested methods, Strat on the neck pickup, Hiwatt bright amp, but instead of getting that sort of piercing almost ice picky type of tone that he gets and most others seem to get, my tone is a bit darker and bassy. This is with mids and treble up nearly all the way. Bass reduced a bit, but not too much as don't want to lose too much body in the tone.

The cab I'm using is Leon Todd's TV mix 7, which I know is not made for this, but I've tried a few others all with similar result, so one of you guys who has cracked this, can tell me what cab I should have in there, and that has to be the culprit right, because it can't be the Hiwatt surely?

I know Dave was using those WEM cabs, but I don't think we have anything matched to that in the fractal do we?
 
Quite the opposite of your findings, I'm finding the Comfortably Numb PULSE preset they just released to be spot on.

But to answer your question about cabs, that preset uses a pair of Legacy #156.
 
Rock Chalk said:
Quite the opposite of your findings, I'm finding the Comfortably Numb PULSE preset they just released to be spot on.

But to answer your question about cabs, that preset uses a pair of Legacy #156.
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Hmm.. is that preset on a youtube vid link? I'm not sure I've actually seen that - and it's for FM3?
 
Yes, I think it's in the vid description, thread, or Axe Change.....or all three...lol.......don't really remember.

I also think the preset was for the Axe 3, but that shouldn't stop you from using most of it.....right?

Here it is:
 

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I am playing in a Pink Floyd Tribute band.

I also did a few presets with the Hiwatt and used dynacabs (tv with dynamic 2) mic. It had no body, the topend wasnt pleasant.

Using the ribbon mic instead of the dynamic 2 helped a lot!

But what really worked for me was, to create a tone based on my preferences. Now i‘m running a 1959 Plexi, tv mix ir and a few fx and i‘m very happy.
 
Rock Chalk said:
Yes, I think it's in the vid description, thread, or Axe Change.....or all three...lol.......don't really remember.

I also think the preset was for the Axe 3, but that shouldn't stop you from using most of it.....right?

Here it is:
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Cool.. thanks for short cutting that for me!
 
ak301 said:
If you're going for the Pulse tour tones, do you know he was only using the Hiwatts as power amps and was using an Alembic preamp

https://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=2117
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No I didn't know, I'm not an expert on Gilmour to be honest so I just listen to what the guys all say who know about his gear and I know it has varied quite a lot, but I wonder if that means I am getting an accurate Hiwatt sound after all, it's just not what he was using! In which case, is there a model similar to the Alembic?
 
Fretboard-Racer said:
I am playing in a Pink Floyd Tribute band.

I also did a few presets with the Hiwatt and used dynacabs (tv with dynamic 2) mic. It had no body, the topend wasnt pleasant.

Using the ribbon mic instead of the dynamic 2 helped a lot!

But what really worked for me was, to create a tone based on my preferences. Now i‘m running a 1959 Plexi, tv mix ir and a few fx and i‘m very happy.
Click to expand...
Very interesting! I'll try similar.

But surely that Plexi isn't giving you the clean tone also?
 
ak301 said:
If you're going for the Pulse tour tones, do you know he was only using the Hiwatts as power amps and was using an Alembic preamp

https://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=2117
Click to expand...
I built an exact replica of the Alembic and I inserted it on the Axe-FX III loop. It doesn't make any remarkable difference to what you can already achieve inside the Axe-FX, though

I cloned it by doing A/B comparisons, and I shared it somewhere at this thread:
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/gilmour-pulse-amp-model.150488/post-1983157

BTW: I've find that anything but the Hiwatt is better for getting Gilmour tones. And Leon's cabs not my choice.
 
The Alembic Preamp essentially was a Fender Dual Showman Preamp (think BF/SF Twin Preamp in the Axe), built with premium components. David Gilmore and Jerry Garcia were two well know guitar players who used them, along with lots of bass players.

Think clean'ish Fender Preamp as a pedal platform into the HiWatt EL34 power section.

Try a Fender Twin with HiWatt power amp parameters and EL34's, and HiWatt cab SIC into 4X12.
 
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Paulzx said:
Very interesting! I'll try similar.

But surely that Plexi isn't giving you the clean tone also?
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It does for me. Its not super Hiwatt clean, its clean enough to feel right for me.
I have the input trim at 0.5, jumped plexi and gain is around 4.5 on treble and 2 on the bass channel. I use 4 presets. ALL have the exact same amp with the exact same settings. The fx sections vary. One‘s heavy on chorus, one on leslie, one on ambient and one on dotted 8th delays.

The right ir is super important. It makes or breaks your tone. The tv mix ir in the legacy folder works great. Or the dynacab tv with a ribbon. All the body of the tone comes from there. The wrong it makes it sound thin and flimsy.

Btw, my main guitar is a strat with fat50s in all three positions. The other a tele with broadcaster bridge and twisted tele neck pickup. Now and then i play my Ibanez AZ hss. That one‘s a little bit hotter so i now and then have to turn down the guitars volume just a bit. Whats cool is, that it really highlights each guitars character.

I‘d share my presets. But due to some stuff here at my house everything is packed up.
I will share by chance.
 
I think Gilmour uses Fender combos to record with too.

I've seen footage of him recording at his studio where a tweed amp was miked up alongside a Hiwatt Combo

It's the age old story, what we normally associate with a particular player might not always be what they actually use to record with
 
Piing said:
I built an exact replica of the Alembic and I inserted it on the Axe-FX III loop. It doesn't make any remarkable difference to what you can already achieve inside the Axe-FX, though

I cloned it by doing A/B comparisons, and I shared it somewhere at this thread:
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/gilmour-pulse-amp-model.150488/post-1983157

BTW: I've find that anything but the Hiwatt is better for getting Gilmour tones. And Leon's cabs not my choice.
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I kind of knew the LT cabs were not the right choice, I was just using them for other things and so tried them. I'll try and find your Alembic match in that thread
 
Fretboard-Racer said:
It does for me. Its not super Hiwatt clean, its clean enough to feel right for me.
I have the input trim at 0.5, jumped plexi and gain is around 4.5 on treble and 2 on the bass channel. I use 4 presets. ALL have the exact same amp with the exact same settings. The fx sections vary. One‘s heavy on chorus, one on leslie, one on ambient and one on dotted 8th delays.

The right ir is super important. It makes or breaks your tone. The tv mix ir in the legacy folder works great. Or the dynacab tv with a ribbon. All the body of the tone comes from there. The wrong it makes it sound thin and flimsy.

Btw, my main guitar is a strat with fat50s in all three positions. The other a tele with broadcaster bridge and twisted tele neck pickup. Now and then i play my Ibanez AZ hss. That one‘s a little bit hotter so i now and then have to turn down the guitars volume just a bit. Whats cool is, that it really highlights each guitars character.

I‘d share my presets. But due to some stuff here at my house everything is packed up.
I will share by chance.
Click to expand...
Sound great.. but is that clean tone going to do shine on intro and such like, where you can't really have any grit in the tone?
 
ak301 said:
I think Gilmour uses Fender combos to record with too.

I've seen footage of him recording at his studio where a tweed amp was miked up alongside a Hiwatt Combo

It's the age old story, what we normally associate with a particular player might not always be what they actually use to record with
Click to expand...
But what do you reckon to the live tone cleans - try the fender amps instead? The Hiwatt in the FM3 is certainly clean with the gain turned down, but it's not spanky like the live tone is. It's too full if anything
 
Paulzx said:
Sound great.. but is that clean tone going to do shine on intro and such like, where you can't really have any grit in the tone?
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For the Shine intro, anything but the Hiwatt.

Right now I was tweaking a tone with the Bad Cat. Not chasing a Gilmour tone, but for my Ibanez J-Custom. I've decided to give it a try with the Strat (Fender CS Fat '50 neck pickup) and I get instant Shine/Echoes-intro juicy tones with great dynamics, and spark when pushing it.

FM3 preset attached. (Scene 1. The other scenes are high-gain tones that I have not tested with the Strat). I was using a custom IR, but I have replaced it with a Factory IR. tip: tweak the GEQ block and the Output EQ inside the AMP block to taste.
 

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Paulzx said:
But what do you reckon to the live tone cleans - try the fender amps instead? The Hiwatt in the FM3 is certainly clean with the gain turned down, but it's not spanky like the live tone is. It's too full if anything
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I'd experiment

Don't forget, the Red Strat had its internals totally modified. Firstly the EMGs, and then the SPC tone system, Gilmour also likes to stack compressors for clean tones, so he gets that specific tone.
I'd recomend having a read of some of the other things on the Gilmourish website as there's a lot of good info.

Your guitar will be different to DG's, personally I'd work on finding a tone that wasn't a 100% replica, but was your own version of it that brought out the aspects you like - the spank for example.

It really depends what you're after, a tonal copy or some DGish that works for you.
The FM3 has a LOT of tonal capability in it
 
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