Looking for help with Boston patch

JC71

New Member
Hello! I'm looking to mimic the sound of the guitar in Boston's foreplay/longtime during the bridge right before longtime starts. It's the part where the keyboards are playing and the guitar does some eerie background pick slides. I assume delay and reverb but it's so in the background and spacey sounding. I'm still fairly new to Axe fx II. Thank you!


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So, does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve this with the Axe? I'm sure it's quite possible to get close, but I personally don't have any clear ideas of exactly what's going on in there... it's quite busy
 
Sounds like it's been multi tracked to get the overall effect no? If you have a preset for this I would love to see it.
 
Hello! I'm looking to mimic the sound of the guitar in Boston's foreplay/longtime during the bridge right before longtime starts. It's the part where the keyboards are playing and the guitar does some eerie background pick slides. I assume delay and reverb but it's so in the background and spacey sounding. I'm still fairly new to Axe fx II. Thank you!

Well JC71, let me officially welcome you Fractal!

And, thats quite an undertaking; a layered passage of a Boston tune.

A single preset would be very "loaded" to to get close to it. A MTD (mulit-delay block) - maybe a 2nd Delay (dual?) - strong Chorus (Tom S's favorite fx, the expert he is) - maybe some Phaser - Rotary (to get the swirling, if Phaser doesnt do it). Have CMP (compression early and late in the chain) - MCP (or multi-compressor at end of chain). It will need to sound RICH & THICK & *out of this world*. Let us know what ya end up with.
 
Listen closely to their song "The Journey" off Don't Look Back, starting at around 0:30 and getting louder gradually. You hear all the same effects you are trying to figure out in Long Time. It sounds like his unique hyperspace pedal used with slowed down frequency. These effects that Scholz created I don't think are quite that simple to duplicate with a patch but hopefully someone is willing to put the time in.
 
The first part sounds like a pick scrape with a delay (lots of regeneration/feedback) along with possibly a rotary effect? The sustained whammy notes seemed to be washed in verb. The last part (technique-wise) is when you bounce the pick off the 1st and 2nd strings quickly; above the fretboard (over the pickups).
 
I have come close with an approach similar to what Tone Collector recommends - I start with a Boston-like guitar sound, then add delay, chorus, and multi-tap. The organ parts are playing the chords underneath, which actually creates the space to make this sound amazing. I will then also hit my pick against the 1 and 2 strings near the pickups to make the chirping sounds. I have not figured out how to do the hyperspace pedal sound yet, but this approach actually sounds quite good live and people often go nuts when they hear it. (It's of course important to bring the sound down to a lower altitude during the transition into Long Time.)
 
Does anyone have something close already created? I'm fairly new to creating these more involved patches and it would be helpful. It's doesn't have to be exact. I'm using the Axe fx II. My setup is in mono with cab sims turned off. I used a marshall 1960b cab and a GT1000x amp. Thank you!!!
 
sounds like a backwards echoplex track. Used to have a friend with one of them and it made some crazy sounds like that. Wish I could help, but I'm far from the experts around here.
 
Hi.. Dont have a patch for you .. but maybe could try.. I know a guy ( don't we all) that was good friends with Tom and we met a couple times. Being an Electrical eng my self.. we had some good discussions about that kinda stuff that bores most other people.. Been a while, but I recall it is a echoplex tape delay that Tom modified by adding dual purpose foot pedal that he can control the feed back and speed of the tape. When you change the speed of the tape, you get that effect of the pitch climbing if sped up, or diving if slowed down .. and then by controlling the feed back, you can make it last forever or just short bursts.. ect.. I have a old ADA digital delay unit that I can great the same effects manually on.. There is a time and feed back knob .. So for example.. if you turn the Time high. ( Long intervals between delays ) and have a fairly high feed back so it lasts a long time.. Then hit a note or something.. then manully change the time .. you hear the same effect.. SO first thought would be to simply use a Stereo Tape Delay block and use a expression pedal to control those 2 parameters... If they area controllable that is. Not at the AXE right now so cant check but will tonight.. Now I'm intrigued to try to make this
 
Some updates.. I tired some things last night and found the basic building block.. Tape delay and set the min time to about 50mS and the max to about 700mS this was kinda the range of a echoplex. Then set the Expression pedal to control the time, and set damping quite high ( like 800mS) That gives the basic idea.. BUT lots more going on, and not sure it can be replicated quick. The Echoplex used the position of the Record head in relation to the play back to set the delay time. Not the speed of the tape. Tape speed would do the same thing as far as delay time, but they did it with the record head. That created some interesting things by doing it that way. Might be a bit technical, but if you can picture moving the record head at the same speed as the tape..you get nothing recorder.. and if you move it faster, it will actually erase or catch up to what you previously recorded.. so that feature is what really allows some of the unique qualities. Also when you turned up the feed back, the unit would go into feed back and distortion, and change the quality of the tone.. also a big factor. I;m now thinking the way to do this will have to be with multiple blocks..each emulating a portion of the whole unit.. So will see what i can do.. I'm also new to AXE FX so finding this a fun way to learn more about the unit.
 
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Echoplex "Hyperspace Pedal", delays (several), flange, reverb, backwards guitar swell into Foreplay, organs, the kitchen sink, etc. I created a reasonable facsimile on the Ultra, but a comprehensive recreation of the Hyperspace Pedal still eludes me for a few specific reasons.
 
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