AFIII Starting to work on my Gilmour/PULSE tones

RevDrucifer

Fractal Fanatic
Now that I've got the Gilmour EMG's in a Strat (my Red Strat replica is currently being made by MJT!) I figured I'd get a jump start on dialing in some PULSE tones, which are my absolute favorites of Gilmour's. The audio is coming straight from Logic, not my phone.

I'm getting the feedback from a Digitech Freqout, but the signal chain is pretty much what he's using live, just recreated in the AxeFX and not particularly in the same order. And of course, I don't have an Alembic pre-amp. I'm using a Hiwatt Brilliant with a York Audio Hiwat cab (412 FN50 421-CE 2).
Screen Shot 2021-09-28 at 9.20.02 PM.png



Right now I've got the rotary on an expression pedal to speed up with it, which sounds decent during the divebombs but it's a bit tricky to figure out where he's got them in the mix. He's got a CE-2 chorus on just the left side of his rig and there's some movement from that. The EMG's don't sound anything like I exected them to, but I'm really digging them. I'm anxious to get them in a guitar that doesn't have an 1/8" thick coat of poly on it as that Strat is a bit on the dull side (Classic 50's I snagged for $300).

Still some tweaking to be done, but I'm in the ballpark. I used to know all these solos practically note for note because it's ALL I played for the first 2-3 years I started playing, but playing along now.....man, makes me want to forget all the technique/speed crap I've picked up along the way. No one plays like Gilmour, man. No one.

Got a few weeks left on the Red Strat Replica. When looking at buying a '57 Vintage Reissue and realizing you're not going to find one for under $1500 anymore unless it's beat to shit, I decided to just have MJT/Muskraft make it for me. It was like $540 for the body/paint/relicing and somewhere around $275 or so with the neck and I got to at least get the exact neck size/radius I wanted (medium C, 12" radius, med/jumbo stainless steel frets). I gave MJT the pics I took at the auction and they're going to match up the relic'ing the best they can! I'm stoked!!

Here's the preset if anyone wants it to tweak on their own. The Out/In 3 is for my Freqout, as I keep it back in the rack and trigger it with a momentary switch on the board. There's also a lead preset in here that doesn't have the reverb turn on and I might have tweaked the delay mix to be a little less. Gilmour doesn't use reverb in his rig, but for this intro....ya gotta have reverb....at least the size of the LA Colosseum!
 

Attachments

  • Sorrow Intro.syx
    48.2 KB · Views: 39
Rev is that the bridge pickup?

Yes sir. The way the SPC and EXG modules work is pretty interesting and really makes the SA’s go from single coil to a humbucker sound. I’d imagine much like Gilmour’s actual rig, it’s a balancing act between the pickups, Big Muff and Tube Driver feeding a clean amp. He gets all his distortion from pedals and uses a really clean amp platform to pull it off, which is actually pretty cool.

I’m going to do some experimenting with using a different amp aside from the Hiwatt, as he was just using those as slaves while using an Alembic FB-2 for the actual pre-amp portion. I started looking around for one just for shits and giggles and don’t see myself dishing out that kind of money for a legit one, so I’ll make due with dialing in his tones with what I got!
 
I think my Strat will love this. I'll report back after I get some time with it! Thanks!

Feel free to tweak around and see what ya come up with!

The spot I’m having the most trouble with is the chorus/rotary aspects. I’m guessing when they mixed PULSE, they blended his Dopollas in to taste, as they were running the entire night and listening to bootlegs, were mixed in fairly loud with the rest of his rig. They only seem to make brief appearances on the album/DVD.

I’ve been having a hard time figuring out how to get the chorus to only come from the left channel. Moving the balance knob in the chorus block seems to move the entire signal to the left side, not just the chorus. Maybe I’ve got to use the mixer to do this the way I’m thinking.
 
What a fun project/pursuit. :)

I agree on Gilmour. The ability to play the right note, in the right way, at the right time,
is far preferable than the ability to play many notes at any time. I also think it is harder
to do well and consistently, too.

It’s crazy how much restraint it takes me to play along with his solos. I used to eat, breath and shit those solos when I was a teen, but now I start playing and find myself throwing in all these extra notes/flourishes that totally un-Gilmour it and make me want to put myself in the corner.

I’ve actually tried making my Strat HARDER to play just so I could avoid it easier. :D
 
I love your clip.

I chopped my trem bar down like David did.

It makes playing much tougher due to the fulcrum change and makes controlling the bends much more like his approach.
 
I love your clip.

I chopped my trem bar down like David did.

It makes playing much tougher due to the fulcrum change and makes controlling the bends much more like his approach.

I’ve gotten so used to mine I can’t play on a normal sized one anymore, feels way to easy to move it and I totally over do it. The stubby one feels just right and can give those subtle shimmer effects without accidentally doing a dive bomb lol
 
Now that I've got the Gilmour EMG's in a Strat (my Red Strat replica is currently being made by MJT!) I figured I'd get a jump start on dialing in some PULSE tones, which are my absolute favorites of Gilmour's. The audio is coming straight from Logic, not my phone.

I'm getting the feedback from a Digitech Freqout, but the signal chain is pretty much what he's using live, just recreated in the AxeFX and not particularly in the same order. And of course, I don't have an Alembic pre-amp. I'm using a Hiwatt Brilliant with a York Audio Hiwat cab (412 FN50 421-CE 2).
View attachment 89284



Right now I've got the rotary on an expression pedal to speed up with it, which sounds decent during the divebombs but it's a bit tricky to figure out where he's got them in the mix. He's got a CE-2 chorus on just the left side of his rig and there's some movement from that. The EMG's don't sound anything like I exected them to, but I'm really digging them. I'm anxious to get them in a guitar that doesn't have an 1/8" thick coat of poly on it as that Strat is a bit on the dull side (Classic 50's I snagged for $300).

Still some tweaking to be done, but I'm in the ballpark. I used to know all these solos practically note for note because it's ALL I played for the first 2-3 years I started playing, but playing along now.....man, makes me want to forget all the technique/speed crap I've picked up along the way. No one plays like Gilmour, man. No one.

Got a few weeks left on the Red Strat Replica. When looking at buying a '57 Vintage Reissue and realizing you're not going to find one for under $1500 anymore unless it's beat to shit, I decided to just have MJT/Muskraft make it for me. It was like $540 for the body/paint/relicing and somewhere around $275 or so with the neck and I got to at least get the exact neck size/radius I wanted (medium C, 12" radius, med/jumbo stainless steel frets). I gave MJT the pics I took at the auction and they're going to match up the relic'ing the best they can! I'm stoked!!

Here's the preset if anyone wants it to tweak on their own. The Out/In 3 is for my Freqout, as I keep it back in the rack and trigger it with a momentary switch on the board. There's also a lead preset in here that doesn't have the reverb turn on and I might have tweaked the delay mix to be a little less. Gilmour doesn't use reverb in his rig, but for this intro....ya gotta have reverb....at least the size of the LA Colosseum!

I'm pretty sure the Alembic is basically a rackmount Twin preamp with higher quality parts.

(I actually have one, but my way younger self did unspeakable things to it, and in such in a horrible way, I'd be ashamed to let anyone near it. I've done some pretty cool builds and mods in my day, but that's one of two abominations I'll never forgive myself for. Hasn't been plugged in in roughly 30 years.)
 
Thank you for sharing your work!

I've built an Alembic clone, and I was able to replicate it at the Axe-FX through A/B comparisons. I used the Tube-Pre Amp with the 65 Bassman Tonestack. I will test your preset and add the alembic this evening

Attached the Alembic Amp Block
 

Attachments

  • Alembic_20210930_161427.blk
    1.7 KB · Views: 36
Last edited:
Thank you for sharing your work!

I've built an Alembic clone, and I was able to replicate it at the Axe-FX through A/B comparisons. I used the Tube-Pre Amp with the 65 Bassman Tonestack. I will test your preset and add the alembic this evening

Attached the Alembic Amp Block

How cool is that!!??? :)
 
Here is a variation of your preset, on Scene 6, adding the Alembic Block and replacing the Hiwatt with the FAS Buttery. 3-knob Drive bypassed. I find the FAS Butter more open and dynamic than the Hiwatt, and more responsive to playing nuances e.g.: holding the pickup with the thumb close to the string to pinch small harmonics

And a quick test. EMG SA with SPC at 10 and EXG at 2
I am playing with headphones and don't have a FreqOut, so I cannot get feedback when extending the notes



note: I have changed CAB to User1#890, to match with my location of "YA412 FN50 421-CE 2"
 

Attachments

  • Pulse 2021_10_07.syx
    48.2 KB · Views: 35
Last edited:
I have integrated a preset I made inspired on "On and Island" into Scene 7 by copying/pasting the channels of some blocks.

The preset uses the Rotary, but I forgot to engage it at this recording
SPC=7 EXG=3


It sounds a little bit distant. Reverb may need to be shortened to bring it to the front (my original preset was using "YA 4x12 Brit Greenback Room" FullRes IRs for AITR instead of reverb)
 

Attachments

  • Pulse 2021_10_07b.syx
    48.2 KB · Views: 37
Really worthwhile project. A friend got EMG’s and I got the SSL5’s for our Gilmour strats.

I’ve got a MIM Strat I converted to vintage specs that I’ve got an SSL-5 for. It was actually in my Classic 50’s Strat first until I put the DG-20’s in it. While the tribute band is focused on delivering the PULSE show, I’m painted the Strat black and it’s already beat to shit, so it’d make for a perfect Black Strat and as we add more to the set that relies on the older tones, I’ll definitely break that out.
I love your clip.

I chopped my trem bar down like David did.

It makes playing much tougher due to the fulcrum change and makes controlling the bends much more like his approach.

I really dig it and after throwing some plumber’s tape in there to get it to stop swinging freely, it’s great for doing the Gilmour thing. Really, I got into Vai right after Gilmour and both cup the bar while picking quite often, so it was fairly natural for me to start doing. I did have to bend the bar to get it to fit in my hand just right without depressing the trem at the same time.

First time I tried it was when I was 12 and my dad bought me my MIM Strat. I took a file and filed it down….that was 26 years ago! I’ve got two of them now, one I bought from Callaham and one I made myself which is a little bit longer than the Callaham one. I’ve been switching back and forth to figure out what works the best.

Thank you for sharing your work!

I've built an Alembic clone, and I was able to replicate it at the Axe-FX through A/B comparisons. I used the Tube-Pre Amp with the 65 Bassman Tonestack. I will test your preset and add the alembic this evening

Attached the Alembic Amp Block

I can’t wait to try this tonight!! Both clips sound fucking GREAT! That “On An Island” clip….damn, man! I can’t believe that was the EMG’s! Thank you so much, brother!

I can’t wait until the Butter gets added to the FM9, thankfully I got my III so I can start dialing stuff in now.

And random thought…..shit! I need a lapsteel!
 
Here is a variation of your preset, on Scene 6, adding the Alembic Block and replacing the Hiwatt with the FAS Buttery. 3-knob Drive bypassed. I find the FAS Butter more open and dynamic than the Hiwatt, and more responsive to playing nuances e.g.: holding the pickup with the thumb close to the string to pinch small harmonics

And a quick test. EMG SA with SPC at 10 and EXG at 2
I am playing with headphones and don't have a FreqOut, so I cannot get feedback when extending the notes



note: I have changed CAB to User1#890, to match with my location of "YA412 FN50 421-CE 2"


Outstanding work on this, man!! I'm supposed to be at a buddy's right now but I can't stop playing!!
 
Thank you for sharing your work!

I've built an Alembic clone, and I was able to replicate it at the Axe-FX through A/B comparisons. I used the Tube-Pre Amp with the 65 Bassman Tonestack. I will test your preset and add the alembic this evening

Attached the Alembic Amp Block

Just bumping this because I figured you’d be interested in checking these out. He did a GREAT job dialing these in! I got the presets a few weeks back and haven’t had a ton of time to play with them, some of the presets are more spot on than others but what really shines for me is how he’s using the rotary blocks to pull off the Dopollas. The “Coming Back To Life” scenes are a treat to play. I had to do a little tweaking with the drives as my heavy hand tends to get more dirt out of them than intended, but these are an outstanding starting point. He also sent out an update after 18.03 because he didn’t like what the update did with the compressors (for the presets)


 
Back
Top Bottom