Tips for getting a Shawn Lane tone?

D

Demolition Man

Inspired
Hey guys, I wanted to get some opinions on concocting a Shane Lane tone from the song, "Get You Back":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCH1hN_PKUY

The thing I love about this tone is that it is equally suited for single note lead lines as much as it is for the multiple note rhythm-ish-lead lines he does; it doesn't get muddy. In a few interviews on how he gets his tone, I've learned that he uses Holmes Amplifiers (which don't seem to exist anymore and I can't find any research on them, at least not yet) and a Westbury Overdrive...also don't really know what that is, ha ha.

These obviously are discontinued products from long ago, so does anyone have any experience with them and know what could be comparable amp and drive sims in the Axe-FX? I was like 8 or so when this song was recorded so I wasn't thinking about guitar stuff at the time, heh.

Thanks bros,
Shane Jr.
 
Hi Shane,

Shawn's tone was a unique thing. In several interviews, he's stated that the neither the amps nor the Westbury were anything special, it was their unique sonic chemistry that just had it's own vibe. In fact, when Shawn had Peavey design a custom preamp that was modeled after the Holmes amp he had loaned to them, the techs came back and said it was without a doubt the worst sounding amp they had ever worked on. The Westbury is a fairly common design, and has been relabeled and resold under a plethora of names and casings - Nady TD 1, Guyatone TO-2, and Tonebone Classic are just a few. I owned one, and it's a pretty basic dirt box with no real "mojo" or boutique components.

If you're looking to craft some similar tones to Lane's, I think there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

1) Delay - lots of it. In addition to using a heavily mixed in amount of digital delay, Shawn usually ran in quadraphonic; he used one amp for his primary signal and fed that through several amps - each delayed 10 to 30 ms from the one prior. He attributed his use of this technique to playing in bars and clubs with "atrocious acoustics" and sought to create his own aural environment.
2) Plenty of distortion. Shawn played with such inhuman clarity that it sometimes seemed as if he wasn't heaping on gobs and gobs of distortion, but he certainly was.
3) Ample EQ'ing. Shawn favored warm, smooth lead tones - even at high gain. For that I'd make good use of the PEQ and start shelving off some high frequencies.

I'd start with the Cornford model (Corncob R100), but think you could achieve a pretty accurate sound with any plexi amps paired with the Tube Driver.

Hope that helped - let me know if you have any further questions.
 
Excellent info logicroxx. I can't wait to get my Ultra and start delving into it with my Vigier SL Master model.

R.I.P Shawn :(


Cheers
 
HA HA HA, yes, that definitely was Shawn, for anyone who might have gotten the wrong idea. I'm workin' on it but shoot, it's not at that level, heh.

And thanks for the info guys, I appreciate it. Shawn is an amazing player and it's a frickin' bummer to have to have lost him. I'm gonna check out using the "Cornfed" :mrgreen: amp since it does have a nice singing sound.
 
I made a patch as a general attempt to get Shawn's tone trying to mimic the signal path he used. This is what I used:

Filter>Drive 1 (Tube Drive w/HV option)>Delay 1>Drive 2 (Hard Fuzz w/Germanium option)>Amp (Jazz Chorus)>Cab>

I used the Jazz Chorus amp as it's the only SS amp in the Axe. The Drive 2 is set at very low gain and always on - my understanding of the Holmes amp is that it has a drive function based on the FuzzFace circuit, and Shawn would turn this up a bit to add some bite to the clean tone. I couldn't get enough drive with the Tube Drive alone, so added a Filter for more boost and used an IA to switch both on for the lead tone. This was before the recent firmware with Drive updates, might not be necessary now. The placement of the delay duplicates his stage setup, usually the Boss DD3 in his early work. I got some very nice tones, can't say that I duplicated his exactly but the potential is there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom