Andy from Reverb plays a bit of Neil Young

DrCornelius

https://reverb.com/news/video-how-to-sound-like-neil-young-with-boutique-pedals

Really enjoyed this , I’m a huge NY fan and really like Andys playing too so this was a win double for me especially the Cortez piece towards the end.

exliontamer

Interested to find out if you've ever had a go approximating NYs tone in your own playing - what's worked for you?   

DrCornelius

exliontamer said:

Interested to find out if you've ever had a go approximating NYs tone in your own playing - what's worked for you?   

I plugged my old Gretsch into a cranked tweed amp and convinced myself I was nailing Cortez. Listening back I sounded like someone playing it from sheet music with no feel which takes away everything good about it.

earwighoney

DrCornelius said:

https://reverb.com/news/video-how-to-sound-like-neil-young-with-boutique-pedals

Really enjoyed this , I’m a huge NY fan and really like Andys playing too so this was a win double for me especially the Cortez piece towards the end.

I really enjoyed the video.  IMO, Andy's a superb guitar player - in terms of his range I think there are a few YT guitarists who seem to be able to draw upon such a wide range of riffs. 

Some kit in the video I knew nothing about, the delay pedal in particular looked superb. 

terada

exliontamer said:

Interested to find out if you've ever had a go approximating NYs tone in your own playing - what's worked for you?   

Honestly, the secret to Neil’s tone is not giving a shit about the tone or pretty much anything else. 

newi123

I enjoyed it too - had me googling reverb pedals, which is something I don`t currently use at all............ might be the solution to my love / hate (more hate really) relationship with del-l-l-l-l-l-l-ay

earwighoney

terada said:

exliontamer said:

Interested to find out if you've ever had a go approximating NYs tone in your own playing - what's worked for you?   

Honestly, the secret to Neil’s tone is not giving a shit about the tone or pretty much anything else. 

Agree, the main way to sound like NY is to play like NY and Andy from PGS/Reverb is a truly superb guitarist and does a good job to play like him. 

NY is a guitarist who found the set up he's very comfortable with and hasn't changed things much if not at all.  Something I'm sure many of us can learn something from! 

roberty

That tweed distortion and pre-gain spring is a big part of it

FFS I want that True Spring thing now but it's £220

Hydra19

I just sold my Crazy Horse pedal as I found that having a Tweed 5E3 (modded with 6L6,s GZ34 and 12ax7 in V1) plus a Goldtop with P90's gets me all those tones. I actually love Neil Young's style of playing, and yes, I think we all can learn a lot from him, if he would share. He has a whole barn full of vintage gear and he's experimented a lot to get his sound

JohnPerry

cursing myself for not twigging before that, of course, Cinnamon Girl is played with a drop D, top as well as bottom

idiotwindow

I like Neil Young as much as the next person (admittedly I do tend to prefer his acoustic output to the Crazy Horse stuff) and I also enjoy Andy Martin's pedal demos on Youtube but I'm not sure I get the desire to nail Neil Young's guitar tone as closely as possible. Maybe if you are in a Neil Young tribute band, I can see the point but otherwise it just seems a bit futile IMO.

Snap

Seen NY live many times and he's great. Puts power and emotion in, in spades. Never once have I come from one of his gigs thinking he didn't put everything into it. Really good.

exliontamer

idiotwindow said:

I like Neil Young as much as the next person (admittedly I do tend to prefer his acoustic output to the Crazy Horse stuff) and I also enjoy Andy Martin's pedal demos on Youtube but I'm not sure I get the desire to nail Neil Young's guitar tone as closely as possible. Maybe if you are in a Neil Young tribute band, I can see the point but otherwise it just seems a bit futile IMO.

You're right, I'm pretty happy using a Wampler '57 so should refrain from the tone chasing. It's probably more useful to learn from NY's songwriting and 'less is more' guitar playing. I also rate the Buffalo Springfield stuff as well. 

Seziertisch

terada said:

exliontamer said:

Interested to find out if you've ever had a go approximating NYs tone in your own playing - what's worked for you?   

Honestly, the secret to Neil’s tone is not giving a shit about the tone or pretty much anything else. 

You’d think, but actually he runs quite a complicated multi-amp set up with a custom made mechanical device to change the settings on the amps at the press of a footswitch. He owns a ridiculous number of vintage Tweed Deluxes, though only some have that sound that he is after.

For reference - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.guitarworld.com/amp/features/neil-young-ragged-glory

terada

Seziertisch said:

terada said:

exliontamer said:

Interested to find out if you've ever had a go approximating NYs tone in your own playing - what's worked for you?   

Honestly, the secret to Neil’s tone is not giving a shit about the tone or pretty much anything else. 

You’d think, but actually he runs quite a complicated multi-amp set up with a custom made mechanical device to change the settings on the amps at the press of a footswitch. He owns a ridiculous number of vintage Tweed Deluxes, though only some have that sound that he is after.

For reference - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.guitarworld.com/amp/features/neil-young-ragged-glory

Yeah I'm very familiar with his rig . But at its core it's the same couple of guitars he's played his whole life, and a deluxe set to various points to get certain levels of intensity. Sure its then run through other stuff, but the key ingredient is NYs emotive playing and loose style.

When I've covered NY songs at gigs I get closest when I completely let go. Thats the most important factor. Without that it just doesn't sound right.

I find as long as I can achieve that, and generally set my rig to cover the 'about to explode' feel, then it doesn't really matter what I'm specifically using. 

Grocer_Jack

I don’t really use NYs tone in my band but I do like trying to get his sound on my own. The closest I’ve ever got is with a Joyo American Sound with plenty of gain into a Vibrolux. 

ICBM

The closest I've got was a Danelectro Convertible into a Fender Hotrod Deluxe Drive channel with the gain maxed and the volume low. Massively microphonic and feedback-prone in a fantastically controllable way, at actually quite sensible levels.

Seziertisch

A guitar with a Bigsby or similar is a must. Though an offset Fender vibrato can also work.

Keeping the bar in your hand when playing really helps to get that loose feel; even if you aren’t deliberately using it, there will still be some pitch variation happening.

A Les Paul is useful owing to them generally having a bit more natural sustain than some other instruments - hit a note, let it hang, wobble on the vibrato.

Otherwise, unpotted pickups are also a big part of that sound. Their extra liveliness and inclination towards feedback is useful

Iamnobody

terada said:

exliontamer said:

Interested to find out if you've ever had a go approximating NYs tone in your own playing - what's worked for you?   

Honestly, the secret to Neil’s tone is not giving a shit about the tone or pretty much anything else. 

Yep paying little respect to timing, tuning and key is the key to NY!

Serious answer - he has a style that’s is almost inimitable - ragged and loose almost to the point of fucking up! It may be the same few chords in most songs but he makes effective use of them.

Johnnyseven

Anyone know of any more reasonably priced pedals that do the job of the Falcon in the video?

thecolourbox

Johnnyseven said:

Anyone know of any more reasonably priced pedals that do the job of the Falcon in the video?

I was wondering that, as a relative newbie to the "amp in a box" type pedals, or pedals that offer amp flavoured drive - I wondered if the Tone City character type overdrives might do it if they have a Tweed type one? Or even the Joyo/Amoon/HB American Sound?