BTBAM tone machines.

[Neptical]

Hey Guys,

Sorry if this is over-played at this point..but I recently been digging the BTBAM material, or mostly the guitar tones. I don't really listen to alot of newer material but they just happened to catch my ears after a long time friend introduced me to them. I found a few videos of them on the 'Tube displaying their rigs, etc. I'm kind of stumped how Paul Waggoner was able to obtain some smooth leads out of his old rack mount DR. According to the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG8861eSfqI) he uses an Ibby Tube Screamer which is just a boost for his leads, so, where does the 'smooth' lead sound come from? In my 12 years of experience using the Recs, there certainly isn't anything smooth about them. Wonder if he had it modded,then threw in some good NOS tubes to give it a nice balance. I don't know..only guessing. Does anyone have any info on this?

~Nep~

 

[Neptical]

..Or maybe this should be posted in the Rectifier forum.. :?: :!:

~Nep~

 

[spawnofthesith]

FWIW their new album was recorded with Mark V's and that is what they are using on tour currently

 

[crockett]

It sounds like a lot of their solos use the bridge pickup. He uses EMGs in the older stuff before they switched over to PRS guitars, and from what I've read the bridge pickup was an 85. I think that's where the smoothness you're hearing comes from.

 

[Neptical]

It sounds like a lot of their solos use the bridge pickup. He uses EMGs in the older stuff before they switched over to PRS guitars, and from what I've read the bridge pickup was an 85. I think that's where the smoothness you're hearing comes from.

Yep, I pretty much got all that. Still pondering the thought about anything smooth coming out of a Rectifier. Could of actually been a Mark series for leads in the studio and used the Rectifier for the rhythm.

~Nep~

 

[crockett]

Never heard of him using a Mark until the new album, but it's all hearsay, he could've been always using a Mark as far as I truly know. I'd try the vintage setting with the gain around 11-1 o' clock. When I use an EMG 85 on a Roadster, it doesn't sound far removed from BTBAM. And I mean the tone, not the playing. Also I don't hear a lot of gain on their lead tones.

 

[Neptical]

Yeah, man...all speculation. Hopefully we can get more people who may know. Either or, great players.

~Nep~

 

[xedwinx206]

I know that Dusty is a big big Roadster user. On the live DVD of Colors I believe they are both using Roadsters with Orange cabs.

Anyways check out this link. It has some great pics of their gear.

It also has both of their pedalboards
http://www.smnnews.com/board/showthread.php?t=173756&highlight=btbam+gear

hope that helps

 

[Neptical]

I know that Dusty is a big big Roadster user. On the live DVD of Colors I believe they are both using Roadsters with Orange cabs.

Anyways check out this link. It has some great pics of their gear.

It also has both of their pedalboards
http://www.smnnews.com/board/showthread.php?t=173756&highlight=btbam+gear

hope that helps

Yeah, man..aside from the guitars, that's pretty much all the gear they used that they showed in the YouTube videos. Only difference in the 'Tube videos is that they show their newer PRS models they got.

Again... still trying to figure out where the smooth tones were coming from...


~Nep~

 

[ryan.d.s]

Hi guys, brand new to the forum and soon to be a Boogie owner (Mark V or Roadster, still deciding). Thought I'd help out for my first post as there's a bit of misinformation in this thread, I'm a huge BTBAM fan, haha.

Their new was album was not recorded with a Mark V. It's pretty easy to tell it's recto tone. I've also isolated the guitar tracks (mostly) on the 5.1 surround and it's definitely recto tone (possibly Paul's rackto or maybe Dustie's Roadster.) I do believe a lot of the lead was Mark V though. (Just listen to the Obfuscation solo, definitely Mark tone)

Paul was still playing his Rackto for awhile on the TGM tour (as seen on the TGM dvd), but later switched to a Mark V. (I saw them in May and his Mark V blew my face off!)

On the Colors DVD, only Dustie was using a Roadster and an Orange cab. Paul was using his rackto and a mesa cab. (You can plainly see it)

As for the thread topic, the tone they were getting on Colors was pretty smooth and pillowy sounding compared to older albums, not as aggressive, so switching on a tubescreamer and a delay seems to work well for Paul, getting a nice smooth distortion with the rackto. Now that he's using a Mark V live, his lead tone is even better.

But it all comes down to which lead tone you're referring to. IMO before Colors, his lead tone wasn't that particularly great anyway.

I hope some of that helped. 8)

 

[katsumura78]

Hey guys, I totally saw them last night in Orlando. Paul used the Mark 5 and Dustie had a Roadster. Both had great tone and it was a good set.

 

[Neptical]

Hey guys, I totally saw them last night in Orlando. Paul used the Mark 5 and Dustie had a Roadster. Both had great tone and it was a good set.

That's pretty rad you got to see them last night. They were in my hometown a few months back and a friend asked me to go but I declined and wrote my own material that night.
Sort of wish I had gone now!

So anyways, yeah Paul with the Mark V and Dustie with the Roadster is old news at this time, lol.

When he first got the PRS, he was still using the racktifier so let me talk about that tone for a sec...( thats the tone I'm refering to )

I'm gonna say screw it and draw the most likely theory. Pauls clean smooth lead tone came from his Ibby Tube Screamer slammin' the front of his racktifier. From all the videos and pictures that I've seen so far, that's the only thing that ties together. Plus the video I posted in my first post as Paul is going over his live rig, he goes over his set-up which is pretty basic...Wah pedal,Tube Screamer, Boss DD-6 Delay, Boss Noise Suppressor,Boss Tuner, Clean/Dirty switch, Effects loops switch and some 'verb in the effects loop.

Not a **** bad sound at all! Pretty sweet how he was able to clean up the leads that sweet with the Tube Screamer.

~Nep~

 

[xedwinx206]

Probably the biggest part of the equation for Paul's tone is, that it's in his hands.

So many players have amazing tone, and a lot of it comes from their own playing and their hands.

I'd say get a Mark IV/V or the Roadster, throw a TS in front and mess around. I'm sure you will get close, but it's almost impossible to copy these big name players' tone.

Good luck!

 

[Neptical]

Probably the biggest part of the equation for Paul's tone is, that it's in his hands.

So many players have amazing tone, and a lot of it comes from their own playing and their hands.

I'd say get a Mark IV/V or the Roadster, throw a TS in front and mess around. I'm sure you will get close, but it's almost impossible to copy these big name players' tone.

Good luck!

Edwin---I was just curious as to what he used to smooth out his Dual Rec, that's all. Thanks for trying to help me out though.

I'm extremely happy with my Mark III's to the fullest. For years I've always been into jazz/metal/fusion and find that these amps work extremely well for me and my guitars. Very smooth and sweet yet very, very tight and aggressive. These III's can spit out those BTBAM tones pretty well, and with my (2) PRS Standard 24s gets me pretty spot on.

~Nep~

 

[Neptical]

****, I can't get over the tones on 'Alaska' album. **** is off the heezy..

~Nep~

ps- Yeah i'll keep this thread open to talk to myself too. :wink:

 

[Jerrick]

Smooth tones from a recto are insanely easy to get.

Their most current setups right now are they are both using the Axe-fx. Dustie says they are using it for everything.

 

[Neptical]

Smooth tones from a recto are insanely easy to get.

I had a Recto for 10 years ( bought it in 2000, just got rid of it). I tried everything under the sun including throwing in NOS tubes in both power and preamp sections and never could get anything to remotely sounding 'smooth' with it even while using 2 of my PRS guitars. It was some long years of frustration. I'm realizing that folks throw some Tubescreamers in front to tighten them up and use for leads. I'd rather have an amp that can do it all without using any pedals, not including of course delay/'verb/flange/etc. Alas, I switched to Mark series amps and couldn't ask for anything more.

Their most current setups right now are they are both using the Axe-fx. Dustie says they are using it for everything.

Axe-fx would be fun to use at home or studio but there's really nothing like hearing power tube distortion.

~Nep~

 

[dbsens03]

Smooth tones from a recto are insanely easy to get.

I had a Recto for 10 years ( bought it in 2000, just got rid of it). I tried everything under the sun including throwing in NOS tubes in both power and preamp sections and never could get anything to remotely sounding 'smooth' with it even while using 2 of my PRS guitars. It was some long years of frustration. I'm realizing that folks throw some Tubescreamers in front to tighten them up and use for leads. I'd rather have an amp that can do it all without using any pedals, not including of course delay/'verb/flange/etc. Alas, I switched to Mark series amps and couldn't ask for anything more.

Pick up a Roadster. It's the ultimate amp. Won't need a TS or anything. It's also got fantastic reverb. Would go nicely with your III's.

 

[Jerrick]

Smooth tones from a recto are insanely easy to get.

I had a Recto for 10 years ( bought it in 2000, just got rid of it). I tried everything under the sun including throwing in NOS tubes in both power and preamp sections and never could get anything to remotely sounding 'smooth' with it even while using 2 of my PRS guitars. It was some long years of frustration. I'm realizing that folks throw some Tubescreamers in front to tighten them up and use for leads. I'd rather have an amp that can do it all without using any pedals, not including of course delay/'verb/flange/etc. Alas, I switched to Mark series amps and couldn't ask for anything more.

Their most current setups right now are they are both using the Axe-fx. Dustie says they are using it for everything.

Axe-fx would be fun to use at home or studio but there's really nothing like hearing power tube distortion.

~Nep~

I use a boost upfront, mainly so I can use a softer pick attack but still have the dynamics (no dynamics?) of just playing hard to get a more saturated sound. But the boost goes on and off a lot throughout our songs so I can have more dynamics and can clean up the tone with my volume knob. Smooth either way for me. Besides that boost, I keep my fxloop enabled, but that really doesnt change the tone and is also turning on and off a lot. Biggest difference I can think of is my head is a 2ch #6xxx. Rvg. G I think.

Id also love to have an Axe. Perfect recorded tones at anytime. Easy as I want it to be, or as complicated as I want to get. Id love to use it live too. Smaller venues I dont mind my amp, bigger venues and havent met someone who can properly mic a guitar cab to get a decent general sound of the amp. They know how to push faders, so a direct out would give me rather consistent tones no matter where I play at.

 

[TREC]

I fuuly agree with this, I saw them when they came to Australia and they were using hired 3 ch dual rectifiers and their sound was amazing, it comes down to the playing. I reckon a recto will sound differnt depending on your mood, if I'm playing and I'm not really into it the tone will sound shithouse.

Probably the biggest part of the equation for Paul's tone is, that it's in his hands.

So many players have amazing tone, and a lot of it comes from their own playing and their hands.

I'd say get a Mark IV/V or the Roadster, throw a TS in front and mess around. I'm sure you will get close, but it's almost impossible to copy these big name players' tone.

Good luck!