Sleep walk pedal effect

[johnnywgk]

As above. My dear ol man just bought himself a Gretsch and is giving up on it. What pedal do I buy him so he can make it sound like that. He paid a fortune for it but don't realise them old stars from the past used pedals etc. Any help please, make an old man happy. He can play it but don't understand why it sounds c**p. Many thanks

[Ozone]

If you're think of the Santo and Johnny version, they used steel guitars with a steel slide. I'm not sure what effect pedal will give that sound, other than some echo

Edited by Ozone on Tuesday 25th December 18:18

[thebraketester]

I supposed it’s a bit like saying I bought a Stratocaster, why don’t I sound like Hendrix.

[gazza285]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2rwfqsjimRM

That ain’t no Gretsch guitar...

[singlecoil]

gazza285 said:

That ain’t no Gretsch guitar...

Indeed. It's a Fender, as are most of the best guitars.

[gazza285]

singlecoil said:

Indeed. It's a Fender, as are most of the best guitars.

Any guitar that needs four inch and a half wood screws to hold it together obviously hasn’t been made right.

[bingybongy]

gazza285 said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2rwfqsjimRM

That ain’t no Gretsch guitar...

Just watched that and it made me smile.
Love that tune but haven't heard it for years.

[singlecoil]

gazza285 said:

singlecoil said:

Indeed. It's a Fender, as are most of the best guitars.

Any guitar that needs four inch and a half wood screws to hold it together obviously hasn’t been made right.

[johnnywgk]

Cheers guys, hope you all had a great day

[gazza285]

singlecoil said:

I do not judge the artist on the quality of their brush, and maybe he didn’t want to destroy a nice guitar at the end of his performance.

[singlecoil]

gazza285 said:

I do not judge the artist on the quality of their brush, and maybe he didn’t want to destroy a nice guitar at the end of his performance.

He was far more concerned with how the guitar played and sounded than he was about the woodwork, especially as he only broke (or burned) his guitars accasionally, and Gibsons cost pretty much the same as Strats anyway.

[gazza285]

I've got Strats, Teles, LPs and SGs, and a Gretsch, non of them play as nice as my Gordon Smiths...

[singlecoil]

Sounds like they need setting up.

[br d]

When Setzer plays sleepwalk he rolls the volume control on and off to create that swell effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APvfSRKTZQQ

[gazza285]

singlecoil said:

Sounds like they need setting up.

Not at all, my Gordons are just fine.

[davepoth]

Ozone said:

If you're think of the Santo and Johnny version, they used steel guitars with a steel slide. I'm not sure what effect pedal will give that sound, other than some echo

Edited by Ozone on Tuesday 25th December 18:18

Videos on youtube show either Santo or Johnny using a pedal steel, which is even further removed from a Gretsch.

That said, there are a couple of things I can think of, in addition to the echo - a chorus effect, rolling off the treble (maybe even using the neck pickup, but IIRC it wasn't hot enough on the last Gretsch I played with).

In terms of the amp, the lovely creamy sound that you always hear on recordings is usually down to the power tubes in a valve amp doing a bit of work - and that's usually pretty loud for all but the smallest amps. I've only ever got that tone once out of my own 45W amp, and that was at a 500 capacity venue where the PA was busted.

The other thing to try is flat-wound strings - they're quite common in jazzy styles and as far as I can tell they are used on pedal steel guitars too - they give a much smoother sound when sliding, with none of the scratchy noise.

If your dad really wants to play slide guitar on his gretsch he'll want to get the action raised a little, as need to be very precise with the slide on a "normal" set up - the gap between not pushing hard enough to make a noise and fretting the string is quite small.

[singlecoil]

gazza285 said:

singlecoil said:

Sounds like they need setting up.

Not at all, my Gordons are just fine.

I understood that from what you said earlier. I meant your other guitars.

[gazza285]

singlecoil said:

gazza285 said:

singlecoil said:

Sounds like they need setting up.

Not at all, my Gordons are just fine.

I understood that from what you said earlier. I meant your other guitars.

I know.

[Chicken Chaser]

OP, is your dad just plugging straight into the amp? Which amp is it?

If you're on a budget, you could go and buy a reverb, delay and echo pedal (in that order) of which there are many or you could look at getting him a Boss Katana 50 amp which has on board effects and is a good amp for home use. All depends on budget really. You could spend a lot more for better quality.

[suthol]

Santo & Johnny, tis a triple neck Fender flatbed steel ( no pedals )

Santo & Johnny
http://youtu.be/2rwfqsjimRM

Arlen Roth
http://youtu.be/x1nlMEjTQbo

Just need to be pretty handy with double stop bends, harmonics and ride the volume knob ( simples )