Searching for Neil Young's tone

[jetofuj]

Everyday such thread has to pop up, so now it's my turn

I'm looking for Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My" tone captured in a dirt box. Words can't explain this, but clips can:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYV6PAckr5w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on6uLQDLAlE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCUC-wElkM

I know that Mark Olson is using second channel of his DHA to get similar tone. There is also Durham Electronics Crazy Horse pedal but it seems to loose the whole fat bottom and it isn't rude enough IMO. Maybe you can suggest me some pedal?

Cheers, Kris

[icarussmicarus]

I thought I heard that he used a Mutron Octave Divider in addition to dirt in that song. Definately sounds like some octave effect to my ears.

[autopilot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2oC3_POYJY

[fightthepower]

Originally Posted by jetofuj

Everyday such thread has to pop up, so now it's my turn

I'm looking for Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My" tone captured in a dirt box. Words can't explain this, but clips can:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYV6PAckr5w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on6uLQDLAlE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCUC-wElkM

I know that Mark Olson is using second channel of his DHA to get similar tone. There is also Durham Electronics Crazy Horse pedal but it seems to loose the whole fat bottom and it isn't rude enough IMO. Maybe you can suggest me some pedal?

Cheers, Kris

Haha! check out the bassist geekin out in the second video from 1:30-2:00 hahaha...

[bigtexashonk]

Durham Electronics Crazy Horse Pedal. Ask Allen if he can mod it to keep more bottom end.

http://www.durhamelectronics.com/crazyhorse.html

[sonicvi]

Originally Posted by icarussmicarus

I thought I heard that he used a Mutron Octave Divider in addition to dirt in that song. Definately sounds like some octave effect to my ears.

this.

[seanm]

When I played this song, I used the Torn's Peaker. I was actually closer to the spirit of Neil's tone than the bass tone, but who cares?

[jetofuj]

Originally Posted by icarussmicarus

I thought I heard that he used a Mutron Octave Divider in addition to dirt in that song. Definately sounds like some octave effect to my ears.

Man, I try to cure my gas for Octave Divider and you're saying this It's rather impossible for me to get the vintage one and I've also lost hope that Malekko will release its clone. I ordered FoxRox Octron last week, so it might be a good step for tone I'm looking for.

I thought that Neil doesn't use any effects except an old Echoplex, but I realized that it's only about distortion units.

[Mark Olson]

From what I've read, Neil Young uses a mixture of three amplifiers to get his tones, and he has a device that changes the settings on his 57 Deluxe with some stomp switches. One of the amplifiers is solid state and the main amplifier is a Fender 57 Deluxe, and quite obviously they're cranked to hell.

He's also been known to use a Boss Flanger, but that effect is not on Hey Hey, My My, at least any version I've heard.

[robkphoto]

Yeah. I read an article that Neil had found the "sweet spots" with the different amps he uses for the different sounds he needs and he had a setup made that actually physically dials the knobs on the amps to his predetermined settings with a touch of a footswitch. It's a big Red generic looking switch that he always has right in front of him with 5 or 6 unmarked stomp switches on it. I think there's a good shot of it on the cover of the mirrorball album. Pretty amazing!

[JCampbell72]

Originally Posted by fightthepower

Haha! check out the bassist geekin out in the second video from 1:30-2:00 hahaha...

Haha awesome!

As Rick James said: cocaine is a helluva drug!

[jetofuj]

I've found that Neil uses Mutron (indeed for Hey Hey, My My), old MXR analog delay, very old Boss flanger, Alesis Microverb and Echoplex.

Mark: are you still using Durham Crazy Horse?

I'm still waiting for dirt box suggestions

[Mark Olson]

No, I actually sold that for extra cash a long time ago. It is however a great pedal. But for just ballparking that type of tone I found a good Fuzz Face more satisfying, the less smooth the Fuzz Face the better. Here is with the Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=7320667

I used the bridge pickup on my SG Bass for that, which is nasally and guitarlike on it's own, so you may not be able to tell from the clip but that particular pedal is actually good on the bottom end, even better than most other Fuzz Faces I've tried. But for something more authentic, you'll want the gnarliest, crappiest sounding Fuzz Face you can find (and I mean that in a good way). Here's what I've had my eye on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzouRrr4Vlw

You'll also notice in the video how well it can clean up, so it doesn't have to be a one trick pony. But crank up your guitar's volume and the fuzz knob and it sounds nasty as can be. Check it out especially with the Les Paul; you'll probably be wanting some high output humbuckers of some sort to closest match Neil's tone. That's on my list of stuff to buy but I don't know if I'll want germanium or silicon yet. Conventional wisdom would say the silicon would be even nastier, though in my own experience comparing similar make germanium/silicon Fuzz Faces, I wouldn't say it makes as big a difference as you might suspect.

[jetofuj]

Thanks Mark! I thought about Fuzz Face, especially about OX Fuzz. This is Fuzz Face's clone made by the guy from stoner rock band called Sons of Otis. He makes bass friendly version and even one TBer has already got it. But still no clips are available.

When I listen to "Hey Hey, My My" entry, I always pay great attention to the sustain's texture. I thought that maybe some kind of gated, motorboating fuzz like Mellowtone Wolf Computer Fuzz would be good...

[jetofuj]

Originally Posted by bigtexashonk

Durham Electronics Crazy Horse Pedal. Ask Allen if he can mod it to keep more bottom end.

He said that he does not do any custom work on any of his products

[Mark Olson]

Just an FYI, the Crazy Horse isn't that bad with the low end, in fact the tone knob adds low end below noon. My clips of it don't have the greatest bottom end but that's mostly due to my favoring of the bridge pickup on my SG Bass. Also it can get so rude that you get nasty sounds from the tone being just too darn distorted. I probably dialed it down a fair bit for my clips, actually. The fuzz section, when you crank that, it's plenty rude and nasty for sure, but I probably never had it above noon on my clips, I'm sure I favored the distortion section over the fuzz section, for some reason or another. I'm also pretty sure I had my volume rolled back a bit to clean it up a tad.

Where the Crazy Horse fell short for me was in the responsiveness to dynamics. I was looking for a pedal to give me the sound of a Fender 57 Deluxe, which is one of the most dynamic amps ever made, so it's no big surprise a pedal would fall short in that area. But if you're playing balls out all the time when you've got it on, it's great.

[funkalicious101]

I think if your amp is on fire while you are playing it should do a pretty good Neil Young tone.