It's pretty appearant what GUITAR'S Prince likes (The clouds, the symbol guitar, the Hohner Tele, and his new baby Blue Strat) but what amps and effects does he use. It's obvious for distortion he uses a fuzz pedal but does anyone know the settings or even what kind?? Google turns up mostly nil.

Volitan said:

letitgo, you'lll never sound like Prince

Duh. Not trying to. Merely a question of curiosity, my man. I don't play that kind of music anyway unless I'm just keeping up on chops or just dicking around in general.

PS: The holier than thou attitude isn't needed. I'm not no n00b playing on some squier strat through a solid state combo.
[Edited 9/18/07 1:23am]

This question has been answered several times in this forum. Do a search with "Guitar World" in it and you should get the article.

Here you go:

http://prince.org/msg/15/109981

Volitan said:

Wasn't holier than thou, im just tired of cats trying to sound like Prince when they never will,
cause it isn't only just the pedals and amps that he uses,
It has alot to do with his rack gear, especially when recording in the studio...

and if it was truly out of sheer curiosity, than details to the setting of pedals, is something ludicrous to ask...

The question was directed as an in-studio question. Even if I wanted to, there's no way I could get his sound without a studio.

Here's a good site that may also answer some of your questions:

http://www.geocities.com/...2/ag2.html

EmbattledWarrior said:

Chill and relax, dude Not everyone is as enlightened as you when it comes to Prince and his sounds. Maybe the guy's just curious. I've been playing for years and I still find other artists gear choices interesting. Lots of musicians do.

No need to jump down anyone's throat...

JesseDezz said:

So have i man, gear and asking for settings are totally different
i use to be into Slash's sound and wanted to know his pedal choices as well
but i never went as far as to ssk/look for settings
destroys the inventive process of it...
And you know that half of the part of being a good guitarist is just fucking around with pedals and amp settings until you find something you like...
Using someone elses setting is just biting off their sound...
And we all know that i HATE biters...
its like those cats that buy hendrix pedals to replicate his sound...
Than haev the audacity to use on an original track of theirs to get props on a sound that never belonged to them (you know who you are if you're reading this)
Ive answered this question before under certain circumstances cause i know what Prince uses, and his gear...
nothing wrong about wanting to know about what gear he uses its no secret
i have a problem with people asking for specifics...
Like Prince fucking gives out manuals on how to get his sound...
And artist's sound is a mirror of himself and his playing...
replicating the syntax of his soul...
i mean this isn't something like Claptons Woman tone, which can be easily replicated.
their is a reason why Prince doesn't like talking about his gear...
hes said time and time again, that people need to Find their own sound, like everybodyu else has had
And i very rarely agree with Prince
but i agree with him on that
A guitarists main mission in life
is to find a sound that is completely his own,

Why do people kick off when somebody wants to emulate a sound? If you wanna create your own sound but dont jump on other people because they choose not too. Many people create homage music, and enjoy trying to recreate sounds of their favourite artists or songs. Like when people ask for linn drum samples to make their own beats.. soon as somebody mentions a guitar though its another story.

3121 said:

Again, I'm not trying to copy Prince. I'm just sort of interested in why/how he got the kind of sounds he did for that type of music, and the evolution of his sound from say, "I Wanna Be Your Lover", to the fast super fuzzy tone at the intro to "When Doves Cry" or "Computer Blue".

I have my own sound and am pretty happy with it. I'm still curious about other people's though.

You're not the only one. If someone takes offense at a simple question like that...someone takes things a bit too seriously

It has nothing to do with pedals.
It's all in the fingers and the soul.
My dad has a 80.000 dolla violin and he can do the same on a 500 dolla violin.
His 80.000 dolla one from 1600..a guadoninni or something was broken and he did a whole concert on a 500 dolla student violin.
LOL
Don't waiste ur money on equipment.
Just use newpowersoul.

[Edited 9/19/07 15:19pm]
[Edited 9/19/07 15:19pm]

Why can't people just answer the man's question? All these "don't waste your money on the equipment" statements haven't a thing to do with his question

JesseDezz said:

LOL

Ok..take a telescope to a concert..check his pedals and settings.
Go home and practice.
Jeeez...
Even if you have his same equipment..you might sound like Keith Richards.
It's not only the gear.
Thats what I think anywhoo.

EmbattledWarrior said:

and his fingers!!!!!

georgeguitar said:

that too, lol

And volitan if you're truly sincere about your endeavors, than the answer doesn't even lie with equipment

Its the fingerwork as george and many others pointed out

you can play like prince just by playing with the minor pentatonic scale and a sort of half modal playing...(sometimes mixing it with blues)

His soloing is based on basing pretty melodic licks (santana wise) and mixing them with harsh stabs and guitar grunts, (hendrix wise)
The way he gets his guitar sounds is majorly by that type of playing...
He has a predilection for extravagant bends and vibrato...

And he seems to like to do alot of runs now...(shredding wise)
Equipment can only do so much if you don't have the chops

anything else you need?

Princes sound in essense swings more towards santana than hendrix
he likes pretty tones...
stuff with alot of chorus, a little bit of fuzz etc and maybe wah...
i aint getting into specifics though...

3121 said:

dig that and if the author of this thread is creating a tribute band, than i'll release some info
if not, fuck off... lol

no offense of course

Prince cover band? lol, no. While I've played Purple Rain and shit for fun (and never live), I'm not going for that.

If I had asked what kind of synth or something Price played on, I'd be fine eh??

Volitan said:

I assume you mean synth as in keyboard synth right?
cause guitar synthesis was never much of Prince's thing
Guitar synthesis is an Andy Summers thing... which is a whole other thread...

EmbattledWarrior said:

Exactly. I was referring to keys and all that kind of stuff.

JesseDezz said:

I did answer it. I guess it got lost in the back-and-forth.

One reason someone might want to emulate an artist's sound is because they're in a cover band. If I was in a band playing a lot of Prince covers, I'd be interested in sounding like him.

carlcranshaw said:

hes usin lone star now eh?
wonder what he did with the heartbreakers...

His guitar sound in the new 'Live at the O2' footage from the 3121 site is so awful.

Christaro said:

I saw you had Tender surrender at your signature.
Check out blender surrender.
The most funny clip ever if you know the song well or play it yourself...and pretty difficult to make it this way too.
I love that guy who made it.He's very nice.
Steve's facial expression with this sound is hillarious.
http://www.youtube.com/wa...dcp6z_qAnY
[Edited 9/22/07 12:59pm]

emile57 said:

brilliant.