Hi everyone!!!

Anyone have any idea what FX pedal Prince uses on Colonized Mind, to get the space age effect at the end of the song as it merges with the next track??? Im keen to recreate it, but have no idea how he did it!!!

X

Space age? It's a flanger. Probably a Boss BF-3 as it's the latest.

The effect has been in use since the late 50s but guitar pedals came into being during the 70s.

Prince has always had one near (although more noticeable when the Revolution appeared).

Cheap as chips if you want one. Loads of second hand ones about.

Oh, and he has a kill-switch/volume swell too on that last bit. Either done manually whilst playing or in the studio. Volume pedals do what they say on the tin and kill-switches are non-earthed guitars played in the rain. Just joking there. They actually just switch the volume on and off. I have my Strat pickup selector switch modded so that it acts as one when the volume pot is pulled up (that also acts as a switch). They're good for mucking about with at the end of songs and adding interest to other parts.

Prince loves his Boss pedals. Boss has a pretty cool virtual pedal board here to play around with: http://www.bossus.com/exp...ive_demos/

Ahhh yes Flanger was the pedal I tried and got close with some kool sounds, I just couldn't do the on/off bit, which makes sense with waht you said there! I'm so in love with the sound on crimson & clover + colonized mind, it is so sweet - nearly as sweet as the Hendrix bold as love/little wing sound which Im sure he's aiming for.
What's your thoughts on getting a sound like this? I currently play strat (american deluxe series) with a boss equaliser pedal, with other boss pedals - tremolo, overdrive and blues for solos etc.
X

Revolution9 said:

It's nice to go for the sound of something we love but the reason, in my opinion, that those guitarists classed as the most popular are seen as such is as much down to their unique guitar sounds as it is their playing. You only get so far with imitation: it's innovation that is key.

Hi.

Revolution9 said:

On Crimson & Clover he uses the Boss VB-2. It's been in his setup for years (check the solo's from the Small Club boot). It's a very rare pedal (MIJ) and will cost you a few hundred dollars if you want one.

David1974 said:

Prince's Vibrato VB-2 and setup chain:







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[Edited 2/9/10 13:47pm]

squirrelgrease said:[quote]

David1974 said:

Prince's Vibrato VB-2 and setup chain:









Sweet thank you squirrelgrease. More tech, peddle box talk guys, smile.

I was thinking it was the Digitech Whammy pedal. The red thing with the foot-controlled expression pedal on it. Nice gadget.

Nice that looks quality! So is that how he gets that on/off sound at the end of colonized mind??? + What's the difference between a vibrato pedal and a tremolo pedal? Love just messing with them to get the best/kraziest sounds - I like using the delay pedal so interesting to see Prince uses one too. What is the octave pedal for? Can't think of any songs where I've heard that used???
X

Revolution9 said:

Vibrato alters the pitch in the same manner that you would add vibrato with your fingers whilst playing (watch Gilmour for a masterclass, or Vai).

Tremolo increases and decreases the volume in a similar way (think old electric blues, or The Smiths "How Soon is Now").

Every man and his dog uses delay. Normally used during soloing to add, well, it thickens the solos used correctly. Or you can use one like The Edge, or go completely nuts and start using loopers/samplers like Brian May has famously (think Brighton Rock).

Octavers, harmonisers and pitch-shifters are all similar in that they reproduce the notes being player but transposed either up or down. Play a C and it'll play an F at the same time... that sort of thing. Listen to Steve Vai's "Ballerina". In fact for weird effects listen to Steve Vai on almost anything (Yai Yai for example).

Whammy pedals are best heard on Rage Against the Machine's solo on "Killing in the Name" or, again, David Gilmour's "The Blue" (best use of it I've ever heard in fact). Muse and The White Stripes are also fond of the Digitech Whammy.

Revolution9 said:

He uses the octaver sometimes during his solo's. I have one in my setup too, but I mainly use it to give the clean sound an extra punch. If you set the OCT buttons all the way to the left and the direct level all the way open, it gives and extra punch to the clean sounds. Here's my setup I use for years now, although I often switch the order of the pedals:



And here's some more of Prince's setup at the Indigo aftershows:

Very kool stuff - love the photos, thanks everyone for all the info - learning alot from all this!!!

I need to get all my pedals into one set box/unit like that - I'm guessing that means you can power them all by one cable instead of batteries in all of them???
+ What's the big blue box at the top with the "tweeze" buttons on it?!
Annoyingly looks like the vibrato pedal is not for sale by Boss anymore. i think it's the delay or octave pedal I'm keen to get hold of next.
X

Revolution9 said:

The Big Blue Thing is the Line6 MM4. But beware that this is only Prince's pedal setup. This is not going to give you his sound, if that's what you want. There's a whole lot more to it and he changes it constantly (except for the Boss pedals):



The Vibrato pedal is long discontinued already. Mine is in pristine condition (still got the box, looking like new) and somebody already offered me 500 euro for it. Without a box and not in mint condition, you could get a hold of one for a couple of hundred US dollars. But there's always some people out there that don't know what they have on the attic. I bought a 1960 Rogers drums set once for 200 euro and recently paid a coulple of hundred for a midified Linndrum. So, keep looking and you will find one eventually at a decent price.

Revolution9 said:

Almost all effects pedals come with a female AC connector to bypass the battery. You just have to get the correct adapter(s).

I've had wonderful luck finding pedals in pawn shops at bargain basement prices. A no-reserve eBay auction stake-out could net a decent price as well. Second-hand guitar shops will also consider trades so both parties go away happy.

iloveannie said:

I like you. You seem to be one of very few orgers who have a clue about guitars/guitarists and music.

Jesus christ, my effect setup is five times more impressive than Prince's and I don't even play the guitar anymore (I use them for keyboards etc.).

That's pretty spartan stuff right there, I find it odd that he's sticking with some of them models as they are rather basic off-the-shelf consumer grade stuff - and the Line6 stuff is hardly durable. One of the reasons he has been using BOSS pedals for so long might be because the design at least would seem to be easier to use with high heeled shoes.

novabrkr said:

Well, he's been using what is basically a cheap knock-off of a Telecaster for 30 years and damn it if it ain't workin' out just fine.

squirrelgrease said:

Yeah, I know. Although I think it has been modded quite a lot up to this point.

Nothing wrong with using cheap gear of course. I got some expensive stuff, but my own favourites of the bunch tend to be the cheaper units. It's just that Prince has also his custom guitars and other instrumentes that certainly aren't cheap. If he has an affinity for BOSS stuff that isn't strange either, but all the Line6 and Behringer stuff there does sort of boggle my mind. He could definitely put a little bit more attention to how he uses delay / reverberation effects.

Apparently the reason for using Boss is that if anything fails it's very to get hold of another no matter where in the world you are. And I suppose with Boss, what it says on the tin is what you get.

My pedals don't amount to much. I have a;

Keeley Compressor (lovely),
TRex Replica Delay (sublime),
MXR Phase 90,
Tech 21 Double Drive (the old one, it's okay),
Dunlop Wah (very harsh for me so may change it one day - not true bypass either and it sucks the life from my Strat).

Yeh this is a great thread for discussing guitar sounds, has been a great hep cheers everyone. Opened my mind up to the power solutions, I've been using the messy approach of the pedals on the floor all powered by battery, now Im keen to get a power adapter with cables to link them all up.

What would you lot recommend adding to my current setup:

(all boss pedals):
Chromatic Tuner
Equalizer
Tremolo
Overdrive/Distortion
Blues

Revolution9 said:

U might want to go with a Wah-Wah pedal

I have a collection of Boss and DOD pedals, plus a Crybaby Wah - though, I have never been happy with the short sweep of it's potentiometer. My favorite stomp box was actually home-made from an aluminum ice-cube tray, some potentiometers and LEDs and the guts to an old telephone amplifier. The sound is really dirty and overdriven. I also made a little pig-nose amp with the same type of phone electronics and a couple of small speakers. I made it so I can wear it with a guitar strap.

he uses this on Fury, and I also think Colonized mind and some songs on Planet earth

http://www.gig-fx.com/pro...hopper.htm

thecloud said:

Does the order in which these gizmos are chained make a difference?

By which I guess I mean is the output from one the input to the next, or do they all use the same input and then get mixed, or can they be sub-grouped, and would it actually make any difference to the sound?

As is no doubt apparent I know nothing about these things (apart from everything that's been posted in this thread) but I have to say I find it fascinating. From messing around with various plugins (which I guess are more or less the software equivalent) I know what a flanger is supposed to do, I know what delay, distortion, sustain, wah-wah etc. are, but how all the real hardware works and fits together I haven't really much of clue aside from what I've gleaned from this thread (and other all too rare threads like it).


So thanks to anyone who can enlighten me!

This is the most interesting thread I've seen here in a long time. Which maybe says more about me than it does about this place. Maybe I should be interested in what might happen if Prince stopped over for dinner, or in posting pictures of Prince wearing yellow, or in debating what his 'best' lyric might be, or in pondering whther he's vain enough to be a dad, or something, but I'm not. Learning about his stage setup - now that's something worthwhile. So thanks to all, and don't let it stop here.

Need more input...

^ It does matter quite a bit in which order the analog effects boxes are daisy chained together. For instance, placing the Wah at the beginning of the chain will give undesired muffling as the Wah tries to push it's signal through other devices. With a digital all-in-one processor that tries to replicate the same sounds as a bunch of analog pedals, it just comes down to properly mixing the settings to your liking.