I was listening to 2 songs today & wondered about what Prince was using effect-wise. On the Live from Alladin dvd during "The Ride" his 1st verse, is that a Zoom 9030 making those warped-typed effects?

On "The Undertaker" dvd his distortion sounds like a "Boss Metal Zone" coupled with a lot of gain coming from the Boogie. Thanks in advance to any reponses & no i'm not rying to be him, just inspired.

I heard he used to use boss pedals, not sure about now.

MikeyB71 said:

I heard he used to use boss pedals, not sure about now.

Yes, he uses Boss stompboxes from the day he started & still does!

[img:$uid]http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae121/rmartin70/pedals2indigo.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae121/rmartin70/2i1laaw.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae121/rmartin70/princesetup.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 7/20/10 23:08pm]

Wow! Loving these pictures. Somehow I think P isn't that thrilled about this info flying around. He has never said what gear he used in interviews, am I right?

Either way, keep em coming! I always wondered what made that flangey sound he uses in most of his solo's since the 80s. I would say it's a combi of the octave, flanger an delay. Good to know!

zaza said:

I'm not sure about his 80's solo sound. I've tried to emulate it in GuitarRig 3 with all those settings from these pictures in the past (there are even more detailed ones) and it sounds nothing like Prince. It's like if he had some secret pedal.

We as fans & guitarist can try & get that Prince sound, but it's in the hands & also the pedals which are most likely modified to death!

thecloud said:

Before people start up with the "Don't worry about Prince's sound - get your own!" stuff, I'd like to say that I think it's perfectly OK to try and replicate Prince's sound. Because most of the people trying to do it are also trying to play or cover some Prince songs.

It wouldn't sound good IMHO to play "Let's Go Crazy" when your rig is set up to sound like something Dwight Yoakum would use (obscure Prince quote there).

But if you want to write your own stuff, then yeah - you should go with you own sound, or at least a sound suited for that kind of stuff. There is only one Prince, and if you write stuff but try to replicate Prince's sound on it, all you're going to do is sound like a Prince wanna-be. And that will marginalize your stuff, no matte how good it is.

It's funny how other guitarists on the guitar forums say BOSS pedals suck and they sound like crap. But cats like P and Satch (who used to use them) can make them sound so good.

P was one of the reasons I started to use BOSS effects back in the 80's.

SPYZFAN1 said:

It's funny how other guitarists on the guitar forums say BOSS pedals suck and they sound like crap. But cats like P and Satch (who used to use them) can make them sound so good.

P was one of the reasons I started to use BOSS effects back in the 80's.

Boss Pedals are not true bypass, but they sound okay to me.

Most people who rip on them are not exactly at the level of Prince, John Frusciante, Joe Satriani, Dave Navarro, etc who all use boss pedals. They are shoppers. Of course it's fun to shop for that one special overdrive hand wired by who know's who, but it doesn't make you better than Prince

Great players can use crappy gear and make it sound good. That said, Prince's guitar tone is not my favorite aspect of his music.

RodeoSchro said:

Before people start up with the "Don't worry about Prince's sound - get your own!" stuff, I'd like to say that I think it's perfectly OK to try and replicate Prince's sound. Because most of the people trying to do it are also trying to play or cover some Prince songs.

It wouldn't sound good IMHO to play "Let's Go Crazy" when your rig is set up to sound like something Dwight Yoakum would use (obscure Prince quote there).

But if you want to write your own stuff, then yeah - you should go with you own sound, or at least a sound suited for that kind of stuff. There is only one Prince, and if you write stuff but try to replicate Prince's sound on it, all you're going to do is sound like a Prince wanna-be. And that will marginalize your stuff, no matte how good it is.

yeah I get annoyed when people on guitar boards ignore gear questions and say something like "tone is in the fingers" and "Just play!" I think "then why does this discussion board exist at all?"

So if I get an acoustic plugged into a PA system that's just as good for nailing the SRV sound as a Strat on the neck pickup through a tube screamer?

NDRU said:

RodeoSchro said:

Before people start up with the "Don't worry about Prince's sound - get your own!" stuff, I'd like to say that I think it's perfectly OK to try and replicate Prince's sound. Because most of the people trying to do it are also trying to play or cover some Prince songs.

It wouldn't sound good IMHO to play "Let's Go Crazy" when your rig is set up to sound like something Dwight Yoakum would use (obscure Prince quote there).

But if you want to write your own stuff, then yeah - you should go with you own sound, or at least a sound suited for that kind of stuff. There is only one Prince, and if you write stuff but try to replicate Prince's sound on it, all you're going to do is sound like a Prince wanna-be. And that will marginalize your stuff, no matte how good it is.

yeah I get annoyed when people on guitar boards ignore gear questions and say something like "tone is in the fingers" and "Just play!" I think "then why does this discussion board exist at all?"

So if I get an acoustic plugged into a PA system that's just as good for nailing the SRV sound as a Strat on the neck pickup through a tube screamer?

Yeah, comments like that have irked me as well in the past. There's nothing wrong with being inspired by someone & trying too get close to they're skill level. Me honestly, never thought that guitar-tone belonged to any one in particular.

[Edited 9/14/10 15:38pm]

There are some slight modifications you can make to get "close" to his sound. I continuously play around with my set ups and practice along his recordings. Of course, it doesn't hurt to spread around by trying different artists. It may surprise some, but I play "some" Stevie Ray and even Keith Urban. Musicians who play can find a myriad of styles, and then mix them together to get your own sound.

Purpracer2 said:

There are some slight modifications you can make to get "close" to his sound. I continuously play around with my set ups and practice along his recordings. Of course, it doesn't hurt to spread around by trying different artists. It may surprise some, but I play "some" Stevie Ray and even Keith Urban. Musicians who play can find a myriad of styles, and then mix them together to get your own sound.

I ordered at Blackstar HTA-40 combo tube amp yesterday to finally replace the solid-state combo I have played through for almost 2 years. Solid State amp Vs. Tube Combo has the Tube amp destroying it something fierce, at least that's what my ears say.

thecloud said:

I was listening to 2 songs today & wondered about what Prince was using effect-wise. On the Live from Alladin dvd during "The Ride" his 1st verse, is that a Zoom 9030 making those warped-typed effects?

On "The Undertaker" dvd his distortion sounds like a "Boss Metal Zone" coupled with a lot of gain coming from the Boogie. Thanks in advance to any reponses & no i'm not rying to be him, just inspired.

I listened to it again this morning and i'm almost certain it's the Zoom 9030 he uses on "The Ride" from the "Alladin" dvd!

He used the zoom 9030 in the 90´s, and I think he stopped using rack effects after Musicology, maybe Las Vegas. I haven´t seen any pictures after the Musicology tour with the fc-100 board above the Boss pedals.

The warp sound could be the T.C Electronic G-force rack?

I play guitar in a Prince cover band. I have played for a long time and I am very inspired by Prince and his guitarsound.

The recent years my sound had become very close to P´s sound(still far away).

With almost the same pedals, it´s easier to get close to P´s sound.

My pedalboard from right to left:

Dunlop Rotovibe - Digitech Whammy - Dunlop CryBaby(mod) - Boss blues driver - Boss Turbo(on) Dist - Boss Octave oc-2 - T.C Electronic chorus/flanger(1989) - Boss delay dd-7

Non of my Boss pedals are made in Japan.

I have a Mesa Boogie Dc-5 Dual Caliber amp and a 4x12 Soldano cab.

The pictures of the pedalboard from Indigo helped me to understand, how much distortion he used to use 3 years ago.

In Roskilde 2010 I was very close the scene. I saw he had, a Hartke cabinet under the Mesa Boogie cab? His sound was much more different from Coachella and London.

I have been studying prince guitar sound since a couple of years now.

I m not sure about the wrap effect on the aladin DVD, since I watched it once, and gave it to someone.

About the Undertaker:

Yes, there is a Zoom 9030, you should get one. There is 2-3 factory preset used by Prince and it is fun to use !

For the RAW undertaker disto sound, if you wanna get close to it, you need:

• Thick brass nut. Prince is using that kind of nut on his cloud model, size is about 4 times as usual.
• EMG pickup (lets say 81 and SA / or S)
• BOSS turbo distortion
• Soldano SLO 100, or Soldano preamp + Marshall cabinet.

I think the idea of the undertaker, is to send turbo distortion wich is a very cold metalic sound (no lamp) into that soldano and putting more distortion on it to make it warmer with the preamp lamp.

As a result you get a "double distortion" sound kind of aggressive (Boss), with a lot of dynamic (SLO) and crystal pure signal (Brass nut + EMG).

It is fun to see that Prince lost his Made in Japan BF-2 Flanger.

He is now using a made in Taiwan, wich sounds a little bit different, not as deep.

There is a short clip in The Undertaker video, where you can see a Roland footswitch. I think that´s for the soldano.

Maybe the Raw Undertaker sound is the Soldano and the metalzone mt-2?

TheOriginal said:

He used the zoom 9030 in the 90´s, and I think he stopped using rack effects after Musicology, maybe Las Vegas. I haven´t seen any pictures after the Musicology tour with the fc-100 board above the Boss pedals.

The warp sound could be the T.C Electronic G-force rack?

I play guitar in a Prince cover band. I have played for a long time and I am very inspired by Prince and his guitarsound.

The recent years my sound had become very close to P´s sound(still far away).

With almost the same pedals, it´s easier to get close to P´s sound.

My pedalboard from right to left:

Dunlop Rotovibe - Digitech Whammy - Dunlop CryBaby(mod) - Boss blues driver - Boss Turbo(on) Dist - Boss Octave oc-2 - T.C Electronic chorus/flanger(1989) - Boss delay dd-7

Non of my Boss pedals are made in Japan.

I have a Mesa Boogie Dc-5 Dual Caliber amp and a 4x12 Soldano cab.

The pictures of the pedalboard from Indigo helped me to understand, how much distortion he used to use 3 years ago.

In Roskilde 2010 I was very close the scene. I saw he had, a Hartke cabinet under the Mesa Boogie cab? His sound was much more different from Coachella and London.

I want a DigiTech Whammy but for now I have no need for it. I don't think i've heard Prince use his at all, unless on the Rave dvd for "Fly Away" there is a solo that sounds as if it could be the Digi-Whammy!

So the Roland FC-100 controls the Zoom 9030 onstage? I also just recently found out that the echo from live performances of "Dreamer" & "Fury" are from the Boss Flanger!!!!

[Edited 10/7/10 4:55am]

TheOriginal said:

There is a short clip in The Undertaker video, where you can see a Roland footswitch. I think that´s for the soldano.

Maybe the Raw Undertaker sound is the Soldano and the metalzone mt-2?

The FC-100 footswitch is used to control the SOLDANO/CASWELL X99 MIDI MOTORIZED PREAMP.

http://www.soldano.com/new/x99.html

http://www.soldano.com/new/reviews.html

This FC-100 also control GP-16 and Zoom 9030 for the effects.

Some pictures of my FC-100 and GP-16:

http://jd800.free.fr/instru/GP-16/

Undertaker sound is definitly DS2 + Soldano beleive me or not.

I have metal zone and it is far different from Turbo Distortion.

If you plug a DS2, even without a Soldano, you will feel, Wow, that's prince undertaker sound !

[Edited 9/14/10 17:08pm]

What does a Blues Driver do?

thecloud said:

TheOriginal said:

He used the zoom 9030 in the 90´s, and I think he stopped using rack effects after Musicology, maybe Las Vegas. I haven´t seen any pictures after the Musicology tour with the fc-100 board above the Boss pedals.

The warp sound could be the T.C Electronic G-force rack?

I play guitar in a Prince cover band. I have played for a long time and I am very inspired by Prince and his guitarsound.

The recent years my sound had become very close to P´s sound(still far away).

With almost the same pedals, it´s easier to get close to P´s sound.

My pedalboard from right to left:

Dunlop Rotovibe - Digitech Whammy - Dunlop CryBaby(mod) - Boss blues driver - Boss Turbo(on) Dist - Boss Octave oc-2 - T.C Electronic chorus/flanger(1989) - Boss delay dd-7

Non of my Boss pedals are made in Japan.

I have a Mesa Boogie Dc-5 Dual Caliber amp and a 4x12 Soldano cab.

The pictures of the pedalboard from Indigo helped me to understand, how much distortion he used to use 3 years ago.

In Roskilde 2010 I was very close the scene. I saw he had, a Hartke cabinet under the Mesa Boogie cab? His sound was much more different from Coachella and London.

I want a DigiTech Whammy but for now I have no need for it. I don't think i've heard Prince use his at all, unless on the Rave dvd for "Fly Away" there is a solo that sounds as if it could be the Digi-Whammy!

Try listen to, Empty room Indigo Chp 2, Beautiful strange Indigo Chp. 5, Guitar, Monaco 2009.

The sound from the Rave dvd is generated by the Roland gp-16.