Comfortably Numb solo tone?

[GilmourD]

 

I remember reading somewhere that he said he plugged right into the sound board then they re-ampped it after through a fender twin I think..... it was the only solo he said he did that way.... wish I could remember where I saw that though....

 

 

That was Another Brick in the Wall (Part II). It was actually his P-90 equipped Les Paul plugged into the board and it had the {censored} compressed out of it. Remember... This is 1979, so tube compressors were still prevalent.

[Musicscotty]

More info on the Comfortably numb solo tone.

 

 

http://guitar.about.com/cs/guitartab/qt/solo_com_numb.htm

 

'Guitarists might find it interesting to note that the solo for "Comfortably Numb" was actually pieced together from several solos. Gilmour explains:

"I just went out into the studio and banged out five or six solos. From there I just followed my usual procedure, which is to listen back to each solo and mark out bar lines, noting which bits are good. In other words, I make a chart, putting ticks and crosses on different bars as I count through - two ticks if it's really good, one if it's good, and a cross if it's no go. Then I just follow the chart, whipping one fader up, then another fader, jumping from phrase to phrase and trying to make a really nice solo all the way through".

 

Gilmour's classic guitar solo was recorded using a combination of the guitarist's Hiwatt amps and Yamaha rotating-speaker cabinets. It is suspected that Gilmour played the solo using his '79 black Strat, with a '62 neck, DiMarzio pickups a rosewood fingerboard, and a custom switch allowing him to turn on the neck pickup in conjunction with other pickup configurations.

 

While recording The Wall, Gilmour favored his Big Muff pedal, an MXR Phase 90, an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, an Orange Treble/Bass booster, an Arbiter Fuzz Face, and custom tone pedal.

 

Apparently, both Gilmour and guitarist Lee Ritenour used high-strung guitars - a standard guitar with four of the strings tuned higher - for the some of the acoustic parts of "Comfortably Numb". The goal of a high-strung guitar is to recreate the sound of a 12-string guitar. The first (E) and second (B) strings are in standard tuning. The third (G), fourth (D), and fifth (A) strings are tuned an octave higher The sixth (low E) string is a duplicate of the first string - two octaves above the low E string in standard tuning.'

 

 

 

 

To confuse matters a little, there is a persistent internet rumour that the second CN solo was played using a Gibson Les Paul.......

[fabstrat]

on gilmorish there is no mention of marshall's or fender tweed twins...from which i heard he used the tweed twin a lot. i mean the dude was in abbey road.....who knows what he really used.

 

in these clips....all you see is a fender blackface, tweed twin, and a rotary speaker setup.

[YOUTUBE]WSamNdnhKyw[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]JyDwT-z9Id0[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]NqUX4oPyhiY[/YOUTUBE]

[scolfax]

In this case nailing the solo note-for-note is more important to me than nailing the tone. Whether or not he played a Strat on that track or not, a Strat with a cleanish tone is good enough if you've got the notes right.

[RaVenCAD]

 

I much prefer the sound of the live version on the P.U.L.S.E album to the original studio version, which sounds thin and abbreviated by comparison. If you like Pink Floyd at all, you need the P.U.L.S.E album.

 

 

I'm listening to PULSE right now, and you are 100% correct.. Essential!!!!!!!1!

[blackscot]

 

I'm listening to PULSE right now, and you are 100% correct.. Essential!!!!!!!1!

 

 

Glad you agree. Every tune sounds better than it's studio-original equivalent.

 

Some groups are like that -- the live versions have this distinct cutting edge.

 

Check-out the tone of the Steppenwolf Live album sometime. The versions you hear on "classic rock" radio stations pale by comparison.

[Wulver]

overall, the playing style is far more important than the tone. Even Gilmour has had major tonal changes over the years, when playing it.

 

From the Wall concerts, 1980. heavy use of the Electric Mistress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qt6b8B5Bd4

 

From the floating concert in Venice, 1989: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVOHGHUiFhc

 

From PULSE, 1994 or 95:

 

From the 2002 Meltdown concerts, Robert Wyatt reading the verses:

 

From the Remember That Night DVD, Royal Albert Hall 2006. David Bowie on the verses:

[ILikeGuitar]

 

overall, the playing style is far more important than the tone. Even Gilmour has had major tonal changes over the years, when playing it. From the Wall concerts, 1980. heavy use of the Electric Mistress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qt6b8B5Bd4 From the floating concert in Venice, 1989: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVOHGHUiFhc From PULSE, 1994 or 95: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-MLxgkiPNg From the 2002 Meltdown concerts, Robert Wyatt reading the verses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YpfzmAQvoc From the Remember That Night DVD, Royal Albert Hall 2006. David Bowie on the verses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM0Pl80Zf00

 

 

From those I like the PULSE and Royal Albert Hall tones the best

[Purplexi]

overall, the playing style is far more important than the tone. Even Gilmour has had major tonal changes over the years, when playing it.

 

From the Wall concerts, 1980. heavy use of the Electric Mistress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qt6b8B5Bd4

 

From the floating concert in Venice, 1989: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVOHGHUiFhc

 

Thank you so much for putting up that floating Venice show! Leave it to the Floyd to rent a giant barge and navigate through ancient canals while playing.