Nailing Joe Satriani's Sound?

[Zachman]

 

I have heard that a Boss DS-1 is a vital component of the Satch lead tone...how true is this, and how many other pieces of gear really factor into this? I have an Ibanez with a Breed in the Bridge, and a Jackson with a JB. If I combined either of these with a DS-1, going into my Classic 30 (and maybe some delay and eq), would I come anything close? Was the DS-1 being used more as a boost for the amp's distortion, or does most of the distortion come from the pedal? I am not dying to sound like Joe or anything. I am just curious.... P.S. I know that he uses a signature Peavey amp nowadays, but as far as the old stuff goes (Satch Boogie, etc), how important is the DS-1 to his sound?

 

 

 

To get his earlier sound, I either use my Mesa/Boogie MKIII Coliseum Simul-Class or Marshall 6100. I am not fond of his current tone

[jeverist]

The secret is that they used it through Marshall heads and 4x12s. The DS-1 is kind of picky that way, it won't sound nearly as good through a Fender combo or the like. I believe Joes settings are level at about 2 o'clock, tone at 10, and distortion all the way up with the head set clean.

Satch used chorus on some things, but its not essential. A delay, or better yet, staggered delays is essential though, to get that fluid lead sound, especially on his legato passages. You can hear delay all over the place in his leads. He uses a wah quite a bit as well.

Satch used and still uses a Jap DS-1. Though it does sound better then the Taiwanese DS-1's it's still much too "brittle" to my ears so mine is collecting dust. I'd like to know too what's Satch and Vai's secret for getting such a big crunch out of that thing.