Failure's Fantastic Planet and Magnified Sounds

[Gypsyfan]

Anybody know what they used for distortion and overdrive on these albums. I know after recording Fantastic Planet, Ken Andrews used a JMP-1 Pre-amp for touring but I don't think he used it in the studio. Greg Edwards I know sometimes used a Rat on bass but that's about the extent of my knowledge.

If you have any other gear knowledge of what amps, guitars and such....feel free to spill the beans.

[YourHerodDGC]

Have you seen the DVD they released? I watched it a few months ago, and can't remember if they get into specifics on equipment. I think they talk more about magnified than fantastic planet.

[gregovertone]

kenandrews.com

 

http://fantasticplanet.org/

 

 

Instrumental Set-Ups

The following is a combination of information taken from an article in Bass Player magazine and from persoanl experience, both provided by Chad TeBrink.

 

Greg Edwards

Greg Edwards played a silver Wal 4 string bass, tuned drop D, which started out as a fretless. After a while Edwards decided it was too much trouble to play, as he wasn't really using the fretless sounds very much, so he had frets added.

Edwards also had a Musicman Stingray as a backup, which he rarely used. His rack included a Ampeg SVT head, as well as a Lexicon Vortex, and a Digital Music Corp. GCX switcher. For effects he used a Meastro Overdrive (for lighter overdrive), a ProCo Rat (his main distorted sound), an ElectroHarmonix Big Muff Pi (for the really grindy distorted stuff), as well as a Dunlop TS-1 Stereo Tremelo. In addition, Edwards used a Boss Graphic Bass EQ to keep the low end when using distortion.

Edwards also played through an old SVT 8x10 cab, which is unique as it has David Eden Speakers, rather than the stock Ampeg speakers.

 

 

 

JSJ supplied the following information about Failure's tuning:

"Failure actually always tuned down a half step, sometimes dropping the E string a whole step to a D flat, but not always. Much of the time they were tuned as follows: guitar: E or D flat, A flat, D flat, G flat, B flat, E flat.......Bass: E or D flat, A flat, D flat, G flat."

Thanks, J.

 

 

 

"Planet Rock" was contributed by Casey Lombardo. It is an interview with Ken Andrews that details some of the gear used by various members of Failure.

"Planet Rock" ?by Tim Kenneally ?Guitar Player, May 1997

"People who hear our stuff say that there's a 'Failure chord,' but when I look at the songs, I don't really see it," muses Ken Andrews, guitarist and vocalist for Los Angeles quartet Failure. "There are a lot of triad-type chords going on in our songs, but I think it's mostly a sensibility that's coming through."

Whatever its origin, the Failure sensibility comes through loud and clear on Fantastic Planet (Slash/Reprise), the follow-up to 1994's Magnified. Blending watery, Mu-Tron-mutated arpeggios, crystalline harmonic riffs and interstellar crunch, Planet boasts a sound as otherworldly as its title. Appropriately, Andrews describes the band's guitar craft --which relies heavily on the tag-team collaboration between himself and bassist/guitarist Greg Edwards-- in celestial terms.

"The way we work generates this nebulous feeling about who actually did what," offers Andrews. "With this record especially, I'd take on the role of producer and guide Greg in a direction while he'd play the actual part." New guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, who brings his '70s-vintage Les Paul Classic to the mix, reins in their cloudy concoctions in concert. "He basically does everything," Andrews laughs. "It's made my life so much easier live." Planet was written, rehearsed and recorded a song at a time over a seven-month period. Ken alternated between the heft of his Eb-tuned '76 Les Paul Standard and his more pristine-toned late-model Tele[caster], also lowered a half-step. While he wasn't averse to adding sweeteners such as the sampled feedback loop in "Saturday Savior," Andrews emphasizes that he tried to "keep down the number of doubles and rhythm tracks." Instead, he derived the album's space-age textures and high-gain atmospherics by frequently reconfiguring his live rig --a Marshall JMP preamp, Mesa/Boogie stereo power amp, Marshall cab, Fender Twin, and a "standard collection" of Boss and vintage pedals-- and by exploiting the sonic potential of the rented house that served as their studio.

"There was one bathroom that was really good for guitar," Andrews enthuses. "It was linoleum, but for some reason a Marshall cabinet just blew up in there --man, that bathroom still haunts me."

[Gypsyfan]

Oh man, thanks so much. That's awesome. It sounds like a lot of the main tone for Ken came from the jmp mesa setup.

 

I do have the DVD and they barely go into anything about gear. It is really good and interesting with the commentary from both Ken and Greg. A lot focused on Greg's chemical dependency issues.

[LowWoods]

Man I love those Fantastic Planet toanz. What pedal sounds like a JMP?

 

I need to get a hold of Magninfied...

[Aedes]

I've been listening to this album a lot recently. So good.

[xautumnsashesx]

I think a higher gain Marshall in a box pedal will get you most of the way there, like the Crunch Box. What I hear besides that is a really slushy, bassy, compressed super high gain tone. I have heard it was a JMP-1 in combo with a muff run into a Fender Twin. So if you could run a second amp a muff would fill out the sound, and the Crunch Box would give you articulation. If nothing else that kind of setup would sound huge.

[LowWoods]

Awesome!

 

I just pulled the trigger on the Year Of The Rabbit CD! I've been gassing for a Shredmaster for a while; might be time to pull the trigger on one soon!

[houseofglass21]

Yeah he used the JMP-1 on the majority of it. I read an interview where he said he A/B'd the JMP-1 rig with a Fender Twin Reverb/Vintage Big Muff on some tracks. You can hear the looser big muff sound on some of the tracks on Fantastic Planet.

[LowWoods]

Nice! Other findings indicate that he was also somewhat minimalist about rhythm tracks.

[Rizza]

I'm very OK about this thread revival. Love Failure.