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Gear used....little Walter Amp....Two Magicstomps, one for reverb one for echo.. plus Hank Marvin Kinmans ( modern set)...And of course bucket loads of talent

Just watch and listen to the very talented Daniel Martin playing at Lakeside last week, Dan is so down to earth and a real nice guy, we were very lucky back in the Year with his visit to The South Coast Shadows Club.......Next trip down south for him is on Nov 21st to the sold out evening at The Surrey Shadows Club......

Being as nobody bothered to reply here are my thoughts Derek. You are of course correct, it is a simlpe set up, but what you didn't outline is that the Little Walter amplifier happens to cost three times that of an amp that most members would buy and the pickups alone cost fifty quid more than the Sliders. Daniel also has in his arsenal the Etap2hw pedal as well as the DeArmond 610 tone/volume pedal that you probably didn't realise. So although it's simple, it isnt cheap.

Often wondered what others think about the things that contribute to the "live" sound. ....................NOT computer software based or studio recordings.

My opinion is ...................

The player
The quality & choice of the echo system or whatever effects unit you are using
Guitar & pick ups choice
Amplifier

The recording technique is deliberately left out of this.

As for percentages............how about

Player 50%
Echo's etc..20%
Guitar 20%
Amp 10%

Hmmmm

Dick.

I would put the player higher than 50% Dick. I saw Hank working with John Farrer in the early seventies and when the did the Shadows stuff his sound was not that of the early days as he was using a single head Watkins echo machine, but it was unmistakably Hank playing those tunes. I'd give the player at least 75%.
I have worked closely with Danny too and when I gave him all the best kit for the job he sounded a lot better than the Lakeside video shows it - I'm talking about a Vox AC30 and the Atlantis echo, along with some ToneRider vintage pickups on that same guitar. We removed them as I needed them back and he replaced them with what he had available, the Kinmans'. I saw him on Friday night with the Little Walter amp with a single 12" speaker cabinet and his Burns guitar along with the Magicstomps and his sound was better than this video on the night.
I have found that the Magicstomp, although brilliant for the echoes, can add an unwanted sharpness to the tone, which is the reason I gave them up. Mostly the punters won't pick up on that but you hear it when making comparisons side by side with other machines. I still have one and was at some point going to have a look at trying to programme out that sharp tone if it's possible. The trouble is when you have other stuff available to you, it has you wondering if it's worth the time and effort. Several of the units used for EFTP have inputs that don't agree entirely with Strat output levels and consequently the guitar loses it's soul. With the Q2 & Q20 the sound was slightly muffled, opposite to the Magicstomp.
The new Zoom is so easy to use and doesn't suffer that problem and it's cheap.

50% - I'll give up now, are you serious? Hopefully the wink smiley covered the sarcasm.

I may have been playing for 40 years, but unfortunately my technical knowledge when it comes to guitars and amps is embarrassingly minimal, although my ears work very well. I agree with Dave regarding the Magicstomp, great effects pedal but the output is very shrill. I'm guessing the digital technology is getting more advanced these days as per the Zoom G3x. I would always be the first (perhaps 2nd) to say the sound is in the playing technique and most valve amps would get you pretty close to 'that sound'. It was great to hear the Little Walter Amp & Cab, big bucks though.

Percentages are of course variable..............

I can quite believe Dave when he opted for 75% for the player but with the proviso that it only leaves 25% for the equipment used.

A good player on "form" when everything falls into place during whatever they are playing ...........75% yes.
That is the mark of a professional guitarist who can consistently reproduce that level of performance .

On average (the majority of guitar players I would imagine) that is those who are not up at the "pro" standard level do (IMHO) tend to rely more upon the equipment used. As such 50% would be closer to the "real world" percentage.

I find this interesting (others may disagree )

Dick.

ps............No sarcasm intended Lee. We obviously see things differently

No problem Dick, it makes for a good discussion but Derek was rightly making that point about Daniel. It's something that I strongly believe and no amount of Sliders pickups, Meazzi echos' et al are going to do it for you if you don't put the time in. A case in point are the sound files from Spike,Paul and Gary, they have taken time to study the music as is there wish, with outstanding results. All those people waiting for the new echo from Charlie are going to be disappointed when they don't hear the sound, because it won't be the machine, it will be their input that fails it. Then they'll all be waiting for Mark II to appear.

This is taken from a Facebook link that Daniel posted talking about the gear he uses.

Hi Guys
After a very enjoyable show at Lakeside with Alan Jones I recieved a lot of emails and messages about the equipment I was using I don't normally do this but I've been so overwelmed with questions i thought I'd give you a rundown
A Japanese Stratocaster with a Alan Brason birdseye maple neck fitted with the Kinman Hank Marvin modern set and Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Strings
From the guitar into the Line 6 wireless unit then through an Ernie Ball Junior Volume Pedal
From the volume pedal into the first of two pedalboards this is where it gets a bit more complex due to my increase in session work especially in the country music market the first pedalboard has some of my session gear on it, the contents changes depending on the type of sound we're looking for on the recording and due to Alan wanting to include some country/rock n roll tracks I brought that pedalboard with me so on the first board I had it running like so.
Boss TU3 Tuner
Wampler EGO compressor
Wampler Hot Wired Brent Mason Overdrive/Distortion
Boss DD3 Digital Delay (Just for a little slapback on the country stuff)
Stanley Fx Pedals Etap Echo (never used but there just in case something went badly wrong)
Keeley Katana Clean Boost (just in case the volume wanted a bump up)
then into the second pedalboard which has
Two Yamaha Magicstomps programmed with Charlie Halls Echoes From The Past one supplying echo and the other just a tiny bit of reverb
Then back to the amplifier which is a Little Walter Tube Amps Super VG50 Twin with two 1x12 cabinets with Celestion G12 speakers. Twin means basically two amps in one cabinet, they are two completely seperate chassis including power supply and speaker output.
These are handmade by my friend Phil Bradbury in North Carolina USA, using the best materials money can buy, I'm very fortunate to be involved with Phil and when you work on an amp with Phil it's not like going into a store a buying one of the shelf, you talk to him about what you like in an amp and he will tell you if he has an amp that will suit your needs and if he doesn't he won't give you classic car salesman chat just to sell you anything, he is very proud of his amps and the people playing them, The Little Walter Family really does mean a family and you will be treated exactly the same as Vince Gill, Brent Mason, Andy Reiss or me.
I've had people say Man It's Expensive for an amplifer and yes it is but It's a boutique amplifer and allmost a bespoke service made by in my opinion the modern day Leo Fender. As an example Matchless will set you back around the same money but I can't call the CEO of Matchless for a chat. What I will finish on is I've played them all KCP,Pinnacle,Vox,Fender and to me Little Walter is the sound I've been searching for since I started playing. I you try one you will be converted.
The truth is talk to my tech Dennis and he will tell you I'm not really a gearhead I'm useless, I'm just a player and no piece of equipment will substitute practicing hard day in day out.

Barry

Derek Misselbrook wrote:Gear used....little Walter Amp....Two Magicstomps, one for reverb one for echo.. plus Hank Marvin Kinmans ( modern set)...And of course bucket loads of talent

Just watch and listen to the very talented Daniel Martin playing at Lakeside last week, Dan is so down to earth and a real nice guy, we were very lucky back in the Year with his visit to The South Coast Shadows Club.......Next trip down south for him is on Nov 21st to the sold out evening at The Surrey Shadows Club......

..... very very digital ! I love my ESE Echomatic - without any "firlefanz" beetween the amp and the guitar. LIKE Hank in the 60`s - straight into the amp !

Thanks Barry, so at Lakeside he used the Ernie Ball volume rather than the DeArmond, on a normal Dave Berry gig it would be the DeArmond for the solo in The Crying Game, I didn't realise he had the other one, but the DeArmond doesn't work properly with the Line 6 radio system.