Mule and Tiny Terror in harmony - Clip

[GSQD]

Hi all,

My first forum post here. I'm a Brit mixer/engineer now living in LA - for my sins!!

Anyhow, I'm the guy who helped, in a small way, design the Orange Tiny Terror mod with Jule Potter http://www.juleamps.com/

During this process Jerry Bizon of SIS Guitars http://www.sisguitars.com/ in LA did some work on my USA Deluxe Strat. It was a stock Deluxe from 1999 that Jerry reworked to include custom wiring/coil taps and a Mule in the bridge position. We spent ages looking into different pickups that would a) compliment the noiseless single coils, which I really like, and b) deliver the clout, clarity and sheer vintage sheen of a modern PAF design - albeit with more slam!
Jerry suggested the Bare Knuckle, I agreed and he went ahead.

Bare Knuckle supplied Jerry with the pickup with the pole covers pretty dam close the the original - which was great - and the guitar was refitted, setup and delivered.

At the same time Jule was finishing up work on TT JP 001. The mods were spot on and made the amp a real studio winner. I re-amp a lot of stuff for people and this little amp gets hammered.

So once I had guitar and amp back in the studio I decided that Jule needed a demo for the TT mod to go on his website etc and I may as well use the newly revamped Strat with Bare Knuckle addition.

So I wrote, played, tracked, mixed and mastered the following one afternoon during a heat wave that no self respecting Brit would ever be caught out in.

The setup:

All guitars are a 1999 USA Strat Deluxe with Bareknuckle Mule in bridge.

First half the the solo is the 2nd switch position (middle and bridge) with the Mule coil taped. Second half of the solo is the Mule in humbucker mode. Reverb on the solo guitar is a TC 6000 "Blackface" spring algorithm. Delay is a simply delay line set to tempo and mixed accordingly. The solo is also being "kissed" by a UA LA3-A pulling down around 3-4 db at most.

All rhythm guitars are either middle or middle and neck position settings. There are 4 separate rhythm parts panned to taste and sent through a delay line and very slight compression - very Edge/ish!

Rhythm parts are all Tiny Terror with controls at dead center going into a solid ash 2x12 closed back cab' loaded with 25 watt greenbacks.

Solo parts are with Terror Terror at around 8 on the master volume, around 7 on the tone and probably around 7 on the gain. There is a tiny bit of Green Screamer on the solo parts on the way in. Cab used for the solo is an all original 1972 Marshall 4x12 with original 25 watt greens. This cab' has a custom "semi-open" back which allows for tuning of the Marshall 4x12 "woof" characteristic. I think the articulation/clarity of this setup is great.

Mics used are Audix i5 and Royer 121 on the same cone mixed to taste.

Preamps used are Apogee Trak2 and A-Designs Pacifica.

Bass is a '97 5-string Jazz with passive Bartolini's and a BadAss5-V2 bridge di'd into an A-Designs Reddi>Apogee Trak2 and also amped with the TT for some grunge/bite. The bass was also modified and setup by Jerry at SIS.

I think that's everything.

Here it is:

http://gsqd.com/mp3s/MuleTT.mp3

Cheers all.


GM


PS, The band I'm currently producing are about to refit some of their guitars with Bare Knuckles and a Steve Stevens has already found it's way into a Les Paul Standard - again thanks to Jerry at SIS.

[gdgross]

Oh yeah, baby!

[Henk]

Cab used for the solo is an all original 1972 Marshall 4x12 with original 25 watt greens. This cab' has a custom "semi-open" back which allows for tuning of the Marshall 4x12 "woof" characteristic. I think the articulation/clarity of this setup is great.

I use greenbacks of that marshall era too. I have 'bass' coned greenbacks mixed with the normal greenbacks(pre rola 25w) in my old marshall cab. You said WOOF???? 8)

Nice add to this forum man, thnx!

[Will]

Loved the tone, the recording sounds very well worked out too

[GSQD]

I use greenbacks of that marshall era too. I have 'bass' coned greenbacks mixed with the normal greenbacks(pre rola 25w) in my old marshall cab. You said WOOF???? 8)

Nice add to this forum man, thnx!
[/quote]

Thanks. Glad to be here. Looks like a great forum.

Your combination of drivers probably sounds a lot more balanced than ours. The "woof" is a result of the bass freq of the Greens combined with the loading of the closed sloped 4x12 of that design. We made the custom semi open backs specially for studio use. It really makes the overall tone smooth and less "springy" in the bass end.

Cheers,

GM

[GSQD]

Loved the tone, the recording sounds very well worked out too

Thanks man. It was a fun little project. The band I'm currently producing are getting some awesome tones. I'll post some stuff once we're a little further along.

Cheers,

GM

[Henk]

Thanks. Glad to be here. Looks like a great forum.

Your combination of drivers probably sounds a lot more balanced than ours. The "woof" is a result of the bass freq of the Greens combined with the loading of the closed sloped 4x12 of that design. We made the custom semi open backs specially for studio use. It really makes the overall tone smooth and less "springy" in the bass end.

Cheers,

GM

The combination has a somewhat deeper and richer sound as it favours a bit more low end and evens out the mids a bit. The crunchy, rich harmonic top end is still all there though. The tone you have reminds me a bit of the Bluesbreaker sound, my 90s reissue has a half open back which kind of takes the sound in the opposite direction by tightening up the bass responce. So basically the slightly more compressed woof turns into a bit more growl in the combined 4x12.

I also have a 70's TV sized London city cab which has 30's in them, alot of springyness in there im afraid, maybe it would be a good idea to open that up a bit.

[GSQD]

Indeed. In fact the Bluesbreaker sound was something I was heading towards at one time. It was only because my assistant said the piece sounded a little Satriani that I went with the 4x12/less crunch and not a 1974X which was in the studio at the time. One of these days I'll finish the piece and throw it on an instrumental album.

Cheers,

GM

[Henk]

I wish i could play your backing track, but anyway.

My mules (underwound(6.9/7.9 AIV) and unpotted but nickel covered) ended up in my maple neck gibson custom, basically because the harmonics or even dissonance are the most communicative. FWIW just scip the satriani nonsence and focus on you lead vs rythm tone for a final take. The rythm part is just too 'skinny' to back the wonderfull lead.

Grtz Henk

[GSQD]

Henk,

Thanks for the input. I never liked the rhythm part tone but there wasn't a lot of time and the feature was the lead tone. I was mixing a record for someone else at the time and had a very small window to do this. If it ever gets finished I'll ensure it rips from start to finish.

Cheers.

GM

[Henk]

Be sure to post it when you retake, always eager to learn a thing or two  :D