I just recently acquired a Hammond G27 Guitar Leslie to incorporate into my rig. It's pushed by my own tube amp, but they make the G37 that also has a built in solid state amp. I like how it sounds.
So at Dicks this weekend (WOW!) I was trying to pick out when Trey was using his Leslie. It was hard, Page's is easy to hear. Trey not so much. On Saturday we were about 15 rows back and I could see the horn in his Leslie rotating all the time at a pretty slow speed. I wonder if it is almost always on to fatten up his tone. Or if it's on off....and when?
Any ideas?
Not sure, wouldn't be surprised if he keeps the motor turning the horn whether or not signal goes to it...
Yeah. The horn spins all the time waiting for trey to send his signal to it.
I'd be interested to see if anyone can identify when he uses the leslie in recent recordings. I know I can pick it out in stuff from the mid-90's (ex. 12/31/95 axilla pt.2 outro) but I can never tell when he uses it since the reunion... ???
I asked this question on a different Phish board a few months ago, all the examples were from the mid 90's. Seems like Trey doesn't even use it anymore, I haven't been able to directly say "Ah Leslie" about any recent live recordings or in person at shows. Either that or it is set to a much more subtle setting than in the past
I agree. I can't ever point out it being used. Seems like a bunch of work to haul that thing around if it's not really being used but hey, it looks cool. Or maybe it's used but not really in the FOH mix and more for Trey's heady experience. Makes his sound bubble swirl around.
Quote from: Happyorange27 on September 07, 2012, 07:46:42 AM
I agree. I can't ever point out it being used. Seems like a bunch of work to haul that thing around if it's not really being used but hey, it looks cool. Or maybe it's used but not really in the FOH mix and more for Trey's heady experience. Makes his sound bubble swirl around.
I would beg to differ. You can hear it if you know what to listen for. He uses it on the slow mode many times during rhythms and some solos. Obviously you can hear the fast mode like at Festival 8 during the stones stuff. Listen for the subtle "glassy" sounds or that little top edge of chime on the notes. It doesn't swirl like the Univibe he uses. It's mixed in along with his boogie/deluxe sound. If it was just slow leslie and no amp you would absolutely hear it more.
I would go so far as to say he uses it so much, that it's part of the elusiveness that we all try to figure out. It's just the right mix when spinning slow. It ads just a touch of choral top end but without being noticeable as the only thing. Try using a nanoverb with slow rotory mixed in just a little. It will sound very familiar. Listen to the into to Prince Caspian ->Island Tour 4-5-1998 Providence, RI (Disc 3). Thats not a univibe. It's slow leslie. Then notice its still on when the whole band comes in and its harder to make out. Its one of the secret ingredients that adds so much to the top end of many of his sounds. The whole key is that its mixed in with just the right amount. It's not the main focus but its there.
Don't confuse that sound with the vibe. Very different but easily confused.
I was thinking the same thing as Happy, lugging it (and powering it) not to use it is silly, especially considering hearing how it was relieving to have a simpler setup at the St Louis show, I doubt they are bringing, or at least setting up stuff, they aren't using.
I remember thinking I heard the Leslie at the last show I went to, but I was also on boomers.
Boomers!
You kids and your drugs. This is exactly why we will end up repeating this same conversation in the future. Last I new Leslie Boomers was a stripper in Texas. But I don't know much about that. I did hear she was spotted at a few Phish shows. She allegedly tried to take Justin Beiber into the bathroom and than said she was having his baby. At least Beiber is a Phan though.
My back has been killing me however. Tell me more about these boomers?
Quote from: Heady Jam Fan on September 07, 2012, 04:31:32 PM
I was thinking the same thing as Happy, lugging it (and powering it) not to use it is silly, especially considering hearing how it was relieving to have a simpler setup at the St Louis show, I doubt they are bringing, or at least setting up stuff, they aren't using.
I remember thinking I heard the Leslie at the last show I went to, but I was also on boomers.
funny you say simpler setup. Seems like they actually messed with it way more than normal, as seen by the changing of mics at setbreak and the Earth Drive. Heres another quote from Brad Sarno in our conversation about that night: "...that's not because the Deluxe is inherently tinny or thin or sharp sounding, it's just that they didn't have the time to really work that out, the mic position, the tweaking, etc."
On a side note, all the builders and musicians on gearpage are really friendly and helpful. Marc from Skreddy and Steve Kimock were also awesome to correspond with. Its so much better getting the info firsthand, even though rumors are so much fun.
Quote from: raisingfreen on September 07, 2012, 01:39:04 PM
I would beg to differ. You can hear it if you know what to listen for. He uses it on the slow mode many times during rhythms and some solos. Obviously you can hear the fast mode like at Festival 8 during the stones stuff. Listen for the subtle "glassy" sounds or that little top edge of chime on the notes. It doesn't swirl like the Univibe he uses. It's mixed in along with his boogie/deluxe sound. If it was just slow leslie and no amp you would absolutely hear it more.
I agree with this. Trey talks in an interview about his mixing the leslie and deluxe on the Farmhouse record. He started doing this much more once he stopped using those chopped-off leslie heads, which never really mixed well with his amp tones because they just didn't sound very good. I think from 1998, and especially into 1999-2000, you can hear this glassiness that's unmistakable. He seems to have backed off, though, heading into 2003 as he was going for a more raw sound. But now the leslie/amp mix seems to be making a comeback.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ZUb2PKnRerc/UE57kBEK1II/AAAAAAAAI2E/eZ5ijO9BUE0/s640/photo%25287%2529.JPG)
I am really stoked on this rig right here.
I've found I like the Leslie on slow all the time, and fast when you want that efecty-chorusy shimmer. Sounds killer.
1965 Princeton Reverb through 2 - 12" speakers = Winning!
THAT RIG IS AWESOME! :o :o
That guitar is ugly. :P
What's the box on the floor the power cords are plugged into?
Sounds like crap too ;)
That box is a power conditioner that Poster recommended on here a little while back. Has some kind of big transformer in it, weighs more then my amp!
Make/model of the power conditioner...?
here ya go
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UO49LGDKdHI/UFDq1Gqi8LI/AAAAAAAAI2c/kaeL7t5Jy9Q/s512/photo.JPG)
The leslie is an integral part of trey's tone, much more than most people think I believe. His tone has gone thru changes no doubt but overall his tone is his tone and has been rather consistent throughout the years. the casual listener cannot tell the difference between 3.0 and 1999 guitar tone like many of us on here can pick out in a second.
This is bc while he's changed his amps many times he's always been using the Leslie cabinet. The biggest change was during the late 90's when he went to the full size leslie over the chopped horn only cab he use for most of the 90's. People always pick out mid 90's as examples because when it was just the horn it was only high end and it was much more pronounced in the mix.
Now he uses it on slow foremost songs I believe, and it is critical to hell he the cheese such a death to his tone. in my experience the motion sound amps just don't do it for me. When im running my trey rig i meep a univibe on slow with the depth high and very rarely turn it off. I'll also even ad a phase 90 on slow to mimic The effect with really good results actually. Trey's tone is much more than just a guitar into an amp bc it's split and coming out a normal cab and a Leslie.
At first I would say that you are putting too much emphasis on the Leslie as I don't think it's very influential. Also his 90's sound is more mids and definiatly not treblely. So for that I disagree.
But I will say that you might be on to something as I find that while Trey plays, there is a hidden force that makes certain notes pop and then certain notes muffle in somewhat of a cyclical pattern. I thought up till now that it was just his hand technique, like pinching certain notes, and this very well may be the case. But if you are correct, then Trey gets this constant sweeping tonal diversity with the Leslie staying on very slow. It's a cool theory nonetheless.
Just listen to any trey dark and down live, and you will be an expert at when he uses his leslie.
Quote from: jenkins on February 07, 2014, 07:29:16 PM
This is bc while he's changed his amps many times he's always been using the Leslie cabinet. The biggest change was during the late 90's when he went to the full size leslie over the chopped horn only cab he use for most of the 90's. People always pick out mid 90's as examples because when it was just the horn it was only high end and it was much more pronounced in the mix.
Now he uses it on slow foremost songs I believe, and it is critical to hell he the cheese such a death to his tone. in my experience the motion sound amps just don't do it for me. When im running my trey rig i meep a univibe on slow with the depth high and very rarely turn it off. I'll also even ad a phase 90 on slow to mimic The effect with really good results actually. Trey's tone is much more than just a guitar into an amp bc it's split and coming out a normal cab and a Leslie.
It wasn't until 98, though, when you can see actually has two black cat vibes in his rack, that either a (slow) vibe or leslie cab (still just the horn until right around 2000) is almost always on. But, yeah, this constant blend between guitar cab and leslie is the most ignored aspect of his tone. Trey talks about this blend in at least two interviews.