And I believe that "effect" was also on the earlier"Yes It Is", but it was Lennon manually turning the volume knob on Harrison's guitar (I think by sitting in front of Harrison as he played).)
until the last yrs when they looked a little sloppy.with hair to shoulders..and dirty jeans ...the 1965/66' yrs they looked great with the hats and hip clothes.and shades
At the time I just took the sounds of The Beatles for granted. Later, I got interested in effects, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that anyone would still be analysing what they did to such a degree as late as 2020. Very interesting, thanks!
No one today could even conceive of the sophisticated guitar sounds made by the Beatles. Just listen to the brandishing ear splitting sound of the lead guitar on Nowhere Man. That is incredible power without any distortion. The Beatles controlled DISTORTION intelligently and with class but raw distortion is an ugly thing and not cool like many today think. It should also be noted that the Beatles used a signature guitar sound only once and made sure a new and unique sound was used in future recordings. Creating and projecting guitar power without distortion takes experimentation and improvision using out-of-the-box thinking which the Beatles were famous for. Unless you are a musician you would not notice these things. Another good example of classy distortion is lead guitar on "Go All The Way" by the Raspberries. If you try to play that beginning rift with raw distortion it will cheapen the sound and degrade it to not worth listening to. There are elements are must accompany distortion like changing the envelope filter of the audio signal or mixing it with another instrument.
@@cinematic35 i don't know holmes, growing up in teh shadow of this generation and feeling that it was swiftly outclassed - damon edge's engineering on chrome "firebomb" from third from the sun 1980 THAT was worth acknowledging as pionear in this case we're not talking about the british empire's leading edge in this case, the engineering is the instrument. the next potentiated level. but its always been the same, hasn't it? so far overhead, everyone else wants songs about girlfriends, not a subatomic examination of cosmology. anyway, everyone is still talking about the beatles. when they was fab. not a flaw not a mess. you were on top. like a classic car. a firebomb.
The term "flanging" comes from using two tape decks synced with time code at the same time. Pressing against the flange of the reel on one deck slows it down slightly, enough to produce the phase shift between it and the other deck. Letting go of the flange lets the sync catch up returning the sound to normal. So by grabbing or pressing the flange and releasing it over and over, you get that swirly whooshing sound. Because it is done manually, the whoosh can be "played" along with the song rather than the constant rate of modern flanger FX boxes.
There was another way of doing it in Mono only with a single tape player. You recorded what you wanted to process.. Then you placed a slippery piece of plastic over the erase head (in order to record on top of the original recording) you then moved the Mic back and forth in front of the playback speaker and the distance determined how deep the swoosh was. The problem with this was that you couldn't hear the affected piece until you played it back again. Michael Dacre Barclay showed me how to do this to get the effect in my home. Michael produced "Days of Future Past" if his name means nothing to you. Best, Pete.
@@ptrisonic That's interesting. I sort of remember I did something like that myself. But I was using a couple cassette players back then before I bought my first Tascom 4-track cassette multitrack. Anyhow, this was the mid to late 90's. I remember using a piece of Scotch Tape to cover the erase head. I didn't do it for the phasing though. I probably didn't know what phasing and flanging were back then. I did it to have a double track. !st GTR with with vocal. Then I did my lead part 2nd GTR after I rewinded and played over the top after scotch taping the erase head. I can't remember what I recorded. What song or anything. It probably was a Beatle song or one of my own.
One of my favourite effects is that huge sounding opening chord of a 'Hard days night'. It was created by the simultaneous sound of a 12 string electric and acoustic guitar, George and John respectively, both playing an Fadd9 chord (with a G on the top E), while Paul is plays a D at the 12th fret on bass, and George Martin is playing the low D and G notes on a piano. I don't know what Ringo was doing. I think the Beatles were lucky to have met George Martin, he's the 5th Beatle
I remember the 70's, or thereabouts, when guitar stands were invented. Leaning against an amp was not a good idea, even then. If you see something odd like that, ask your dad, he'll probably know, and if he doesn't, ask your grandpa. :-)
Great Video! Always informative and insightful. Really enjoy the quality of content that this channel puts out. I appreciate the amount of time and effort that it put into researching the historical facts presented.
Great video! The Vox UL7120 amp used on Paperback Writer actually had a built in distortion circuit in it, which I think is where that particular tone comes from, rather that it requiring rerouting through the REDD preamps.
They had used Leslie speakers to process external (non-organ) sounds for years prior to Old Brown Shoe (1969). First use was 1966 on "Tomorrow Never Knows" on John's vocal. It was also used on Sgt Pepper, MMT and on several White Album tracks to process guitar and piano.
On I Need You, from Help. George had a volume pedal for his guitar part but was having a struggle with it so John knelt down and manipulated it with his hands. That's what I read a million years ago in a publication I can't recall.
I knew Ken Townsend quite well. He handed up in charge of Abbey Road and actually shared an apartment with him in the house to the right of the Studios during a rail strike. I believe that the story of the Flanger was basically true but as your photos show Ken was often in the control room with them because of his technical expertise, so it is more likely that he explained the working directly to Lennon. Abbey road was quite a close knit place but some of the sound engineers did look down on the technical guys (who mostly were actually better qualified). Can I just add That I used a Fuzz pedal in late 1966 and it was already old looking. A folded triangle of metal with one knob entitled "Sustain" the other knob was "Volume" if I remember right. It was really wonderful to use and play through the sound was great I still remember the first time I used it and nailed Clapton's tone on the lead of "Cat's Squirrel". I was 15 in 1966 and quite chuffed! This particular box had wooden sideplates and even a wooden button which didn't latch....... There was no name on it. Best, Pete.
The Beatles’ first fuzz boxes were manufactured by Maestro - meaning they were overseen by Tom Oberheim? How chronologically far back does that brand date? Incidentally, Terry Kath also participated in the act of using one preamp to overdrive the other, when Chicago entered the studio torecord *The Chicago Transit Authority* in January 1969. Additionally, George also played through that Leslie cab during “The Long and Winding Road”.
Very good segment. The only omission I can think of is George Harrison's use of an early volume effect on the tracks "I Need You" and "Yes It Is." Would like to know the specifics of this device.
That was the first think that came to mind for me also. 'I need You' has always been one of my favorite songs, and every time I listen to it, the volume swells still seem incredible. I've always wondered if there was some recording trick used to record the guitars, or just a volume pedal or something. Either way it was masterful and way ahead of it's time.
@@flybynight1929 I have read in the book "Beatles Gear" by Andy Babiuk on page 159, that it was a volume pedal used on on "I Need You" and "Yes It Is".
I appreciate these types of clips because they are more instructive and lasting, as opposed to showing shortcuts with newer effect pedals. Whole arrays of them, and ultimately they still sound hollow. Because, like you pointed out, much of the Beatles sound was performance, volume control and manipulation, excellent use of the board, and imagination. I saw a clip of someo0ne trying to demonstrate Beatles sounds, and re "Norwegian Wood" said, "you could also use a real Sitar".
Fascinating video, I didn’t know The Beatles used effects pedals, I was under the impression they always played their guitars straight into the amplifier.
Thank you for upload this, very intresting! Looking forward for more info about The Beatles and what they use! Peace & Love from Hans Müller in the north of Ireland.
@@TheGuitarShow I thought it was rumoured that it was John who knelt at George's feet for 'Yes It Is', so that he could turn up and down one of the volume knobs on George's guitar to emulate the volume swell.
I remember in the early '70's a mate of mine, in Hollywood, wuz raving about compressors with an unheard of amount of return. .. capable of getting "reverse" attack as well as really long sustain. The same cat was into Strats with .008's where you could bend like the whole chord, w/ no need of the whammy... Thanx Ramon, your vid brought back these "memories" la la la "memories" good night Chet...
I think you may have overlooked The Beatles' cover of "Chains", originally recorded by The Cookies in 1962. My ears have always told me that John used his Maestro Fuzz-Tone to emulate the part of the song where The Cookies' saxophones originally came in. At 29 seconds in, I hear John's Ric hit a bar chord suspension and it sounds like Martin buried his mic but the others picked it up. I own a few original Maestro Fuzz-Tones and even have the 45 rpm demonstration record that came with one. It even mentions how the Fuzz-Tone can be used to give your a saxophone sound! John was being faithful to the original tune and nobody hardly noticed...but I did.
I am not absolutely sure about this, maybe someone could verify. I was told that when the Beatles played in Hamburg early on, George (or John, or both) had acquired Klimt Echolette, valve tape echo units. I don't know much more than that. Don't know if they kept them, or what. I have one of these units and they sound great.
Around the "Hello Goodbye" period they used VOX transistor amps which had two built in effekcts: a mid boost and an overdrive. The mid boost had two settings that were switchable and the circuitry later became the basis of the wah-wah pedal. I don´t know if they used that mid-boost but some of their distorted sounds are very similar to that harsh VOX built-in distortion. So I´m not sure about that. The VOX guitar amps were called Conqueror, Defiant and Supreme. On that "Hello Goodbye" vid you can see them with 2 Conquerors and 1 Foundation, which was the bass-amp version of the guitar line.
Beatles were kind of shy to crank the amps and boost them with Rangemaster. Tony Iommi wasn't. And 3 years after Sgt Peppers, you get that wonderful distortion on Paranoid (cranked Laney amp, Vox clone basically, and a Rangemaster treble booster)
I think they were for sure pushing those amps for maximum volume. Everything tends to get louder in a live setting. Especially in a large live room like number 2 at Abbey road. This was a very interesting video thank you! 🎸
They did a version with John & Paul on their Casinos, yes, (& George playing a Burns bass) but the version that was issued as the single was George playing the riff on the Gibson SG, and John using the Gretsch Nashville. Paul on Rickenbacker bass with the special speaker reverse-configured for microphone input, as verified by Geoff Emerick. - also - The TG1234 wasn't available until Abbey Road, so not used in the Revolver Paperback Writer/Rain sessions. Otherwise though, some good and useful information in this video. The Fairchild compressor was definitely used on Revolver guitar sounds.
Leslie Speaker was used on Georges guitar for Lucy in the Sky where its playing the same phrase as the vocals "cellophane flowers of yellow and green". Or is it ADT? Also on Mailman Bring Me No More Blues Anthology 3. Something as someone mentioned already. Old Brown Shoe as mentioned in the video which is a great solo. Let it Be, Long and Winding Road and probably elsewhere lol. Of course on vocals but this is about guitar, Thanks for posting.
The Leslie is definitely being used on George's guitar on those phrases in Lucy In The Sky. I'm also pretty sure it's being used on I Am The Walrus, where I think George is playing the same chords as John's electric piano, which would account for that warble you hear (though it may be just on the piano itself).
Hey Ramon: not exactly the subject but, talking about the Beatles' effects, I have acquired 2nd hand a pedal by Keeley - the 360 MS DoubleTracker - that has a lot of effects on board, that the Beatles used with George Martin. Double tracker, short time delay, Static Chorus, Reverb (Abbey Mode ;-) It can be used mono or stereo and it reproduces realistically the tones the Fab Four got through Abbey Road's studios effects. When I close my eyes and play PaperBack Writer, it's almost as if I was there... ;-)
Add George's volume pedal uses. What brand pedal was it? Used in "Wait," "Yes It Is," and "Baby's In Black." Perhaps others. How could a Beatles' fan possibly overlook that prominently used effect?
So what amp was the accidental 1st feedback recording in a Pop tune, that was a harmonic off Paul's bass at the beginning of " I Feel Fine " that Lennon incorporated into the tune? I'm geeking myself out asking it.
I think it was Paul T 100 bass amp. The Story Goes one of the j-160e Gibson's was setting near the amp. When Paul struck the A string on his bass it vibrated one of the strings on the Gibson. I know this to be true because I have the same setup and tried it and it works.
Hoped you discussed the.distortion pedals they used at the Rooftop concert. You can clearly see George step on a pedal for John's second Get Back solo after Mal Evans had turned off their amps when the cops went up to the roof. John's guitar is clearly distorted for Get Back on the roof as opposed to the studio recording. Also George's Tele sounds distorted on I've Got a Feeling, One After 909 and on the solo for I Dig a Pony.
I think it’s important to note how much the Vox 7120, and the Conquer/Defiant amps with their built-in distortion effect + ‘mid range boost’ setting were used. Revolver- through the White Album. This was a huge revolution for me. Most people who owned these amps claim they are quite problematic with their solid state features. But it was essential to creating that distortion which we perceive as fuzz. Using various Tonebenders over the year never got me there.
We take our stomp boxes for granted it's so easy nowadays to walk into our local guitar shop and purchase whatever we need to enhance our sound for around a hundred bucks back then you needed guys like George Martin to do it for you or maybe sneak it past him if it was too radical a tone.
If you read the Geoff Emerick book you'll find out it was him rather than George Martin who was key to getting all those different sounds....it's a great book...
@@Briansmusic- Jangle box wasn't a compressor pedal until 30 years later and it was invented to get the studio sound of running a twelve string through multiple compressors as was done by Roger McGuinn of the Byrds.
On "Get Back", I was struck by the fact John and George had their silverface Fender Twins overdriving somewhat. John is asked if he can turn down his amp, and he says he needs it that loud to get the "drone" he is looking for. If you've ever played a Twin, you know that means those amps were LOUD! Its incredible that the producers were able to isolate vocal tracks in that level of sound.
Nice and interesting video. Technical remark, however: several time it is said "(X) can be seen using a....", but at the moment this is said (X) is seen, but not the effects featuring in the sentence. But then the picture is zoomed out and only then the mentioned effects become visible. After these several times you know it, but the first three, four times I was scanning the image not to see what I was meant to see. A bit annoying.
@@TheGuitarShow Except It wasn't a Volume pedal.The sound was achieved with the grey Del Cashier Vox Wah. At the time this early version was called an expression pedal.The interview with Del can be found somewhere here.
the stones first all originals album and one of my favorite albums of all time. this was the album that showcased the multinstrumental talents of the late great Brian Jones
I show two mics in that segment if you look one with paul and one with John. Also I'm from Essex so my accent is such that my German is laboured. Apologies
one thing you forgot is the late 60s vox transistor amps that had built in effects. some of them were an actual germanium fuzz distortion, a tremolo and the mrb that had 3 positions which can be heard selected many times at the end of the white album song "birthday". that's just a guess. I'd like to have a confirm. thanks
You are very correct and I was wandering to include that fact and yes, they used them a little but how much the effects were employed we probably will never know. I mention this also in the amplifier video on the Beatles, thanks!
@@TheGuitarShow I guess they used that type of fuzz effect extensively. who knows if that was from the solid state vox amps series or from pedal effects. what is certain is that they almost always preferred a crystal edgy sound and a fuzz distortion which were entirely reproduced by that kind of vox amplifiers. thanks for your comments and videos
Yes, on the rhythm part, not the lead. It was used quite a lot on Abbey Road and loads in the Let it Be film. He used it a bunch in his solo career too, think songs like Beware of Darkness, or the Demo of It Don't Come Easy.
@@charlesnwarren it is. I believe the electronic effect you're describing is meant to simulate the mechanical effect of touching the real flange during playback.
How the Beatles did it was a little different. Rather than touching the tapes themselves, they instead the A.D.T system they had, with two tape machines, and simply put one through an oscillator. They were able to obtain the wobbling sound effect simply by wiggling the oscillator knob back and forth.
@@charlesnwarren I know that electronic simulations of the flanging sound have been built for a long time (I own some). My point was just that the origin of the name was derived from how the effect was originally produced... by dragging one's fingers on the flanges of a tape reel. Since this isn't practical to do in a controlled way (or live), an electronic method was developed.
So if I were to out together a Beatles sounds guitar pedal board I would need a wah, some type of fuzz, compression, a distortion/overdrive pedal, volume pedal, tremolo, flanger, a delay machine for reverse delay, and a reverb. Is that about right
It seems that their love for rhythm and blues AND that Motown Sound got them to experiment from the 'by the book' recording rules that George Martin had been reared on. And yes, I know, Martin was a creative genius in his own rite but DISTORTION was still being discovered. We can all thank Jimi Hendrix for bringing that to modern music.
Distortion was alive and well long before Hendrix. If you mean distortion and not fuzz (fuzz is of course famously on I Can't Get No Satisfaction) Blues Breakers as well as in particular - Fresh Cream is full of distortion.
Regarding the flanging effect: Les Paul is usually given credit for inventing the effect sometime in the 1950s. I'm not sure how this differs from what the Beatles used.
The first released recording intentionally using flanging was "The Big Hurt" with Toni Fisher in 59. Les Paul used some (hardly noticable) phasing effects prior to that but never flanging. Wikipedia gets it mostly right (except the story recounted by George Martin which is bs). ADT is not flanging and the Beatles hardly ever used the flanging effect - "Blue Jay Way" being the only exception I can think of.
They definately had some effects on those young girls!
Definitely!
Moisturizing
@@redvine1105 good one, lol
It would be a worthy note to include George’s effect on ‘I need you’ experimenting with his volume pedal :)
Great song too!
And I believe that "effect" was also on the earlier"Yes It Is", but it was Lennon manually turning the volume knob on Harrison's guitar (I think by sitting in front of Harrison as he played).)
I Need You, my favorite Beatle song.
The Beatles always looking cool.
until the last yrs when they looked a little sloppy.with hair to shoulders..and dirty jeans ...the 1965/66' yrs they looked great with the hats and hip clothes.and shades
It was a great pleasure reading this and many of the comments. Thank you!
Thanks Jon 🙏
At the time I just took the sounds of The Beatles for granted. Later, I got interested in effects, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that anyone would still be analysing what they did to such a degree as late as 2020.
Very interesting, thanks!
Pleasure, its a great ride to journey back to those days.
No one today could even conceive of the sophisticated guitar sounds made
by the Beatles. Just listen to the brandishing ear splitting sound of the
lead guitar on Nowhere Man. That is incredible power without any distortion.
The Beatles controlled DISTORTION intelligently and with class but raw distortion is an ugly thing and not cool like many today think. It should also be noted that the Beatles used a signature guitar sound only once and made sure
a new and unique sound was used in future recordings. Creating and projecting guitar power without distortion takes experimentation and improvision using out-of-the-box thinking which the Beatles were famous for. Unless you are a musician you would not notice these things.
Another good example of classy distortion is lead guitar on "Go All The Way" by the Raspberries. If you try to play that beginning rift with raw distortion it will cheapen the sound and degrade it to not worth listening to. There are elements are must accompany distortion like changing the envelope filter of the audio signal or mixing it with another instrument.
@Sir WeldaLot Bubble Gum cards?
@@cinematic35 i don't know holmes, growing up in teh shadow of this generation and feeling that it was swiftly outclassed -
damon edge's engineering on chrome "firebomb" from third from the sun 1980
THAT was worth acknowledging as pionear
in this case we're not talking about the british empire's leading edge
in this case, the engineering is the instrument. the next potentiated level.
but its always been the same, hasn't it? so far overhead, everyone else wants songs about girlfriends, not a subatomic examination of cosmology.
anyway, everyone is still talking about the beatles. when they was fab.
not a flaw not a mess. you were on top. like a classic car. a firebomb.
You'd be suprised how much Leslie is on Abbey Road if you listen for it. Lots of stuff in slow mode - to me the best sound of a Leslie.
'I'm Only Sleeping" was the one I was waiting for. wow, 5 hrs.
"I'm Only Sleeping" was on "Rubber Soul," not "Revolver."
@@gregorydefeo7369 It was on UK Revolver and US Yesterday and Today allbum.
And Your Bird Can Sing features twin lead guitar parts by Harrison and McCartney ahead of the Allman Brothers by 5 years
Gregory De Feo Revolver!!
@@gregorydefeo7369 no its on The British version of Revolver
The term "flanging" comes from using two tape decks synced with time code at the same time. Pressing against the flange of the reel on one deck slows it down slightly, enough to produce the phase shift between it and the other deck. Letting go of the flange lets the sync catch up returning the sound to normal. So by grabbing or pressing the flange and releasing it over and over, you get that swirly whooshing sound. Because it is done manually, the whoosh can be "played" along with the song rather than the constant rate of modern flanger FX boxes.
There was another way of doing it in Mono only with a single tape player. You recorded what you wanted to process.. Then you placed a slippery piece of plastic over the erase head (in order to record on top of the original recording) you then moved the Mic back and forth in front of the playback speaker and the distance determined how deep the swoosh was. The problem with this was that you couldn't hear the affected piece until you played it back again. Michael Dacre Barclay showed me how to do this to get the effect in my home. Michael produced "Days of Future Past" if his name means nothing to you. Best, Pete.
Actually almost everyone I knew in studios back then called it TAPE PHASING. Not "Flanging".
Steve Kirby ____ People were doing flanging and phasing effects long before it was possible to lock tape machines together.
@@ptrisonic That's interesting. I sort of remember I did something like that myself. But I was using a couple cassette players back then before I bought my first Tascom 4-track cassette multitrack.
Anyhow, this was the mid to late 90's. I remember using a piece of Scotch Tape to cover the erase head. I didn't do it for the phasing though. I probably didn't know what phasing and flanging were back then. I did it to have a double track. !st GTR with with vocal. Then I did my lead part 2nd GTR after I rewinded and played over the top after scotch taping the erase head. I can't remember what I recorded. What song or anything. It probably was a Beatle song or one of my own.
@@oojudg3oo Yes, we had fun with a Grundig! It's too easy nowadays......:) Best, Pete.
You can't make a video about sounds without playing the sounds!
These videos are the gold of TH-cam.
🙏🙏🙏🙏
One of my favourite effects is that huge sounding opening chord of a 'Hard days night'. It was created by the simultaneous sound of a 12 string electric and acoustic guitar, George and John respectively, both playing an Fadd9 chord (with a G on the top E), while Paul is plays a D at the 12th fret on bass, and George Martin is playing the low D and G notes on a piano. I don't know what Ringo was doing. I think the Beatles were lucky to have met George Martin, he's the 5th Beatle
It's wild how many studio photos over the years show the iconic Beatle guitars laying flat on the floor.
They weren't coveted vintage guitars then , just tools of the trade ...
Yeah especially those Stratocasters
Even back then we/they were trying to avoid the iconic headstock break...
cheers
Now ya know why the Headstock of John’s 325 is in such Bad Shape! 😉
I remember the 70's, or thereabouts, when guitar stands were invented. Leaning against an amp was not a good idea, even then. If you see something odd like that, ask your dad, he'll probably know, and if he doesn't, ask your grandpa. :-)
I love the old metal sound boards that look like a control room in an electric power plant, so cool!
me too!
She's so heavy had something going on there, just wanted to mention my favorite too. Cool video!
the white noise at the end was made with a moog synthesizer
Probably the only video I've ever seen on the subject of the effects used on their music. Nicely done!
Pleasure
Awesome research. Thanks for the Beatles gear info
I love your videos. So historically accurate. Well done 👍🏻 Cheers-
Pleasure Ronald
The live streams are super chill and I enjoy them. Nice little break while im playing. Keep it up. 🤘😁🤘
Many thanks indeed
Would have been nice to hear the effect on the song. Otherwise this is too technical for average music fan
FABULOUS. thank you, "The Guitar Show." Riveting stuff for Beatlemaniacs and 60's gear nuts, everywhere.
Pleasure🙏
Great Video! Always informative and insightful. Really enjoy the quality of content that this channel puts out. I appreciate the amount of time and effort that it put into researching the historical facts presented.
Many thanks Jordan!
Great video! The Vox UL7120 amp used on Paperback Writer actually had a built in distortion circuit in it, which I think is where that particular tone comes from, rather that it requiring rerouting through the REDD preamps.
Love all of your Beatles videos. Cheers!
Thank you!
Very informative, well done and to the point with excellent illustration photos.......
I Love how you say "and you can hear that on this song" then I go to that somg and listen to it. Cheers
Constantly amazed by the detail of your knowledge. I thought I knew quite a lot about the Beatles LOL
Pleasure, I'm learning all the time!
They had used Leslie speakers to process external (non-organ) sounds for years prior to Old Brown Shoe (1969). First use was 1966 on "Tomorrow Never Knows" on John's vocal. It was also used on Sgt Pepper, MMT and on several White Album tracks to process guitar and piano.
Great video. Thanks for posting!
Pleasure!
On I Need You, from Help. George had a volume pedal for his guitar part but was having a struggle with it so John knelt down and manipulated it with his hands. That's what I read a million years ago in a publication I can't recall.
Needed to mention the volume swells on "I Need You". That was very cool.
This is terrific-thank you.
Pleasure
I knew Ken Townsend quite well. He handed up in charge of Abbey Road and actually shared an apartment with him in the house to the right of the Studios during a rail strike. I believe that the story of the Flanger was basically true but as your photos show Ken was often in the control room with them because of his technical expertise, so it is more likely that he explained the working directly to Lennon. Abbey road was quite a close knit place but some of the sound engineers did look down on the technical guys (who mostly were actually better qualified).
Can I just add That I used a Fuzz pedal in late 1966 and it was already old looking. A folded triangle of metal with one knob entitled "Sustain" the other knob was "Volume" if I remember right. It was really wonderful to use and play through the sound was great I still remember the first time I used it and nailed Clapton's tone on the lead of "Cat's Squirrel". I was 15 in 1966 and quite chuffed! This particular box had wooden sideplates and even a wooden button which didn't latch....... There was no name on it. Best, Pete.
Well done, Ramon. Looking VERY forward to your and Bob's Beatle gear jam.
Thanks thats coming very soon!
The Beatles’ first fuzz boxes were manufactured by Maestro - meaning they were overseen by Tom Oberheim? How chronologically far back does that brand date?
Incidentally, Terry Kath also participated in the act of using one preamp to overdrive the other, when Chicago entered the studio torecord *The Chicago Transit Authority* in January 1969. Additionally, George also played through that Leslie cab during “The Long and Winding Road”.
Thanks for the info
Very good segment. The only omission I can think of is George Harrison's use of an early volume effect on the tracks "I Need You" and "Yes It Is." Would like to know the specifics of this device.
Yes and Yes it is George uses the volume pedal too
On yes it is, John manipulates George’s volume knob on his guitar while George played.
That was the first think that came to mind for me also. 'I need You' has always been one of my favorite songs, and every time I listen to it, the volume swells still seem incredible. I've always wondered if there was some recording trick used to record the guitars, or just a volume pedal or something. Either way it was masterful and way ahead of it's time.
@@flybynight1929 I have read in the book "Beatles Gear" by Andy Babiuk on page 159, that it was a volume pedal used on on "I Need You" and "Yes It Is".
@@thekitowl a special effect unit, know as "The Hand"
I appreciate these types of clips because they are more instructive and lasting, as opposed to showing shortcuts with newer effect pedals. Whole arrays of them, and ultimately they still sound hollow. Because, like you pointed out, much of the Beatles sound was performance, volume control and manipulation, excellent use of the board, and imagination. I saw a clip of someo0ne trying to demonstrate Beatles sounds, and re "Norwegian Wood" said, "you could also use a real Sitar".
A great comment thanks
@@TheGuitarShow The mic brand is pronounced as "Noi-maann "
Fascinating video, I didn’t know The Beatles used effects pedals, I was under the impression they always played their guitars straight into the amplifier.
Thanks for watching
And it was bloody awesome
Thank you!
Flanging/phase shifting was an effect used on "The Big Hurt" sung by Toni Fisher in 1959;
Loved these guys
I just picked up a nice set of Sony monitor headphones and listening to Abby Road is a completely new experience.
Thank you for upload this, very intresting! Looking forward for more info about The Beatles and what they use!
Peace & Love from Hans Müller in the north of Ireland.
Thanks for watching
I enjoyed this video but quick sound clips from the songs mentioned would have been extremely helpful here!
There is a volume swell effect on "Yes it is" and "I need you" 1965
Thats right I heard GM had to activate it because Harrison couldnt play and use it at the same time - if memory serves me right.
As well as “Wait”.
@@TheGuitarShow I thought it was rumoured that it was John who knelt at George's feet for 'Yes It Is', so that he could turn up and down one of the volume knobs on George's guitar to emulate the volume swell.
The volume swell on I need you was achieved by George playing and Jon manually adjusting the volume on the guitar .... or so I read
Nah, George used a volume pedal in "I Need You"...
I remember in the early '70's a mate of mine, in Hollywood, wuz raving about compressors with an unheard of amount of return. .. capable of getting "reverse" attack as well as really long sustain. The same cat was into Strats with .008's where you could bend like the whole chord, w/ no need of the whammy... Thanx Ramon, your vid brought back these "memories" la la la "memories" good night Chet...
Jonny Beck are you ok?
Pleasure my brother
I had that exact fuzz box box back in 69! It gave a wild sound to my Segoiva electric guitar!
Rip John and George
Amen
I think you may have overlooked The Beatles' cover of "Chains", originally recorded by The Cookies in 1962. My ears have always told me that John used his Maestro Fuzz-Tone to emulate the part of the song where The Cookies' saxophones originally came in. At 29 seconds in, I hear John's Ric hit a bar chord suspension and it sounds like Martin buried his mic but the others picked it up. I own a few original Maestro Fuzz-Tones and even have the 45 rpm demonstration record that came with one. It even mentions how the Fuzz-Tone can be used to give your a saxophone sound!
John was being faithful to the original tune and nobody hardly noticed...but I did.
I am not absolutely sure about this, maybe someone could verify. I was told that when the Beatles played in Hamburg early on, George (or John, or both) had acquired Klimt Echolette, valve tape echo units. I don't know much more than that. Don't know if they kept them, or what. I have one of these units and they sound great.
Thanks for this info, anyone?
There was more to the Beatles recording and playing and I thank you for this interesting video and your information is astounding
Well done sir!
Thank you Tyrone
Around the "Hello Goodbye" period they used VOX transistor amps which had two built in effekcts: a mid boost and an overdrive. The mid boost had two settings that were switchable and the circuitry later became the basis of the wah-wah pedal. I don´t know if they used that mid-boost but some of their distorted sounds are very similar to that harsh VOX built-in distortion. So I´m not sure about that. The VOX guitar amps were called Conqueror, Defiant and Supreme. On that "Hello Goodbye" vid you can see them with 2 Conquerors and 1 Foundation, which was the bass-amp version of the guitar line.
Beatles were kind of shy to crank the amps and boost them with Rangemaster. Tony Iommi wasn't. And 3 years after Sgt Peppers, you get that wonderful distortion on Paranoid (cranked Laney amp, Vox clone basically, and a Rangemaster treble booster)
I think they were for sure pushing those amps for maximum volume. Everything tends to get louder in a live setting. Especially in a large live room like number 2 at Abbey road. This was a very interesting video thank you! 🎸
Thanks, a wonderful little video
Pleasure
Maestro was used on “Chain” on the first album. If you listen closely you can hear it
They did a version with John & Paul on their Casinos, yes, (& George playing a Burns bass) but the version that was issued as the single was George playing the riff on the Gibson SG, and John using the Gretsch Nashville. Paul on Rickenbacker bass with the special speaker reverse-configured for microphone input, as verified by Geoff Emerick.
- also - The TG1234 wasn't available until Abbey Road, so not used in the Revolver Paperback Writer/Rain sessions. Otherwise though, some good and useful information in this video. The Fairchild compressor was definitely used on Revolver guitar sounds.
That might be a Vox volume pedal on the floor next to Lennon playing lap steel.
Yes you are right!
Very informative - thanks for the insight Ramon!
The Vox solid state amps had germanium transistors with a fuzz circuit. Lots of fun sounds there.
Leslie Speaker was used on Georges guitar for Lucy in the Sky where its playing the same phrase as the vocals "cellophane flowers of yellow and green". Or is it ADT? Also on Mailman Bring Me No More Blues Anthology 3. Something as someone mentioned already. Old Brown Shoe as mentioned in the video which is a great solo. Let it Be, Long and Winding Road and probably elsewhere lol. Of course on vocals but this is about guitar, Thanks for posting.
Pleasure and thanks for the info🙏🙏
The Leslie is definitely being used on George's guitar on those phrases in Lucy In The Sky. I'm also pretty sure it's being used on I Am The Walrus, where I think George is playing the same chords as John's electric piano, which would account for that warble you hear (though it may be just on the piano itself).
Also on Elton’s ‘74 version!😎
Hey Ramon: not exactly the subject but, talking about the Beatles' effects, I have acquired 2nd hand a pedal by Keeley - the 360 MS DoubleTracker - that has a lot of effects on board, that the Beatles used with George Martin. Double tracker, short time delay, Static Chorus, Reverb (Abbey Mode ;-) It can be used mono or stereo and it reproduces realistically the tones the Fab Four got through Abbey Road's studios effects. When I close my eyes and play PaperBack Writer, it's almost as if I was there... ;-)
Wow I use one of my delay pedals as a doubler.. Thanks for the heads up on this pedal Rene
Add George's volume pedal uses. What brand pedal was it? Used in "Wait," "Yes It Is," and "Baby's In Black." Perhaps others. How could a Beatles' fan possibly overlook that prominently used effect?
So what amp was the accidental 1st feedback recording in a Pop tune, that was a harmonic off Paul's bass at the beginning of " I Feel Fine " that Lennon incorporated into the tune? I'm geeking myself out asking it.
I think it was Paul T 100 bass amp. The Story Goes one of the j-160e Gibson's was setting near the amp. When Paul struck the A string on his bass it vibrated one of the strings on the Gibson. I know this to be true because I have the same setup and tried it and it works.
Hoped you discussed the.distortion pedals they used at the Rooftop concert. You can clearly see George step on a pedal for John's second Get Back solo after Mal Evans had turned off their amps when the cops went up to the roof. John's guitar is clearly distorted for Get Back on the roof as opposed to the studio recording. Also George's Tele sounds distorted on I've Got a Feeling, One After 909 and on the solo for I Dig a Pony.
Beatles didn't need effects, effects needed Beatles.
I think it’s important to note how much the Vox 7120, and the Conquer/Defiant amps with their built-in distortion effect + ‘mid range boost’ setting were used. Revolver- through the White Album. This was a huge revolution for me. Most people who owned these amps claim they are quite problematic with their solid state features. But it was essential to creating that distortion which we perceive as fuzz. Using various Tonebenders over the year never got me there.
I heard MRB being cited at the time as the distortion source
Absolutely.
Love this scientific approach. Well done!
Thanks
We take our stomp boxes for granted it's so easy nowadays to walk into our local guitar shop and purchase whatever we need to enhance our sound for around a hundred bucks back then you needed guys like George Martin to do it for you or maybe sneak it past him if it was too radical a tone.
Agreed
If you read the Geoff Emerick book you'll find out it was him rather than George Martin who was key to getting all those different sounds....it's a great book...
I remember reading on the Paperback Writer recording sheet that they used a Jangle Box. Not sure if it made the final cut or not.
Brian Nagy
That would refer to Abbey Road’s ‘Tack Piano’ that didn’t male the final mix, surely..?
@@BeesWaxMinder Tack piano was on You Never Give me Your Money. Jangle Box was a Compression pedal.
Brian Nagy
Really?! well, ya live& learn...👍
@@Briansmusic- Jangle box wasn't a compressor pedal until 30 years later and it was invented to get the studio sound of running a twelve string through multiple compressors as was done by Roger McGuinn of the Byrds.
Thanks mate excellent comontery sir God Bless You fab 4 forever
On "Get Back", I was struck by the fact John and George had their silverface Fender Twins overdriving somewhat. John is asked if he can turn down his amp, and he says he needs it that loud to get the "drone" he is looking for. If you've ever played a Twin, you know that means those amps were LOUD! Its incredible that the producers were able to isolate vocal tracks in that level of sound.
Where’s the “Taxman” video !!!?
Nice and interesting video. Technical remark, however: several time it is said "(X) can be seen using a....", but at the moment this is said (X) is seen, but not the effects featuring in the sentence. But then the picture is zoomed out and only then the mentioned effects become visible. After these several times you know it, but the first three, four times I was scanning the image not to see what I was meant to see. A bit annoying.
Thanks for the feedback
Thanks Eric 😁🎸
You missed a volume pedal george used on yes it is and I need you
Cheers 😃🎸
Yes you are right, silly me, I decided it wasn't important and everyone now is mentioning it! Lol
@@TheGuitarShow Except It wasn't a Volume pedal.The sound was achieved with the grey Del Cashier Vox Wah. At the time this early version was called an expression pedal.The interview with Del can be found somewhere here.
I read that it was Lennon moving the volume knob on George's guitar to make the volume change sound.
Mis felicitaciones! muy buena información, interesante y clara.
Grasias
Nowhere man, compression with a stratocaster
At around 4:09 we see the Rolling Stone album, After Math sitting on the piano. Cool.
Correct there's a cool photo of McCartney examing the album
the stones first all originals album and one of my favorite albums of all time. this was the album that showcased the multinstrumental talents of the late great Brian Jones
when you say U47 the photo is showing a U67, and also Neumann is pronounced in the German was "noy-man"
I show two mics in that segment if you look one with paul and one with John. Also I'm from Essex so my accent is such that my German is laboured. Apologies
@@TheGuitarShow no one in studios or professional recording calls them 'newmans"... they're NOYmans.
i was hoping to hear what effect is going on in the Yer Blues solo.
one thing you forgot is the late 60s vox transistor amps that had built in effects. some of them were an actual germanium fuzz distortion, a tremolo and the mrb that had 3 positions which can be heard selected many times at the end of the white album song "birthday". that's just a guess. I'd like to have a confirm. thanks
You are very correct and I was wandering to include that fact and yes, they used them a little but how much the effects were employed we probably will never know. I mention this also in the amplifier video on the Beatles, thanks!
@@TheGuitarShow I guess they used that type of fuzz effect extensively. who knows if that was from the solid state vox amps series or from pedal effects. what is certain is that they almost always preferred a crystal edgy sound and a fuzz distortion which were entirely reproduced by that kind of vox amplifiers. thanks for your comments and videos
@@san5a89 thanks for a great comment
I'm compelled to comment. Bravo, mate.
Always Great, damn good upload.
Thanks Mark, 🙏🙏
What about the volume pedals used on Yes It Is, I Need You, and Wait?
Good point thanks for mentioning it
The Leslie was also used on Something.
Thanks
Yes, on the rhythm part, not the lead. It was used quite a lot on Abbey Road and loads in the Let it Be film. He used it a bunch in his solo career too, think songs like Beware of Darkness, or the Demo of It Don't Come Easy.
I thought it was a Fender Vibratone?
@@asssscats I think there was one floating around but apparently it was a Leslie Clapton bought Harrison
@@TheGuitarShow I thought Eric Clapton stole that Vibratone from George. I was wrong. It was Pattie Boyd that he stole...
Very interesting! Thanks.
Thanks Criss
Interesting info. I think it would be really cool to hear bits of the recordings illustrating the talking points.
3:57 - I can only hear that effect on, maybe, the yellow submarine OST version..?
I love the sound of the Leslie 147 RV.
This will be good
Thanks
Yes yes Yes.......great honest info.......thank you.
Yes.
I think "flanging" was named for the effect obtained by applying pressure to the flanges of the supply tape reel.
The flange effect is a modified phase shiftier that works in harmonies with the signal note to produce a sweeping effect.
@@charlesnwarren it is. I believe the electronic effect you're describing is meant to simulate the mechanical effect of touching the real flange during playback.
How the Beatles did it was a little different. Rather than touching the tapes themselves, they instead the A.D.T system they had, with two tape machines, and simply put one through an oscillator. They were able to obtain the wobbling sound effect simply by wiggling the oscillator knob back and forth.
@@GreggOliverBassCould be, but if you read about it, flange is actually a delay/phase/chorus all in one.
@@charlesnwarren I know that electronic simulations of the flanging sound have been built for a long time (I own some). My point was just that the origin of the name was derived from how the effect was originally produced... by dragging one's fingers on the flanges of a tape reel. Since this isn't practical to do in a controlled way (or live), an electronic method was developed.
Thought I new everything about Beatles something new today
So if I were to out together a Beatles sounds guitar pedal board I would need a wah, some type of fuzz, compression, a distortion/overdrive pedal, volume pedal, tremolo, flanger, a delay machine for reverse delay, and a reverb. Is that about right
It seems that their love for rhythm and blues AND that Motown Sound got them to experiment from the 'by the book' recording rules that George Martin had been reared on. And yes, I know, Martin was a creative genius in his own rite but DISTORTION was still being discovered. We can all thank Jimi Hendrix for bringing that to modern music.
Distortion was alive and well long before Hendrix. If you mean distortion and not fuzz (fuzz is of course famously on I Can't Get No Satisfaction) Blues Breakers as well as in particular - Fresh Cream is full of distortion.
I hear a Leslie speaker in It's only love. And a phaser and a tremolo in Sun king.
Thanks for the inof. Didn't know the Maestro fuzztone was used by the Beatles
Very good content! well done thank you
Regarding the flanging effect: Les Paul is usually given credit for inventing the effect sometime in the 1950s. I'm not sure how this differs from what the Beatles used.
The first released recording intentionally using flanging was "The Big Hurt" with Toni Fisher in 59. Les Paul used some (hardly noticable) phasing effects prior to that but never flanging. Wikipedia gets it mostly right (except the story recounted by George Martin which is bs). ADT is not flanging and the Beatles hardly ever used the flanging effect - "Blue Jay Way" being the only exception I can think of.
Really interesting thank you.
Thanks