@@PhyrexianFleshgorger he played all the instruments in the first FF record and drums on color and the shape from what I know... Am I missing something???
Pretty sure Billy said there were over 30 guitar tracks on Soma... been a while, but I think he mentions it in the articles for Guitar World that were reprinted in the tab book for MC&tIS.
The Soma solo is his best work. I def remember him saying there were a shitload of overdubs. Plus, pretty sure he said he was using an E-bow on several of them. Totally killer.
The muddynes in the mids and bass is honestly one of the best parts in my opinion. It's part of what makes the album unique, and adds a lot to the richness and droney-ness of the tone.
i agree man. i think the obsession with hearing every single note from every single instrument with crystal clarity leads to an artificial sound and is almost antithetical to rock and roll
One thing about the JCM 800: Billy Corgan used the low input, then cranked the Master and adjusted volume with the Gain knob until the point where the clean sound is strongly coloured. Not that you could hear any of this as soon as you step on the Big Muff, though.
When I first heard _Siamese Dream_ I was blown away by the tones on that album, Billy Corgan is such an underrated guitarist but the sounds he got are just so damn good (And he also made me get a Big Muff, which I love playing)
Has to be one of the most distinguishable guitar tones of all time. I feel like any producer could have recorded 'Nevermind' but Butch Vig deserve as much credit as Billy Corgan for Siamese Dream. I still don't know how with everything being recorded dry, the finished product sounds so whoozy, shoegazey and dreamy
@@mercedes260d4 as I recall the MP-1 was only used on Adrenaline, though i could be wrong. Fun fact: Billy Corgan also used an MP-1 preamp when he recorded Gish.
Wooooooo, have you seen Billy recreating this Siamese tone? It's like he is wrestling with a bear trying to control that wall of distortion, the man is a genius for suuuuuure !
Any FNM tones would be nice. I started out playing bass and passed on the chance to buy the Angel Dust guitar book back in the day. Now you can not get it to save your life and I'd love that to complete the FNM collection.
Id love to see you recreate Matt Talbotts tone from HUM's Youd prefer an Astronaut. I know he uses a Boss DF-2, but theres something special going on there.
I've been obsessing about this album the last few weeks, it's so crazy you made this now! Thanks so much the video is incredible! The tone sounds so perfect - I'd love to see Cherub Rock like this! ❤️
TheZooropaBaby . Yes, Billy used a Marshall JMP-1 as his live preamp up until 1998. They used the siamese dream set up live for one show during the recording of the album and Billy said it didn’t translate well.
ffviiiangel killed the cymbals and even did in the album which is why you really get that outrageous child like groove where only shells and snare exist during the heavy parts . It’s charming in the album but live it would sound like sludge
The reason he did so many tracks for guitar was he had two or three sweet spots on the muff pedal. So he'd have on pass with more high end, one pass with more low end,. Then those were double tracked each. And he may have did a mid pass with the muff as well.
That was a joke by Butch Vig guys, he was kidding. It’s a phaser and would’ve made the whole album sound in phase. WPC uses the phase effect mainly for lead guitar. He’s apparently more partial to the MXR Phase 100 for the Siamese Dream album.
@@WillCorg you can add phasing to tracks so they sit better together in the mix though, so it wouldn't surprise me. That "acoustic" mayo from... somewhere I forget, it's actually the SD version with other instruments removed, and the phasing is really audible without them Also it's fabulous
He used an Octavia on a bunch of tracks- my favourite being Rocket. Although I was very happy to find he was reunited with his original 70’s “Gish” strat! I wish they’d reissue it.
This album got me into rock music. I heard it in a record store and was hooked. Probably my gateway drug. Favorite song off the album is Rocket. You sound amazing. Excellent video
LOVE this video, and definitely love that you include your own production tricks in how you arrived at this sound! Siamese Dream was formative for me and it's definitely still a benchmark for how I approach fuzzy guitar tones. There's just something so vibrant and otherworldly about the sound on this album, and I think it holds up to this day because it stays true to its own vibe!
It would be awesome to see you recreate Josh Middleton's guitar tone from the Dormant Heart record by Sylosis, or Bill And Brent's tones from Crack the Skye!
The initial run of JCM 800s i believe came with the newer Vintage 30s, it's the main reason why many going found the 2204 JCM 800 was too brittle. Supposedly they had run out of them at some point, so they sent the run of them out with the older Greenbacks which GREATLY improved the tone. I know by the last version of the JCM 800s that came with the push pull boost and 2 channels were Greenbacks.
Maybe not in your normal wheel house but the band's BASEMENT's tone on the album Colourmeinkindness is insane. Specifically the song Covet. Would love to see some of that post-grunge/emo stuff gone through tonally
5:21 I started to sing “today is the greatest” right as he cut out and I remembered I wasn’t listening to the actual song but was listening to him play haha Nailed it
Cool vid and great work. In addition to the tone it could be helpful to play the riff the way billy plays it. The power chords use an inverted note on the 6th string. So for the E flat power chord it’s the E flat on the 5th string (6th fret) the A sharp on the 4th string 8th fret, but the key is the the lower octave A sharp on the low E 6th string 6th fret. Then drop down to the A Sharp power chord on the 6th fret 6 string and then the 4th fret g sharp power chord. The inversion changes the entire harmonic structure of the power chord and the tone with it.
This was a really cool video; I wish you had mentioned which pickup you were using (neck, middle, bridge), where your strat tone knobs where, and what the EQ on the Marshall head was.
You're amazing! Thanks for going down the rabbit hole. I think you're absolutely right about the "heavily processed) component. I'm finding it amazing at the moment to down play the track and then master it more severely. With this kind of variable its mad to think we could nail the tones this far away from the time/studio it was recorded. Thanks again for showing all the ins and outs.
I remember when Fender came out with a Billy Corgan Signature Stratocaster and people were going "Wait, what, how is he a strat guy, I never noticed!" Truth is that he never really played anything else. In fact when James Iha rejoined the band and the rehearsals began for their current tour, Billy was using his new Reverend model guitars and for some reason the sound wasn't right, so James asked him "Where's your strat?" www.mixdownmag.com.au/sites/default/files/images/blue%20strat.jpg Billy got his tech to fetch him his famous blue "I love mom" strat, plugged it in and there it was: THAT sound.
I was so ready for this to be great but this really felt like a plastic version of the sound... the clean tone especially. Maybe some single coils for those? WPC used lace sensors in most of his live guitars back then, but he wasn't solely using them in the studio....
not bad at all. although the 4x12 cab and the microphones and mic placements actually make more than 50% of the sound. you can get almost spot on sound by using any high gain amp and applying izotope's eq match to that dry signal.
Finally ! I bought so many fucking distortion pedals throughout my young life to get this tone eventually settled on big muff and rat , 😅😅 can’t wait to watch this !
Great breakdown. I've watched it a few times now. I realize you did this a few years ago at this point, but - given the uncommon EQ profile of Billy's Marshall tone and modern palette of JCM alternatives - do you think the JCM800 is still the best way to go for this sound or would another amp like an Orange or Friedman be a more natural fit? Any thoughts?
Man you did a really great job at replicating the overall sound of the siamese dream album. It couldn't have been easy because Butch Vig was a huge part of the equation that's missing. He took this album and made it his own. In my opinion, Butch is just as much responsible for the success of Siamese Dream as the Band itself if not more. Anyway, I would love to see you do Sixteen stone by Bush. That Album would be awesome to recreate!
Kinda funny that the Smashing Pumpkins TH-cam channel uploaded a video, today, just a few hours back. I love Siamese Dream, thank you for doing this, Fluff!
Forgive me if I missed this, but you didn't go over any of the JCM settings or big muff settings and the entire gain stage relationship between the pedal and amp and EQ settings on the amp. Either way awesome video man!
Woke up gassing for this tone. Again. "NeRd!!" Haha! Billy also would boost his V4 Muff with a MXR Distortion II ("79-"84) to cut some the Muff's scoopy flub, and I believe the octave up lead tone was maybe a BOSS ps-2?? With as many guitar tracks stacked on that album?!! It's honestly impossible to know certain. Great top tier content as always tho Ryan! Stay Gold man...
That’s funny, I remember being in grade 4, taking my dads cds to school and the teacher let me stay in class at lunch time and we listened to Mellon collie because she loved the smashing pumpkins haha.
Yeah I know the feeling, my dad hasn’t spoken to me in 10 years because I’m a Pumpkins fan. He threw my Siamese Dream album away 5 separate times. Each time I’d buy a new one and hide it. He never found my Siamese Dream Guitar Tab book though, I still have the original 1994 version.
Have always loved the tone on this album.....still jam it in the car regularly.....sounds so much better through the speakers of a new car vs. the speakers of the '78 Bronco I had when I was a kid...thanx for the vid and all the info fluff...!!!
Dude that is the best video idea ever. Siamese Dream is the ultimate 90´s tone you're a man of great taste. I've been using sensors on my highway one strat. The big muff doesnt work for me though i get better results With a distortion pedal and tweeking the knobs
Very cool. I think it would have paid off to borrow a 1960A cab with the 75 watt speakers, there's just something to the midrange that they do that V30s and Creambacks don't.
You didnt mention much about the pedal. Billy would twist the tone knob to find frequencies he liked and would overdub with it. Lots of multi tracking like you said. That really contributed to the wide crushing sound he had.
Smashing Pumpkins is one of the few bands I really dont think of the names of songs when I listen. I always play the whole album from beginning to end and take it in as one great work of art......I was in highschool when siamese dream was released, I love to listen to anything from 80s power metal to southern rock........If I could only pick one album to listen to forever it would be siamese dream. The song writing combined with the guitar tone is unreal. Thanks for the video !
how do i like a video 1000 times in all seriousness thanks for doing this video, billy corgan is a massively underrated lead guitarrist, his status as the bands lead singer overshadows that facet of his musicianship
I loved the almost as saturated.. but tighter more muscular tone of Mellon Colloe... Jelly Belly, Here is no why etc Also u gotta remember Simese Dream has so many layers it's almost like an orchestration of different fuzz that sit in different harmonic spots.... Sometimes going from a full.frequency fuzz spread to a tighter low mid focused growl / vroooom...was awesome! All those layers allowed for dynamic from a sound that by itself can be pretty flat. I mean Big Muff into jcm800n... what do you expect!? It's actually nuts they got it to work so well...it gets muddy FAST Interestingly I think the strat .. even with the lace sensors ... was part of the reason it worked That spanky attack gave some articulation to this wall of low end saturation... Great video ... I could talk smashing pumpkins guitar tone all day...... do Mellon collie!!!
Billy Corgan Siamese Tone ( Distortion/Fuzz): Marshal JCM-800; put big muff fuzz pedal through low gain input, turn master all the way up and use the preamp as the volume. Mess around with the preamp until you get *that* sound. To get the exact sound you’d most likely have to double track unless you have a friend with the same setup who plays rhythm. This should go without saying but use a strat lol. Source: Billy’s reverb interview.
I love your videos and watch them all...that said, I don't believe that you've had that since the 90s...the Lace Sensor pickups, in those days, were branded Fender Lace Sensors. Doesn't look like your say that.
I enjoy a video now and then from Rabea and the guys at Andertons, but this was a lot funner for me than the "sound like.." series they do. One guitar tone I would love hear dissected would be Thirty Seconds To Mars - Oblivion. SO HUGE.
Pretty good! I think you'd need fewer plugins if you use a Neve 1073 or 1081 style plugin and an old IC Muff, though. Those were quite a bit warmer sounding to begin with. Also don't be afraid to slam the tape a bit. I believe they recorded on a Studer so that plugin would also help make it easier. They did mix on an SSL I believe as well though.
Great work.. had my ‘82 Strat re fitted with Lace. Sensors a few months ago and bough the new Big Muff and been working on the SP sound with a Headrush Gigboard. Pretty close but really liked what you’ve done here. 😏
I used to listen to this album while driving with my mother on Sunset Boulevard in West Columbia. I miss those times. She passed away on the 20th of December in 2014. The album never fails to make me cry.
![🎤 ไปกันต่อออ! จับฉลากร้องเพลง x P’ #XXSIVK [EP.2] (1/2) เพลงของใครจึ้งสุดน้าา 💓🎤 #MXFRUIT](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mLI_K0sAS4o/mqdefault.jpg)
Got the tone! Shaved my head! Played all my bandmates parts! I'm ready!
LMAOOOO frr
forgot the turtle neck or scarf... :/
Gave you your 100th 'like'. You earned it 😂
Dave Grohl famously did that as well. But we don't think of him the same way.
@@PhyrexianFleshgorger he played all the instruments in the first FF record and drums on color and the shape from what I know... Am I missing something???
The guitar tone in Siamese Dream is phenomenal. I'm still amazed every time i hear Soma
Pretty sure Billy said there were over 30 guitar tracks on Soma... been a while, but I think he mentions it in the articles for Guitar World that were reprinted in the tab book for MC&tIS.
Mike Miller I think there are actually 40 tracks on Soma. No wonder it sounds so huge.
@@woodchuk1 yeah going from memory. Maybe it was 30 in the intro. I don't think I have the book anymore or I'd look it up.
The Soma solo is his best work. I def remember him saying there were a shitload of overdubs. Plus, pretty sure he said he was using an E-bow on several of them. Totally killer.
GroovesAndLands Just the “orchestra” sounding part about three minutes in is 14 tracks alone of acoustic guitar put through an E-bow.
Siamese Dream had such a unique tone. Quiet has to be an all time favorite song of mine
Silverfuck won't too shabby either.
DannyLlerenaTV Yes!
No! Disarm!
Soma is my personal favorite, but that's just me
incredibly underated song
The muddynes in the mids and bass is honestly one of the best parts in my opinion. It's part of what makes the album unique, and adds a lot to the richness and droney-ness of the tone.
i agree man. i think the obsession with hearing every single note from every single instrument with crystal clarity leads to an artificial sound and is almost antithetical to rock and roll
You failed to mention how the color of the guitar effects the sound.😂
timmy Maines so relevant! Billy Corgan’s suggestion does raise this conundrum.
Color didn't affect the tone until about 26 years later when Billy officially lost his mind.
We need a colour chemist and some sound engineers to sort this one out!
Affects
I actually agree with him because I too, am a raging lunatic
Fluff, keep doing production oriented videos. This was a great watch.
Agreed.
Recreating Jerry Cantrell’s sound
Facelift or dirt!!!
Odio a la policía Y amo a mi mamá yessss
The self-titled album's guitar tone was awesome too.
@@Fridge83 The best actually
@@danielsgrunge I totally agree with that. It's been my favourite AIC album since day 1.
I heard they put a mic in the back of a 1x12 open cab to get the low end for Dirt.
One thing about the JCM 800: Billy Corgan used the low input, then cranked the Master and adjusted volume with the Gain knob until the point where the clean sound is strongly coloured. Not that you could hear any of this as soon as you step on the Big Muff, though.
stated almost word for word in the video lol ;)
When I first heard _Siamese Dream_ I was blown away by the tones on that album, Billy Corgan is such an underrated guitarist but the sounds he got are just so damn good (And he also made me get a Big Muff, which I love playing)
Hes not underated at all he's considered a guitar god
Do Stars by Hum
This would be a great set up for hum
I just suggested downward is heavenward !!!
Brett Purvis that’s a good one
I still have that CD
HUM have AMAZING tone and are criminally under-appreciated and underrated.
Smashing pumpkins will always be my favorite band of all time.
Same for me❤
You and I are friends, then.
Weak
This used to be true for me.
Now I only wear my Zero shirt to advertise how many ****s I give about Billy Corgan these days. 🤐
50% of who i am is Smashing Pumpkins. The other 50% is Final Fantasy.
“There’s some difference between his head and mine, his is completely bald”
At least he has his eyebrows.
@@kongandbasses8732 ...Billy has eyebrows...
@@kristopherryanwatson that’s exactly what he said
MY BLOODY VALENTINE LOVELESS TONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Their tone is fantastic. It would be a great video.
I’m pretty sure it’s just an HM-2
blues driverrrrr
Which is EXTREMELY loud!
Kinda a terrible sounding album technically on first listen. Then you just fall in love with it.
Has to be one of the most distinguishable guitar tones of all time. I feel like any producer could have recorded 'Nevermind' but Butch Vig deserve as much credit as Billy Corgan for Siamese Dream. I still don't know how with everything being recorded dry, the finished product sounds so whoozy, shoegazey and dreamy
Billy recorded like 27 guitar tracks 😂
Absolute killer series idea! Would love to see even more of this.
YOOOO I JUST FOUND PODCASTAGE ON A RANDOM SMASHING PUMPKINS VIDEO WHATS UP DUDE
@@caleb875 what?
Could you try deftones "my own summer " ?
Or just that album in general :)
@@indigotheindieghost7214 Yes!!!!! Exactly!!!!!
that snare
ADA MP1, Marshall Power Amp, & ESP Horizon with JB.
@@mercedes260d4 as I recall the MP-1 was only used on Adrenaline, though i could be wrong.
Fun fact: Billy Corgan also used an MP-1 preamp when he recorded Gish.
Wooooooo, have you seen Billy recreating this Siamese tone? It's like he is wrestling with a bear trying to control that wall of distortion, the man is a genius for suuuuuure !
I would LOVE it if you could recreate Bill Gould’s bass tone from Faith No More’s “The Real Thing” album.
Any FNM tones would be nice. I started out playing bass and passed on the chance to buy the Angel Dust guitar book back in the day. Now you can not get it to save your life and I'd love that to complete the FNM collection.
Id love to see you recreate Matt Talbotts tone from HUM's Youd prefer an Astronaut. I know he uses a Boss DF-2, but theres something special going on there.
And Tim lash, they both make it
I'm glad I read your post and checked them out. I don't understand how I didn't know about them.
Yes DF-2, Les Paul Drop D and Orange OR120
Siamese Dream has such a gnarly guitar sound. There's an extra layer of grit and fuzz that helps it feel so warm and comfy despite how loud it is.
I've been obsessing about this album the last few weeks, it's so crazy you made this now! Thanks so much the video is incredible! The tone sounds so perfect - I'd love to see Cherub Rock like this! ❤️
“Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins”
“Homer Simpson, smiling politely”
it's interesting that SP themselves never used that tone live, Billy always uses some kind of high-gain amp live to replicate it lol
TheZooropaBaby . Yes, Billy used a Marshall JMP-1 as his live preamp up until 1998. They used the siamese dream set up live for one show during the recording of the album and Billy said it didn’t translate well.
@@ffxiiangel yeah the tone is only usable in studio environment where you can layer bunch of sounds and control it pretty precisely
ffviiiangel killed the cymbals and even did in the album which is why you really get that outrageous child like groove where only shells and snare exist during the heavy parts . It’s charming in the album but live it would sound like sludge
@@ffxiiangel Didn't they use Marshall Valvestate amps at some point too?
kitoyobeni1 Yes, but only on a few small gigs in the Machina era. TH-cam search “Smashing pumpkins live musiqueplus”
Would love to hear some DefTONES recreated. If you agree thumb this up so Fluff sees!
The reason he did so many tracks for guitar was he had two or three sweet spots on the muff pedal. So he'd have on pass with more high end, one pass with more low end,. Then those were double tracked each. And he may have did a mid pass with the muff as well.
You can't forget about the Mutron Bi-Phase... huge part of Siamese Dream's sound.
Matthew Pugh They ran it through everything...EVERYTHING.
@@ffxiiangel and backwards!
That was a joke by Butch Vig guys, he was kidding. It’s a phaser and would’ve made the whole album sound in phase. WPC uses the phase effect mainly for lead guitar. He’s apparently more partial to the MXR Phase 100 for the Siamese Dream album.
@@WillCorg you can add phasing to tracks so they sit better together in the mix though, so it wouldn't surprise me. That "acoustic" mayo from... somewhere I forget, it's actually the SD version with other instruments removed, and the phasing is really audible without them
Also it's fabulous
The tones on GISH created my inner musical soul. GISH is phenomenal, from mellow haunting verses/Buzzing Bridge/Soaring solos. Utterly Beautiful.
I love that album. I think the trick is to not let the highs get too present. It's a thick, heavy fuzz tone. 👍
Siamese Dream is guitar tone heaven.
Thank you, This is great. Pumpkins started my obsession with guitars.
Really interesting, flew by, it didn't even seem like it was nearly 10 minutes
Main thing billy did was turn his tone knob on the guitar all the way back.
Huh, just what I was thinking the tone in the vid needed, the tone rolled back to take that high end off. Totally didn't know Corgan did it, lol.
Mikee I’ve never heard anything about rolling it all the way off that doesn’t seem like a good tone idea
Matthew Kennedy
Try it with a big muff. Report back
Travis Kammeyer discovered this the other week
"Billy Corgan with hair album"
He used an Octavia on a bunch of tracks- my favourite being Rocket. Although I was very happy to find he was reunited with his original 70’s “Gish” strat! I wish they’d reissue it.
You remind me of a Rock n' roll Bert Kreischer!! Thanks for the awesome info, dude!
You should do some Failure tones. An incredible band that doesn't get enough attention
Frogs, Another Space Song, Smoking Umbrellas....anything!!!
Yes! Love Failure! Undone would be high on my list. All around great guitar tones!
@@michaelbartholomew8155 undone is amazing!!
sick vid man. Id be great if you could talk about the specific guitar recordings and how each of their tones played a part in the full image.
This was cool - you should try Dookie tone w/ the new mxr pedal!
This album got me into rock music. I heard it in a record store and was hooked. Probably my gateway drug. Favorite song off the album is Rocket. You sound amazing. Excellent video
Great video. Gish was the SP record that made an impact on me, lot of cool tones there.
LOVE this video, and definitely love that you include your own production tricks in how you arrived at this sound! Siamese Dream was formative for me and it's definitely still a benchmark for how I approach fuzzy guitar tones. There's just something so vibrant and otherworldly about the sound on this album, and I think it holds up to this day because it stays true to its own vibe!
I'd love to see you replicate Steph's White Pony tone
It would be awesome to see you recreate Josh Middleton's guitar tone from the Dormant Heart record by Sylosis, or Bill And Brent's tones from Crack the Skye!
What a beautiful tone! Excellent job on recreating it, one of the 90s greats.
The initial run of JCM 800s i believe came with the newer Vintage 30s, it's the main reason why many going found the 2204 JCM 800 was too brittle. Supposedly they had run out of them at some point, so they sent the run of them out with the older Greenbacks which GREATLY improved the tone.
I know by the last version of the JCM 800s that came with the push pull boost and 2 channels were Greenbacks.
Maybe not in your normal wheel house but the band's BASEMENT's tone on the album Colourmeinkindness is insane. Specifically the song Covet. Would love to see some of that post-grunge/emo stuff gone through tonally
Great work Fluff, please keep this series up!
Me realizing I have absolutely zero clue about any of the technology he’s talking about.
I wanna see you recreate Mastodon's tone from:
Once More 'Round the Sun
The Hunter
Emperor of Sand
I think that'd be pretty sick!
I’d love to see him take a crack at Brent’s tone on Leviathan. So gritty and unlike his tone on any other album. I’d love to know how he got it.
@@CurstofMaj leviathan was a jcm800 into a fuzz pedal, cant remember the pedal though
*coughLinoliumKnifecough*
5:21 I started to sing “today is the greatest” right as he cut out and I remembered I wasn’t listening to the actual song but was listening to him play haha
Nailed it
Soma was my all time favorite epic song from Smashing Pumpkins. Such an amazing song.
Please do Adam Jones. His tone at the show last week was absolutely amazing.
Cool vid and great work. In addition to the tone it could be helpful to play the riff the way billy plays it. The power chords use an inverted note on the 6th string. So for the E flat power chord it’s the E flat on the 5th string (6th fret) the A sharp on the 4th string 8th fret, but the key is the the lower octave A sharp on the low E 6th string 6th fret. Then drop down to the A Sharp power chord on the 6th fret 6 string and then the 4th fret g sharp power chord.
The inversion changes the entire harmonic structure of the power chord and the tone with it.
Cool experiment, man. Thanks for a fun watch!
This was a really cool video; I wish you had mentioned which pickup you were using (neck, middle, bridge), where your strat tone knobs where, and what the EQ on the Marshall head was.
You're amazing! Thanks for going down the rabbit hole. I think you're absolutely right about the "heavily processed) component. I'm finding it amazing at the moment to down play the track and then master it more severely. With this kind of variable its mad to think we could nail the tones this far away from the time/studio it was recorded.
Thanks again for showing all the ins and outs.
I remember when Fender came out with a Billy Corgan Signature Stratocaster and people were going "Wait, what, how is he a strat guy, I never noticed!" Truth is that he never really played anything else.
In fact when James Iha rejoined the band and the rehearsals began for their current tour, Billy was using his new Reverend model guitars and for some reason the sound wasn't right, so James asked him "Where's your strat?"
www.mixdownmag.com.au/sites/default/files/images/blue%20strat.jpg
Billy got his tech to fetch him his famous blue "I love mom" strat, plugged it in and there it was: THAT sound.
I was so ready for this to be great but this really felt like a plastic version of the sound... the clean tone especially. Maybe some single coils for those? WPC used lace sensors in most of his live guitars back then, but he wasn't solely using them in the studio....
Corgan is my #1 influence. No one sounded like him. No album came close to the epic scope of SD.
I appreciate the tone on Gish more oddly even though it's all good. 🤘
not bad at all. although the 4x12 cab and the microphones and mic placements actually make more than 50% of the sound. you can get almost spot on sound by using any high gain amp and applying izotope's eq match to that dry signal.
Sounds great to me!! Pumpkins was a huge part of my youth also, really digging the vids
Thanks for doing this. I've noticed a few videos lately on various aspects of how he plays\gets his tone. This was super helpful.
good job fella. Is the soothe not doing the job done for takin out those resonances and you still spend an hour searching and pulling out more?
Billy also made the guitar feel his pain. The emotion in his play also has to be recognized
Finally ! I bought so many fucking distortion pedals throughout my young life to get this tone eventually settled on big muff and rat , 😅😅 can’t wait to watch this !
Great breakdown. I've watched it a few times now. I realize you did this a few years ago at this point, but - given the uncommon EQ profile of Billy's Marshall tone and modern palette of JCM alternatives - do you think the JCM800 is still the best way to go for this sound or would another amp like an Orange or Friedman be a more natural fit? Any thoughts?
Please make this a series
Cool video man, I subscribed. I just bought that op amp pedal. I too was in hot pursuit of the Siamese Dream sound back in the day
More videos like this please! Awesome job dude and killer sounds. Sounds like you nailed that tone
Very cool series! would love to see more of this! maybe going over amazing album tones like KSE's end of heartache etc.
Man you did a really great job at replicating the overall sound of the siamese dream album. It couldn't have been easy because Butch Vig was a huge part of the equation that's missing. He took this album and made it his own. In my opinion, Butch is just as much responsible for the success of Siamese Dream as the Band itself if not more. Anyway, I would love to see you do Sixteen stone by Bush. That Album would be awesome to recreate!
I'd love to see Fluff try and recreate the Black Album tone. I know it's been done a billion times, but I'd really like too see Fluff try it.
Kinda funny that the Smashing Pumpkins TH-cam channel uploaded a video, today, just a few hours back. I love Siamese Dream, thank you for doing this, Fluff!
Forgive me if I missed this, but you didn't go over any of the JCM settings or big muff settings and the entire gain stage relationship between the pedal and amp and EQ settings on the amp. Either way awesome video man!
Woke up gassing for this tone.
Again.
"NeRd!!"
Haha!
Billy also would boost his V4 Muff with a MXR Distortion II ("79-"84) to cut some the Muff's scoopy flub,
and I believe the octave up lead tone was maybe a BOSS ps-2??
With as many guitar tracks stacked on that album?!! It's honestly impossible to know certain.
Great top tier content as always tho Ryan!
Stay Gold man...
Daym that's fucking rockin'! Still remember being told in 96' from my teacher that Pumpkins and Nirvana were bad influences XD
Your teacher was cock-head! XD
That’s funny, I remember being in grade 4, taking my dads cds to school and the teacher let me stay in class at lunch time and we listened to Mellon collie because she loved the smashing pumpkins haha.
Yeah I know the feeling, my dad hasn’t spoken to me in 10 years because I’m a Pumpkins fan. He threw my Siamese Dream album away 5 separate times. Each time I’d buy a new one and hide it. He never found my Siamese Dream Guitar Tab book though, I still have the original 1994 version.
Well your teacher is probably now dead and you are still alive listening to the Pumpkins = win.
Have always loved the tone on this album.....still jam it in the car regularly.....sounds so much better through the speakers of a new car vs. the speakers of the '78 Bronco I had when I was a kid...thanx for the vid and all the info fluff...!!!
Dude that is the best video idea ever. Siamese Dream is the ultimate 90´s tone you're a man of great taste.
I've been using sensors on my highway one strat. The big muff doesnt work for me though i get better results With a distortion pedal and tweeking the knobs
“Sounds great, now can we add 99 more?” Butch Vig
Very cool. I think it would have paid off to borrow a 1960A cab with the 75 watt speakers, there's just something to the midrange that they do that V30s and Creambacks don't.
You didnt mention much about the pedal. Billy would twist the tone knob to find frequencies he liked and would overdub with it. Lots of multi tracking like you said. That really contributed to the wide crushing sound he had.
Cool video, Fluff! Such an influential album, will always be one of my all time favorites. 🤘🏻
Question : if you don’t have lace sensors , what would be your ideal bridge pickup for op amp big muffler?
Smashing Pumpkins is one of the few bands I really dont think of the names of songs when I listen. I always play the whole album from beginning to end and take it in as one great work of art......I was in highschool when siamese dream was released, I love to listen to anything from 80s power metal to southern rock........If I could only pick one album to listen to forever it would be siamese dream. The song writing combined with the guitar tone is unreal. Thanks for the video !
Please do the Weezer (Blue Album) guitar tone! P90s into a Mesa Mk 1 head and Marshall cab
how do i like a video 1000 times
in all seriousness thanks for doing this video, billy corgan is a massively underrated lead guitarrist, his status as the bands lead singer overshadows that facet of his musicianship
I loved the almost as saturated.. but tighter more muscular tone of Mellon Colloe... Jelly Belly, Here is no why etc
Also u gotta remember Simese Dream has so many layers it's almost like an orchestration of different fuzz that sit in different harmonic spots....
Sometimes going from a full.frequency fuzz spread to a tighter low mid focused growl / vroooom...was awesome! All those layers allowed for dynamic from a sound that by itself can be pretty flat. I mean Big Muff into jcm800n... what do you expect!? It's actually nuts they got it to work so well...it gets muddy FAST
Interestingly I think the strat .. even with the lace sensors ... was part of the reason it worked
That spanky attack gave some articulation to this wall of low end saturation...
Great video ... I could talk smashing pumpkins guitar tone all day...... do Mellon collie!!!
Woah....TH-cam recommendations finally pays off! Great Video!
Billy Corgan Siamese Tone ( Distortion/Fuzz):
Marshal JCM-800; put big muff fuzz pedal through low gain input, turn master all the way up and use the preamp as the volume. Mess around with the preamp until you get *that* sound. To get the exact sound you’d most likely have to double track unless you have a friend with the same setup who plays rhythm. This should go without saying but use a strat lol.
Source: Billy’s reverb interview.
I love your videos and watch them all...that said, I don't believe that you've had that since the 90s...the Lace Sensor pickups, in those days, were branded Fender Lace Sensors. Doesn't look like your say that.
I didnt say I installed the pickups in the 90s.
I enjoy a video now and then from Rabea and the guys at Andertons, but this was a lot funner for me than the "sound like.." series they do.
One guitar tone I would love hear dissected would be Thirty Seconds To Mars - Oblivion. SO HUGE.
Thanks Fluff. Did using two mics on a single track create a bigger/fuller sound, or was it just for EQ balance?
I love the Smashing Pumpkins and I love that song. I don't know if you have done this yet or not, but maybe trying to get the sound of the Deftones?
Brother not only did you nail that tone perfectly but you added a lot of clarity which made it sound amazing
Pretty good! I think you'd need fewer plugins if you use a Neve 1073 or 1081 style plugin and an old IC Muff, though. Those were quite a bit warmer sounding to begin with. Also don't be afraid to slam the tape a bit. I believe they recorded on a Studer so that plugin would also help make it easier. They did mix on an SSL I believe as well though.
Great work.. had my ‘82 Strat re fitted with Lace. Sensors a few months ago and bough the new Big Muff and been working on the SP sound with a Headrush Gigboard. Pretty close but really liked what you’ve done here.
😏
So glad you did this video!
Great video fluff! I though you used Presonus Studio one? When did you make the switch back to Logic?
I used to listen to this album while driving with my mother on Sunset Boulevard in West Columbia. I miss those times. She passed away on the 20th of December in 2014. The album never fails to make me cry.