If you want an authentic 1980s sound, you are mainly looking at Standard pedals like Boss, a Rat, Electro Harmonix, etc... If you think about it it makes total sense in that there were much fewer choices. You are really better trying live versions as album effects are most likely studio gear more than pedals. I would say pedals in the studio would be more of a Shoegaze deal. 😉👍✨
This was great. As someone who played in bands of this era, I’d love a video on your story of finding this music and how you see it influencing your generation of musicians.
I was just impressed at how close you got to Matt’s sound with a pedal. Nicely done! Still regarding Tremolo units, I can’t recommend the Stereo Pulsar enough. Once you play it you’ll never look back, matey!
My go-to distortion/always on pedal for all styles is the Digitech Screamin' Blues, which is a Blues Driver type, except it has one more EQ knob (like the Bad Monkey). It can go fuzz-like if pushed, but is only breaking up my amp a little under noon.
The RAT's a good call. And you don't need the trem. Distortion > Chorus > delay > Reverb. 4 pedals, into a clean amp. Trem, flange, wah, and so on are all optional, the trem comes from Vox and certain other amps that had trem and also trem on guitars which is actually vibrato but it is not a necessity. Single coils and humbuckers will both work. Also the delay can be fully digital, although a lot of notable bands used 2 analog delays, you can also hear 1 digital delay (probably a dd-2) on a lot of post punk songs (they also use digital delay from the keyboards on synth parts too). Your rite that chorus is a must, specifically Roland/Boss chorus - Juno chorus, Roland Jazz Chorus or the pedals will all do the job.
Excellent picks! I'm a big fan of distortion instead of overdrive: the Rat is a good choice generally, if nothing else because like many fuzzes and 70s distortions it responds well to rolling off guitar volume. It's taking me a lot to warm up to chorus again but I do like the chorus-y effect of running a vibrato into a delay, or a reverb. It's a different road to much the same thing. As for delay, I love an AD9. For reverb and trem, I tend to rely on my amp as much (Princeton Reverb, me) as I can but certainly putting those effects on a board ensures that you'll have them regardless of what kind of backline you wind up playing through.
I’m much more a fan of vibrato than chorus or a vibrato with a mix knob to bring in the tiniest bit of the dry signal. Give me a modulated delay or reverb and I’m happy but if it’s a dedicated pedal, the vibrato is king for me.
I can't recommend the super pulsar by electro harmonix (tremolo pedal) enough. It's got everything you need. Stereo ins and outs, expression pedal input assignable to any of the main potentiometers, Tapdivide, envelope filters for depth and rate, preset slots, and best of all; you can connect a clock from your DAW so that your problem with recording is a breeze.
The ProCo RAT is definitely a great choice, as it was one of the most common distortion pedals of that era, especially because it was cheap. Although I myself didn't use a RAT back then, I appreciate it much more now.
Brilliant choices - it’s like you’re describing my pedalboard.. One space saving pedal is the Tomkat Day Dreamer - a lovely combo of echo and spring reverb. It NEVER leaves my gigging board. Cheers.
Magazine's Real Life was a fave of mine when it came out, still love it today (different style but same tones, 999's Homicide) Id probably swap out the chorus for a flanger, personal taste, the Colorsound was the 1st new pedal i bought
I tend to use a flanger more like a chorus just to be a tad different but always stack it with a hall reverb. That or a modulated reverb to save space depends on how big the board is. I manly use a chase bliss mood with a midi controller these days and have everything set with multiple presets. The looper is the reason I own it it’s incredible.
@@-jank-willson you can get it on a boss rv 5 if your looking on the cheap or the strymon blue sky has a setting for it. The chase bliss mood has a setting for it too but you gotta put a lot of work into it to get there.
@@trunks828 i mean, i know a flanger and chorus are both modulated micro-delays, but i didn't know about a modulated reverb... next you'll be telling me that a modulated compressor exist...
I've had the TC Electronic Hall Of Fame 2, it's a really good reverb pedal. It has all you need. But I found a good deal on the MXR M300 Reverb, because I know Allen Epley of Shiner and The Life And Times uses one. And the MXR reverb just blew me away! I sold the HOF2, which does have more reverbs and features, but the MXR reverb just sounds amazing to me! It feels very inspiring to play with it, especially the Epic setting.
You have just described my early 1990s post-punk into dreampop/shoegaze pedalboard. In my case, it was all Boss, because if Boss pedals were good enough for Robert Smith, David Byrne, and Johnny Marr, they were good enough for me. RV-2 Digital Reverb, PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifter/Delay, CE-3 Chorus, PN-2 Tremolo/Pan, and HM-2 Heavy Metal, in addition to the overdrive/distortion, chorus, and reverb in my Ampeg VH-140C stereo 2x12 combo amp. I also used a Boss EH-2 Enhancer pedal, which I used more or less like one might use a treble booster.
Love your vids, great era of music. Mar actually used five fender amp trems and had to keep chopping in different takes as the time drifts. He said that these days hed do it it logic or dome other DAW, so dont worry about cheating. He had the time and space of a pro studio, and a manager to run around sourcing the amps.
What has worked best for me is using a multi-fx line 6 m13 with some loose pedals for things that I need more specifically, such as distortion, EQ, noise suppressor and a wha-wha, so far with that I have achieved the most shades that I have needed. I have thought about getting a more complex multi-fx so I can stop carrying the amplifier and also get a whammy, but these are things that will come later.
@@thesethingsmakenoises I also love individual pedals, but I'm from South America and it's hard to get them sometimes. Honestly, I would like to have more pedals at home for my home studio. In any case, I have never seen the multi-fx as a replacement for pedals but rather as another tool, after all many musicians carry multi-effects racks apart from their pedalboard.
I use a flanger instead of a chorus. It is somehow like a chorus but can be more extreme, at least if you use something like an electric mistress (ehx). Anyway great choice of yours to create Post Punk sounds. Best genre of all time...
I actually don't enjoy the sound of my boss super chorus but I love the chorus sound so it gets me by in a pinch, I got a rack mount zoom multi effects and the pitch detune has become one of my favorite chorus tones, I've also got pretty cool chorus tones with a flanger Which could be a 2 in one pedal
I know I bought a Danelectro Fab Overdrive for like $35 and its not gonna play like a $150 od but I know Stuart from Mogwai uses a Fab Tone distortion and one of his favorite bands is The Cure so if its good enough for Mogwai its good enough for me. Great video and all I could think of when you talked about the Cocteau Twins was a dream pop band from here in the States Ozean they only have 3 songs from the early 90s but they are amazing
As a guitarist from that era, i would agree that it's sort of a toss-up with tremolo and flanger, and you should probably have both if you are dead set on re-creating certain songs. The two other pedals not in this video that I think ought to be seriously considered, but are not necessarily essential to the sounds of the 80s and 90s are a wah pedal and a vibrato pedal like the Boss VB-2.
Love your videos. Did you use any distortion for the Disorder demo? Would it be possible to list the signal chain in future demos please? Your sounds are great so it would be a big help. Thank you. Looking forward to your next video.
I think I literally just used the deadblow on a fairly low gain setting and a bit of reverb. Yeah for sure! Apologies, I will, I was a bit slack on these last couple videos as I had to do them fairly quickly for going on tour.
Nice take as always. The GFI synesthesia is an absolute chorus monster (and does a lot of those chase bliss style lofi vinyl style effects). Love the RV6. Sold mine recently when I got hold of a cheap RV500. Which I still have no proper idea how to use!
@@thesethingsmakenoises I cheated. A guy put a bunch of his presets on the GFI website. They’re really chorus heavy and sound great (much better than boss md500). It’s got hidden delay, reverb and compression and you can run two modulations simultaneously so it’s a great Swiss Army knife thing. Picked one up used for around £150.
Some other pedal consideration The TC Electronics Flashbackx4 or Flashback II x4 are great budget "big pedals", like a Line6 DL4. These all have loopers on them as well, and should be less than $200 US including shipping. But the Boss Katana Mk II with the 4-way foot switch (or 8 way switch with the 100 watt) might be the best piece of gear for this type of sound palette. You can chose from a number of different modulation and time effects and EQ them to your guitar with exacting precision and have major changes available with 1 foot tap. I've had mine for nearly 3 years and I appreciate it more each time I work on a new sound.
@@thesethingsmakenoises The Katanas are a major time investment: 70ish on-board pedals and 15 amp voicings means a lot of fiddling . But once you get a sound idea, it's pretty fast to get it playable. I think they are great sonic sketchpads, and in the hands of a pro they are legitimate gigging and recording platforms.
MXR flanger, MXR compressor, use the chorus on the Jazz Chorus amp (not pedal) and you arrive at John McGeoch, but trying to play like him is something else. No blues no trad rock - he’s like Kraftwerk on the guitar, impossible to find his roots/influences. A massive sad loss. Funny that you mention Magazine and not realise John McGeoch is playing Shot by both sides (although the riff came from via Howard Devoto whilst in the Buzzcocks). Nice vid enjoyed your enthusiasm.
For 80s chorus you probably want a Boss CE-2, or one of its many many clones. The Small Clone is more of a "modern" sounding chorus. TC electronic 3rd dimension it's also pure 80s but it's less versatile.
@@thesethingsmakenoisesA tempting offer HAHA. The blues drive matches the tone of My Bloody Valentine, but I'm on a budget, which is why I'm asking about the SD. Thanks for the advice, I will buy BD in the future.
Yeah I guess so for some stuff! Although I’d argue for magazine/gang of four etc you kinda want those jangly fast attacks that a compressor would probably tame
@@thesethingsmakenoisesand also The Smiths, That Pedal Show just made a Video on the Jangle Tone after being inspired to do so afte their Interview with Johnny Marr:)
Magazine I should check out, for some reason under my radar... As of the pedals...great choices. Looking at a TR-2 myself. Trem goes well on its own as with other modulation as od/ds/fz pedals. Great video as always and Joy Division 😎
love how honest and non self centred ur vids are, how vids should be done. great job !
Thanks mate!
The old Boss BF2 Flanger with the full 12v input (that part is important) is instant 80s indie - once you know the sound you hear it everywhere.
Totally this, certainly for the Cure sounds - flanger not chorus (although obvs flangers can do that chorusesque thing)
I’m gonna get one I think!
If you want an authentic 1980s sound, you are mainly looking at Standard pedals like Boss, a Rat, Electro Harmonix, etc... If you think about it it makes total sense in that there were much fewer choices. You are really better trying live versions as album effects are most likely studio gear more than pedals. I would say pedals in the studio would be more of a Shoegaze deal. 😉👍✨
This was great. As someone who played in bands of this era, I’d love a video on your story of finding this music and how you see it influencing your generation of musicians.
Thanks! I’ll have a think about how to do something like that. Sounds like a great idea for a vid.
Excellent selection of songs. I spent my youth listening to Joy D. and Cocteau Twins. Fun to see young guys having fun with this genre. 🎉
Thanks mate! Great bands for sure.
I was just impressed at how close you got to Matt’s sound with a pedal. Nicely done! Still regarding Tremolo units, I can’t recommend the Stereo Pulsar enough. Once you play it you’ll never look back, matey!
My go-to distortion/always on pedal for all styles is the Digitech Screamin' Blues, which is a Blues Driver type, except it has one more EQ knob (like the Bad Monkey). It can go fuzz-like if pushed, but is only breaking up my amp a little under noon.
That sounds awesome. Will check it out.
Excellent vid again, thanks. Agree on the usefulness of the TC Flashback. It's on my board, running those excact settings. Tape mode is sweet.
It’s so good right!
The RAT's a good call. And you don't need the trem. Distortion > Chorus > delay > Reverb. 4 pedals, into a clean amp. Trem, flange, wah, and so on are all optional, the trem comes from Vox and certain other amps that had trem and also trem on guitars which is actually vibrato but it is not a necessity. Single coils and humbuckers will both work. Also the delay can be fully digital, although a lot of notable bands used 2 analog delays, you can also hear 1 digital delay (probably a dd-2) on a lot of post punk songs (they also use digital delay from the keyboards on synth parts too). Your rite that chorus is a must, specifically Roland/Boss chorus - Juno chorus, Roland Jazz Chorus or the pedals will all do the job.
Excellent picks! I'm a big fan of distortion instead of overdrive: the Rat is a good choice generally, if nothing else because like many fuzzes and 70s distortions it responds well to rolling off guitar volume. It's taking me a lot to warm up to chorus again but I do like the chorus-y effect of running a vibrato into a delay, or a reverb. It's a different road to much the same thing. As for delay, I love an AD9. For reverb and trem, I tend to rely on my amp as much (Princeton Reverb, me) as I can but certainly putting those effects on a board ensures that you'll have them regardless of what kind of backline you wind up playing through.
I’m much more a fan of vibrato than chorus or a vibrato with a mix knob to bring in the tiniest bit of the dry signal. Give me a modulated delay or reverb and I’m happy but if it’s a dedicated pedal, the vibrato is king for me.
@@PatrickNorris10 Gig board has the Emperor; I also enjoy the Shallow Water in this role.
I can't recommend the super pulsar by electro harmonix (tremolo pedal) enough. It's got everything you need. Stereo ins and outs, expression pedal input assignable to any of the main potentiometers, Tapdivide, envelope filters for depth and rate, preset slots, and best of all; you can connect a clock from your DAW so that your problem with recording is a breeze.
Oh that sounds amazing!!
The ProCo RAT is definitely a great choice, as it was one of the most common distortion pedals of that era, especially because it was cheap. Although I myself didn't use a RAT back then, I appreciate it much more now.
They’re amazing for sure.
If you want an even bigger sound try running a Tubescreamer in front of the Rat. 😉👍✨
Brilliant choices - it’s like you’re describing my pedalboard.. One space saving pedal is the Tomkat Day Dreamer - a lovely combo of echo and spring reverb. It NEVER leaves my gigging board. Cheers.
Magazine's Real Life was a fave of mine when it came out, still love it today (different style but same tones, 999's Homicide)
Id probably swap out the chorus for a flanger, personal taste, the Colorsound was the 1st new pedal i bought
Yeah fair play, I guess you could get similar chorus sounds at different parameters on a flanger?
@@thesethingsmakenoises pretty much
I tend to use a flanger more like a chorus just to be a tad different but always stack it with a hall reverb. That or a modulated reverb to save space depends on how big the board is. I manly use a chase bliss mood with a midi controller these days and have everything set with multiple presets. The looper is the reason I own it it’s incredible.
wait, a modulated reverb pedal exist?!? where can i get one?
@@-jank-willson you can get it on a boss rv 5 if your looking on the cheap or the strymon blue sky has a setting for it. The chase bliss mood has a setting for it too but you gotta put a lot of work into it to get there.
I really need to get one don’t I!
@@trunks828 i mean, i know a flanger and chorus are both modulated micro-delays, but i didn't know about a modulated reverb...
next you'll be telling me that a modulated compressor exist...
I've had the TC Electronic Hall Of Fame 2, it's a really good reverb pedal. It has all you need. But I found a good deal on the MXR M300 Reverb, because I know Allen Epley of Shiner and The Life And Times uses one. And the MXR reverb just blew me away! I sold the HOF2, which does have more reverbs and features, but the MXR reverb just sounds amazing to me! It feels very inspiring to play with it, especially the Epic setting.
Ohhh sounds awesome mate!
You can do it with 1 pedal > Chorus. Use your amp for distortion and your room for reverb.
You have just described my early 1990s post-punk into dreampop/shoegaze pedalboard. In my case, it was all Boss, because if Boss pedals were good enough for Robert Smith, David Byrne, and Johnny Marr, they were good enough for me. RV-2 Digital Reverb, PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifter/Delay, CE-3 Chorus, PN-2 Tremolo/Pan, and HM-2 Heavy Metal, in addition to the overdrive/distortion, chorus, and reverb in my Ampeg VH-140C stereo 2x12 combo amp. I also used a Boss EH-2 Enhancer pedal, which I used more or less like one might use a treble booster.
Sounds like an awesome board!
Love your vids, great era of music. Mar actually used five fender amp trems and had to keep chopping in different takes as the time drifts. He said that these days hed do it it logic or dome other DAW, so dont worry about cheating. He had the time and space of a pro studio, and a manager to run around sourcing the amps.
Haha yeah it’s crazy isn’t it! Amazing how much we can do quickly and cheaply now.
What has worked best for me is using a multi-fx line 6 m13 with some loose pedals for things that I need more specifically, such as distortion, EQ, noise suppressor and a wha-wha, so far with that I have achieved the most shades that I have needed. I have thought about getting a more complex multi-fx so I can stop carrying the amplifier and also get a whammy, but these are things that will come later.
That’s a great shout actually. I love individual pedals too much to have a multi but I totally get the affordableness/usability
@@thesethingsmakenoises I also love individual pedals, but I'm from South America and it's hard to get them sometimes. Honestly, I would like to have more pedals at home for my home studio. In any case, I have never seen the multi-fx as a replacement for pedals but rather as another tool, after all many musicians carry multi-effects racks apart from their pedalboard.
Great video!! Super cool sounds. I use the Mooer D7 X2 multi delay which is great for alternative/ambient/shoegaze. Cheers from Montreal.
Hey, this is fantastic, super useful - off topic question, what are you using for drums, they sound massive.
Thanks! It’s just logic drummer, but I add a distortion as a buss and I think it helps to make it sound more ‘real’
I use a flanger instead of a chorus. It is somehow like a chorus but can be more extreme, at least if you use something like an electric mistress (ehx). Anyway great choice of yours to create Post Punk sounds. Best genre of all time...
Yeah fair play! It’s an awesome genre isn’t it
This guy has really sniffed out some great tones.
I actually don't enjoy the sound of my boss super chorus but I love the chorus sound so it gets me by in a pinch, I got a rack mount zoom multi effects and the pitch detune has become one of my favorite chorus tones, I've also got pretty cool chorus tones with a flanger Which could be a 2 in one pedal
Have you tried the boss bass chorus? I think it works better for guitar cause it has a low pass
@@Durkhead I've never tried any bass pedals but I have heard that some sound good on guitar.
I really need to buy a flanger don’t I
I know I bought a Danelectro Fab Overdrive for like $35 and its not gonna play like a $150 od but I know Stuart from Mogwai uses a Fab Tone distortion and one of his favorite bands is The Cure so if its good enough for Mogwai its good enough for me. Great video and all I could think of when you talked about the Cocteau Twins was a dream pop band from here in the States Ozean they only have 3 songs from the early 90s but they are amazing
Sounds like an awesome pedal. I haven’t heard of Ozean but will check them out.
As a guitarist from that era, i would agree that it's sort of a toss-up with tremolo and flanger, and you should probably have both if you are dead set on re-creating certain songs. The two other pedals not in this video that I think ought to be seriously considered, but are not necessarily essential to the sounds of the 80s and 90s are a wah pedal and a vibrato pedal like the Boss VB-2.
Yeah great shouts.
Love your videos. Did you use any distortion for the Disorder demo?
Would it be possible to list the signal chain in future demos please? Your sounds are great so it would be a big help. Thank you. Looking forward to your next video.
I think I literally just used the deadblow on a fairly low gain setting and a bit of reverb. Yeah for sure! Apologies, I will, I was a bit slack on these last couple videos as I had to do them fairly quickly for going on tour.
@@thesethingsmakenoises brilliant thank you very much 😎
Nice take as always. The GFI synesthesia is an absolute chorus monster (and does a lot of those chase bliss style lofi vinyl style effects).
Love the RV6. Sold mine recently when I got hold of a cheap RV500. Which I still have no proper idea how to use!
Ohh sounds cool! Oh awesome, they do look amazing (complicated tho haha)
@@thesethingsmakenoises I cheated. A guy put a bunch of his presets on the GFI website. They’re really chorus heavy and sound great (much better than boss md500).
It’s got hidden delay, reverb and compression and you can run two modulations simultaneously so it’s a great Swiss Army knife thing. Picked one up used for around £150.
Some other pedal consideration
The TC Electronics Flashbackx4 or Flashback II x4 are great budget "big pedals", like a Line6 DL4. These all have loopers on them as well, and should be less than $200 US including shipping.
But the Boss Katana Mk II with the 4-way foot switch (or 8 way switch with the 100 watt) might be the best piece of gear for this type of sound palette. You can chose from a number of different modulation and time effects and EQ them to your guitar with exacting precision and have major changes available with 1 foot tap. I've had mine for nearly 3 years and I appreciate it more each time I work on a new sound.
They sound amazing. Have heard loads of good things about the katana actually
@@thesethingsmakenoises The Katanas are a major time investment: 70ish on-board pedals and 15 amp voicings means a lot of fiddling . But once you get a sound idea, it's pretty fast to get it playable. I think they are great sonic sketchpads, and in the hands of a pro they are legitimate gigging and recording platforms.
amazing video! will come back to it as a reference :)
Thankyou!
Thanks again! Always learn a thing or two from your videos! When's that next OD record coming!
Thanks mate. We should have new music next year for sure!
@@thesethingsmakenoises Hell yeah! Anxiously awaiting! Looking forward to it and hoping for LA shows one day! :D
Great video!!! Your channel is one of my favourite!!
Thanks so much!
MXR flanger, MXR compressor, use the chorus on the Jazz Chorus amp (not pedal) and you arrive at John McGeoch, but trying to play like him is something else. No blues no trad rock - he’s like Kraftwerk on the guitar, impossible to find his roots/influences. A massive sad loss. Funny that you mention Magazine and not realise John McGeoch is playing Shot by both sides (although the riff came from via Howard Devoto whilst in the Buzzcocks). Nice vid enjoyed your enthusiasm.
For sure!! Ahh sorry I thought I mentioned he was playing on both in the video 😊
Excellent. Yes. Boss still the sound although much digital as much good.
What is the first song in the background?
Just subscribed because of this video!
With My Boss BF2 Flanger
INSTANT Post Punk tone
I really enjoy the content on this channel keep it up cheers from Alabama
Thanks mate!
I love your channel! ❤
Your content is 🔥
Thanks so much!
For 80s chorus you probably want a Boss CE-2, or one of its many many clones. The Small Clone is more of a "modern" sounding chorus.
TC electronic 3rd dimension it's also pure 80s but it's less versatile.
Ahh that does make sense actually!!
Does something like a valeton gp200 do the trick ?
Hello. Interesting video. Should I buy the Boss SD1 for the shoegaze/grunge sound or should I buy something similar to the Ibanez TS9?
Sd1 is better for humbuckers and ts9 is better for single coil
I think either will do the trick mate! Or have a look at the blues driver?!
@@thesethingsmakenoises Definitely a Blues Driver - so versatile.
@@thesethingsmakenoisesA tempting offer HAHA. The blues drive matches the tone of My Bloody Valentine, but I'm on a budget, which is why I'm asking about the SD. Thanks for the advice, I will buy BD in the future.
DS1 for grunge， it's a cheap pedal they're everywhere.
Or even DS2 if you can up your budget a little (instant Nirvana sound)
Marr didn't use a tremolo on how soon is now iy was all down to his picking style.
I think it was reamped through amps with tremolo wasn’t it?
@@thesethingsmakenoises Yes - Johhny Marr's playing was taped clean and then it was re-amped through the tremolo circuits of four twin reverbs.
You forgot the pop up link boss
Ahhh so I did! Thanks!
Flanger is probably the most useful of the modulations.
Fair!!
Anyone have a spotify playlist made up of music like this?
the flanger should be able of o do chorus.
I need one I think!
The Boss BF2 can do Chorus
what about a compressor?
Yeah I guess so for some stuff! Although I’d argue for magazine/gang of four etc you kinda want those jangly fast attacks that a compressor would probably tame
@@thesethingsmakenoisesand also The Smiths, That Pedal Show just made a Video on the Jangle Tone after being inspired to do so afte their Interview with Johnny Marr:)
Its a bit spendy but I've really enjoyed Julia by Walrus.
Nice!!!
The EHX Eddy (EHX's answer to the Julia/Julianna) looks extremely good too!
I've been looking up get one on the second hand market
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
🤘🤘
Magazine I should check out, for some reason under my radar...
As of the pedals...great choices. Looking at a TR-2 myself. Trem goes well on its own as with other modulation as od/ds/fz pedals.
Great video as always and Joy Division 😎
Right on
Nice vid
Thanks mate!
una variante rockera de Owen Wilson :0
Haha!!
Dis guy needs a set of cutters for his strings, nice tones tho.
🤪🤪🤪
really just a flanger will get you by.
More than chorus?
@@thesethingsmakenoisesBoss BF2 can be set to a chorus tone
super flexible