Getting the Deacy sound out of a.... Mark IV?

[Kupke]

Hi folks,

I own a Mark IV which i intend to be using for home recording soon. I'm totally hooked on the old
Queen tunes and May's sound coming out of the Deacy amp. (so i'm not talking about the regular Vox AC-30 sound he uses live and for rhythm sounds) This is the amp used to record
those amazing harmony unisons. I basically want to use my Mark IV to achieve a similar sound
for unisons. Meaning, fat sound with violin/cello sounding attack while maintaining the definition
of a medium gain lead sound.

I love the character of a Mark IV amp so I definetly want to use that for recording the unisons, (otherwise i'd just have to get a copy of the Deacy amp) but I'm looking for some solution (in pedal/stompbox format or otherwise) that will give my lead sound that character for leads.

Do any of you have experience with using pedals that increase the richness of the tone while maintaining the definition
yet getting a really fat attack when you pick the strings?

For an example of what i mean, check the leads and unisons 'Driven by You' a song Bryan May has recorded on a solo album. That's the character i'm looking for.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=driven+by+you+brian+may&aq=0&oq=driven+by+you

Thx!

Ralf

 

[gonzo]

i have a set of groovetubes substitubes, that take the 6l6 of my mark2b, and take it down to a EL84.

this gets me real close, to the AC30 style chime, which is important in doing the stage volume version.....
of the deacy, thru the ac30.


so, i'm using a barber direct drive, instead of a 'deacy', and running it thru the boogie with the substitubes..

this is the closest way i know of, to use a standard boogie...

it's the el84 and the way you re-work the gain structure of the boogie, to sound more like a vox...

but the deacy, was all solid state, and there's no way to approximate that sound out of a mark4, except as a pedal or possible a line out of one of those little vox amps, the white ones they marketed as having the deacy circuit in it.

 

[gonzo]

see here:

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/vox-brian-may/Aug-03/1374


and here:

http://www.brianmaycentral.net/bms.html

 

[Kupke]

The AC30 was just used live to amplify the Deacy though right?

Would you say the barber direct drive brings you a really fat lead with definition? The sound samples on the webby don't really tell me what option you have with such a box.

 

[gonzo]

well, i think the studio work is one thing....
the live work, another.

the studio, you could just mike the little speaker up and run with it!

live, the AC30 cranked way hot, was part of the sound too.


as far as the Barber:

well, I dig the DDSS....

all i can do is offer my own samples...

here's a couple that feature the Barber:

http://iacmusic.com/songs.aspx?SongID=71294&ArtistID=30211



http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2302&alid=-1
"the travel song"


http://www.myspace.com/batsbrew
"Headin' for the Weeds"

 

[Kupke]

thx, i'll check em out! Since i'm only going to do some recording with harmonies for now, a Deacy would be fine, even though i love May's tone, it's just not modern enough for me you know! Looks like i'll have to keep checking!

 

[gonzo]

any luck yet?

 

[Kupke]

i've had luck but with a different method. I got my hands on a preset for Guitar Rig 3 that gets really close to the Deacy amp sound. With some tweaking because my pickups and guitar sound way different (although i have a sweet switch and can get close to that single coil sound) and using a 5 eurocent coin, i get the same violin like accents on the sound as well as nice harmonics. I'm going to record a solo with it soon.

Combined with a tape echo, brighton rock-like riffs and licks sound 90% spot-on. It's still not a tube amp of course, but who's going to hear that in a recording except me?