Spark Zone

Posted: **Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:02 pm**

Hi,
I'm trying to build a tone that resemble the tone of the guitar in Phil Colins' "In The Air Tonight", specifically the one in the live version in this video: https://youtu.be/IeDMnyQzS88 .
The problem is I don't have much of an idea of how to build it up.

I understand that I need a sustainer (at the moment, in the chain I use the Blue Sustainer...), an high gain amp, a delay, a distortion (first big problem: tried pretty much all those that are available, but none of them satisfies me that much

). I don't have the first idea about modulation or the setting of the amp. I usually use super-clean tones, but this one I love, and it would be pretty much perfect for a project I have in mind.

What worries me most is that even with middle pick up, all the trebles on, etc. the tone is still kinda muffled, kinda dull, and lacks the crisp I'm trying to get from it.

Any suggestion about how to make the sound crispier and "drier"?

Posted: **Fri Sep 04, 2020 4:13 pm**

try these settings and let me know
obviously activating and setting the noisegate in a good compromise between the attenuation of the noise and the cut of the sustain

edit: I haven't created a specific preset in the tonecluod as they are not definitive settings, feel free to use and modify them as you see fit

Posted: **Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:06 pm**

S@muele wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 4:13 pm https://ibb.co/dGQHzzc

try these settings and let me know
obviously activating and setting the noisegate in a good compromise between the attenuation of the noise and the cut of the sustain

Thanks a lot. I'll try them tomorrow, when I'll be back home.
Any indications about pickup/volume/tone on the guitar? I use a Charvel mod.4 (1982, I think), modified with EMG pickups (89 humbucker bridge, SA single coil middle and neck pickups).

Posted: **Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:38 pm**

DrBaroni wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:06 pm
S@muele wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 4:13 pm https://ibb.co/dGQHzzc

try these settings and let me know
obviously activating and setting the noisegate in a good compromise between the attenuation of the noise and the cut of the sustain
Thanks a lot. I'll try them tomorrow, when I'll be back home.
Any indications about pickup/volume/tone on the guitar? I use a Charvel mod.4 (1982, I think), modified with EMG pickups (89 humbucker bridge, SA single coil middle and neck pickups).

Daryl Stuermer in that video was playing it with a Strat with the single coil pickup at the bridge
certainly high volume to saturate and tone to a medium value

Posted: **Sat Sep 05, 2020 4:46 pm**

S@muele, thank you again. I watched the video three more times and couldn't identify that frame. Compliments for your eye.

I tried your settings. Somehow, it sounds even more muffled than mine

, I tried changing the settings on the guitar, but even mixing a splitted humbucker and the middle pickup and setting the tones all the way to the treble it still sounds muffled and dark

.

My settings are these (on a clock dial):
blue sustainer: level at 2:30, sustain at max, tone at max high, attack at noon.
Yellow overdrive: Level at 1:00, drive at max, tone at 2:00
Amp: Switch Axe, gain at 2:45, all tones at 12:00, volume at 12:30
Digital Delay: E. Level at 10:00, mode 500ms, f.back at 11:00, D.Time at max
Chamber rev.: level at 10:30, time at 11:15, low and high cut at 12:00, damping at 11:00, dwell at 9:45.

Guitar: volume at max, tone at about 8, mid boost at 5, spit humbucker and middle single coil.

I'll have to work on both versions a lot more.

Thank you again.

Posted: **Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:08 pm**

DrBaroni wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 4:46 pm S@muele, thank you again. I watched the video three more times and couldn't identify that frame. Compliments for your eye.

I tried your settings. Somehow, it sounds even more muffled than mine , I tried changing the settings on the guitar, but even mixing a splitted humbucker and the middle pickup and setting the tones all the way to the treble it still sounds muffled and dark .

My settings are these (on a clock dial):
blue sustainer: level at 2:30, sustain at max, tone at max high, attack at noon.
Yellow overdrive: Level at 1:00, drive at max, tone at 2:00
Amp: Switch Axe, gain at 2:45, all tones at 12:00, volume at 12:30
Digital Delay: E. Level at 10:00, mode 500ms, f.back at 11:00, D.Time at max
Chamber rev.: level at 10:30, time at 11:15, low and high cut at 12:00, damping at 11:00, dwell at 9:45.

Guitar: volume at max, tone at about 8, mid boost at 5, spit humbucker and middle single coil.

I'll have to work on both versions a lot more.

Thank you again.

I made you a short (and very bad) clip recording "al volo" to let you hear how my sound comes out
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gvyfspetiqj3y ... t.wav?dl=0
certainly there is work to be done on it but it doesn't seem darker than the original or muffled
then with some time I will try your setting

Posted: **Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:37 pm**

S@muele wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:08 pm
DrBaroni wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 4:46 pm S@muele, thank you again. I watched the video three more times and couldn't identify that frame. Compliments for your eye.

I tried your settings. Somehow, it sounds even more muffled than mine , I tried changing the settings on the guitar, but even mixing a splitted humbucker and the middle pickup and setting the tones all the way to the treble it still sounds muffled and dark .

My settings are these (on a clock dial):
blue sustainer: level at 2:30, sustain at max, tone at max high, attack at noon.
Yellow overdrive: Level at 1:00, drive at max, tone at 2:00
Amp: Switch Axe, gain at 2:45, all tones at 12:00, volume at 12:30
Digital Delay: E. Level at 10:00, mode 500ms, f.back at 11:00, D.Time at max
Chamber rev.: level at 10:30, time at 11:15, low and high cut at 12:00, damping at 11:00, dwell at 9:45.

Guitar: volume at max, tone at about 8, mid boost at 5, spit humbucker and middle single coil.

I'll have to work on both versions a lot more.

Thank you again.
I made you a short (and very bad) clip recording "al volo" to let you hear how my sound comes out
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gvyfspetiqj3y ... t.wav?dl=0
certainly there is work to be done on it but it doesn't seem darker than the original or muffled
then with some time I will try your setting

Holy cow... That sounds TOTALLY different than what I get out of my Spark when playing those settings!

I will try to make a "short and very bad clip" with what I get out of both the settings, yours and mine. I'm also curious to hear if they sound different on recording.

Posted: **Sat Sep 05, 2020 7:22 pm**

Ok, S@muele... I tried to record the sound, and heck, it's completely different from what I hear from the Spark's speakers.

Anyway: here's how your settings sound as recorded, and it seems they're pretty good: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o2kfboy11pyt7 ... e.mp3?dl=0

And here's how it sounds with my settings, which I changed in one thing: replaced the overdrive with the Black Op, distortion almost at max (9,5 out of 10 approx.), volume 6,5 and filter right in the middle: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uvzgvy2f6z3z7 ... e.mp3?dl=0

I apologize for the bad quality of both the recording and the playing. I changed the position of the Spark in the room (and the plug it's plugged in), and that worsened the sound quite appreciably.

Posted: **Sat Sep 05, 2020 10:28 pm**

DrBaroni wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 7:22 pm Ok, S@muele... I tried to record the sound, and heck, it's completely different from what I hear from the Spark's speakers.

Anyway: here's how your settings sound as recorded, and it seems they're pretty good: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o2kfboy11pyt7 ... e.mp3?dl=0

And here's how it sounds with my settings, which I changed in one thing: replaced the overdrive with the Black Op, distortion almost at max (9,5 out of 10 approx.), volume 6,5 and filter right in the middle: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uvzgvy2f6z3z7 ... e.mp3?dl=0

I apologize for the bad quality of both the recording and the playing. I changed the position of the Spark in the room (and the plug it's plugged in), and that worsened the sound quite appreciably.

completely different
I feel the big muff better but at this point it is useless to advise you if the result is different... and a lot too

Posted: **Sun Sep 06, 2020 9:23 am**

S@muele wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 10:28 pm completely different
I feel the big muff better but at this point it is useless to advise you if the result is different... and a lot too

I don't really understand why this HUGE difference between what I record from the headphones plug into my digital recorder and what comes out of the speakers.

They just seem two different planets.

I will try to record them using the integrated mics of the recorder (TASCAM DR-07 MkII). Just to show the difference.

Thank you for the advice and the settings anyway, I appreciated. And your settings sound quite good, in recording. Thank you again.

Spark Zone

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