Saw Satriani the other week and...

  • Thread starter Thread starter War Admiral
  • Start date Start date
War Admiral

War Admiral

New member
was surprised that he dimes the gains on his new amps! The guitar tech came out before the show and hit a few chords and there was gobs of gain and sustain but lacking definition. The few first songs of the set his guitar was kind of lost in the mix but improved a bit later on.

The show was great, first time I got to see one of my guitar idols up close so I couldn't pass it up. Just sayin that I never thought he would dime the gain like that....usually it makes an amp sound muddy and undefined.
 
i spoke to Joe on the phone last year and he was telling me how much he loved the BE-100 etc , but wished it had more gain. He then explained to me that with the Chicken Foot gig, the Be was perfect, but with his solo stuff he needs as much gain as possible. Joe told me with his solo stuff when he does all his fast legato stuff he barley touches the strings, thus needs tons of gain. After talking with him, it made perfect sense to me and also it made it clear why he needs niose gates on his Marshall sig amp.
 
Tone Merchant":12kx74k1 said:
i spoke to Joe on the phone last year and he was telling me how much he loved the BE-100 etc , but wished it had more gain. He then explained to me that with the Chicken Foot gig, the Be was perfect, but with his solo stuff he needs as much gain as possible. Joe told me with his solo stuff when he does all his fast legato stuff he barley touches the strings, thus needs tons of gain. After talking with him, it made perfect sense to me and also it made it clear why he needs niose gates on his Marshall sig amp.
Click to expand...

Cool insight :D That was clear to me also at his show...never thought he had so much gain. It can be deceptive at times when listening to a recording...making it sound clear can be a chore in itself which is a compliment to Joes technique.
 
Funny you mention that. I got the Satch JVM. I've seen his settings and as much as I like gain and fluidity, diming the gain (even on the crunch ch) isn't nessesary
 
I love satch.. but like Vai, i think his style leans and depends too much on over the top saturation. Without it, the legato shit falls apart. Not that players can't do legato (Shenker does sometimes) but you have to work harder for it. I prefer the less gain tone and working a lil harder myself.
 
I saw Satch back a couple of weeks for the first time ever and had a great time. I also didn't find his playing cut through the mix that well at times on the rhythm playing on some songs, same went with his lead playing, not sure if it was just EQing or volume. His other guitarist/keyboardist sounded more defined to me when he was playing leads while they were trading licks back and forth during one song, I wasn't close enough to see what kind of super strat he was playing.

When you're playing a 2 hour show like Joe and playing fast almost all the time, I can see why he'd want his legatos to come out easily.
 
Never heard the JVM, but this is not a new development. His tone was put in perspective to me at a Dallas guitar show back in 2004 or so when he jammed with Andy Timmons, who was using a Boogie Lone Star at the time. Satch had his Peavey JSX and it was bright and brittle sounding next to Timmons' rig, which cut much better.

Totally agree about the set and using gobs of gain. He probably doesn't practice as much as he used to (i.e. he has more to life now), so it makes total sense.
 
I felt about the same way when I saw him about a month ago. Morris' set had a far superior tone/volume/mix. It was tough to say whether Joe's set was louder, more compressed, a shit mix, or all three, but Morris' set was much more listenable.

There were moments I wasn't sure exactly what song Satch was playing....and that's not good.
 
Rogue":1mbxuwel said:
I felt about the same way when I saw him about a month ago. Morris' set had a far superior tone/volume/mix. It was tough to say whether Joe's set was louder, more compressed, a shit mix, or all three, but Morris' set was much more listenable.

There were moments I wasn't sure exactly what song Satch was playing....and that's not good.
Click to expand...

That was at Nashville, Rogue? I really wanted to catch that show and kick myself for having missed it.
 
grooveHT":2x16n1ah said:
That was at Nashville, Rogue? I really wanted to catch that show and kick myself for having missed it.
Click to expand...
Yep. It was a good show, but I've seen him a few times now and know what to expect so nothing surprised me. Fun still.

I've never seen Steve Morris live, but knew what he could. His band sounded real good. Loud but not so loud it turned to mush, clear and precise. Nothing really grabbed me from his tunes though, which was kind of disappointing, but great performance.
 
I've always dug Joe's playing but I've never been a fan of his tone. His gain always seems like it's right at the point where saturation meets fuzz.
 
Kapo_Polenton":3nmbmf6w said:
I love satch.. but like Vai, i think his style leans and depends too much on over the top saturation. Without it, the legato shit falls apart. Not that players can't do legato (Shenker does sometimes) but you have to work harder for it. I prefer the less gain tone and working a lil harder myself.
Click to expand...

Not so sure about all of his songs using extreme gain. His legato technique is good without significant gain level, because of his finger strength. That dude practices trills and legato with two notes for minutes at a time based on some of his exercises. Some don't like Vai or his compositions, but he has full control over that guitar and seemingly flawless technique.
 
Here is one of his amp's settings at the Philly show Sept. 28th. I never really looked but yeah his gain (at far right) is all the way up.

Joe_Philly_Settings.jpg
 
Yup that looks about right. Mike Keneally was the other guitarist and he had a biting clear tone.
 
Any idea which mode he's running those gain channels in? I could see running the crunch channel with the gain maxed on Red mode but not the OD channels in red. It would be way too mushy/gainy unless you scooped the mids a lot more than he's doing there unless he's using an outboard EQ.
 
I've seen Satch a bunch of times including the very first G3. He's always sounded great and played great! :rock:

I'm really dig'n his last two releases. :rock:
 
Tone Merchant":1jvfzmmk said:
i spoke to Joe on the phone last year and he was telling me how much he loved the BE-100 etc , but wished it had more gain. He then explained to me that with the Chicken Foot gig, the Be was perfect, but with his solo stuff he needs as much gain as possible. Joe told me with his solo stuff when he does all his fast legato stuff he barley touches the strings, thus needs tons of gain. After talking with him, it made perfect sense to me and also it made it clear why he needs niose gates on his Marshall sig amp.
Click to expand...

His BE was up for sale on bananasatlarge.com, I missed snagging it.

Odd that anyone would think the BE didn't have enough gain. I actually think I'd like Joe's music better with less gain....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top