Classic tone: Time

Pink Floyd is synonymous with epic classics like Echoes, Comfortably Numb and Shine On You Crazy Diamond but I’ve always loved their ability to make even a basic rock song stand out as masterpiece. Time has it all and not least one of David’s finest guitar solos. In this article we’ll examine David’s playing and gear and ways to achieve that legendary fuzz tone.

Time was written around Christmas 1971-72. Pink Floyd had been touring almost continuously since Syd’s departure in early ’68 and although they’d released many albums since then they we’re still beating the old songs and felt they badly needed something new that would finally let them break free from the psychedelic days. Dark Side of the Moon not only did that but it also catapulted Floyd into superstardom.

I’ve always considered Time to be a bit underrated. Not in the sense that it’s not a fan favourite – it’s one of the most played Floyd songs on radio and a live favourite since its release – but I think that to fully appreciate the genius of Time you need to put in a bigger context than just hearing it on Dark Side of the Moon or PULSE. It’s easy to think of Time as just another rock song with a cool guitar solo but to me it’s a culmination of everything Floyd is all about. A big melting pot of every cliché but in a good sense… just like Beatles’ Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds. It’s more Beatles than Beatles. Time is also interesting in terms of how it evolved from originally being a slow Echoes dreamy kind of song in early 1972 to the hard edged rock number that ended up on the album. Listen to shows like Rainbow (February 1972) and Hollywood Bowl (September 1972) and hear the difference.

The intro is a structured version of any free form instrumental improv number Floyd would typically perform around 1969-70. The endless theme over a few chords, the sound effects and instruments drenched in echo is the very essence of early Floyd. The tight rhythm section – the steady bass and groovy drums are the signature of Waters and Mason going back to Atom Heart Mother, Echoes, Childhood End and later Have A Cigar, Pigs etc. David’s guitar solo is a powerful statement from a new guitar God that had finally found his place in the band but also a tribute to contemporary influences like Jimi Hendrix. The solo also refelcts David’s ealier work on songs like Let There Be Light, The Nile Song and Echoes.

The tone
Relicating an authentic tone for Time is both easy and difficult. A guitar, amp and 2-3 effects doesn’t require a master’s degree to figure out but it has its obvious limitations, which is good to keep in mind… don’t overdo things. Much of the magic lies in the way the album was recorded. Microphone placement, volume, studio compression, limiters, noise gates… everything makes the sound. Not just the actual rig. It’s about allowing space in your playing and creating the contrast between a dry straight to the point rhythm and echo mayhem on the solo. Listen to how David’s using his tone and volume to create the violin like sustained notes on the solo and how he’s adding small fills and licks to the rhythms rather than strumming like mad.

The studio and live versions of Time is very similar. David actually went all the way back to the 1972 pre-album version with his PULSE setup adding the UniVibe for both rhythms and the solo. While Dark Side feature very little guitar on the rhythm sections later live versions and PULSE has a bit more guitar following the drum and bass pattern.

I’ll be focusing on the album version and PULSE for the setups and tone tips. Please see the Album Gear Guides for details on David’s setups for the 1972 Eclipse tour and 1973-75 Dark Side of the Moon tour, 1987-89 Momentary/Delicate tour and 2006 On An Island tour.

Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd recorded Time and Dark Side of the Moon in Abbey Road between June 1972 and January 1973. David’s main setup featured:

Fender Stratocaster “The Black Strat”
– 1969 black alder body with a white pickguard, ‘63 rosewood neck and stock Fender late 60s pickups.
Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads
Fender Twin Reverb silverface 100W
WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets
– with 4×12” Fane Crescendo speakers with metal dust caps.

Note: David fitted his Black Strat with a Gibson humbucker in January 1973. It is not documented when David recorded his guitars for Dark Side of the Moon but the basic rhythm tracks were done in June ‘72 and the majority of the album in October ’72 indicating that the pickup was installed after David’s main sessions.

Coloursound Power Boost
– (mainly set for full overdrive) bass 50%, treble 30%, gain 75%
Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (silicon)
– fuzz 100%, volume 75-100%
Binson Echorec
– intro (swell mode) 350ms
– solo (repeat mode) 350ms

PULSE
Pink Floyd’s last live album PULSE was recorded at a number of European shows in 1994 and featured a complete performance of Dark Side of the Moon. David’s setup for Time:

Fender Stratocaster ’57 reissue
– 1983 candy apple red body with a white pickguard, maple neck and EMG SA pickups with SPC and EXG controls.
Hiwatt DR103 100w heads
Hiwatt STA-100w heads
Alembic F-2B tube preamp
WEM Super Starfinder 200 speaker cabinets
Marshall JCM 800 400w speaker cabinets
Doppola rotating speaker cabinets

MXR Dynacomp (intro)
– sustain 10:00, volume 2:00
Ibanez CP-9 (intro)
– attack 11:00, level 11:00, threshold 1:00
Boss CE-2
– speed 11:00, depth 1:00
TC Electronics 2290 (intro/solo)
– long delay 500ms
Lexicon PCM 70 (intro)
– multi-tap echo 350ms
Chandler Tube Driver
– level 11:30, hi 11:30, low 3:00, drive 4:00
Sovtek Big Muff
– sustain 60%, volume 60%, tone 40%
UniVox Uni-Vibe
– volume 2:00, intensity 12:00, slow speed 2:00, fast speed 4:00 (o’clock), mode: chorus

Note: All settings above are based on pictures of David’s gear and my own experience. You may need to make further adjustments for your rig.

Guitars
Although you could get away with using a Les Paul or humbuckers in general I recommend a Stratocaster for the authentic tone and feel. The album version especially is all about that bright screaming single coil Hendrix tone. Which pickups to go for depends on whether you prefer the 70s version (like me) or PULSE. For the 1972-75 tone I’d go for Fender Custom Shop 69 or Duncan SSL1 (or similar late 60s pickups). You can also beef things up by having a Duncan SSL5 or DiMarzio FS-1 in the bridge (this is also a perfect setup for the 2006 version of the song). If you prefer David’s tones on Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) and PULSE (1994) then the EMG DG20 set is the way to go. It’s hard to achieve that tone with anything else but keep in mind that these pickups will give you a hard time achieving classic single coil sounds (see my review here).

Amps
As mentioned throughout this site an amp with as much headroom as possible is crucial for David’s tones. Time is all about finding the sweetspot between the amp and your pedals using the amp as a powerful basis for the overdrives and fuzz tones. Again, Time is all about using your tone and volume to create powerful rhythms and a screaming fuzz solo. This is very hard to achieve on a small transistor amp without having to push the amp into overdrive resulting in feedback and a generally oversaturated tone. Don’t expect your Roland Cube to perform like a 100w tube stack just because you have a Strat and a large pedal board. A Hiwatt, Sound City, Reeves and similar would obviously be the best choice. The powerful clean tone and tubes makes them ideal for the vintage fuzz tones. Playing at home requires something smaller like the great Peavey Classic 30 combo or Fender Blues Junior. Budgetwise I’d go for a Fender transistor like the Frontman to match David’s fairly bright album tones. Check out the Buyer’s Gear Guide for more tips.

Always connect your effects into the front inputs and set your amp to something like this: bass 50%, treble 50-60%, mids 40% and the master volume should be about 1/3 of the channel volume. If your amp allows it I also recommend linking the normal and bright channel inputs for more presence (link the upper normal and lower bright and plug your guitar into the upper bright. Set the bright volume slightly lower than the normal volume).

Effects
As I’ve mentioned Time is about keeping things simple. It’s easy to overdo things adding compressors, EQs, chorus etc but as with almost everything David does it’s based on the tone from his guitar and amp. Don’t be too caught up in the huge PULSE rig but narrow it down to just the basics.

Boosting
The term boosting can be a bit confusing. Volume boost? Gain boost? Should the booster go in front or after the distortion? Boosting is essential to get David’s lead tone on Time. A single fuzz or Muff may sound quite dull and lifeless but adding an overdrive adds character, dynamics and a slight volume boost.

A booster is basically any overdrive pedal. The Colorsound Power Boost and BK Tube Driver are ideal for this purpose with their transparent bright tone that doesn’t colour as much as Tube Screamer would, which has more mid range. Keep in mind that when you combine two gain pedals you need to match the gain and volume on both. If you max your Muff and add a booster you’ll only get a lot of feedback, noise etc. The fuzz needs a bit more gain to fully saturate though so you need to be extra careful with the booster.

Set the fuzz or Muff up for unity level with the amp and about 50-60 gain on the Muff and 80-100% gain on the fuzz. Connect the overdrive/booster after the fuzz/Muff and set the gain just on the edge of overdrive and the volume for a mild boost. Fine-tune the settings until you get the desired tone. Remember to use the clean channel on your amp and set the master lower than the channel volume as explained above.

Rhythms – Overdrives
Dark Side of the Moon – Colorsound Power Boost
PULSE – Chandler Tube Driver

The Colorsound Power Boost was David’s main overdrive between 1972-1983 (in various forms and clones). Its bright, transparent tone is ideal to boost a tube amp into punchy overdrive and it’s an excellent booster for both a fuzz and Big Muff.

The Chandler/BK Tube Driver has been David’s main choice since the early 90s. It’s very similar to the Colorsound Power Boost ca be used for any period.

There are many Colorsound Power Boost clones on the market (ThroBak, Vintage FX, Absolutely Analog) but none of these manages to come close original in my opinion. Similar sounding pedals would be the Boss BD2 (be sure to get a modified version – AnalogMan or Keeley), Fulltone OCD (my favourite!) and check out the Behringer Vintage Tube Overdrive 911 for a good sounding budget model.

The Power Boost and Tube Driver can be a challenge on smaller solid state amps or if you’re mainly playing at home on a low volume. These pedals are designed for loud powerful tube amps and can sound quite flat and harsh on the “wrong” set up. If you’re in doubt I recommend something a bit more versatile like the Fulltone OCD or Fulldrive or simply an Ibanez/Maxon 808 Tube Screamer. Check out this article for more on choosing the right overdrive and distortion for your rig.

Solo – The Fuzz
Dark Side of the Moon – Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (silicon)
PULSE – Sovtek “Civil War” Big Muff (in combo with a Tube Driver)

The Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (silicon) was David’s main fuzz/distortion between 1971-77. There are different reports on what amp David used for the solo. David mentions a Hiwatt in several interviews but both Alan Parsons (engineer) and Chris Thomas (mix) remember that he used a Fender Twin with a Fuzz Face “so loud that they had to leave the studio”. The Fuzz Face’s bright, dirty tone is the signature on many Floyd classics like Echoes, Time and Money. To make an otherwise harsh and dirty fuzz sing like a violin you really need to crank the hell out of your amp and I also recommend using a booster/overdrive behind it to add a bit more balls.

A vintage Dallas Arbiter is extremely expensive and hard to come by but there are plenty of great sounding clones to choose from. My favourites are the Analogman Sun Face BC108 and the MJM London Fuzz (blue). You’ll have a hard time getting any closer to David’s Dark Side/Pompeii tones! Check out the Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face and the Skreddy Lunar Module as well. The Dunlop Classic Fuzz and BBE Free Fuzz should match most budgets.

David’s PULSE rig featured two Big Muffs – the Sovtek “Civil War” and a Pete Cornish P2 (they’re more or less identical – David used the Sovtek on Time). Compared to the early 70s Muffs they have a bit more mid range and bass. David combined the Big Muff with a Tube Driver adding a mild boost (see details for boosting above).

The old Sovteks are beginning to get quite pricy but you can get your hands on a green model (more or less identical to the yellow) for a reasonable price. Any Muff will do though and I prefer a ’71 triangle model myself. Check out Stomp Under Foot Civil War, Absolutely Analog Green Russian and Top Tone DG1 for Sovtek/P2 clones, the excellent BYOC Large Beaver triangle/ram’s head Muff (my definitive favourite) and the MJM Foxey Fuzz (triangle clone). There aren’t many cheap good sounding Muffs on the market (I don’t recommend the current US and Sovtek models) but the EH Big Muff Tone Wicker (with some cool features for tone expansion) and the EH Little Big Muff will do the job.

As with the Power Boost and Tube Driver, fuzz and Muffs are quite demanding and a bit tricky to dial in. Again, these pedals were originally designed for loud powerful tube amps and I strongly recommend something more versatile if you’re uncertain whether these are suited for your rig or not. The RAT is a potato that works with just about any guitar and amp. You can easily tweak this for warm Muff tones or screaming bright fuzz. Just be sure to get a model with the LM308 chip for a smoother tone (pre 2000 models) or get a clone (BYOC Mighty Mouse, Absolutely Analog Ratzo). I also recommend the Boss DS-1 AnalogMan model (modified for a much smoother tone than the stock Boss model).

Echo/delay
Dark Side of the Moon – Binson Echorec
PULSE – TC Electronics 2290 (long single delay) and Lexicon PCM 70 (multi ping pong delay)

On Dark Side David used a Binson Echorec for echo/delay. It’s not documented which model he used but as the Binson II has a maximum tempo at around 300-310ms I assume that a Binson PE was employed for the track.

Echo/delay tempo reference clip (recorded with a Line 6 POD X3).
– First three notes are digital single delay 500ms. Recommended if you only have one unit in your rig or for blending with the analog echo.
– Second three notes are analog echo 350ms. Recommended if you only have one unit in your rig or for blending with the digital delay.
– Last three notes are digital ping pong delay 350ms. This is a great alternative for replicating the Binson multi head repeats.

The Binson is of course nearly impossible to come by and if you do it’s going to cost you a shitload. The Binson’s playback heads creates a unique echo with several notes in each repeat – as heard on the intro. This can be replicated by using a digital ping pong delay set for around 350ms. Most digital processors like the Line 6 (DL4 and Echo Park), TC Electronics Nova, Lexicon etc feature ping pong modes. A single tap also works nicely for both the intro and solo. For authentic 70s tones I recommend an analog echo/delay pedal with a slightly darker tone compared to a typical digital unit. Check out the T-Rex Replica (my favourite), MXR Carbon Copy and EH Deluxe Memory Man and the Ibanez DE7 and EH Memory Toy for great sounding budget models.

A digital delay with a brighter tone fits PULSE nicely. Check out one of the processors mentioned above or try to get your hands on the wonderful Boss DD-2.

Modulation
Modulation is not a must but David’s been using different effects throughout the years for adding depth and character to his tone. The UniVibe is a classic Gilmour effect featured on the early 1972 versions and on PULSE (both rhythms and solo). You can also use a phaser like David did on the 1974-75 leg of the Dark Side of the Moon tour (placing the phaser in front of the gain effects makes it sound even more like a UniVibe). For authentic UniVibe tones I recommend the MJM Sixties Vibe and Fulltone Deja Vibe. The Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe and Lovepedal PickleVibe are great sounding budget models.

David also used chorus on both the Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) and PULSE (1994) versions. Personally I think this is redundant and bit against the whole idea of keeping it basic be sure it’s an analog model like the Boss CE2, Ibanez CS9, EH Small Stone or the BYOC Analog Chorus (CE2 clone).

My stage setup
Fender Stratocaser
– 1996 MIJ 50’s Collectable Series Fender Custom Shop 69 pickups (neck and middle) and Seymour Duncan SSL-5 (bridge).
Reeves Custom 50w tube amp with linked inputs
– bass 50%, treble 50%, mids 40%
Sound City speaker cabinet
– 4×12” Weber Thames 80w speakers

Intro (bridge pickup)

Gollmer Composus: comp 1:00, sust 2:00, vol 2:00
Colorsound Power Boost (clean volume boost): treble 9:30, bass 12:00, volume 9:30, master 1:30
T-Rex Replica: echo 9:00, repeat 12:00, level 12:30 unity, tempo
Boss DD2: level 12:00, feedback 12:00, time 11:30

Rhythms and solo (middle pickup, bridge for solo)

AnalogMan Sun Face (added for solo): fuzz 100%, volume 75%
Tube Driver (mild overdrive):
level 2:00, hi 1:30, lo 2:00, drive 12:00
MJM Sixties Vibe (added for chorus parts): rate 40%, volume unity, intensity 70%
T-Rex Replica: echo 9:00, repeat 12:00, level 12:30 unity, tempo 6 points.

My setup is kind of a mix between early 1972 versions and 1975. I love David’s UniVibe tones from 1972 but I don’t think it fits the solo when I’m using a fuzz so I’m only using it on the chorus section to add a bit more character and depth.

I’m using two delays on the intro – one set for a fast slap back echo and one for a single long delay. The echo is mixed slightly lower than the delay adding a sense of reverb. I’m also using the Colorsound Power Boost set for a mild volume boost for a bit more bite.

As a basis for the rhythms and solo I’m using the Tube Driver set for warm, fairly mild overdrive. I’m using the guitar volume control to increase the volume for the fills and roll it back a hair or two for the rhythms. I prefer a dry tone without any delays to keep the verse as tight as possible. For the solo I hit the Sun Face on top of the Tube Driver and add rich delay for a stellar tone!

So, I hope this made sense and that you got a little wiser. I think the main focus should be to keep things simple and trying to understand how David’s using only a handful of effects and volume to create his tone. Please feel free to share your own Time tone tips!

108 thoughts on “Classic tone: Time”

  1. Hey Bjorn, just letting you know that this font set is not displaying apostrophes and such correctly, for example: “Syd’s departure in early ’68”

    I’m sing Google Chrome on Windows 10

  2. Hello Bjorn, You have a tip to replicate Time’s intro delay with a nova delay ? 2 delay units are essential ? Thanks ;-)

      1. Erf… not able To find a great preset To replicate the intro sound with the nova. Can use a ping pong delay or an other ? I use a tape delay

        1. I don’t have the Nova here now so I’m not sure how to set up a ping pong, what time signature you would need, but it might work. I think the best approach, unless you have that multi head option, is to just use a single head tape or analog mode at 550ms.

  3. Hi Bjorn,

    Can you give me advice on how to get as close as possible to time solo sound on a boss me 80?
    I know it’s limited compared to what David plays, but even a slight resemblance is a huge win.

    P.S : best website for any Floyd/ Gilmour fan :D

    1. Thanks! I don’t have any experience with the ME80 but I’m sure you can dial in some nice tones with it, using either a fuzz or distortion with a bit of delay or echo set to 300ms.

  4. Hi Bjorn,

    Can you give me an advice how to get as close as possible to Time solo sound with Dark Side Pedal and THR 10, that’s the only stuff I have now.

    P.S I love this website

  5. Hello Bjorn,

    How would I be able to get the slap back type of delay used at the intro of this song? I have a T-Rex Replica delay pedal. I want to find something that captures David’s delay tone from the recent ’15/’16 tour, or at least comes close. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

    1. The Dawner prince Boonar does a very good simulation. Check out my review here. As does the Catalinbrad Echorec. Otherwise, you would need to set up two different delays with different time signatures – probably one at 308ms and one at aprox 120ms. A single tap delay can’t do that.

  6. Hi Bjorn,

    This’ll probably seem like a silly question, but what is it that changes the tone after the first phrase of the solo (at 3.27)? It’s fairly subtle but there’s a definite change in something that I can’t place, perhaps a different pickup.
    Love the website by the way!

    Thanks a lot,
    Will

    1. Could be from a different take. They often cut and past different bits and pieces together. Could be that they add a bit of reverb at that point as well, to create a slight change.

  7. Sorry for the silly questions, but how are the two delays connected? Are they chained or is the signal from the guitar split and then sent to both of them?
    I have a digital delay and an analogue one, how do you suggest connecting them?

    Thanks a lot!

  8. was hoping I could find some info with regards to what peddles and settings to those peddles I would need to replicate the sound of girl ours guitar solos on final cut I really love the solo on possible pasts and would really love it if you could point me in th right direction
    However I am using the amplitude on my iPad to achieve this not sure if you have any time for this software I know it’s mainly a practise tool although I would imagine the same principle apply from that of real pedals any thoughts would be very much apreciated as I can use this set up to tweak for many other solos that I love so dearly of gilmour
    On possible pasts there a moment in the solo where he sweeps his fingers up and down the bass strings it sounds so glorious and unique to anything he has done before and h goes on the the album to use this technique I believe that this is only possible to do with the sound and tone he has
    There is loads of great people on here and loads of great ideas and info
    It’s really cool place keep up all the great work
    Kind regards
    David

    1. Hi David, sorry for the late reply. You’ll find a full run down of David’s Final Cut setup here. See the Big Muff tone guide for some tips as well. In regards to Amplitube… Yes, the same principles applies to some extent. Don’t expect every amp and pedal to sound and behave just how you’ve imagined but the Hiwatt, with a couple of David’s pedals creates some very nice tones. The most important thing to focus on when it comes to software emulations, is to set the global or master setup right, with correct matching of the ins and outs. That way you get the best tone from the amp and pedal sims.

  9. Hi Bjorn! I was wondering if you would ever consider making more of these classic tone posts? Also this question is off-topic but do you listen to King Crimson? If so what’s you’re favorite album?

    1. Which song would you like to see me do? I’m not a huge fan but I like the early albums… In the Court of, In the Wake of and Lizard.

  10. Oops. I spoke too soon. I see you did talk a bit about the Catlinburg Echorec in The Gilmour In A Box blog that I happen to read right after I wrote the above comment. (I wonder why the site search for “Catlinburg” didn’t turn up anything?)

  11. Hi Bjorn,
    I realize that it has been 5 years since you wrote this article at that the Catlinburg Echorec was not around at that time. In fact, I did a search on your site and I am more than curious about why you have not yet reviewed this piece of equipment. Have you ever used the Catlinburg Echorec, and if so, how do you think it compares with the original? I’m planning to buy a tape-based echo pedal in the next few days (to compliment my analog and digital delay pedals) and I’m a bit torn between the Catlinburg Echorec and the Boss RE-20 Space Echo..

    1. I see you found the feature… :) I have also explained why I haven’t done a proper review of the Echorec. I have tried to get Catalinbread to send me one, in fact they had me promoting the pedal on my Facebook page, but they never did send me one and eventually, they said that they weren’t interested anymore. So, with that in mind, I’d much rather spend my time supporting other brands and smaller businesses. Having said that, the Echorec pedal does sound nice. It has the vibe of the original Ecorecs and the 12 mode selector is really unique. It captures early Gilmour sound very well. My issue with it is that it sounds a bit flat and dull. In comparison, the Echosex from Gurusamps has a much more organic tone, almost 3D. I’ll have a review of that up very soon.

  12. OK,

    I went and answered my own question. From Wikipedia:

    “First in the series was the PCM-60 (1984), followed a few years later by the Lexicon PCM-70, the latter adding multi-effects and a digital screen interface. David Gilmour from Pink Floyd used a Lexicon PCM-70 to store the circular delay sounds in songs such as “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and “Time” in the 1994 The Division Bell Tour.[4]”

    Whoever wrote that whole gibson.com article = idiot.

    Brad

    [See my previous reply. – Bjorn]

  13. Hey Bjorn,

    On the same Gibson page, they have this:

    “Time”

    Gilmour’s solo on this radio hit from Pink Floyd’s 1973 mega-smash Dark Side of the Moon inaugurated his move from analog to digital delay. The buttery, extended decay on his soaring, sizzling, single note essay in angst comes from an early Lexicon PCM-70, according to guitar tech Phil Taylor. Previously, on classics like “Echoes,” he’d used a Binson analog magnetic drum recorder-based echo unit.

    Is this possible about the delay?

    thanks,
    Brad

    [No, that’s not correct. David used the Binson on all of Dark Side. Engineer Alan Parsons also commented on the Time sessions saying that David used a Strat into a Fender Twin with a fuzz and the Binson. I don’t think the PCM-70 was around at the time either. The Lexicon rack units appeared in 1978-79. However, David did use a PCM-70 on PULSE to recreate the old Binson tones, including the intro on Time. Gibson needs to check their sources :) – Bjorn]

  14. I can just hear the hambucker on this solo. I think he recorded when replace the picks on strat.

    [No. See my devious reply. – Bjorn]

  15. Hello there!

    I am a huge fã of C. Numb solo sound, and researching on internet, i found on gibson oficial page that Gilmour recorded the C. Numb solo using a les paul. Look: http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/Comfortably-Numb–David-Gilmour%E2%80%99s-10-Greatest-Guit.aspx

    Is that true?

    And second question (sorry) i can’t listen the time solo without listen the hambucker sound. I think he recorded the solo with PAF picks on strat.

    sorry about my bad english.

    Thank you!

    [No. That’s not true. I’ve no idea where they got that information from. David recorded Comfortably Numb with his Black Strat, then featuring a DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup, a ram’s head Big Muff into a split between a Hiwatt Custom 100 and Yamaha RA200 rotating speaker cabinet. If there’s one thing David and Phil Taylor has repeated over the years, it’s this info. – Bjorn]

  16. Here’s a little tip for guys who are not satisfied with their FF/BM tones…

    I own both a silicon FF and a ram’s head Big Muff for a couple of months now and I have to say that I couldn’t get the sound until yesterday. Well what happened?

    I would always plug these efects to a clean channel (I have a Marshall 8080 amp) and the sound I got from this setup was not very gilmourish. But yesterday I set a little crunch and… bingo! That was it, the magical piece that preventing me from tones I love. Instand Echoes, Time, Money solo sounds :)

    So even if you own a transistor amp, it is good to set the amp to the “edge of breakup”, because not only valve amps have their sweetspot there. I guess that my setup is some kind of a replacement for a booster, but an amp does the same job actually. So that’s what you should do, instead of running on pure clean signal from the amp.

    Greetings from Poland! ;)

    [Great tip! Actually, although David runs his Hiwatts clean there is a slight break up there for driving them really hard. It’s a one channel amp that will distort if you push enough. This adds a dark and slightly distorted basis for all his pedals, which is the essence of his tones. Using the gain channel on a two-channel amp, be it tubes or transistor, is a nice way to simulate or compensate for this. – Bjorn]

    1. ive found that evry single time he uses his actual amps it has a slight bit of gain, the only clean sounds he gets in the studio are from plugging the guitar straight into the mixing desk (shine on part 1, another brick in the wall part 1 and strumming of part 2 etc, he doesn’t use amps on those parts)

      if you listen to shine ons 4 notes part, it’s his guitar, phase 90, delay and amp, thats all, but theres a slight overdrive because he is driving the amp slightly

      even when he boosts the fuzzes with a pedal i think he still has some gain on the amp

  17. Hi Bjorn,

    thanks as usual for this massive amount of useful information. I have a couple of delays: a Nova delay, and an old analog Yamaha E1005 (which has a delay time of 65-400 ms); I’m not sure how to set them up. Should I set the Nova to ping pong mode at 350ms? And what about the subdivision, feedback, “colour” and mix? And then, what about the other delay? About what time should I set, and how much feedback?
    As you might’ve understood, I’m still a beginner with delays.
    Thanks a lot,
    Stefano

    [The feedback and volume depends on what type of delay you want. You’ll find time settings for each song in the David Gilmour Gear Guide (page 2 on each album). Hope that helps :) – Bjorn]

  18. I will say that a clean-boost is a MUST for this particular song. I tried it with just a BYOC Large Beaver Ram’s head and it sounded a bit too flat without any punch or balls. I decided to get a Budda Zenman OD/Clean-Boost and the moment I did that, my tone INSTANTLY got bigger, punchier, and gained massive brass balls polished to the Nth degree.

  19. Bjorn….
    Wow….I just built a DG type guitar using the “Echoes” pups. Have you heard any of the tones from the new AmplifiFX 100 ?
    Trying to dial in this tone as well as others researching your site……

    Great site and research

    [Thanks Jeff! Don’t have any experience with the Amplifi… sorry… – Bjorn]

  20. It is very hard to tell from all the pictures I’ve seen .
    Maybe you are right but we must keep in mind that the Fuzz Face and the DeArmond 610 both have reverse jack locations (input on the left, output on the right) and the Vox wah was also wired on the reverse.
    I tried to wire it: Dearmond 610 (with tone at minimum) -> Fuzz Face (BC108) -> Catalinbread Echorec -> Hiwatt -> Fane Crescendo and was really surprised. It sounds identical to the Pompeii.
    You should try it sometime.
    Anyway, thanks for your time.
    Keep up the good work on this excellent site of yours!
    All the best!

    [Cheers :) – Bjorn]

  21. Romano Pecotic

    Hi Bjorn.
    After some investigation and experimenting, I came to the conclusion that troughout his Silicon Fuzz Face period David always used the DeArmond 610 Volume/Tone pedal in front of the Fuzz Face (which is unusual as the Fuzz Face doesn’t stand anything connected in front of it). The reason for this is that the Silicon Fuzz Face is extremely bright and harsh sounding and needs to be tamed. Whenever he would start the solo he would decrease the tone completely on the DeArmond pedal. That way he was getting tones closer to the Muff (typical example Pompeii Echoes). The same effect cannot be achieved by rolling of the guitar tone.
    I thing that the Dearmond 610 was a crucial ingredient during this period.
    After he implemented the Muff, the Dearmond vol/tone pedal just disappeared from his rig.
    On the Pompeii video you can even see David regulating the tone (left-right) with his hand on the DeArmond 610 while sitting down during the Saucerful of Secrets.
    I would like to know your thoughts on this.
    Thanks!

    [Hi Romano! Hard to tell and I don’t recall seeing any confirmed sources on this. Like Hendrix, he might have experimented with his setup and used different configurations but from what I can gather, he mostly had the DeArmond placed last or perhaps in front of the Binson. The Fuzz Face seems to have been the first pedal after the guitar. One picture that might confirm it is this one from Pompeii. Look at the guitar cable going into the fuzz behind his feet. The DeArmond was a unique volume pedal, with the tone feature. Many guitarists in the 60s used it just like a wah wiggling it back and forth for a similar effect. David might have used it to tame the high end. The Animals pedal board also featured a custom tone sweep pedal. However, a BC108 or BC109 silicon Fuzz Face played loud on a Hiwatt isn’t particularly bright. It has a distinct fuzz tone but it’s actually very close to a ram’s head Muff. The hard driven Hiwatt, with it’s hint of mid range boost, makes the fuzz sound smooth and even a bit compressed. Again, hard to tell how David used the pedal. – Bjorn]

  22. Hi Bjorn,
    A great and informative page (just like all the others) but while reading i noticed something. On the red stratocaster page you said that the guitar had a three way pick-up selector and it was not known if David had replaced it with a five way selector but if he used the bridge and middle for Time on Pulse then he must of done. What do you think?

    [It’s not known whether the red Strat has been modded for a 5-way switch but you can wiggle it for a middle position between the middle and bridge. David would mostly use the middle pickup for rhythms and the bridge for leads. – Bjorn]

  23. Hey Bjorn, have you played the Fender Frontman 212R? Many people just say it is shit over the net D: but i’ve also read some good reviews about it…anyway i’d like to see your opinion
    All the best to you!!

    [It’s a solid state amp with a classic Fender tone similar to the Twin and Deluxe. Lots of headroom. Some people might not like it because it’s not tubes and although you can clearly hear that when you play it it’s a nice amp and it handles most pedals very well. – Bjorn]

  24. Hi Bjorn.

    I always wonder why David never played the Time solo like the studio version. He seems to always play more or less the same thing in the beginning of it, then improvise a little, then play the “studio”version again starting with the F#m arpeggio on the 14th fret. Do you know of ANY bootleg where David plays that solo in a very similar fashion to the studio version?

    Thank you very much!

    [Not that I can remember. He’s always improvised to some degree. – Bjorn]

  25. Hey Bjorn! I love the site and check it almost daily looking forward to your next article. I have a question that I hope you can shed some light on. I’m trying to dial in my pedals for an “optimal” lead tone when I’m practicing with my band. I am using an SG with 490s through a BYOC Large Beaver, Blues Driver, then some other modulation pedals, up to a Fender Hot Rod Deville. Due to practice space and constrictions I only am able to turn my amp up to two or three at the most. Do I need to add a booster? Or look for a different amp? Or is there a certain combination of settings that I should be looking for in my BYOC Large Beaver and Blues Driver? Thanks!

    [Thanks for your kind words, Jonathon! Humbuckers aren’t the best option for David’s tones but you should be able to get close :) Start with the amp and set it up for a nice and warm clean that will be the basis for all your tones and pedals. See this feature for some setup tips. Use the BD2 for overdrive. It’s pretty bright so you want the tone control low. The Large Beaver should be able to provide lead tones alone but you might want to boost it with the BD2 as well. See this feature for some overdrive/distortion setup tips. Hope this helped. – Bjorn]

  26. I know that the song I have in mind is not Time or even on the Dark Side album but it is along with the same timeline. I would love for you to do a tutorial for Mudmen! I think this is Gilmour’s most underrated performance eventhough it is a quentisential piece that screams David’s sound. The almost dying animal sound that flows from his setup is amazing. It almost reminds me of Great Gig but instead of a woman’s voice, it is the voice of strings! Love The Site!

    Thanks!

    [I’ll keep that in mind for future articles. Obscured is one of my all time fav albums and I think one of Floyd’s most underrated. There’s some really nice stuff there and perhaps even a more honest recording of David’s early 70s tones than both Meddle and Dark Side. – Bjorn]

  27. Hey Bjorn,
    Are those delay sample clips the type of echo youd want for the solo? Also I loved your pulse version of the solo. I have a tab book that i was able to use to learn the album version, but i was wondering how you learn the live versions like that?

    [I prefer to use echo on Time for that 70s feel. About 300ms would be right. I’ve learned most of David’s solos by ear and hours of frustration and swearing :) – Bjorn]

  28. Hi Bjorn, do you mention anything about the gilmour active neck switch in any of your articles? I think its sometimes overlooked – but then again I’m not entirely sure if david had done this mod before or after recording Dark Side. I find that on my setup I can get somewhat closer to davids tone with the switch in the position that allows me to have both my neck and bridge pickups selected, it gives a more biting sort of tone with a bit less of the strat muddyness. It seems to work well on my setup and my 50’s strat with SSL-1’s. Just thought I’d post this comment if anyone was looking to get closer to the gilmour sound, and I think this toggle switch mod plays quite a big role in his tone. Read about it here: http://guitarwiring.blogspot.com/2010/12/neck-pickup-switch-gilmours-strat.html

    [Thanks for sharing the link. I don’t think David used or uses the switch that much. Judging by his tones and comments from Phil Taylor, he’s only using it for a couple of things, like the first solo on Comfortably Numb and the solo on Time, although he often just used the bridge pickup on the 2006 tour. It may work better on some setups than others and it can compensate for some of the thinnyness you often get on low volume levels and typical bedroom setups. See more details about David’s Black Strat modifications here.

  29. Hi Bjorn
    Invaluable advice again. I have been struggling to get that Time tone as close as possible for 40th Anniversary gigs. Finally an old friend Facebooked me and said he had an old ’70’s Colorsound overdrive “just lying around” – and “did I want it?” He gave it to me as a GIFT and after cleaning it I plugged it in and it was still working – even the battery was fine – fantastic tone and surprisingly quiet. As a bonus it has had the “volume pot mod” added. Behind my Rams head it sounds absolutely awesome!

    [Wow! Congrats! – Bjorn]

  30. Hi Bjorn,
    This isn’t a tone inquiry about “Time” it’s about the tone for the solo in Another Brick in the Wall.
    I’ve read and watched various videos on this and wondered what you think of the following?
    For delay it seems like the TC2290 or Dynamic delay is best? So that when you do the big bends
    the delay cuts in and stops when you do the choppy bits!
    What I’m not sure about is do you need a MXR vintage compressor to help the delay/sustain for the big bends?
    Do you need an overdrive as well? I’ve seen some kick in a Boss BD2 or even a Blackstar HT Boost for the solo.
    I know the bridge pickup is best on a Strat as this was originally done with P90’s.
    Your thoughts on what’s needed to get a realistic sound for this great solo!
    Cheers, Ross

    [Replicating the album version is very difficult becuase they recorded the solo lined directly into the mixing board, fed it out through an amp and recorded it again. They probably used a lot of compression and limiting as well. Use the neck pickup on your Strat or humbucker with a transparent compressor like the Dynacomp or Effectrode PC2A. Add a transparent booster like the BD2 or Tube Driver for just a hint of dirt – or push your amp for a slight break up. Add delay but not too much. Time should be about 440ms. – Bjorn]

  31. Hey Bjorn,
    Hows it goin? I was wondering if it would work to use a multi effects unit with stomp boxes, For example i have the amplitube softwear on my ipad, I want to see how a chorus pedal would work with my rig, would it make sense to put my ipad in my chain of effects to try it out before i buy the actual pedal?

    [Hi Josh! Try it and hear how it sounds. You will probably experience some impendance issues with true bypass pedals and old circuits. Buffered pedals like Boss should go nicely. – Bjorn]

  32. Hello again Bjorn,

    On the Laney Cub head, how do you like the <1W setting? Is it actually effective (meaning good tone with less volume output)? Or do you feel you still need the volume to get good pedal interaction? If I am understanding correctly, the intention is to be able to get overdrive "breakup" at lower volume. I practice in my house and would like to keep my hearing!

    Thanks, and keep it up with this awesome site!
    Tom

    [I rarely use the 1w since I mostly keep the amp clean for pedals. A clean setting on the 15w shouldn’t be too loud for a livingroom setup. The 1w for cleans can sound a bit dull since you need a minimum of volume for the cleans to sound good… it’s very relative though. The gain you get from the 1w sounds pretty good though and you can easily get a nice practice setup by using this with a delay in the loop. – Bjorn]

  33. Hey Bjorn,

    I was wondering if you were aware of the very cheap Danelectro Chicken Salad. It is marketed as a tremolo, but it sounds kinda like a Univibe. However, if you run it into a distortion, it sounds EXACTLY like a Univibe. Keep in mind that this pedal costs $30 at MAX. I keep it set with both knobs pointing straight up, and I swear it is an AMAZING sound for the price. I strongly recommend you check it out. After all, it’s only $30 bucks.

    Sincerely,
    Nihar

    [Yep, a fine budget alternative :) – Bjorn]

  34. Thanks! I don’t know how you have the time and patience to answer all these posts but it’s much appreciated.

    [Glad to help, Brad :) – Bjorn]

  35. Thanks! I have a loud tube setup, so I should be able to just kick in the fuzz as you mentioned was done at Wembley. Follow up question–“This is probably something you’d also want to do for Money.” How come? Because the Money solo has less gain and should be smoother, requiring a cleaner boost than would be set on the cpb for the verse?

    Brad

    [In regards to the Wembley show, Money appears to have less gain but if you listen to it you’ll hear that he’s using the fuzz for the rhythms as well with the guitar volume rolled back. For the solo he kicks in the CPB… quite oposite of Time. The setup is also dry with only a delay, while on Time he’s running everything through the leslie, making it sound a bit more nasty and wild. – Bjorn]

  36. Hi Bjorn,

    If you had a silicon fuzz and the colorsound power booster, and wanted to use the cpb for the overdriven tones in the verse AND as more of a clean boost to smooth out the fuzz face for the solo, how would you do both? reach down and change cpb settings during the song (unlikely) or use another pedal for verse overdrive? Use the fuzz face on at all times with the volume rolled back during the verse? What has worked for you in the past in practical live settings?

    Thanks!

    [If you listen to the newly released Wembley 1974 recording on the Dark Side of the Moon Immersion box set, you can clearly hear that he’s using the CPB for overdrive on the verse and just kicks in the fuzz for the solo on top of that. It sounds wild but that’s the whole point I guess. With a loud tube amp you don’t really have to crank the CPB that much to get overdrive. Adding the silicon fuzz on top of that sounds pretty amazing. Using the same setup on smaller amps and lower volume levels would require more gain from the CPB, which will make it hard to tame the fuzz. You could solve this by simply stomping really fast on the CPB and a second overdrive/boost and the Fuzz for the solo or have the fuzz in a loop with a second overdrive/boost and just switch off the CPB and engage the loop. This is probably something you’d also want to do for Money. – Bjorn]

    1. i suggest using the overdrive as a boost and having the fuzz face as always on, then roll your guitar volume down for the overdrive tones, also there should be a decent amount of gain on the overdrive, not full out like have a cigar, but still enough to give a little crunch. during the solo, roll your volume up a little before 10, somewhere between 8-10 and it gives the fuzz a subtle almost overdrive like quality during the solo, like an overdrive thats been mixed with a fuzz and sounds crazy

  37. Just letting you know that i recently got a pair of Tolerance Revolvers- Javier was a pleasure to deal with, and i got these shipped to as far away from Spain as you can get on the planet (as in new Zealand)! So just letting any-one who is interested know that the Tolerance website is the real deal, as is the product.. cheers, Dave.

    [Congrats! – Bjorn]

  38. hey bjorn,

    I Recently purchased a EHX Memory Man and i was wondering if you could suggest decent settings for Time for it, really im just trying to figuer out what knob positions for the delay, i have the delay knob at about 11 based off your back up board settings.also is there anymods or methods to deal with the noise drop issue?

    [The set up shown on the backboard pic is the ones I always use for the Mem Man. Do you notice a volume drop even with the Mem Man level boosted? You should be able to find a sweetspot for unity level with the amp. – Bjorn]

  39. Hello Bjorn,

    First of all great site, I love it!

    I have some questions about overdrive options. You mentioned the Fulltone OCD, how do you feel this stacks up to the Tube Driver or Colorsound?

    I am in the market for a tube amp at the moment. Most of my playing is at home however (I have a 112 Bandit right now, and 2 or 3 on the volume is fairly loud indoors!). I was considering the classic 30 but it will probably be too loud. Do you feel something like the reeves custom 12 or 18 would be able to get the same tube overdriven sound using the power scaling? And would a sunface/overdrive combo sound good with reeves scaling? I saw your review of a reeves, but wasn’t sure where you stood on it’s scaling abilities compared to using an attenuator. They claim it spares burning out the tubes more quickly.

    Oh, and also, looking at fulltone I noticed they have a true tape echo unit available! Any experience with this? I won’t be looking at that one… too expensive!

    Best Regards,
    Tom

    [Hi Tom! The OCD is kind of a beefed up Tube Screamer. It has that typical mid range boosted, creamy tone with a lot more gain and lower end. An additional tone switch allows more presence taking the pedal closer to the Tube Driver. Still, it can’t be compared to the Tube Driver or Colorsound though. These are much more transparent and brighter. Teh OCD works better on smaller setups I think.
    The Reeves might just be a bit too loud too although they manage to stay pretty focused on lower volume. The power scaling is meant to be used when you’re depending on the tubes to create distortion rather than pedals. Reeves, and other brands, will claim that it’s also for playing at home but it doesn’t quite work that way. If you’re gonna use pedals for the gain, then I think the best way to go is an amp with as much headroom as possible and one that can handle pedals even on the lowest volume levels. I’m sure the Reeves 12 or 18 can do this and I also recommend the Laney Cub or LionHeart.
    Hope this helped. – Bjorn]

  40. Greetings Bjorn,

    My plan is to pick up a Trex Replica soon as I can afford to, but I have a Ibanez DE-7. While I can dial in some great settings for the chorus/solo I was wondering if you have any suggestions for the intro with this particular pedal? Cheers and thanks

    [I’m sorry but I don’t have the pedal anymore so I can’t give you any specific settings. I remember I always used the tape mode and for the intro you could set the time for a fast slap-back. If you have a second unit, you could set this to about 300ms to simulate a mutiple head unit. – Bjorn]

  41. Hi Bjorn,

    Thanks for this amazing website, it is a true gold mine. I was trying to have a go at getting the right tone for Time, but got a bit confused by the advised settings you gave for the T-Rex Replica: “T-Rex Replica: echo 9:00, repeat 12:00, level 12:30 unity, tempo”. The two first settings are rather obvious (I assume that “9:00 means 9 o’clock), however, I got a bit confused by “level 12:30 unity, tempo”. On the Replica, the two upper knobs are “In” and “Out”. I suppose “In” is set at unity (12:00), but what is your fav “Out” setting for Time. I somehow always struggle to get the right balance. Cheers.

    [Hi, sorry about that! I see that I simply forgot to add the time/tempo settings… For Time I’d use aprox 300ms to simulate the Binson. This is a hair above the 6th marking on the Replica tempo. By unity, I mean that the output volume should be matched with the clean signal from your amp. Hope this helped. – Bjorn]

  42. Maybe TC Electronic will release a TonePrint backing off the modulation or coupling it to the delay time. They did something like that recently on a featured TonePrint. I do think the ER setting is interesting, but it is a shame they couldn’t quite nail it. How close does the Strymon El Capistan get? With fixed, multi and single ehad modes, it looks pretty versatile.

  43. Hi Bjorn,
    I agree with you on Echorec setting of the alter ego pedal…
    I think it works on some song cause i’ve reconize the modulation on pompeii and wembley 74(my own opinon.. for sure)…you’re right when you say they need a mix control for the modulation..
    but you can take other setting for other song…
    It’s a great versatile delay pedal!

    do you have listened the demo of the wall of the immersion box?
    The only thing I can say is.. a chance some song are reworked cause some are really painfull like ”Mother” with the high pitch synt and the Phaser guitar chorus part !!!!

    Continue you good work wih the Site and Band!
    Pat from Canada

    [I’ve heard most of the Wall demos before but not with this pristine sound quality. It’s interesting to hear how much David’s tones changed during the sessions and how much they obviously did in the mix to make them heavier. I love stuff like Run Like Hell, Young Lust etc but most of it is pretty boring and on the edge of embarrassing :) Cheers! – Bjorn]

  44. Have you had a chance to try the TC Electronics Alter Ego? I was able to pick one up in the first run, and find it is a very different sounding delay on the ER (EchoRec) setting. I suspect it will come out as a TonePrint before long (or should). I’m still trying to learn what it does. If it gets the essence of David’s EchoRec sounds, the Alter Ego would be a terrific pedal for Gilmour enthusiasts as it can also do pretty much any modern delay, has the Deluxe Memory Man setting and has a great Echoplex TonePrint.

    [I got one a couple of days ago. It’s a nice pedal but I’m not overly impressed with the Binson and Mem Man settings. A bit too much modulation for my taste and it sounds quite wierd for David’s tones. There should be a mix control for the modulation. I’ll have a review up soon. – Bjorn]

  45. BTW the 97′ Hendrix Tribute Strat and “Voodoo Strat” both came with maple-cap’d necks. I have the Tribute, and although there’s limited access to upper frets, it gives punchy, singing lead tones on “Time”. Running it into the Dunlop Fuzz Face along with OD/amp gain, setting delay to medum-slow repeat.

  46. Im useing a fender bullet 150 amp and a squire stratocster

    [I’m not that familiar with the Bullet amps but you basis should always be a clean tone. Try not to use any of the internal effects and set the amp up a clean tone with the EQ fairly balanced around 50%. I usually set all of the controls on the RAT around 2:00 o’clock for a warm, creamy distortion. I mostly use the BD2 for a clean boost or mild overdrive with the gain around 10:00-12:00, tone 10:00 and gain around 12:00. Hope this helped. – Bjorn]

  47. Hey Bjorn,

    I also have another question, the tone dials I have on my amp are mid, trebble, and bass, and I was just woundering if these really effect much of my peddles’ sounds and should I always keep them on a specific setting? Cheers!

    P.S. Ill have to pitch in my vote for Childhoods End also, one of Gilmours greatest! :)

    [Please see my other reply. It’s always a good idea to keep the EQs around 12:00/50% and do minor adjustments if needed. Try also setting the master at around 1/3 of the channel volume. – Bjorn]

  48. Hey Bjorn,

    I have the proco ”vintage” RAT and the Boss BD-2 at home, and I have been really strugling with the right settings on the Boss for the rythms and the right settings for both peddles (the Boss boosting the RAT) on the solo, please help!!!

    [Let me know what amp and guitar you’re using and I’ll try to help. – Bjorn]

  49. My I vote for “Childhood’s End, too? Very unusual for me, I had no problems with the solo, but I experienced the same problems with the “chugga-chugga” (great description, btw Evel1).

    Regards and thanks for the great site!!

    Taki

    [Cheers Taki! – Bjorn]

  50. I have worked on some tones with PODXT. No prob to exchange any informations about that.

    [Please do :) – Bjorn]

  51. Hi boys !

    Does anyone got a Pod XT live and have some ideas on how to set it up to have some approching sounds concerning the main solo and rythmic section concerning Time ?
    (I also own a Variax XD)

    Thanks in advance

  52. You’re gonna laugh, but actually the intro piece. Something about that damn “chugga-chugga” part. I know it’s a matter of time and rythm, of both which I do have, just missing something in the magic???

    [The intro has a loop as well so it’s not only guitar. I’ll see what I can do. – Bjorn]

  53. Ok Bjorn, let me just say that you started it! Great job on the “Time” vidoe (as always), and I know you have a LOT going on with Airbag, but what would the likelihood be of getting you to do the same thing for “Childhood’s End”, which is a great piece of underestimated David?

    OBC is, and has been, one of my all time favorites. It has always struck me as what Pink would sound like as a Garage Band.

    I have the basics of CE down, but still seem to struggle through this one. Everytime I think I have it, it fails.

    So, what do you think?

    Why not?

    Wot’s, Uh The Deal? ;)

    [Thanks for the suggestion? You mean the whole song or something specific in the solo? – Bjorn]

  54. Hi,
    a bit late again, but I was on holiday, again :)
    about the “scrachting” intro to the solos, is there any bootleg on which we can hear that he did this live ?
    On Delicate sound, Pulse and Dark side dvd, he starts the solos directly on the f#m chord, and I miss the scratch thing on the E chord.

    another thing I was thinking about the black strat : its’ not specified on your black strat article, but the original neck was indeed maple, but not a one piece maple neck like in the 50’s or nowadays.
    It was a cap maple neck , i.e. a maple neck with a maple board, and no ‘skunk stripe’ at the back of the neck.
    hendrix had a strat like this (e.g. at the isle of wight, he called it “black beauty”) but his one was from 68. Knopfler had also one from 61.
    Since the 90’s, Fender has come back with one piece maple necks. So the actual maple neck of the black strat is not similar as the original one. I guess you know already this, but I just wanted to point it out. :)

    [Thanks for the input! No, I’ve never heard him do the “scratch” on the Time solo… Not sure it would have sounded “Floyd” enough if he did :) – Bjorn]

  55. Hi Bjorn! I finally cloned the Colorsound PB into the very original shape (high quality parts – carbon resistors, film caps, and !!BC169C!! tranistors, even the PCB..), which delivers THAT tone. But as I played around with it I realised that maybe the rythm parts could be made with Fuzz Face. With rolled-down volume control on the guitar (aprox. 3-4) silicon Fuzz Face is a very bright sounding pedal and it features enough overdrive and transparency which gives the Time rythm tone with even not really loud-set amp (this can be useful for those who do not own high power amps to reach bright overdrive tone). Some good soul uploaded a separate tracks from the DSOTM quad mix:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3JADFAX__U&feature=related
    This track also proves that David is a man only, some timing unperfections but that is not the deal (I personally like it very much :) )..
    It is very hard to say, what setup he could use, he is known to use Fuzz Face for lead and rythm also in the early days, Power Boost was just added to the setup and he could even use a germanium Fuzz Face.. He probably used it in the WYWH sessions.
    Whis is the way I can hear things.
    cheers..

    [Always hard to tell exactly they did things. The tones we hear could be a number of things and the usual studio trickery with gates, compressors etc doesn’t make it easier to nail down each part. However, from listening to the quad tapes I’m pretty sure it’s a Coloursound. It was the pedal he used on the 1972 live versions and I’ve tried lots of different settings with both silicon and germanium fuzz pedals but none comes close to the Coloursound. – Bjorn]

  56. Hi Bjorn,

    Now that I see you mentioned the Lewis guitar. Do you know of a modern equivalent that sounds like it??? Because I know there’s no way in hell I’ll find or be able to afford one.
    And I know we were talking about Time but I just wanted to say that, with all that I love Time, I think the solo on Money is the best solo on DSOTM. I think the album version will stand as the definative one. none of the live version came close in my opinion. Maybe Live 8 was the closest!

    [I really don’t know. Perhaps a GoldTop with P90s??? – Bjorn]

  57. Jean-François

    Hi Bjorn, thanks for your response :)

    1) yes I’d forgot that Echoes was the Bill Lewis guitar, I read it on your site ! so my cons-argument wasn’t relevant too ! :) but you undestood what I wanted to say : I agree with you, about rosewood/gear discussion :-)

    2) Of course, I knew that VCS3 was all over Dark side, but I didn’t notice it was on the Time intro. Now you said it, the sound is indeed a bit the same as on the run.

    3) can you confirm that just before the solo starts, David “scratch” the low strings with his pick ?, a bit like Angus Young does in Higway to hell, if you guess what I mean ? It’s mixed with background vocas (and maybe VCS3 too), so I’m not sure

    4) on the”Don’t” video, I can’t see any Tube driver or any pedal at all in front of his feets. So, if the effect is already engaged at the start of song, how does he have this “clean” tone for the arpeggios rhythm ? just by roll down the guitar volume ?

    thanks
    best
    JF

    [Yes, that’s David using the pick to scratch the string the real heavy metal way! Seems like there’s just a Fender tweed Twin (same as he used on the Meltdown shows) with a Conn tuner and a MXR digital delay on top of it. There’s a small pedal in front of David’s that’s the on/off switch for the MXR. No visible overdrive so I guess he’s using the gain from the amp and using the guitar volume to control it. – Bjorn]

  58. Time was the first Floyd song I learned on the guitar. I’ve been playing it for 30 years and your video gave me some fresh insight on this timeless peice. I know you put a lot of time and effort into this peice and I thank you for it. It is ALMOST a shame that other news caused your work to get lost in the shuffle. At least the other news was good news.
    Thanks again for all your work,
    Jae

    [Thank you Jae! – Bjorn]

  59. Jean-François

    Hi folks,
    I’m a bit late to respond, but I was on holiday :)
    Nice discussion about what is Floyd, with Syd, without Syd, etc…
    I would say that what we can “call” Pink Floyd is the band and the discography between Meddle and Wall, but it’s just my humble opinion.
    About Time, now :
    @Bjorn : I totally agree what you said about rosewood/maple neck. I just wanted to point it out, but you’re right, the most important factors in sound are pedals and amps, and production, more than the wood used for the fretboard. the sound in Echoes is more similar to Dark side (and we have maple and rosewood) because of the same post-guitar-setups, and the tone change radically in Animals because of the bigmuff, although he kept the rosewood neck. So my argument wasn’t relevant, but hey… I love rosewood tones :) and the tones that rosewood players generally have (although it’s must due to their entire steups)

    @Simon : I totally agree that the transition from the middle eight into the solo is fantastic, but I wonder : doesn’t he “scratch” the low strings with his pick ?, a bit like Angus Young does in Higway to hell, if you guess what I mean ?(I don’t find the term to explain this, I’m french, and my enlish is very bad)

    another question :
    during the intro, I hear some deep bass distorted sound. Is it guitar ? Or Bass pedals ? or Keyboards ?

    and the last one :
    this morning I was listening David’s cover of “don’t” at the Scotty Moore gig. He plays the esquire. On the booklet picture, I can’t see any pedals in front of him. But the solo sounds more distorted than the rhythm part; Is it just amp gain ? guitar voume tuned on ? or someting else ?

    thanks for the time you take tou respond all these “bizarre” questions :)
    best
    JF

    [First of all, most of Echoes was recorded with the Bill Lewis guitar… not a Strat :) But of course, Pompeii was all maple and hence a brighter tone.
    What you hear on the intro of Time is a VCS3 synth. It’s all over Dark Side.
    If I remember correctly he used a Fender Bassman for Don’t. It’s capable of producing some really heavy overdrive but I’m pretty sure he either used the 1999 Cornish board with a Tube Driver or just the Tube Driver alone… need to see/hear the song again to be sure. – Bjorn]

  60. Simon Williams

    Undoubtedly my favorite of David’s solo, incredible tone yet heartbreakingly melodic. The transition from the middle eight into the solo is fantastic. One of those musical moments that truly raises the hairs on the back of your neck and a great example of musical and lyrical content in a song fusing together and perfectly reflecting each other.

    And one day I’ll actually be able to play it properly and do it justice :) At least thanks to this article and your others I’m getting closer to the sound!

    [Cheers Simon! – Bjorn]

  61. Bjorn, this is an awesome article. “Time” is one of my favorites, and for me in a three way tie for 1st place for best Floyd/Gilmour guitar solo-the other being “Comfortably Numb” and “Sorrow”. The album version is priceless, and the live renditions especially from DSoT, Venice 1989 and Pulse are excellent also, mainly because David was using a Boss HM-2 or Digital Metalizer in his rig. And i have to say the version from “Remember that Night live” came close to the original version in the long run.

    Great work again Bjorn.

    Cheers.
    Tim in TN.

    [Thanks! Both Venice and PULSE is all Big Muff and overdrive for the solo :) Cheers! – Bjorn]

  62. Bjorn : Fantastic analysis and suggestions ! I do have a question on a part I am a bit confused about: The Chandler Tube Driver settings for the Pulse version you mentioned are level 11:30, hi 11:30, low 3:00, drive 4:00. The settings you use are stage are listed as level 2:00, hi 1:30, lo 2:00, drive 12:00, which are quite different. Which setting would work better, especially since the Tube Driver is being used with a fuzz pedal. Thanks, Bill

    [Thanks Bill! Glad you liked it. My Tube Driver settings obviously works better for me than David’s :) Try both and decide which works best for your rig. You probably end up doing some minor adjustments. – Bjorn]

  63. Great article Bjorn, I always find your articles well thought out and very informative. I’ve always liked Gilmour’s rhythm parts, simple but powerful, I think you’ve represented that very well. I just purchased a CS Power Boost so I’ll put it to good use through your recommendation in this article. One question though, do you think the Roland Space Echo would be a good option for delay? Or, should I stick with an MXR M169?

    [Thanks! The Space Echo is great classic tape/analog echo unit. The Boss RE-20 replicates its tones very well. – Bjorn]

  64. Super Article! Like many other people, Time is one of my favourite PF songs and to me the solo is only second to C-Numb. Damn.. I wish I was born 25 years earlier ;-)

    You never seize to amaze me with your Gilmour information. Absolutely A+ and always spot on! I think it’s great that you put such an amount of time and work in it to help us other Gilmourites (for lack of a better word) The videos are very cool and useful too!

    Best regards from the Netherlands!

    Nick

    [Thanks Nick! Glad you enjoyed the read! – Bjorn]

  65. Hi Bjorn, both channels have different volume controls, there is no master as such just a volume on the clean ( a setting off around 2 will still have the neighbors complaining ) and a gain volume. tone settings are bass 60% mid 40% and treble again about 60%. An overdrive pedal is my next purchase you can pickup a colour sound for a good price so that may well be the route.

    its such a shame cause i think mainly due to amp colume settings its badly impacting over all tone, just not getting what i want out of it.. on the rare occasion i can get the amp upto 4/5/6 on the colume .. its a totally differnet animal its sounds fantastic .

  66. Hello everyone,

    Better than what I expected. The video is a good idea !

    A+

    [Thanks! I’ll see what I can do with the suggested clip :) – Bjorn]

  67. Bjorn you never fail, your Floyd/Gilmour information is priceless.
    my question is, what is the best way to chain my effects together for the best results?What I have is a Butler Tube Driver, Russian BIG MUFF, Digi Tech Bad Monkey tube over drive,Ibanez CF7 Chorus/Flanger, Dunlop FuzzFace,MXR Carbon copy,BBE Soul Vibe, Behringer Compressor Sustainer, Digitech EX-7 Expression Factory pedal and a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor. These are going through my Fender Frontman or Champion 300. I have a new Yamaha MG82cx Mixer , a new Electro-harmonix Voice Box and a new Tascam DP-008 Pocket Studio, that I have not set up yet. I realize my question is a bit overwhelming but any help would be greatly appreciated. And we all are looking forward to the next ‘Airbag’ album.
    Cheers-stay in peace-Karl

    [Sorry for my late reply Karl. Try this setup:
    Dunlop Fuzz > Behringer Compressor > Muff > Tube Driver > Bad Monkey > Digitech EX7 > CF7 chorus > sould vibe > carbon copy
    The NS2 could either go last in the line as a standalone effect box or perhaps more effectively as a looper for some of the more noisy pedals. Hope this helped. Cheers! – Bjorn]

  68. This is easily one of my favorite floyd songs, have been work on this one for a while. I have never been able to nail the tone. This could be down to not getting enough volume on my amp for a start. ( have a 15w VC-15 Laney ) I cant get it past 2 without blowing the neighbours away which is doing my muff no good ( EH – Big muff 2009 model ). i have a DD-7 Boss as well and im having a bit of bother getting good delay settings ( set it for about 400ms and maybe 4/5 delays blending out quietly ). I dont have a booster at all but i tried using the crunch channel on the amp which is OK. You have given me something to think about ( perhaps a smaller 5w fender amp for practice ?? which can be cranked more ?? ).

    Again another good article though Bjorn and love your guitar, i recently tried a second hand one out in my local guitar store and the neck profile is far nicer than my MIM model which is slightly on the thinner side and the whole thing was that bit lighter. Only reason i didnt purchase is i would have felt bad replacing the stock vintage gear with the 69/ssl5 setup i current have ( silly really ! )

    [What’s your settings on the amp? It’s always a good idea to keep the master much lower than the channel volume to get that powerful clean tone. This way you can also better tame the volume. A booster/overdrive will give you much better control than using the gain stage in your amp. It also sounds better when you’re using delays… if you don’t use the effect loop though.
    Check out the Fender Blues Jr and even the Laney Cub amps. Great value and tone! – Bjorn]

  69. Great article. Time is also one of my all time favs PF tunes.
    But, with the risk of being redundant and repetitive :-), I would say that much of the tone in the studio version (and the boots of this era) comes a lot from the fact that it’s a rosewood neck.
    The DSOT and PULSE tone are much “clean”, more bright, sounds more “polished”, as it was in 80’s and 90’s.
    I prefer bluesy tones from Dark side, less brighter, more “deep”, and well… rosewood tones :-). My english is bad, but I guess you get the idea.
    I’ve listen live versions from Waters on youtube this afternoon, with Doyle Bramhall on guitar, and I prefer his tone than David’s ones on DSOT and PULSE. I found that Bramhall was closer to the spirit of “squeezing the shit out of an amp and a screeming fuzz ” than David did in the 80’s and 90’s.
    What would I give to go back in early 70’s and go to a PF gig ! :-p

    fortunately, David abandoned the red strat to go back to the black, more vintage, but wouldn’t it be fabulous if he would play again on rosewood neck ? :-p

    [I see what you mean and I remember we’ve discussed this before ut I don’t think you should too much into the whether he’s using a rosewood or maple neck. Sure, rosewood has a warmer feel but David’s setup in the 70s was quite different than in 94. In 94 his amps were tweaked differently and modified by Cornish, all his pedals and the uge setup do sound different than a handful of pedals in 73-75, the way they mixed PULSE VS Dark Side… there are too many factors to list. Guitarists like Bramhall, Mayer and other typical rosewood users may have a warmer tone but they also use different amps and pedals (and settings) than David.
    Dark Side and Wish You Were Here was also a period when David went back to his blues roots and experimented with a sound close to Hendrix, BB King, Albert King etc with everything from screaming fuzz to warm overdrives and phasers. Quite different from his PULSE setup. On Animals however, regardless of the fact that he still used the rosewood neck, his tones changed dramatically. – Bjorn]

  70. Great job again and thanks for sharing all this. Time’solo always been for me the quintessence of the floyd sophistication. Back in 1982 I remember having a chrome BASF cassete with both dsom and allan parson’s “tales of mystery and imagination” i was blown away every “time” i hear that solo especially when backing vocals are in action behind the solo, not- talkin about the sustain. Phenomenal and very inspiring.
    The gilmour’s generation took the music to another level especially from the blues heritage, with all what we have now i’m wondering if music can go a step further? “I’m little bit confused” and don’t really know!

    [Hard to imagine how bands can live up to the pioneers of the 60s and 70s but I’d say that bands like Porcupine Tree has managed to at least revive the prog/classic rock genre. – Bjorn]

  71. Hey Bjorn, thanks for the quick response. I already have the red London Fuzz and I like it a lot. I was just trying to figure out whether it would make sense to get a blue one in addition for Time but I decided to stick with the red for the time being . I hope the airbag sessions are coming along well.

    [Between the two I think the red will do fine. I also recommend the Foxey Fuzz for an excellent Big Muff triangle clone and the Phantom Overdrive, which is a Tube Screamer with a fat switch. Cheers! – Bjorn]

  72. And When you have the tubescreamer and boost it with the OCD you get all the great elements of The OCD rich, tight bass, nice highs and the tubescreamer’s mid range kick slides nicely in between, just a balanced, amazing overdive sound when both are blended together. truley the best of both worlds.

  73. Great article! Very informative!
    Time is my all time favourite PF track. If you really listen to it you can hear how blues influenced they were.
    As for the solos the original is great but I think what mr. Gilmour evolved it into for Pulse is just awsome. He definatley improves with age. eg. The second solo on “On an Island’ is the greatest solo i’ve ever heard.

    [I think Time shows David’s strenght in terms how how he can make one solo sound so different but equally beautiful. The album version is all about squeezing the shit out of an amp and a screeming fuzz while PULSE is much more mellow, smoother and perhaps even more bluesy. Genious! – Bjorn]

  74. Nuno Simões

    This solo is actually one of the best examples of how a solo can be heard as a conversation between two people, each one questioning and responding to one another. You can always make up lyrics as you hear it, it’s amazing.

    As for pedals, you should have a look at the Danelectro CoolCat pedals. Great bargains, and some of them with simple modifications actually make great live board pedals. The CoolCat Drive is actually a clone of the OCD, only with not as good components and a different use for the volume (it acts as a volume boost, with unity gain being almost volume a 0%). Great boost and rythm overdrive, it needs a little kick in the butt to be used as a soloing sound.

    For 30€ is damn good buy.

    [Thanks for the tip! – Bjorn]

  75. Excellent article Bjorn. Whew! This has to be one of the most comprehensive ones you have written.

    Time was the song that introduced me to Pink Floyd when I was a kid and it always holds a special place in my heart. It also featured my absolute favorite guitar solo (until I head CN that is!) and was one of my inspirations to pick up the guitar. I have spent long hours chasing those DSOTM tones. It was you that turned me on to the Colorsound many years back, and that was the missing link I needed to get that tone with the Fuzz Face. I always use it for Time, along with my Sunface now. I thought I had perfected those Time tones with my Twin Reverb. Now that I have a Reeves Custom 50 Hiwatt clone, I have found nothing quite sounds like the Fuzz Face/Colorsound/Reeves combo. Not only does it nicely match the studio sounds in my rig, but it perfectly matches David’s live tones from the 71-73 era bootlegs. I highly recommend that combo of gear for anyone who wants those exact tones.

    Thanks Bjorn.
    Kit

    [Thanks Kit! I agree. The Fuzz/Colorsound/Reeves combo is priceless and spot on the Pompeii/Dark Side era. I actually did a whole show with this setup because my Muff died on me during soundcheck. I had to use the SunFace for stuff like Comf Numb, Dogs etc… typical Muff songs but by rolling off the treble and increasing the bass on the Colorsound and adding just a hair more mids on the amp I got a convincing Muff+TD tone as well. The setup is extremely versatile. Cheers! – Bjorn]

  76. I completely agree that a cranking up your amp is key to achieving the solo tone. If the first note of the solo is just starting to blossom into singing feedback as it’s released I fell like I’m on the right track.

    I run my reeves custom 12 just at the point of break up (fat 50’s into the low input of the amp) and then use my Hartman BC108 fuzz (V 75%, B 50-100%, G 100%) into an MXR Carbon Copy. Sounds pretty close to my ears.

    [Sounds like a great setup! – Bjorn]

  77. Fantastic article Bjorn,now i believe you when you say you are busy :)
    These, Examining Song features really do set this site apart from all the others.Your hard work and dedication in sharing your knowledge is unique my friend.Many many thanks !

    [Thanks Dave! – Bjorn]

  78. Yay!! I have been waiting for this article for a while now. Great job!! Thanks!!!!

    [Cheers Joseph! – Bjorn]

  79. Another great Article Bjorn. I agree with you Time is underrated. I like the live versions from 1972 because it was still a work in progress. Thanks again for the article, and nice Big Muff shirt.

    [I agree. The 1972 versions are great. It’s interesting to hear how it evolved throughout the ’72 Eclipse tour. – Bjorn]

  80. Great article Bjorn. I have the MJM London Fuzz (red) how much different would that be than the blue model? It seems to have a bit more gain than other germanium fuzzes. Also on the album intro, is that a fuzz synthesizer accenting the guitar or is it another guitar?

    [The red LF has a bit more gain and lower end compared to most germanium fuzzes, which makes it much more versatile in my opinion. The blue is a fairly standard silicon model much like the AnalogMan SunFace. I do prefer the silicon for Pompeii/Dark Side stuff but the red LF is an incredible pedal. Check out Soundhouse.no for the whole MJM range distributed in Norway/Scandinavia or contact me via mail if you’re interested in details. – Bjorn]

  81. Hey Bjorn,

    Thank you sooooo much for this fantastic article. Time has to be one of my favorite Floyd songs and Ive been anticipating this article for some “time” (no pun intended). Can`t wait to see what we sink into next!!

    [Thanks Michael! – Bjorn]

  82. Great article, loved it! Very insightful.

    The Fulltone OCD is the most versatile overdrive pedal ever, period.

    [I discovered the OCD just recently actually and I was blown away. It doesn’t really beat the Tube Driver in my opinion but depends on what you’re after. The OCD sounds like the perfect Tube Screamer with a smooth, warm tone with much more presence, gain and lower end than a TS. – Bjorn]

  83. Well done Bjorn, yet again! This is the one that I have been waiting on. The two definitive tones I always hear in my head, and chase, are David’s tones on “Time” and “Dogs”, now I have more to fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way with!

    […when you’re tired of lying in the sunshine… – Bjorn]

  84. Great article Bjorn. Time is one of my favorite PF songs to listen to and to play on both guitar and bass. The bass part is a lot like the funky part from Echoes. Nice shirt too.

    [Cheers William! – Bjorn]

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