Gilmourish

There are a number of things you can do to achieve a great tone. It’s often the little things that count and it pays off being thorough when you “design” a rig. In this article I’ll try to give you some tips on how to best utilize the potential of your equipment.

Keep in mind that the settings I and other fans are sharing should only be used as a guideline to get you started. The settings listed in the David Gilmour Gear Guide are based on pictures of David’s gear from one specific concert and may not automatically be absolutes for a whole tour.

Setting Up
When you’re lining up your stompboxes or arranging a pedal board, you should have some basics in mind. First of all, BE TOUGH! Exclude everything you don’t really need. A large collection is great, but if some pedals are in just for affection, they should go out. The more effects you have, the more they drain tone from your guitar and the more money you have to spend on isolating and customizing. The best way to arrange your pedals is to follow the “normal” signal path.

- guitar
fuzz
wah wah
compressor
distortion
booster/ overdrive
eq
phaser/ flanger/ chorus/ uni-vibe
volume pedal
delay
- amp

Overdrives and distortions should be arranged by tone. When combining different pedals, you want a tone with fat lows and a bright top. A Big Muff should be placed first, then less “boomy” effects like the RAT and other overdrives. David often uses a clean volume booster or a mild overdrive placed after the Big Muff. This adds more character, whether you want more punch or a creamy tone. Read more about that here.

If you’re beginning from scratch, I recommend starting with a minimum of basic effects that will cover all of David’s tones: wah wah, compressor, distortion, overdrive, chorus/flanger, phaser and delay. I also recommend getting a tuner and a volume pedal.

- You’ll need a wah wah for some of the early stuff and for the effects on Echoes.
- A compressor is a great tool to beef up your cleans and to tighten distortions. Since Animals, David has been using compressors especially to get those warm, bluesy sounds on Shine On, Another Brick etc…
- Ultimately you should have both a distortion and a fuzz but if you have to choose one to begin with, then a distortion is much more versatile than a fuzz. The Muff is of course THE Gilmour distortion pedal and you can get great Time, Money and Echoes sounds with it too. If you’re having trouble finding a Muff model that you like or one that sounds good at home on your small amp I strongly recommend getting a RAT. Read more here.
- The overdrive is a must for rhythms and in some cases to boost the distortion (as talked above). There is tons of stuff to consider and here’s where it’s probably most important to decide what kind of tone you’re after. For the 70’s tone, you should go for a transparent glassy booster/overdrive like the Colorsound Power Boost or Tube Driver. For the more modern Gilmour tone, I recommend a classic overdrive with more pronounced mid tones like the Tube Screamer.
- A chorus is perhaps more versatile than a flanger… and cheaper. It’s a great tool to add colour to your tone.
- A nice vintage sounding phaser will cover the Uni-Vibe sounds on Breathe and Dark Side in general and of course Shine On and Have a Cigar. Very versatile and typical for that 70’s Gilmour sound.
- A delay is a must as it’s essential to 99% of David’s tones. There are a number of different solutions, from basic stompboxes to complex rack units. Keep in mind that on some songs like Time (intro), Another Brick 1 and Run Like Hell you want an accurate delay setting and having just one basic stompbox can cause some problems; - you might want a digital display allowing accurate settings.

You should also decide which kind of Gilmour tone you prefer. If you look at his setups over the years, they’re not really that different to each other but there are some things to consider. If you’re going for that authentic 70’s sound, you don’t want to use chorus as David never did it. If you want a typical PULSE tone, there’s no need for a classic fuzz as during the ‘94 tour David used warmer sounding distortions and overdrives. If you’re uncertain of which pedals to get, it can be wise to know when some of the pedals were first released. The first chorus pedal was available around 1976, so he couldn’t have used one on the first Pink Floyd albums etc… Of course you’ll find complete lists of David’s gear on each album and tour in the David Gilmour Gear Guide and check out the Buyer’s Gear Guide for more recommendations.

There are a number of things I could recommend as starter’s tips, but I think the most important thing is to keep things simple. A lot of guitarists (and not just beginners) tend to use too many effects and ruin the natural tone of the guitar and amp. I strongly recommend only using the clean channel on your amp and no effects loop. Set the amp up for a powerful clean tone and add subtle layers with the stompboxes. The worst thing you can do is to create a sound by shaping it with too much EQ and compression. That will most certainly ruin much of the pedals’ character and the natural dynamics in your playing. EQ should only be used to slightly enhance certain frequencies, like boosting the mids if your distortion has a very treble/bass type of tone etc. Compressions is often used to enhance the attack and sustain in your tone, but too much may work quite the opposite and kill the sustain.

Preventing noise
Noise is the guitarist’s worst enemy and it can be a challenge eliminating it but there are some effective ways to at least reduce it to a minimum. Here’s a short check list:

- Try to reduce the number of pedals to a minimum. As talked about above you should exclude anything that doesn’t need to be on the board.
- If your favourite peal is the source of your troubles you can have it modified to reduce the noise or check out the many clones and boutiques available. The solution might also be to use a looper pedal looping the pedal(s) out of the main chain.
- Power chains can cause a lot of noise. Find out of any of the pedals might be better off on a separate power adapter. Do also make sure that the power cables aren’t wrapped around the signal cables.
- Use good quality patch cables. Multi coloured shoe lazes is NOT the way to go. The cables should also be as short as possible to reduce the signal loss to a minimum.
- Good quality shielded instrument cables to avoid interference and signal loss.
- Shield the inside of your guitar with copper foil.
- Computers, TVs, radio, mobilephones, lights etc are sources of noise. Try to eliminate as many of these as possible.

Check out the Buyer’s Gear Guide guitar and amps for more noise troubleshooting.

Don’t freak out though! Keep in mind that some pedals will by nature be noisy, such as fuzz and distortions. Add a compressor and you’ll have a bees nest! Be aware how you combine your pedals and make adjustments that fit your rig and playing and where you play. Pete Cornish has modified all of David’s pedals and rigs since the mid 70’s and made sure that everything is as noiseless and spotless as possible. Still, that doesn’t mean that his Tube Drivers and Big Muffs don’t rumble and hiss. Try to eliminate as much noise as you can but be careful that you don’t compromise your tone.

Playing Live
When setting up for a live gig, you should do some tests on your own. Arrange your pedals/pedal boards and speaker cabs the way you want them. Then walk around and listen from different angles. Your tone rarely sound its best right in front of the amp. Make the necessary adjustments to get the best possible tone. If your band doesn’t have a regular sound tech, the one hired won’t be as familiar with your sound as you are, so do this your self and make sure he knows how you control everything.

The construction of the stage can cause some frustration. A closed stage with sidewalls can make your amp sound like the amp from hell. Yet, a wide-open stage with no sidewalls and a high ceiling makes the same amp sound like a tiny radio. Don’t freak out and turn everything up, but use some time getting a decent sound from the monitors and adjust the pedals. Boosting your volume will often distort the signal and take away much of the sound’s character and headroom.

- Angle your amp slightly away from the sound desk or the engineer will most certainly turn you down in the PA, because he can’t stand having your guitar right in the face…

David’s Sound and Bootlegs
During the last Pink Floyd tours, Gilmour brought on a wall of Hiwatts, leslies and WEM speaker cabs. This is primarily to get the high volume and power needed for stadiums, but it also does something to his sound. Naturally, this wouldn’t do in a small club. You’d probably blow out the walls! Notice that he used a smaller rig on the On an Island tour and his guitar sounds just as big.

Gilmour always keeps his effect rack and amps close to him self as he likes to have easy access and often do minor adjustments during a show. Phil Taylor sets up the rig and makes sure it works and Gilmour use the soundcheck to finely tune the effects. So each night may sound a bit different due to his mood and the venue.

I think it’s important to realize that Gilmour live and studio are more or less two completely different guitarists. Pink Floyd is a completely different band live compared to their records. Bootlegs lets you hear the real sound as opposed to Delicate and PULSE, which are great albums, but too mixed and polished to hear what’s really going on. And even if you did manage to recreate the sound of those albums, it wouldn’t be the actual sound coming out of Gilmour’s amp, but the sound from the PA system with perhaps some additional EQ and compression, blended with natural reverb from the hall. You’ll probably discover that your sound isn’t that far from his after all. The bad thing about bootlegs though is that they tend to get pitched over the years, which can alter the sound a bit.

Recreating Gilmour’s sounds from the Pink Floyd albums is about impossible. The tracks are often mixed beyond recognition from the initial signal. Compression, gating and perhaps even additional effects, makes it hard to establish just how he did it. Not to mention all the tricks and magic used during a recording session.

Playing at home
A common mistake is that one often applies David’s pedals and settings to a rig that’s mainly meant to be used at home. A small amp and low volume requires a whole different approach and even some compromises. A Big Muff + Tube Driver combo might be overkill and on some amps just plain awful. Try to keep things simple and consider other alternatives that perhaps aren’t your first choice but it might leave you with a better tone. Classic pedals like Big Muffs, Colorsound Power Boost and Tube Drivers are designed for cranking loud and powerful tube amps. You need to play loud and you need to squeeze the living daylights out of the pedals to get that super smooth tone. On a smaller setup and low volume a RAT and a Tube Screamer will in most cases be a much better alternative because they’re designed to capture that tone you’ll get from the big setups. Consider them as stadium tone in a little box. Read more about that here.

Another way to go is to use a software or digital processor like the Line 6 PODs or Guitar Rig. They allow you to create killer tone and play as loud as you want with headphones.

So hopefully you’re a little wiser now or at least got some tips. Don’t get blinded by the fact that you’re madly in love with David’s tone and gear (or him for that matter). Most of his tone and style is in his fingers and all the pedals and expensive guitars in the world won’t make you sound like him without a hell of a lot practice. So, use some time trying out different stuff. Bring your guitar to your local guitar shop and have a go at the pedal collection. Have the basics in mind (as talked about in this article) but get the stuff you like and feel comfortable with. No reason to blow your money on an expensive pedal only to find out after two weeks that you don’t like it. Please feel free to e-mail me for a chat about your gear.

Please check out the Buyer’s Gear Guide for more information on guitars, amps and effects recommended for Gilmour’s tone.