Gilmourish

What a “tight budget” may mean is very individual. To me a new MXR Carbon Copy off EBay for 130$ is ridiculously cheap compared to 400$ that it costs here in Norway. In any case it’s possible to get great tones without going bankrupt. I have put together a list for the tightest budgets without straying too far away from the necessities.

My best advice is to be patient and see the value of buying one piece at a time rather than compromise quality and tone just to get everything right away. Perhaps one day you want to expand your rig and it would be a waste having to start all over. Begin with a guitar and amp and if needed let the pedals be for a month or two until you got enough for something decent. It’s not that the cheapest stuff sucks but there’s also the element of inspiration and the joy of playing. Poor quality instruments and crappy sounds will kill that inspiration all too soon. Even if you’re on a tight budget you should allow yourself to be picky and there’s plenty of good quality stuff within most price ranges if you just know where to look.

You can save a lot of money using EBay and other auction sites. Either you buy new or used you can do some really nice bargains. Check out the local classifieds and the darkest corner of the guitar shops. You never know what might be stored away and who knows; maybe your grand dad has a vintage Strat lying in his attic!

Before you start it can be wise to spend some time figuring out what Gilmour tone you want – or perhaps you want something more versatile for other styles as well. You’ll find detailed lists of David’s gear on each album and tour in the The David Gilmour Gear Guide.

Essential reading:

Designing the Rig
- An in depth guide covering basic tone tips, how to build a pedal board, what to consider on stage and in a rehearsal studio as well as explaining David’s settings.

Overdrive and Distortion
- Some tips on how to select the best overdrive and distortion pedals for your amp.

Equalizers and Compression
- Some useful tips on how to use these two effects.

Looking at Reverb
- A critical look at the pros and cons of reverb.

Note: Prices are based on new products sold on EBay and company sites. Used or special offers may save you a lot of money.

Guitars

Squire is Fender’s budget brand offering great value for the buck. One of their recent and more popular series is the Classic Vibe (350$), featuring stunning replicas of Fender’s 50s and 60s models with vintage style single coils for the classic tones. Although not available in the typical Gilmour colours, the CV 50s makes a great alternative to David’s Candy Apple Red 1983 ‘57 reissue and the current version of the black Strat. There’s even an Olympic White with a gold inodized pickguard spot on David’s #0001 Strat! The CV 60s feature a rosewood neck for warmth and a smoother tone.

It’s also worth checking out the Classic Vibe Telecaster Custom with a rosewood neck and sunburst body with binding – just like David’s Animals Tele!

Fender Classic Series Mexico (500$). These guitars will probably give you the most value for your money. Specs based on the most popular features from the 50s, 60s and 70s models. All three have vintage style low output pickups based on the Custom Shop equivalents that blend easily with most effects. Compared to the Squire Classic Vibe, the Classic Series feature more authentic specs and high quality hardware and wood selection.

The Classic 50s has the V-shaped 1957 neck and pickups based on the 1954 models.
- Replace the stock pickups with EMG DG-20 for a replica of David’s red Strat.
- Replace the stock pickups with either Fender CS54 or CS6 and the pickguard with a black for a replica of David’s current version of the Black Strat.

The Classic 60’s has a C-shaped rosewood neck and pickups similar to the CS69s.
- Replace the stock pickups with either Fender CS54 or CS69 and the pickguard with a black for a replica of David’s Black Strat from 1972-78.

The Classic 70’s has a U-shaped maple neck and pickups similar to the CS69s.
- Replace the stock pickups with either CS54 or CS69 for a replica of David’s Black Strat from 1970-72 (Live at Pompeii).

If you can afford a little extra I strongly suggest that you consider the Japanese Classic Series or similar even Japanese 57 and 62 reissues. Mexican Fender guitars has improved greatly over the last years but Japanese Strats and Teles are in a different league and you can strike a great deal on one of the many EBay shops.

Fender Standard Mexico (400$). Great all-round guitar suitable for most musical styles and ideal for David’s 80’s and 90’s tones with fairly high output middy pickups. Personally I would go for the Classic Series but the Standard might be a better choice if you intend to play more stuff than just Floyd.

See the Buyer’s Gear Guide – Guitars for more models and maintenance tips.

Amps
Buying amps can be a bit tricky when you want something that will give you that powerful Gilmour tone without costing too much. The golden rule is simple – don’t spend all your money on an expensive guitar and all kinds of pedals and expect a small 10w transistor will give you THE tone.

Your amp of choice should be able to play fairly loud without distorting or loosing (too much) character. You want that classic warm clean tone and not a harsh flat modern Marshall. You can get more headroom (less distortion) by replacing the tubes with someone milder or replacing the speakers with someone with more output.

Peavey Classic 30/50 (500$). Probably the best budget Gilmourish amp on the market. Both the tone and looks are similar to Fender’s Bassman with a warm classic clean tone. Ideal for playing at home and smaller stages.

Fender has a wide variety of great sounding budget amps,- both tubes and transistor. My best advice is to bring your guitar to you local guitar shop and just try a bunch of amps with the tone tips described above in mind. Prices below are based on new products on EBay stores but you can find these used for much lower.

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 40w for around (600$)
Fender Blues Deluxe tweed 40w for around (700$)
Fender ’65 Twin Reverb 85w for around (1000$)
Fender ’59 Bassman tweed reissue 50w (1200$)

One of my favourites is the Fender Champion 600 (150$). This is a small 5w tube amp ideal for small bedrooms and sensitive neighbours or if you need a great practice amp backstage. It’s loud and as enough headroom for most of your pedals.

VOX AC 30 (1000$). Classic clean tones and a lot of power. Not a personal favourite I must add but nevertheless…

Again, EBay and other auctions sites and classifieds is a good place to start. With some patience and luck you should be able to track down a used late 60’s Fender Bassman 50w top for around 500$ or a Sound City 50Plus head for 5-600$. I have a 1982 Marshall 5210 50w transistor at home. It’s a transistor combo version of the classic JCM 800 with an incredibly warm punchy clean tone and an awesome gain channel dead on the vintage RAT and Marshall Shredmaster. Not easy to come by but you should be able to find it for around 500$ or less.

See the Buyer’s Gear Guide – Amplifiers for more models and maintenance tips.

Effects
There’s no problem finding pedals for a tight budget and most guitar stores offers a wide range of well known Boss, Ibanez, MXR etc. These pedals will provide a decent tone but in my opinion they’re a bit too “safe” and don’t give you a whole lot to work with. There are many web based companies offering clones or so called boutique pedals for even less the price of a Boss. Instead of a Boss OD-3 try a BBE Green Screamer (Ibanez Tube Screamer clone) or a BYOC Large Beaver (original 1971 and/or 1973 Big Muff clone) instead of the Electro Harmonix Big Muff reissue.

Build Your Own Clone (BYOC) offers a wide range of clones of old classics like Phase 90, Big Muff, Tube Screamer and RAT. You can either order kits (100$) or pre-assembled (120$).

BBE has received recognition from many guitar magazines for their range of clones of classics like Fuzz Face, UniVibe and Tube Screamer for around the same price as a Boss pedal (100$).

Electro Harmonix has a so called Nano series offering a smaller and cheaper alternative to some of their classic pedals. The Small Stone phaser, Small Clone chorus and LPB-1 booster is definitely worth checking out for warm vintage tones (from 70$)!

If you’re on a minimum budget you might want to check out Behringer’s jaw breaking range of pedals, most of them based on familiar Boss, Ibanez and Electro Harmonix classics (40$). I recommned that you seriously consider this though. It’s tempting to just grab a handful of these but while some of them are pretty good most have little in common with the original counterpart and they all have a sever noise issue.

If you’re playing at home on a smaller amp it may also be wise to perhaps reconsider some typical Gilmour pedals that are better suited for a large tube amp rig. More on that in this article.

Recommended signal path:

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

Fuzz
- BBE Free Fuzz, Fuzz Face silicon clone
- BYOC Vintage Fuzz, silicon and germanium option

Wah Wah
- Vox
- Dunlop Cry Baby

Compressor
- Boss CS-3
- BBE Orange Squash
- BYOC Opto Compressor
- Electro Harmonix Soul Preacher Nano

Distortion
- BYOC Large Beaver, triangle or ram’s head option
- BYOC Mighty Mouse, RAT clone
- Boss DS-1
- Behringer VD1 Vintage Distortion, based on Big Muff

Overdrive/Boosters
- BYOC Screamer Overdrive, Ibanez TS808 clone
- BBE Green Screamer, Ibanez TS808 clone
- Boss BD-2, Colorsound Power Boost-ish tone
- Ibanez TS-7 Tube Screamer
- Electro Harmonix LPB-1, volume booster
- Digitech Bad Moneky, based on Ibanez TS808
- Behringer TO100, based on Boss BD-2
- Behringer TO800 Vintage Tube Overdrive, based on Ibanez TS808
- Behringer VT911 Vintage Tube Overdrive, based on Chandler/BK Tube Driver

Equalizer
- Boss GE-7

Modulation
- BYOC Analog Chorus, Boss CE-2 tone
- Boss CE-5
- Electro Harmonix Small Clone Nano, analog chorus
- Electro Harmonix Small Stone Nano, phaser
- BYOC Script Phaser 90, MXR Phase 90 clone
- Behringer VP1 Vintage Phaser, based on EH Small Stone
- BBE Soul Vibe, based on UniVox Uni-Vibe

Delay
- BBE Two Timer, vintage echo 300ms
- Ibanez DE-7 echo/delay
- Boss DD series

Digital processors and plugins
If pedals is not your thing there’s lots of digital alternatives, either it’s a multi effects processor or software plugins. A set of good headphones or some good sounding speakers will take you far. The Boss GT boards feature a stunning range of both Boss pedals and clones or “based on” of old classics like Big Muffs, Fuzz Face and Tube Screamer. The advanced amp sim technology makes this a versatile board for a stage or studio.

Line 6 has tons of different solutions, whether you want a multi pedal board, a USB POD loaded with pedals and amp sims or just a digital plug in like the POD Farm. All works nicely with popular recording software like QBase, Logic and Garageband. Don’t be fooled though. Although these units claim to feature clones of many of David’s pedals and amps they’re “based on” not actual clones. Some sounds great while others are pure shit.

If you already have QBase, Logic or Garageband installed you can simply plug your guitar into your Mac or PC and start jamming with top quality virtual pedal boards and amp sims. There’s also lots of other plug ins that goes hand in hand with most recording software, like Guitar Rig, ApliTube and BBEs StompWare.

Cables
Spending a lot of money on cables is perhaps not your first priority but there’s nothing that can ruin a potentially good tone like crappy cables. There are two golden rules, – 1. Keep the cables as short as possible. Connecting four pedals with four or five 15 feet cables is like covering your amp with a thick rug. Use short patchcables between the pedals or George L’s that you can measure and cut for the exact length you need. 2. Don’t ever use those multi coloured shoe laces!