[logicalharm]

This might be way WAY too nerdy to merit a single thread so delete if needed but..

I noticed on the gear list, she had one on tour around the DDN/Goo eras. I can't recall any bass parts that require it though? Especially during DDN?

These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night man

[Dude McDude]

If it was used it was probably during noise parts.

[scott v]

I think I remember seeing the crybaby wah on her effets floor, some live vids from that DDN/Goo era indicate this... i can hear it on Total Trash, it was probably more of a "live" effect than something used in the studio for recordings.

Since we are on the subject...

What throws me for more of a loop is that on the gear page, an MXR blue box is listed as one of Thurston's effects during DDN era... to me that seems very unlikely because i don't believe thurston started using effects pedals until Goo, from all the footage i've seen up til DDN he strictly used amp overdrive/distortion and no pedals. The blue box has a very distinctive tone and sound, nothing on DDN indicates it was used on that recording, maybe live for noise parts but i don't see any vid documentation to indicate that.

Maybe i'm wrong but i don't think he started using a blue box until after Washing Machine and just prior to the first SYRs and ATL...

I'm also curious as to what Lee and Thurston were using effects-wise on Dirty, for Goo Thurston indicates he was using some wah/fuzz???, proco turbo rat and a DOD classic fuzz in Guitar Player magazine circa 1990.

I'm assuming on EJST&NS (according to the Table of The Elements Starfield Wild 7", the same guitar track used in Starfield Road, it lists the equipment...) Thurston used a Proc Turbo Rat, Sovtek Big Muff, Mutron Wah/Vol and either the Ludwig Phase II Synthesizer or a Mutron Phasor (it states a Phasertron, but as far as I know there is no such effect with that name), i didn't think they started using the Ludwig Synth until Washing Machine. Dirty is heavy and it sounds like Big Muffs are there but something tells me its just stacked Proco Turbo Rats and the big Butch Vig post-mixing sound, however the outtakes which were recorded by the band also sound very beefy.

[logicalharm]

I suspected Eric's Trip but didn't know if it was just gtr....there doesn't seem to be video evidence either way for most of these, especially considering that she seemed to cut out most if not all bass effects in recent years (i.e. recent 100% videos)? Ah well.

Edit: maybe we should make a general "when did they use this and WHY" thread

[scott v]

Edit: maybe we should make a general "when did they use this and WHY" thread[/quote]

I like that idea...

I think this was posted some time back but there is a claim that the effects pedal The Emperor's Dirty Clothes Square Wave Distortion Effect was built for Sonic Youth by Graig Markel, of Recovery Effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjuwn18fbI0

Did the band ever use this? maybe in the studio? never seen or heard this used by anyone in the band... kinda neat effect, w/ a built in oscillator, sounds abit like the stab knob working on a ZVex fuzz factory (ZVex also has stated that Sonic Youth tried his effects at some point...)

[Chris Lawrence]

Wow, sounds like some of you are eager for the next Gear Guide update! Too bad nobody asked "what effects did Lee use in 1987?".

I didn't know "Starfield Wild" listed the effects used! That's a huge help.

Note the Ludwig Phase II in the "Titanium Expose" video.

"Catholic Block" and "Eric's Trip" were the first two that came to mind when I read the subject line.

As for the Blue Box, I'll get back to that one after work...

[RanaldoNecro]

SY also used a Jim Dunlop, Jimi Hendrix fuzz system at some point.

I just saw this video in the Youtube playlist....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omMa5pJbeos

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Chris Lawrence

Wow, sounds like some of you are eager for the next Gear Guide update! Too bad nobody asked "what effects did Lee use in 1987?".

I didn't know "Starfield Wild" listed the effects used! That's a huge help.

Note the Ludwig Phase II in the "Titanium Expose" video.

"Catholic Block" and "Eric's Trip" were the first two that came to mind when I read the subject line.

As for the Blue Box, I'll get back to that one after work...

My guess is Lee used a Boss DS-1 distortion, a wah (crybaby?), a compressor (mxr?) and an early fender delay/looper (DGC-1?) this was around 1988, this may be pretty similar around '87 too...

yes, its in the inner liner notes of the Starfield Wild 7" where it also lists the Peavey Roadmaster as the amp, Dennis Console for the mixing board and of course the Jazzmaster guitar. Also "bells" on the b-side "Earth/Amp" with that violent ultra heavy reverb tank kicking.

ah yes, i forgot about the ludwig synth in the titanium expose vid! thinking about it there is that one scene near the end of that vid where the one dude on the rightside (mimicking Thurston) has this effect chain: Guild Fuzz Wah (circa 60's maybe be re-branded as something else), 2 proco turbo rats stacked back to back and a DOD classic fuzz hidden in there... I briefly had one of those vintage Fuzz Wah units from my friend/bandmate, it was horrid and i had fixed it because the wah had a horrible sweep and tone, but that fuzz... just awful too (in a bad way), the whole pedal was just not useful.

Yes I'm an admitted junky for this stuff w/ gear acquisition syndrome (GAS), especially when it comes to effects units... so i'm a sucker for a gear update!
Rumor has it that the SY studios over the years have been littered with numerous effects units... proabbly way too many to detail and list.

[logicalharm]

What I'd really like is one of those noise pedal contraptions as heard in the breakdown of Disconnection Notice....

I've always been interested in their usage of effects...seems for most of the 80s sounds just a bit of warm, tube-y distortion will go a long way though, easy!

[scott v]

I think what you hear in Disconnection Notice, that weird middle noise guitar thing (while Thurston and Lee and doing there thing) is Kim using the Dunlop Hendrix Octave Fuzz probably in conjunction with another distortion/overdrive... from watching live footage. I have one of those octave fuzz pedals, they are crazy sounding! pretty different to any other octave fuzz/distortion unit, it has a high amount of high treble bite with a weird "gated" effect by itself... stack it in front of a Big Muff and its pretty insane (thats what Thurston does). When I first played one of these I first thought of Keiji Haino as far as his guitar tone, his "90's free-noise-for-an-hour" period...

okay to delve even further as to why i think Thurston probably used a Mutron Phasor (aka Phasertron on Starfield Wild/Road and probably EJST&NS)
check out this vid (Sonny Sharrock Space Ghost tribute w/ Tom Surgal): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pO9CnHtpd0 (btw, i loved that jazzmaster...)

The very beginning you see his floor effects: Mutron Wah/Vol, Big Muff ("Civil War" version) and between them is the Mutron Phasor II... I think this vid is from circa 1993/94. i think later in this vid the proco turbo rat is shown.
At very first i thought this was a Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes distortion (like the one Kim uses) but turned 90 degrees, but its more obvious that its the Mutron Phasor II.
I'm also willing to guess that he used this Phasor or a similar one during Washing Machine (at least live) I think in the Rockpalast vid from '96, during the "diamond sea noise section where he is kneeling and sitting at his effects the outline of this Phasor unit can be noticed on the dark stage.

[Chris Lawrence]

The "Disconnection Notice" bridge is Kim using her Microsynth and a volume pedal. At least according to my tab, I don't really remember except that it sounded great live...

Thurston says he uses the Blue Box in Guitar Player February 1989. The Mutron Phase Shifter is also listed in the Gear Guide for 1994, per GP July '94.

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Chris Lawrence

The "Disconnection Notice" bridge is Kim using her Microsynth and a volume pedal. At least according to my tab, I don't really remember except that it sounded great live...

Thurston says he uses the Blue Box in Guitar Player February 1989. The Mutron Phase Shifter is also listed in the Gear Guide for 1994, per GP July '94.

Interesting about the microsynth, i've never tried that unit... There's a good amount of feedback going on which makes me think there might be another drive pedal used there? as well as the volume pedal for those swells...

Oops missed the mutron phasor being listed, its defintely the phasor II in that vid w/ surgal.

Odd and interesting about the blue box, don't really hear it but who knows with all that noise that can happen especially in a live situation. In regards to 1989, i just was watching the night music video again (watched it many times!) where they play silver rocket, and its the first time i caught a black box near thurston's and kim's amps, you can see thurston's guitar cable run to it, and he appears to hit the footswitch with his hands near the end of that noise breakdown in the middle of the song, where he slams the headstock to the floor and leans his guitar body near the speaker cab and partially retunes. It defintely looks like a proco rat or the turbo rat to me, which debunks my theory of thurston not using any pedals prior to Goo... But confirms what i've read in other guitar gear forums of what some people saw live on stage during that era.

Thurston use any drive pedals during sister era?

[ymjon]

Originally Posted by logicalharm

Edit: maybe we should make a general "when did they use this and WHY" thread

http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=39803
this thread includes a breakdown of the entire A Thousand Leaves album's effect usage by Chris

[scott v]

Originally Posted by ymjon

http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=39803
this thread includes a breakdown of the entire A Thousand Leaves album's effect usage by Chris

Wow! I forgot about that thread... And chris's amazing effects breakdown for ATL!

[logicalharm]

I remember reading that awhile ago!

I wish I had a better ear for those things (well...besides going out and buying every effect of course...)