"Peace of mind" pick slide effect... Boston content

cvogue

cvogue

Yes, that's Oolong. :)
OK, love it or hate it, Tom Scholz has a very recognizable tone. I think it's OK, bit too boxy sounding but lots of "oomph".

But what I do really like is the effect he's using on the pick slides in "Peace of Mind". Yeah a very specific and slightly obscure question... but what do you think he's doing there? He had some home grown/engineered pedal he called the "hyperspace pedal" which allowed foot control of the speed of an echoplex delay and some chorusing thrown in for good measure from what I gathered online. Given that I can't get one of those, how do you think he's getting that pick slide tone? There's a delay (or two) in there for sure but there's also some kind of oscillation going on, possibly a chorus or flanger with the rate turned up.

Anyway, check it out at 1:28 and 1:55:

 
Double delay, maybe?

One fast to get the oscillation effect.
Then fed into another with a longer delay to get the repeat of the output from the first.
 
It's all in the Rockman gear. Plus a Leslie cabinet. All of Tom's effects are vintage 80's rackmount gear. The Sustainor box has a lot of stuff built into including distortion, chorus and EQ sections. The warble comes from an echo unit run in reverse, then passed through a Leslie cabinet that has been miked.
 
@cvogue - Definitely two echoes plus some modulation. Scholz did a lot of things during the mix as well a lot of laying to create those types of effects.





parrotheada1a said:
It's all in the Rockman gear. Plus a Leslie cabinet. All of Tom's effects are vintage 80's rackmount gear. The Sustainor box has a lot of stuff built into including distortion, chorus and EQ sections. The warble comes from an echo unit run in reverse, then passed through a Leslie cabinet that has been miked.
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The first Boston album was released in 1976 and the Rockman gear came out in 1982. On Boston's 3rd album Third Stage is when you heard the full Rockman being used.
 
Modern Saint said:
@cvogue - Definitely two echoes plus some modulation. Scholz did a lot of things during the mix as well a lot of laying to create those types of effects.







The first Boston album was released in 1976 and the Rockman gear came out in 1982. On Boston's 3rd album Third Stage is when you heard the full Rockman being used.
Click to expand...


'The "Boston guitar sound" was the result of Scholz's endless experimentation with guitar amplifiers, microphones, equalizers, and other gear. Modified equipment, which was the result of much of this experimentation, inspired some one-of-a-kind products that Scholz felt other guitarists would find useful. Thus, SR&D was founded in 1980.'

The Rockman stuff wasn't produced and sold until '82, but Tom had been modding and building gear long before then. It wasn't until 1980, after the band's first 2 releases, that he thought other people might like what he had built. Totally possible he designed and built most of the effects that would be part of the Rockman line by the time he recorded the first record.
 
Chad said:
'The "Boston guitar sound" was the result of Scholz's endless experimentation with guitar amplifiers, microphones, equalizers, and other gear. Modified equipment, which was the result of much of this experimentation, inspired some one-of-a-kind products that Scholz felt other guitarists would find useful. Thus, SR&D was founded in 1980.'

The Rockman stuff wasn't produced and sold until '82, but Tom had been modding and building gear long before then. It wasn't until 1980, after the band's first 2 releases, that he thought other people might like what he had built. Totally possible he designed and built most of the effects that would be part of the Rockman line by the time he recorded the first record.
Click to expand...

Yes on the experimentation as he did mod a lot of his gear.

https://www.rockman.fr/
 
Sholz is a pretty interesting guy. Clearly talented both musically and technically...engineering-wise I mean.
 
shoeless said:
Sholz is a pretty interesting guy. Clearly talented both musically and technically...engineering-wise I mean.
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Yup, very innovative as far as the technology goes. Wrote most of the music too. Not so innovative when he did his guitar solo though... basically just did an EVH tapping ripoff (poorly at that...) :/

He was much more of a keyboardist than a guitarist though... Barry Goodreau was actually the better guitarist in Boston. I read somewhere originally (1969ish) that Scholz responded to an ad that Goodreau posted for a keyboardist... and early on Scholz only played keyboards in the band, recording some demos that eventually evolved into most of the first album. Scholz later played most of the guitars on future "demos" that he created and also the final versions (Goodreau was relegated to rhythm guitar only). He then formed the band around those demos and Boston as we know it in 1976 was born.

Apparently something of a control freak, but then who amongst the great innovators and main songwriters in big name bands isn't?!
 
cvogue said:
Apparently something of a control freak, but then who amongst the great innovators and main songwriters in big name bands isn't?!
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Yep, but that's not limited to the music industry. It seems to apply to almost any field. It also tends to lead to the eventual downfall of the great innovator if they don't learn how to work and play well with others.
 
What the JHS YouTube video “why you need a buffer”. He seems to cover most scenarios in there.
 
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