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As part of my unending quest seeking the perfect tone, I've come close a few times, accidentally. I love crystal clear sustain without distortion but it seems impossible to consistently manufacture by assembling the illusive magical combination of guitar, pickups, pedals, amp. Has anyone tried retrofitting one of their axes with a sustainiac pickup, and if you have, what's the verdict, thumbs up or thumbs down? I love Chuck Loeb's tone on Baby Cakes by Bob James. Give a listen to his solo starting around 3:12 to see what I mean:
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06-12-2023 07:19 PM
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I am just listening on my phone, but it sounds dumble-ish. It also has a bright-ness that I (maybe wrongly) associate with a tweed. Is it a dumble, a tweed, an x… ?
I had a groovetube preamp (trio) that could get that type of thick-ish warm sustain. That is one piece of gear I regret selling. (I had totally given up playing music, and decided to get into air brushing. I funded my art phase buy selling gear that I now miss).
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If you like that Loeb tone, start with pedals, not pickups.
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I know that for quite a while Chuck (RIP) was using the Roland Blues Cube amps. Don't know if it was within that time.
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You want this pickup for the INFINITE sustain. The big drawback is the exceptionally TINNY and thin sound it generates. About as far from jazz dark warm 101 as you can get.
I have a small VB semi hollow that I swapped out the PERFECT Lollar CC to put a Sustaniac pickup on it. And a cheap Tele. I can’t really sell those guitars, now due to the mods. (I do;’t play six string guitars any more and am selling at least the non-mod guitars ). But I think the jazz tone on the VB semi is ok with the Sustaniac, I’ve heard far worse on these.
But you gotta doctor it up with pedals and stuff, generally, the tone quality on these pickups suck.
Now, in rock, Bob Fripp and Steve Hackett use them to get the infinite sustain quality. But they probably got monster rigs to doctor and soup up the tone.
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[QUOTE=Feloniuspunk;1270688]I love crystal clear sustain without distortion but it seems impossible to consistently manufacture.../QUOTE]
Today might be your lucky day!
Run your guitar cord to a "y" adapter or dual send box that splits the signal into two signals. Run one signal on to your clean amp. Run the other signal to a tiny amp (like a 2 watt Roland MicroCube). Place the small amp VERY near the face of your guitar (people that do this playing and standing on stage will strap the little amp to a microphone stand right in front of them). Set the tiny amp for high gain distortion and turn it up until your guitar feeds back when your guitar is Real close (about one foot) from the little amp.
Because your guitar is feeding back, the OTHER signal going to your clean amp is continuous, your guitar is not distorting, the strings are being driven by the proximity to the little amp (which is distorting)... but the guitar output signal is CLEAN... the sound out of the clean amp is clean and continuous (get it?). Whenever you want to get infinite clean sustain, just move toward the tiny amp, back off when you want to go back to normal, At stage level, you may not even hear the tiny amp at all, it is only loud enough to produce feedback when you are very close to it. You will be able to sustain any note, any line of long notes, and CHORDS as well!
In the recording studio, the small amp is usually on a chair in front of you and the clean amp is isolated and mic'ed in another room. The infinite sustain through the clean amp will be there no matter what volume, gain, or tone settings you use (you can have quiet infinite sustain of clean notes and chords).
For live performance, if the stage level is low enough that you hear the tiny amp and it bugs you, recess the tiny amp in an internally padded box with just the open face toward you (audience will only hear your sustaining big clean amp either way).
You can try this with even the most modest (cheap/crummy) tiny amp - tone quality is irrelevant, only feedback is important, the tone quality through the big clean amp will be what it always was with a clean signal because the guitar signal is clean, just that now it's continuous whenever you wish.
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That’s an interesting idea, splitting the signal and adding the little amp.
In basic electronics theory, the idea of using positive or negative feedback loops in a circuit is nothing new and useful for all kinds of applications, depending on the function of the circuit and its intended effect.
I’ve often wondered why manufacturers don’t build positive feedback loops into guitar amps and add a knob labeled “Sustain”. Tube amps already incorporate negative feedback circuits in the power section with a fixed NFR (Negative Feedback Resistor).
There are also several pedals that do the same thing like the Boss FB-2 or the TC Electronics Infinite Sampler.
You could even add positive feedback circuits to electric guitars but it’d require adding a chamber for a 9volt battery.
Who knows, maybe a few years after I’ve turned into ashes and dust such things will be commonplace.
With that perspective, it kind of makes everyone living now pioneers and explorers, furthering the technology of our craft, which, if you think about it, most of us already march to that drummer, always searching, always improving, seeking the currently unattainable.
Lots of great replies! Thx!
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Originally Posted by Feloniuspunk
Sounds great. Similar to a tone I've heard on Steely Dan records. Did they have the sustainiac?
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BTW, to me, Chuck's tone that you are referencing does not sound at all like "crystal clear sustain without distortion." But it's a great sound. I like his delay too.
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A lot of the Steely Dan guitar stuff was a old Tweed Deluxe. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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