From listening to the guitar master tracks, I really narrowed it down to two main guitar tones from that album. The compressed clean tone which you hear on Apache Rose Peacock, Righteous and the Wicked, and similar songs, and then a slightly broken up tone that you hear on Give It Away or BSSM. My method to achieve both of those tones in the same session is to have my Golden Plexi at the end of the chain with just a hint of grit on it like you normally do, and simultaneously have my compressor right after my guitar and then engage one or the other depending on what song I'm playing. To get around the volume boost of the DS2 with the compressor, I have the settings all at noon except for the tone which is around 2 o'clock. This will give you that really raunchy distortion tone that you hear in BSSM as opposed to John's typical fuzzy smooth distortion tone. And the best part is it still works good even if you're using the Golden Plexi and kick it in.
When I heard that clean tone with the compressor I knew immediately that this pedal had to be mine. Amazing work man, really useful, thanks and keep rocking!!
Sounds absolutely bang on to me, been meaning to get a compression pedal for ages and I got one straight after watching this. What a difference, that really full funky sound John has in this album is just so gorgeous.
This is sooooo good Dave, thank you so very much. For all of us out there struggling to get To even 5% to where you are, this is an invaluable video. The Under The Bridge and Soul To Squeeze sequence is just absolutely awesome 👊🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻
dave, watching you play during this video was therapeutic. just so great! I can't tell you how much I loved listening to you play here. your playing is so inspirational. I think youre at like 90% :)
Dave you nailed the under bridge and soul to squeeze tone!!! this video inspired me to go get a compressor! I got the boss CS3. thanks so much for the vids dave - you’re one of my favourite guitarists/youtubers. Never stop!
Man, you are at other level with this videos! I love them! So damn insane! I've already told you, I'm your fan since the first video I've seen from you...
sir psycho is just too perfect, sounds as if you took the official tape recording and slapped a layer of polish and glitter on it its absolutely magnificent, hats off!
thank u for the effort you put in this video and in this "tone hunt" mission dude, I appreciate it, that's beautiful and u're helping a massive amount of john fans like me haha
A lot of Johns tone is in his fingers and his dynamic attack you can see him playing with his knobs and pick up toggles while he’s playing even mid song
You have the tone, don’t stress! The studio and mastering processing and mixing , recording to tape, etc are also part of the tone , so no need to stress, great job!
When i was younger i loved building up old fords, and there was a quite corner of the internet called oddkidd creations, it was/is a goldmine of information. This channel reminds me of that so much haha.
John got his compression from cranking his amps and the MXR dyna comp pedal, obviously you can't crank your amp(s) with neighbors and just the loudness in general, but you have a great compression sound with that pedal, Great job Dave!!! love the video, so damn close!!!!! Edit: I think Soul to Squeeze, Power of Equality and Funky Monks are the closest tones so far!!
Don't be stressed chasing others sounds Dave (appreciated though your efforts are). What I - and am sure others - like best is when you are being yourself and making your own sounds. The how too's are excellent but your jam's are brilliant and what now make your guitar channel the best on RU-vid.
Yeah I like it when you play anything! I don't see too many RU-vidrs play with as much feeling as you do and that is what music is all about. Credit where credit is due my friend. Just keep doing your thing and never stop being yourself.
Amazing job! As frustrating as this may have been for you, your love for music; especially John Frusciante's, clearly shines through and is an inspiration to not only focus on tone, but also energy and feel. I don't think even the man himself would be able to recreate exactly what was recorded from this era or perhaps would want to. I wish I was in the room when he recorded that could have lied solo though; I have been trying to recreate what he played since 1992!
Been waiting so long for a proper Under the Bridge cover and that was amazing. Thanks for the amazing stuff, Dave!!!! 13:25 for anyone interested Also Soul to Squeeze at 16:02 All the songs were spot on tone and playing
He didn’t even hit the b string with the root notes at the beginning of each chord change... it’s decent at best. It’s unfair because I’ve spent too many years obsessed with frusciantes playing, so something like this sounds just as far off as everyone else whose name isn’t John frusciante.
Nick Bottorf also he played it good no need to criticize music. This is a tone video after all, and he’s done it perfectly. His playing is fantastic ask well. Love ya Dave!
Nice job, you nailed it. I think this album is top 10 all time for his guitar work .So glad John is back! The chilli peppers are so much freakin hotter with him on 🎸. No diss on the other guys. Can’t wait to hear new stuff from them!✌️new sub
This sounds so damn close! well done, your efforts paid off! You ever tried replicating the tone of some of the songs on Frusciante's first solo album Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt (Most of the album is acoustic and some of the guitars are played backwards, but the electric guitar tone on My Smile Is A Rifle, Ten To Butter Blood Voodoo and most of the untitled songs are really cool sounding.) Such a strange and unique tone on some of the songs, however i feel you could definitely nail it! Keep up the good work Dave, love your vids!
John used a mini cassette/tape recorder (google 4-track recorder from 90s) to record Niandra Lades. I’m assuming he used a mic that you plug into the machine to record vocals/acoustic guitar, but he recorded his guitar straight into the recorder. It gives you a really clean compressed sound and if you crank the input gain on the machine that’s how you get those squishy fuzzy/overdriven sounds
Dave, I found out something, that John said about his equipment on Blood Sugar Sex Magik: "I like to keep things simple. Those MESA/Boogie amps were too hard for me to understand. For most of the basics, I used two Marshalls: a guitar head for edge and a bass head for punch and low end. I split the signal with a DOD stereo chorus pedal."
Dave Simpson listen to the isolated tracks on RU-vid. When you listen to suck my kiss you can definitely hear a stereo Leslie type sound throughout. I think it is the fx65 through these two amps.
People have told me John also used 1176 studio compressors for that squish/pop tone. I like using a Boss CS-1 for that, as it really does the squish well for his soloing tones. You can really hear that sound on Niandra Lades.
I think it is a manic search if perfection is the desired outcome. The studio being a haunted house in Laurel Canyon where Chad refused to sleep for fear of the connection with Harry Houdini’s ghost looking for his widow... 💀 Your tones sound great. The analysis is half the fun. But never duplicated - only approximated. Then approximated again and differently the next time you plug in. Your under the bridge had an awesome vibe... please do I could have lied (non acoustic) - I know you keep that one in reserve but it will be an epic sharing. favourite from the album. I love the live version(s) - just guitar, amp(s), and distortion solos - working his distortion feedback with the wah. The whole board is chorus, wah, phase, fz3, DS2... and that’s the pedalboard for me of that era. His amps are mega cranked. Defn a compressor helps get the jump... but not for those live solo’s. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EzdZjusCYaM.html
Jeremy Hamilton I totally agree with you! That is how I set my amp and pedal chain when jamming Rhcp I'm so lucky that I have the silver jubilee , a 64 strat, some other strats with ssl-1's and the same pedals
Jonas Jørgensen - for sure. The jubilee is great amp and JF prob had a hand in selling more of them than even Jim Marshall himself. I have a 2553 but currently run the Mini Jub in stereo with the Marshall 2061x. Pedals was becoming a sickness. Now I prescribe to fewer pedals the better. I chose to believe Frusciante - if he stayed active - would have come full circle now back to minimal pedals from his Stadium days of pedal madness.
Apologies Dave - recently asked if you could do a video about the Ibanez Wah & i've just realised you've already made one. Cheers! Keep up the nice work man
The WH10 sounds weird because the compressor is put after in the signal chain. I built a Frusciante rig based on your wisdom and only difference is that the compressor is put after the DS-2. Goes like this : Guitar/DS-2/Compressor/MicroAmp/WH10/Jackhammer/DL4/PastFx Chorus Ensemble Deluxe/Amp. Sounds amazing! (Ps : micro amp is set at noon and is not used as a boost but for 2nd stage overdrive in combination with the Jackhammer which is always on. Pretty sure John uses it to make his sound dirtier as well and not as a "boost"). Thanks Dave! I'm a fan :-)
Oh and just to geek out some more, only reason I put the compressor after the DS-2 (and not directly after the guitar) is that the DS-2 is all maxed out and act more like a fuzz than a distortion. (Meaning that it needs to be the first thing that gets the sound out of the guitar, like you would with a Fuzzface or Tone bender.) Okay enough indulging. (Used to sing in a Chili Peppers tribute for years so...I probably care too much! 😄) Cheers mate!
How would you set the jackhammer to run both the compressor and the jackhammer at the same time? I'm running a clean setup on my amp but I can't run both pedals at the same time with Dave's setup
Also Dave, what you said about the overdubbed guitar notes in Under the Bridge, it's true, i'm pretty sure he might've explained it in an interview, but if not, you can here that he has over - dubbed it.
I remember reading an interview with John and he said that for soul to squeeze he played the strings as hard as he could althought it seems to be a softer song
Absolutely loved this video and best of all its inspired me to pick up my guitars and have fun playing guitar again. Can't thank you enough. Got an FX65 and an ED-1 compressor last week and have been swimming in lush BSSM guitar tones in a daze on my bedroom floor. I've always learned best by transcribing so I've bought the amazing slow downer and am getting to work on Frusciantes live solos like if you have to ask (off the map) and some live Hendrix :). Have you done a tone hunt which would cover that sort of violin like tone he has on off the map? If not that would be amazing! The harmonics in his solo tone basically cause an octave effect a lot of times. I'm going to have a play with my DS2 into my session 75 and also JCM900 but any tips would be amazing!!
Hi Dave, as always the best in your job! I’ve a question for you: which is the sound of John in Mother’s Milk era? P.S. we attending Part. 2 of this video 😅
Thank you for this video Dave! BSSM is actually my all-time favorite album, and just like you I hope to possess (something that sounds like) these tones. You're absolutely sounding very close, especially under the bridge & soul to squeeze. For part two, could you maybe look a bit into the 'thunder'-like tone of sikamikanico and greeting song? It may not be your favorite songs off bssm (and neither are they my favorites), but it would help me a lot if you could give your thoughts about them!
Thanks for the video. Your use of the compressor pedal definitely recreates the guitar tone on the album - but i would argue that the compressed sound is a result of the signal chain used during the recording. BSSM was recorded via an analogue Neve desk onto 24 track tape. Both Neve desks + tape are renowned for their natural compression. Also - in post-production, it's highly likely that compression was applied for both the mix and the final masters (vinyl + CD). To my ears it sounds like John only used the compression pedal on a couple of songs (Under The Bridge intro, Sir Psycho outro). It would be cool to see you do a video specifically about the Ibanez wah at some point. I do remember reading that John has used it in both the guitar & the bass settings for specific songs. Keep up the great work man.
@@mojo-media Yeah I just skimmed through it again and either I missed it, or had mis-remembered. They're such a staple though, that it would almost be weird for them not to be used! I did notice a couple of dbx 160s though (around the 25 minute mark where Flea's in the control room).
I think for a lot of the dirty stuff he would use a big muff and chorus plugged str8 into mixing board. clean tones for sure are with the marshal though. you have that shit perfect man!!
