[jeepthing07]

I hope im posting this in the right forum!

I havent been playing long. I am trying to learn a classic rock sounding song that i think was played on a fender stratocaster. I have a strat type guitar with humbuckers more suited to metal. The song is "Ending Credits" by Opeth. There are alot of hammer on sustained notes that my amp/guitar cant do, it drops off. I see they sell sustainer pedals but they are kind of expensive $100+. Will a sustainer pedal help?

I found a clip of the song on youtube so you can hear what im talking about www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAn5_7k86bs

[P-90]

Three ways to boost sustain (without improving your technique or spending much):
1) overdrive/distortion
2) compression
3) feedback: facing the speaker (at close range) and/or just playing very loudly

The guys on youtube were probably using all 3, but Hendrix, for example, got by on 1 & 3 alone. I'm assuming that you're using some overdrive already. Try getting cozy with your amp and see what happens.

[allthumbs]

I agree with P90.

[fly135]

jeepthing, you can get both the compression and OD/Distortion P90 mentioned, out of a multiFX pedal. My recommendation is this....

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...dal?sku=152172

or

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...al-?sku=160000

I have both, plus a bunch of other pedals. IMO the quality of the FX in the Korg makes it a great deal.

[jeepthing07]

I have been messing with my amp settings (Roland Cube 30X) with the gain turned up 1/3 it helps. Still don’t sustain like the guitar in the song though. I plan on learning allot of Pink Floyd so I can justify buying a pedal cause I will need one sooner or later anyways.

The Korg pedals look like a good buy judging by the reviews. I will defiantly conceder them thanks for the link!

I have also been looking at used BOSS CS-3 Compression Sustainer Pedal. They are going for around $50 used on ebay would this be a good pedal for Pink Floyd and that song I posted?

One more question... I bought a relatively cheap guitar so the pickups aren’t the best if I replaced them with Seymour Duncan's would that help sustain any or is it purely tone?

[fly135]

jeep if you go the separate pedal route, expect to spend a lot of money buying and trying pedals. The compressor isn't going to do the job alone. First of all it won't color the tone and the songs you are listening to have the tone colored by distortion.

Distortion covers a wide range of sounds. Evaluations of distortion pedals is very subjective and often the opinion of the evaluator is swayed by a variety of factors that include playing technique, amplification, pups, and settings on both the pedal and the guitar. Not to mention the expectations on what kind of distortion they are looking for.

[fly135]

BTW, I listened to your link and really liked the song. Can you tell me the name of the song, I got the band from the video. I was considering trying to play it with my AX3G and see if I could show you how well I could dial in that tone. But I'm still learning so it might take a few days to get a reasonable length sample. I really think that you can't lose with the Korg for the price.

[P-90]

Originally Posted by jeepthing07

One more question... I bought a relatively cheap guitar so the pickups aren’t the best if I replaced them with Seymour Duncan's would that help sustain any or is it purely tone?

Hotter pickups (more windings, stronger magnetic field, or both) tend to have better sustain, although magnet strength is a double-edged sword; too strong of a field can actually kill your sustain, as well as putting you at risk of "Stratitis," where strings produce dissonant tones on top of the intended notes. And using a good overdrive will compensate somewhat for use of lower output pickups. So may moving your pickups closer to the strings, up to a point.

Different guitar bodies and necks will have some impact, too. A light guitar with a loosely bolted-on neck, for example, would tend to have worse sustain than a heavy, 1-piece guitar.

But these aren't insurmountable problems, or Hendrix, playing a lightish Strat, with bolted-on neck and vintage single-coil pickups, would have had lousy sustain.

[Stratrat]

Originally Posted by fly135

BTW, I listened to your link and really liked the song. Can you tell me the name of the song, I got the band from the video....

Fly - the song is "Ending Credits" by Opeth.

[jeepthing07]

I have been looking around and David Gilmour used a BOSS CS-2 pedal That's now out of production. Along with about 50 other pedals hooked togeather. So thats pretty much out of the question.

The only effects listed on Opeth's site is BOSS multi effects boards GT-3 and GT-6.

The Korg multi effects pedals look my best bet thanks for the link fly135.

And i found this site through gilmourish.com www.buildyourownclone.com building your own pedal sounds like a fun project. But for something you have to build youself they seem a little expensive. Still cool though

[fly135]

jeep, I'll try and make a clip soon on the Korg. I got the tab and I'm learning it now. BTW, I just purchased a Boss GT-8 about a week ago. But the Korg is a capable unit and sounds good. The expression pedal on the AX5G has got issues but it's still worth the extra $20 if your not on a tight budget.

[OldG]

I used an Electro Harmonix Big Muff pedal for the first time this weekend, the sustain on this thing is incredible!

It has a sustain knob that is independant of the others - well worth a listen

[wjp01908]

I also use a cube (60) and I reckon there is a bit of noise gating going on in some of the models at low volumes.

This cuts the sound when the input level drops below a certain level, killing the sustain. This seems to go away when you crank it but can be a problem at living room levels. You can get round this by boosting the input a tad. I use an old Marshall Shredmaster set just to boost the level for this and it works great.

Have a listen to my contribution to the little wing collab. to see how it sounds:
"Little Wing" Jam Collab

That`s a humbucker on a fat strat too.

I imagine that a compressor pedal will work just as well.

Will

[wjp01908]

As an aside you`ll find that your cube has many of the Boss models and effects as the FX units built in. It uses the same COSM ( no idea what that stands for though! ) modelling and the effects are the same AFAIK. I haven`t used a multi effect pedal since I bought my cube.

Will

[fly135]

OldG, did you try the NYC reissue or the Black Russian. I have the Russian and recently posted a short recording with it. It does have some sustain.

jeep, I did look at the manual for your amp and with the amp modeling you should be able to dial in a sustaining tone by cranking the gain and lowering the master volume. And putting a compressor in front of your amp would help. Amp modeling is just another form of distortion and EQ. But if your looking to buy one pedal I still say the multifx should be the first.

Edit: COSM = Composite Object Sound Modeling