Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Beggars!

Okay, so I decided not to listen to the leak or buy the album on iTunes and wait for the physical CD release of the new album. There's something about coming home with a new CD on its release date, so today I finally got to hear Beggars.

Analyzing the tones on The Alchemy Index was pretty difficult with all the studio trickery and effects. This time it's a bit different. The tones are straightforward- and no less amazing than anything before it.

There are certain ingrediants that really create the vibe of the guitars on this album:
#1- Vox AC30s. Teppei has relied heavily on this amp for years, but this time the tone is pure Vox. Dustin bought an AC30 and has been using it live also. It sounds like both guitars on this album are going through these amps. Teppei has a stock AC30 from the 90s, and Dustin uses one of the Handwired AC30s, which are still in production.

Basically the trick to getting the Thrice AC30 tone is volume. They crank these things. If you want to get this sound but aren't playing big venues I suggest getting an AC15. Half the volume, and you can still get the sound.

The use of distortion/overdrive pedals on this album is pretty nonexistant. Teppei uses a homemade Tube Screamer clone for boosting- but he uses this not for the tone of the pedal, but to get more drive from the amp. It's just a tool to get more from the AC30.

#2- Line 6 delay. They've been using these for a long time. At least since The Artist In The Ambulance. Rather than using the DL4s they've been using the M13 multi-effects as of late, but it's the same thing essentially. Teppei almost exclusively uses the analog delay, digital delay and auto volume echo as his presets. I think it's mostly the analog delay heard on this album.

#3- Humbucker guitars. I think Teppei used his new Gibson on most of this album. I believe it's an ES-339... it's one of those darn ES's. The humbuckers help with getting more grit from the amp for overdriven tones. The Tele can be heard on the more chimey sounding tones (At The Last and Circles). It looks like Dustin has been sticking with his black Nash Tele.


Combining the British rock tone of the Vox amps and the ambiance of the delay results in the Beggars sound. There is certainly some post-production reverb on a lot of the guitar tracks too.



As far as bass goes, it sounds like Eddie is using his typical setup. His overdrive came mostly from the Tube Drive setting on the Line 6 M13. He's been running a stereo setup with 2 amps live recently, but I don't think that's how he was recorded for the album.

1 comment:

chriscolours said...

I suppose Eddie used his Ampeg B15 all-tube bass head for Beggars, but I might be wrong...:)