It turns out that Gilmour uses a 30 y.o. Zoom 9030 (Rick Beato interview)

EOengineer said:
This is really the short of it. I can’t count the number of sessions I’ve been in where scratch tracks from a practice amp make it into the final recording, or we discover dropping a ribbon mic on a maxed out and boosted Marshall belt clip micro stack perfectly places the solo in the track.

My recommendation for guitar players is to find players that have a live tone you consistently love and chase that gear, not the stuff they say they use in the studio.
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Totally agree. I did a session a long time ago and I remember bringing a little Yahama, battery powered amp with me just for fun. It was no bigger than 5 or 6" across. We got to a particular track solo and the usual tube amp and pedals wasn't jiving for some reason. So on a whim I mentioned to the engineer I had this little amp with me and it has a really cool saturated tone when cranked up. We tried it mic'd up with an SM58 and... that was it, the tone just worked. Reminded of "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" lead tone but with a bit more sizzle.
Wish I still had that little beast. :rofl
 
FuzzyAce said:
Yeah, I don't disagree. But you wouldn't want to necessarily bring all the gear used to make an album with you on the stage. At some point there has to be a compromise of sorts.
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Oh, sure. And add to this that some units really aren't working well live, even when they're quite useful for recordings (which is why I said "as long as it's the right tool"). Possibly a prime example: You were able to get really, really nice sound recordings from first and second generation PODs. Sometimes so good they were used on commercial recordings. But for live, the first PODs pretty much sucked due to their lack of dynamics. No way to play a remotely dynamic song with just one patch and do everything with your fingers, pickup choice and volume pot.
 
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FuzzyAce said:
Totally agree. I did a session a long time ago and I remember bringing a little Yahama, battery powered amp with me just for fun. It was no bigger than 5 or 6" across. We got to a particular track solo and the usual tube amp and pedals wasn't jiving for some reason. So on a whim I mentioned to the engineer I had this little amp with me and it has a really cool saturated tone when cranked up. We tried it mic'd up with an SM58 and... that was it, the tone just worked. Reminded of "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" lead tone but with a bit more sizzle.
Wish I still had that little beast. :rofl
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Yup, there’s a reason every real working studio you walk into has a Princeton, Champ, or Skylark…or all of them. Little tiny amps cranked up with a mic on them can record HUGE tones.

Not to mention lots of guys we imagine with stacks of amps (Page, Hendrix, Clapton) actually recorded those tones with champs and supros.
 
EOengineer said:
Yup, there’s a reason every real working studio you walk into has a Princeton, Champ, or Skylark…or all of them. Little tiny amps cranked up with a mic on them can record HUGE tones.

Not to mention lots of guys we imagine with stacks of amps (Page, Hendrix, Clapton) actually recorded those tones with champs and supros.
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The "Deacy" too... the amp that John Deacon made for Brian May, which was used in a lot of Queen recordings, supposedly.
 
EOengineer said:
Yup, there’s a reason every real working studio you walk into has a Princeton, Champ, or Skylark…or all of them. Little tiny amps cranked up with a mic on them can record HUGE tones.

Not to mention lots of guys we imagine with stacks of amps (Page, Hendrix, Clapton) actually recorded those tones with champs and supros.
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100%. I fixed an old Epiphone tweed amp for a buddy years ago. Small little combo with very few controls, I think a 5X4 rectifier. But man, cranked up with humbuckers was such a sweet overdrive and at the same time not really loud at all. Perfect for recording.
 
norminal said:
They’re getting harder and harder to come by due to leaky caps. You might want to give the PCB a once over.
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Yeah, never thought of that. It used to sit on top of a Marshall Jmp1 in 4U Rack around ‘93ish before I replaced it with a Pod pro. Not switched on since so wouldn’t want anything to go bang.😳🔥
 
norminal said:
Edit: After listening to the track again, it sounds like he used one for the intro as well.
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Just listening to this track AGAIN on my HT, and IMO, the solos are definitely the Zoom.

The intro and clean rhythm guitars sound direct or almost Rockman sounding.

Download my IR and play the solos. Definitely the Zoom.
 
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norminal said:
Just listening to this track AGAIN on my HT, and IMO, the solos are definitely the Zoom.

The intro and clean rhythm guitars sound direct or almost Rockman sounding.

Download my IR and play the solos. Definitely the Zoom.
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Any memory of how to get that Coming Back to Life tone with the box. I ebayed one lol.
 
Jmf1928 said:
Any memory of how to get that Coming Back to Life tone with the box. I ebayed one lol.
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It’s been a long time, and I owned a Zoom 9000, but for the solo tone, it should be the “DIST” or Distortion mode. Not sure if the name is the same on the 9030, but it should be in there. I’m pretty sure all the 9XXX models from that era had similar drive tones.

Nowadays, I just use this IR, which is an IR of a Zoom 9002 (Fractal):

axechange.fractalaudio.com

Axe-Change - Download Other - ZOOM_9002_TM - by lyricbread

Axechange - Fractal Audio Systems. The official source for presets and cabs for your Axe-Fx. Download presets and cabs, or upload your own creations.
axechange.fractalaudio.com axechange.fractalaudio.com
 
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