How do I get this guitar tone from Bettie Serveert's Kid's Allright?

June 20, 2016 7:40 AM

What gear do I need to achieve this specific guitar tone from Bettie Serveert's "Kid's Allright"? I'm looking to replicate the sound the guitar makes from about 2:29 to 2:42. I really like that heavy, machine-like grinding distortion. I assume there's some kind of effects unit that's key to getting this sound. Any suggestions as to what that might be?
posted by millions to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Looking at old videos, it probably involves a cranked Marshall, ProCo Rat tweaked into fuzz territory, and humbucker in the neck position. I wasn't able to see Visser's pedal set up well, but I didn't see any rack systems or multi-effects processors, so it's just a guess (barely useful low-res shots of his setup here).
posted by puritycontrol at 8:26 AM on June 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Another blurry photo of Peter Visser's pedals shows an Ibanez Tubescreamer into a vintage Yamaha D1-01 distortion pedal. Second photo with settings taped to the D1-01 and delay. So yeah, a Tubescreamer into Rat or some other janky 80s distortion pedal would probably get you close.
posted by Lorin at 9:12 AM on June 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you want to try some different pedals on the cheap, maybe check out the many Chinese clones at ~$30 a pop. Nice way to get a feel for what various flavours of overdrive, fuzz, distortion, etc get you in different combinations. Joyo is a popular brand that makes one of everything. "Vintage Overdrive" is their Tubescreamer clone. ENO's TC-13 Myomorpha is one example of a Rat clone. There are many more: List of cheap guitar pedal clones. "The ultimate list of cheap copies of great pedals".
posted by Lorin at 9:37 AM on June 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

neck pickup, onboard tone turned all the way down, a decent overdrive pedal. could be a distortion, but sounds like a tubescreamer to me.
posted by j_curiouser at 10:52 PM on June 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm guessing the key to this tone is gonna be the Yamaha distortion. At 1:03 in this vid you can hear some of the characteristic growl/ rumble from the start of the Bettie Serveert solo.

I've already hunted one down on ebay.

Thanks everyone! I've loved this sound for years, and I'm not sure I could have ever figured it out by myself.
posted by millions at 8:17 AM on June 21, 2016

Looks like they answered on Twitter
posted by mathowie at 6:19 PM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Wonderful!
posted by millions at 8:37 AM on June 22, 2016