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How to get Vai solo sound from an Axis?

marqczy

marqczy

Active member
Joined
Sep 23, 2004
Messages
33
Location
Hungary
Hi All
I would like to get a nice and smooth solo sound from my Axis, and I dont really know how to get it. Think of the solo sound of Vai, for example in For the love of God etc. I love my crunch, rythm and all sounds, but the solo not really.
Here is my gear:
MM Axis - DOD FX80B Compressor/sustainer - Morley Bad Horsie - Boss SD-1 - Tech21 TM10 - send - Ibanez CS-10 chorus - Boss DD-6 - return.

What should I change? What effekt should I use and what kind of settings? Which simulation of the TM10 and what EQ settings?
Or I cant get this kind of sound with an Axis?
Thanks for your help!

Marqczy.
 
I don't know that the TM10 (which I also have, btw) can get that pushed, wash-gain sound that Vai uses for a lot of his stuff... Vai uses a lot of outboard effects, and so his sound is pretty compressed and processed, and really smooth... That being said, he tweaks out his songs individually, so you basically have to just start fiddling with knobs until you get the tone that approximates what he's doing for any given tune... It's certainly not a pickup issue - Axis pickups have more mid-range than EVOs, but aren't that unlike Breeds in many ways; you should certainly be able to get Vai tones using an Axis - managing slap-flutters with the trem, however, is another matter entirely ;)
 
Well, most of the tone will come from your fingers. Do you apply some vibrato technique with your fretting fingers when you play? (To coax more sustain from the notes.)

I'd turn off the compressor for soloing. Experiment with your delay settings. Add more gain on the amplifier or distortion stompbox.

I'm sure you can get a good soloing sound from the Axis. I've played them in guitar stores and they sustain like crazy and sound silky smooth.

Try setting your delay somewhere between 300 and 500 milliseconds and set the 'feedback' (i.e. number of repeats) to a point where you can hear the delayed sound 4 times in addition to the time that you acutally hit the string. (i.e. you'd hear your note 5 times total).
 
Listen to my cover version that I recorded about 4 or 5 years ago.

Recorded with a Jem7DBK and POD 2.0 direct into computer.

Some notes goes sharp, but was funny to record.

Not exactly like original recording, but some parts are very close.

www.studiohp.uaivip.com.br/for_the_love_of_god_Luiz_Gustavo.mp3

I think exact like SteveB said: delay between 300 and 500 ms, dual rectified tremoverb setting or other high gain and some reverb.

Use "circular vibrato" always, and you can achieve more sustain time from the notes.
 
Yeah I backup what the others say. I occasionally play along to a For the Love Of God backing track (noodle along to it since I couldnt recreate it!!) :D

I just turn the gain right up add a healthy slice of reverb, turn on my boss delay using settings similar to SteveB's and just go for it...

SteveK
 
How T9 Get Vai Solo Sound From An Axis

marqczy,
I am in agreement with Steve B. most of the tone comes from your fingers and how you play i.e. what kind of pick you use, string gages ect. Steve Vai would sound like Steve Vai through a crappy solid state Crate practice amp with a 2 inch speaker. I would like to mention that using effects really sucks life out of your tone unless you mix it with the original dry sound. A cool device to get if you do use alot of effects is a Digital Music Corps System Mix wich allows you to do just that. Good luck finding one though as they don't make em anymore. Although they do pop up on Ebay once in awhile. When I record I play everything straight into the amp no effects and I am sure Vai did the same while recording that song then added the effects later.
Brett
 
the answer to your question here
as i have said many times to people

boss ds-1

get that pedal
vai swears by that

this is taken from boss users group vol.5 no.1 (magazine)

-on the day of our interview, a battered and bruised BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal was getting a ritual stomping as it does most days it turns out. "every single song on my new record (alive in an ultra world) uses the BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal... it's never not being used" reveals vai, unplugging his favourite little box and keeping it within sight. an important part of his sonic arsenal, distortion is the one sound effect which vai adamantly refuses to compromise. : before i moved onto the DS-1, i went to a msuci store and must have tried 20 or 30 different distortion pedals. i spent hours with every one laid out in front of me, stomping on each one and listening to the sound. i went through every guitar magazine for months and ordered and bought every distortion pedal i could find. i even had people custom-make me distortion pedals. i have a room filled with distortion pedals, and this is the only one i use".

What does he like about it?

"it's user friendly, it's consistent, it speaks to you, it squashes the signal just perfectly and it retains the thickness like nothing else," he asserts. "everything else seems to have a psuedo underground type of synthetic thickness, like an artificial bottom end. i dont know what theyre doing in this little thing, but it just works, and i cant use anything else"-
 
Thanks for the answers.
I will try the delay suggestions.

Luiz: Very nice playing and sound, thats what I looking for, but I can't play such good.

I think I use much vibrato, but not circular, but I dont have problems with sustain.

I think the best I can do is practicing more.
 
peat said:
the answer to your question here
as i have said many times to people

boss ds-1

get that pedal
vai swears by that

this is taken from boss users group vol.5 no.1 (magazine)

-on the day of our interview, a battered and bruised BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal was getting a ritual stomping as it does most days it turns out. "every single song on my new record (alive in an ultra world) uses the BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal... it's never not being used" reveals vai, unplugging his favourite little box and keeping it within sight. an important part of his sonic arsenal, distortion is the one sound effect which vai adamantly refuses to compromise. : before i moved onto the DS-1, i went to a msuci store and must have tried 20 or 30 different distortion pedals. i spent hours with every one laid out in front of me, stomping on each one and listening to the sound. i went through every guitar magazine for months and ordered and bought every distortion pedal i could find. i even had people custom-make me distortion pedals. i have a room filled with distortion pedals, and this is the only one i use".

What does he like about it?

"it's user friendly, it's consistent, it speaks to you, it squashes the signal just perfectly and it retains the thickness like nothing else," he asserts. "everything else seems to have a psuedo underground type of synthetic thickness, like an artificial bottom end. i dont know what theyre doing in this little thing, but it just works, and i cant use anything else"-
Click to expand...

Vai uses a Kelely modded "seeing-eye" DS-1. A completely different animal tone-wise from the stock DS-1.

If you really want to get close to his tone, you need the evolutions, rosewood fingerboard and basswood body, from a materials perspective. The rest, as others have told you, is in your hands. Although, surprisingly, the closest I ever came was with a white Jem through a 5150. Go figure.
 
Norrin Radd said:
Vai uses a Kelely modded "seeing-eye" DS-1. A completely different animal tone-wise from the stock DS-1.
Click to expand...


kelely is the guy who modded it?
what does seeing eye mean?
what are the mods?
just inside it like printed circuit board action?
 
On its own into a clean amp the DS-1 sounds like complete poo (to my ears!!), but when using it as a gain boost into an already distorted amp the DS-1 just adds enough of a clipped / feedback inducing tone that you are probably looking for, for this track.

BTW Satch also uses a DS-1!

I occasionally stick it in front of my cornford hurricane for this type of purpose as the hurricanes gain isnt quite enough for big rock leads on its own. That said using the DS-1 this way also leads to a good amount of white noise being added into the mix and some brutal feedback if you arent too careful with the controls! Plus dont expect a volume boost if its fed into a distorted tube amp...you get the same volume just more mayhem!! ;)
 
Last edited:
Luiz Gustavo said:
Listen to my cover version that I recorded about 4 or 5 years ago.
Click to expand...

Great job Luiz!! Good rendition of a beautiful but challenging song, one of my favorites. You came very close to the original.

Adam
 
Luiz: Do you still have that patch laying around?
I also have a POD 2 and that sound was really nice :)
/Kent
 
spkirby said:
On its own into a clean amp the DS-1 sounds like complete poo (to my ears!!), but when using it as a gain boost into an already distorted amp the DS-1 just adds enough of a clipped / feedback inducing tone that you are probably looking for, for this track.

BTW Satch also uses a DS-1!

I occasionally stick it in front of my cornford hurricane for this type of purpose as the hurricanes gain isnt quite enough for big rock leads on its own. That said using the DS-1 this way also leads to a good amount of white noise being added into the mix and some brutal feedback if you arent too careful with the controls! Plus dont expect a volume boost if its fed into a distorted tube amp...you get the same volume just more mayhem!! ;)
Click to expand...
Yep, a DS-1 into a crunch channel is the key!

Fat thick singing stuff!
 
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