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Re: misc. things
} From: Troutman_Stuart/HP-Chelmsford_om1@om1.ch.apollo.hp.com
}
} Just a few little notes on a few recent topics:
}
} 1. The primary effect used on the vocals in the alternate version of
} "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hands" is actually tremolo (sometimes
} inaccurately called vibrato), not phasing (or 'flanging' in current
} lingo), and not just reverb (or echo), although there is some of that
} added as well. Tremolo, as you older one-time garage band guitarists
} know, is the nifty effect that processes the signal (audio output)
} through a variable-speed gate, thus breaking a steady tone into a
} broken rapid-fire staccato/machine-gun attack (dig this macho
} terminology?). Most primitive guitar amps of the 60s & 70s had a
} tremolo switch with a potentiometer (knob) to adjust the speed of the
} gating, so one could attempt to pace it in rhythmic time to the tempo
} of the song. Man, was that cool. Tremolo guitar was very popular in
} the surf music bands of the day (a la "Pipeline" by The Chantays).
}
Let's not forget the end of "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the
Shondells! Man, was *that* cool!
} 2. Yeah, as someone else pointed out, there was no violin used onstage
} during the "Who's Next" tour. I caught them in Charlotte, NC around
} late '71, and poor Daltrey was wheezing and huffing into that little
} harmonica in a vain attempt to replicate the frenzied violin riff.
} Didn't work very well, but nobody cared. I was busy watching Moon
} drive the tempo out of town.
}
I thought the harmonica was fine, and it was cheaper than Dave Arbus, too!
I wonder if the harp solo was produced by Keith?
} 3. I have a snapshot of them onstage in Detroit (probably Cobo Hall)
} sometime around '68, and Entwistle has a bass with one of the most
} peculiarly designed bodies I've ever seen. I can't recall seeing any
} other photos of this beauty. I can't draw the shape of it here in
} cc:Mail, but it was fairly small, black finish, with the outer edge
} highlit in a light yellow or pale orange, maybe white trim. The
} general shape is sort of...hmmm...how to describe this...a tight curve
} down at the lower edge nearest the plug and volume/tone knobs, and
} very little else around to the neck intersection, only a very small
} cutaway 'horn' by the underside of the neck. Looks vaguely like the
} silhouette of a large conch shell. Kinda like a weird variation on the
} old Vox teardrop body, but smaller than that. Anybody know this one?
} (Now that I'm thinking about this, I believe I DO have another photo
} of it, also onstage in the US, ca. '67-'68.) The headstock was pretty
} similar to the standard Fender Jazz Bass shape, as I recall.
}
John Alec has a particularly fabulous collection of basses/guitars. Check
out the "Tommy" movie to see at least one of them. I think some of this
was in his interview with Guitar Player magazine, which I'm pretty sure
I still have in a box somewhere...
I'll have to see if I can dig up the reference (the interview in Gary
Herman's book? Guitar Player?), but it's my recollection that John used to
use Gibson Firebird basses a lot (I think that's the name). This was a
Fender Jazz Bass body with Gibson pickups.
> Mike <
Obviously no more "Mingy Stingy"!