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Topic: Is a Sustain Device standard ? |
Sigi Meissner
From:
Duebendorf, Switzerland
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Posted 21 Nov 2005 8:09 am |
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I'm considering to buy a sustain device
like the Super Sustain Matchbox from Goodrich.
My Emmons Legrand ll sounds great over
a Nash 400 with mod Kit in the Country Rock band I play. But now we've persuaded our female Singer of doing a few Ballads and my question is if a sustained tone will sound better. What other sustain devices can you recommend? |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 21 Nov 2005 9:01 am
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Save your money. Besides turning up your amp and easing in your volume pedal there is no device sold to steel players that actually increases sustain. You have great gear already. If it makes you happy to buy stuff and have lots of extra wires and knobs to turn there are all sorts of gizmos available. The way to get great sustain is to train your hands.
Bob |
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Calvin Walley
From:
colorado city colorado, USA
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Posted 21 Nov 2005 9:06 am
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i won't play without my goodrich match box i don't know about the substain but it sure helps the tone ...just my 2 cents
calvin
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ZumSteel |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 21 Nov 2005 9:18 am
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I agree with Bob. The "gadgets" won't increase whatever you think it will do for you.
You need to develop your technique. |
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John De Maille
From:
On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.
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Posted 21 Nov 2005 11:45 am
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| You could crankup your reverb a little bit, or you could use a DD-3 or 5 (digital delay). Both ways will sweeten up the sound for the slower tunes. You'd have to experiment with them to find what's right for you. But, I agree with Bob and Jack about learning to get a better sustain by using your hands and volume pedal first. Excellent technique has no comparisons when it comes to electronic devises. Electric toys will not make you a better steel player, they will only enhance your skill, when properly used. |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 21 Nov 2005 11:54 am
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Yea, sustain is a function of the guitar and the volume pedal. Fresh strings help. Some guys like John Hughey play with the volume pedal way back down, like at 20%. That gives you lots of extra volume to add as the strings decay. There's your sustain right there. Also good picking technique helps to make the strings ring longer.
Brad |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 21 Nov 2005 1:00 pm
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Sigi,
Since I have not heard you play I won't make any comment regarding your technique, but agree with the others that a good command of right- and left-hand technique will improve your playing across the board -- not just sustain.
A 'sustain device' (e.g., the Hilton or Goodrich units) are a bit of a misnomer. They are actually buffer amps -- also known as a 'match box'. If you use a volume pedal that has a potentiometer and NO BATTERY or AC POWER, you should try a match box -- the SuperSustain is fine. There are several models out there. It will solve an electronic problem that is related to using a potentiometer that causes your high end signal to drop off when your pedal is back (partially closed / less volume). Wide open it sounds fine but when you back off you will lose some of the highs. Some people just set their amp with a bit more treble and live with it, but a match box will solve that problem.
Will it give you a bunch more sustain? No
The pedal steel has an ENORMOUS reserve of sustain without any added devices if you learn how to let your hands and feet coax it out of the guitar and amp.
A little more reverb and/or delay on a slow ballad can also help some, as others have suggested, but your guitar should have plenty of sustain to play ballads.
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1984 Sho-Bud S/D-12 7x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps
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Klaus Caprani
From:
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Posted 22 Nov 2005 1:15 am
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The phaenomena of loosing treble while backing the volume pedal down can actually be helped to some extend by bridging the pot with a small capacitor (47-100 nf). The value of this capacitor is subject to experimentation, as it depends heavily on factors like the impedance of your pick-up, the DC-resistance of the pot and the input impedance of your amplifier or fx rack.
I know it's somewhat off-topic, but might be a help for some.
I haven't done it in my rig though, since this issue isn't a problem for me.
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Klaus Caprani
MCI RangeXpander S-10 3x4
www.klauscaprani.com
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Nic du Toit
From:
Milnerton, Cape, South Africa
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Nic du Toit
From:
Milnerton, Cape, South Africa
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Posted 22 Nov 2005 1:23 am
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For 'sustain' units to work, it has to compress and expand your signal. So, whatever you play have will have that slight snap in the notes....very disconcerting when doing a slow song. Your whole playing style may have to change to compensate, or accomodate, the sustain unit. Go with what Brad suggested...it works!!
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  Nic du Toit
1970 Rosewood P/P Emmons D10 Fatback 8x4
Peavey Session 500 unmodfied
CD "Nightmare on Emmons Steel"
CD "Steel Smokin'"
Veruschka's CD "Don't Dream it's Over"
Click here to E-mail us. |
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Bob Martin
From:
Madison Tn
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Posted 22 Nov 2005 4:27 am
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Well I promised myself I wasn't going to go against the grain in this thread but I just have to interject my 2 cents.
If you buy a profesional level compresser/sustainer there are a lot of options. There are 2 particular parameters on a compresser that will eliminate that annoying pop and pinched sound of compressers. If you set the threshold pretty high the compresser will not kick in and sustain the note until it falls below a certain level ie until the note starts to die out then it will kick in and give you longer sustain.
The other parameter is how many ms before it kicks in ie if you set it to start compressing after 2 ms it will not work on the attack of the note but rather on the middle of the note where you don't hear that pinched or popping sound it's called the attack parameter.
So if you learn how to work the compresser you can get a lot of sustain from a compresser without all the annoying downsides of normal compression.
Bob |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 22 Nov 2005 7:14 am
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A compressor was not what Sigi was talking about.
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1984 Sho-Bud S/D-12 7x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps
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