What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

E Baxter Put · Post by **E Baxter Put** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:13 am

I always thought that they used the old mxr blue box a lot. I saw them on those Sister and Daydream Nation tours as well.

silentium_vk · Post by **silentium_vk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:03 pm

Stereo Sanctity - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m67OoN4AI_w" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
White Cross - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pDZ14cZMkI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Schizophrenia - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tDD8T14_6g" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Cotton Crown - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmmW0xZzrEw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I do believe that their sound comes from the tuning

Lobsterdeth · Post by **Lobsterdeth** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:36 am

silentium_vk wrote:I do believe that their sound comes from the tuning

Man your guitar must hate you from all the string changing and shit.

But yeah, the most important part of nailing the SY sound is the JM, the string gauges and the tunings. You can pretty much just use a Muff or overdrive your amp and you will get the sound as long as the tuning and gauges match. Don't crank the dials all the way up though this is SY not MBV.

silentium_vk · Post by **silentium_vk** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:41 am

Lobsterdeth wrote: Man your guitar must hate you from all the string changing and shit.

The guitar is made for playing, not for looking at it.

Jaguar018 · Post by **Jaguar018** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:32 am

øøøøøøø wrote:This list might provide some clues. Bonus OSG-related update at the top... OSG's finest hour!

http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/eq/stolen.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Probably need some buffers and stuff to deal with the signal loss of stringing all those pedals listed together!

(

)

Sovtek Big Muff distortion pedal (2 in total)
ProCo Turbo Rat distortion (3 in total)
MXR Phase 90 (2 in total)
MXR Blue Box (2 in total)
Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz (3 in total)
Mu-tron Wah/Vol (serial # 5806)
MOOG Moogerfooger Ring Modulator (serial # 608)
Korg EXP2 expression pedal
DOD PDS 1002 2-second delay (FX994837)
DOD PDS 1002 2-second delay (FX676315)
Maestro Ring Modulator RM1B (AE91424)
Maestro Ring Modulator RM1B
Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor (serial # 244117)
Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere (serial # 229974)
Ibanez AD80 Analog delay (serial # 121817) permanent 18v power supply
Ibanez AD80 Analog delay (serial # 111519) permanent 18v power supply
Mu-tron Bi-Phase effect unit (serial # 1321) in wedge-shaped suitcase w/pedal
Mu-tron Expression pedal (serial # 1197) in suitcase w/above
Electro Harmonix Hot Tubes
Electro Harmonix Micro Synth Reissue
Dyna Soar homemade distortion pedal

ejstans · Post by **ejstans** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:47 am

Lobsterdeth wrote:
silentium_vk wrote:I do believe that their sound comes from the tuning
Man your guitar must hate you from all the string changing and shit.

But yeah, the most important part of nailing the SY sound is the JM [...]

But specifically for "Sister" I don't think they yet owned any Jazzmasters, although I think Lee might have had a dilapidated Jaguar.

noisepunk · Post by **noisepunk** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:52 am

silentium_vk wrote:
Lobsterdeth wrote: Man your guitar must hate you from all the string changing and shit.

The guitar is made for playing, not for looking at it.

Doesn't really apply here- string changes isn't going to make the guitar less visually pleasing, it's just going to mean more maintenance.

silentium_vk · Post by **silentium_vk** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:42 pm

ejstans wrote:
Lobsterdeth wrote:But specifically for "Sister" I don't think they yet owned any Jazzmasters, although I think Lee might have had a dilapidated Jaguar.

Yeah, but that was the point, when I said about the tunings.
Here are another three videos. Custom made guitar with SD P-Rails pickups. I'm not saying that it sounds ABSOLUTELY the same as on the record, I hope everyone understand that it isn't possible, but you can nail it with any single coils guitar (I insist of singles!) and slight overdrive pedal or even amp overdrive.

Reena - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-CZnXDCwcs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Incinerate - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Z_91ACVHs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Pink Steam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrmeDWuPZFc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

weed_killer · Post by **weed_killer** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:10 pm

there's a great video of them playing at the pukkelpop festival in 87 that gives you a look at their set up, especially Lee's. They were using gain pedals back then, you can hear/see in Tuff Gnarl that
Lee's turning on a gain pedal for that opening lead. Lee was using a beat to shit Jag with a single Dimarzio X2N pickup in the neck, while Thurston had a 60s Jazzmaster with the same Dimarzio. There
was also a few Kapa guitars that Lee used (again stuffed with that Dimarzio pickup) and strummed behind the bridge.

http://youtu.be/JWxAk1NrDkY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://youtu.be/hTumeSz1NA0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://youtu.be/JPKYH6GrQew" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://youtu.be/tN6tzruITbg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hangwire · Post by **hangwire** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:23 pm

It might be helpful to see any video/pics from the Hold That Tiger live album

UlricvonCatalyst · Post by **UlricvonCatalyst** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:44 am

I just happened upon these clips from '87, unfortunately from a fixed angle behind Lee's amp. Thurston's playing an offset with no guard and there are lots of behind the bridge sounds on Sister, so I guess we can discount the theory that they didn't use offsets till later.

You can see Lee has five pedals one of which looks like a wah. He seems to do a 'sample and hold' thing at the end of Stereo Sanctity, which suggests the shadowy stomp-box could be a DSD-2/3 or DD-2/3....or basically any pedal that does sample and hold.

The pedal he engages during Tuff Gnarl is what I thought was a phaser set to a really fast speed - that sound is all over Golden Age SY songs - but I guess it could equally be something else entirely.

Oh, right, the question was about dirt pedals....I'll get my coat....

Hey, silentium: I wish I had your chops!

(Edit: looks like weedkiller already discovered those clips ahead of me. I blame a day of fuzz and sunshine.)

weed_killer · Post by **weed_killer** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:59 pm

UlricvonCatalyst wrote: (Edit: looks like weedkiller already discovered those clips ahead of me. I blame a day of fuzz and sunshine.)

sounds like a great day!

OffsetGuitars.com

What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?

Re: What dirt pedals were Sonic Youth using on Sister?