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I bet the Helix cannot replicate this tone


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Well there's more than one guitar. I heard the rhythm and solo overlap. And there seem to be two different guitars harmonizing with each other during the apeggiating. And one solo guitar has dirt in it where the other doesn't So there isn't A tone to replicate. There are toneS. At least 4.

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For the arpeggiating:

Deluxe Comp > Scream 808 > Simple Delay (35ms splitting L/R) > Path A > Jazz Rivet Amp > 70s Chorus > 2x12 Jazz Cab > Pan L

                                                             > Path B > Jazz Rivet Amp > 70s Chorus > 2x12 Jazz Cab > Pan R

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For the arpeggiating:

Deluxe Comp > Scream 808 > Simple Delay (35ms splitting L/R) > Path A > Jazz Rivet Amp > 70s Chorus > 2x12 Jazz Cab > Pan L

                                                             > Path B > Jazz Rivet Amp > 70s Chorus > 2x12 Jazz Cab > Pan R

 

Let's hear your take!

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Let's hear your take!

 

Better yet, let's hear YOUR take!!!

 

What in the world would posses you to think people would drop everything they're doing in their life to spend time to appease you.  I see nothing particularly challenging about that tone other than getting the base tone worked out then doubling it in a DAW.  If you're looking for a live representation of it you should refer to the YouTube video of the Police playing it live and notice how all the doubling (and a large part of the phaser effect) magically disappears....hmmmm.

 

It's always easier to spend OTHER people's time and money than it is to spend yours, huh???

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This stuff baffles me!

 

"I bet the Helix cannot replicate this tone"

 

Errr... well I bet it can, but I ain't falling for your challenge - to busy with new stuff!

 

Why do you want, or need, to create a sound exactly like that? As stated by others on here, it's relatively straight forward to come up with something pretty close, although - it's all been done before - over and over and over! It hasn't sparked anything new!

 

But it's not as simple as just getting "that sound" from the modeller of your choice (I notice you have also been trolling the Fractal forums with this challenge). If you want to replicate the "Police" sound a Telecaster would certainly help, alongside a ton of talent. It is also down to the player, Dave Gilmour and EVH sound like they do because that's who they are - they're unique. They don't painstakingly and carefully copy someone else's stuff. Besides, can you handle the stacked 5ths, added 9ths and suspensions that are Andy Summers speciality?

 

Even Mr. Summers (who says that track is one of his faves) has evolved way beyond a tone he came up with almost 40 years back. Widen your horizons, check out some of his other stuff and even venture into things he did with Robert Fripp.

 

Here's some stuff from an interview with Andy from Jan 2014:

 

http://www.guitarplayer.com/artist-lessons/1026/play-like-andy-summers-during-the-police-years/12450

 

Now you can go away and learn!

 

Oh! I almost forgot about this one - it's not "Massage in a Brothel" but it's another Andy Summers Police tone from Helix:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyYXgJttHj0

 

Do you want fries with that hat?

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The tone can be replicated in the Helix, but no one on the plant plays exactly like Andy Summers (or anyone else for that matter). I can get really close on my Tele with a Police preset I have, but it still sounds like me playing Message in a Bottle, not Andy. I saw a Youtube clip of Eric Johnson playing one of Zakk Wylde's guitars on Zakk's rig. You know what it sounded like?.... it sounded like Eric Johnson. Weird...

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Anyone who says that only Andy Summers could get that tone is wrong. Guess what? Even Andy himself couldn't replicate that tone in a live setting, so hence why I'm betting you can't get it on a Helix. It is not the multi tracking that is so special about it either. There's something about this tone that can't be explained, but I'm open to takers.

 

Also the "tone is in the fingers" argument is stupid when it comes to playing basic suspended 9 chords like those in this song, because there's only so many ways to push a string against a fret. The only time that argument could ever come into play is when you're comparing more expressive techniques like vibrato, and even then, I'd argue it is nothing more than an excuse.

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...and when it is all said and done, who really cares. If I am going to play a Police cover, I don't give a rip about "nailing his sound. People get hung up about getting a particular sound "exactly" like a recording. It's not going to happen. You even said it yourself, Andy couldn't even replicate that sound again. However, if I load up my Andy Summers preset and start playing, even my grandma will say "Hey, that's Message in a Bottle." 

 

Helix and all modelers replicate hardware, and that is all. They don't replicate everything that happened in Recording Studio A in 1978 with everything that was going on inside. 

 

So we all just plug in to our Helix, crank it up, and enjoy what we are doing...and they all lived happily ever after. 

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Anyone who says that only Andy Summers could get that tone is wrong. Guess what? Even Andy himself couldn't replicate that tone in a live setting, so hence why I'm betting you can't get it on a Helix. It is not the multi tracking that is so special about it either. There's something about this tone that can't be explained, but I'm open to takers.

 

Also the "tone is in the fingers" argument is stupid when it comes to playing basic suspended 9 chords like those in this song, because there's only so many ways to push a string against a fret. The only time that argument could ever come into play is when you're comparing more expressive techniques like vibrato, and even then, I'd argue it is nothing more than an excuse.

Why do you care? Why should we care? This thread is just weird.

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...and when it is all said and done, who really cares. If I am going to play a Police cover, I don't give a rip about "nailing his sound. People get hung up about getting a particular sound "exactly" like a recording. It's not going to happen. You even said it yourself, Andy couldn't even replicate that sound again. However, if I load up my Andy Summers preset and start playing, even my grandma will say "Hey, that's Message in a Bottle." 

 

Helix and all modelers replicate hardware, and that is all. They don't replicate everything that happened in Recording Studio A in 1978 with everything that was going on inside. 

 

So we all just plug in to our Helix, crank it up, and enjoy what we are doing...and they all lived happily ever after. 

 

I want to hear a clip of that preset

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I want to hear a clip of that preset

Why? He's already stated that it's not identical. You've already decided that Helix can't do it. You're not going to be satisfied no matter what gets posted. And even if you are satisfied you're not going to be able to reproduce it using your equipment for reasons that were discussed at length in your other thread.

 

How about this: you win. Helix can't produce this tone to your satisfaction. Happy now? Let's all go home now.

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Hey you forgot to complain about the tuner and the time it takes to switch between presets.... LOL

 

Oh yeah almost forgot to mention I nailed that tone last week and you can buy it for the low low price of 3 easy payments of $49.99... Wait but that's not all you get the "Pick Hand" if your one of the first 100 callers. Yes that's right I will send you my pick hand absolutely free as a bonus when you buy this preset.... but wait there's even more... I'lll include the stray cat, no its not another preset it this cat that has been hanging out at my house and spraying my front door... that's right you get all this for.......

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For this tone I use my BC Rich Warlock into a split parallel path. The first path is empty, just raw pickup output, the second path is three Line 6 Fatality amps IN SERIES, no cab, and a 70s chorus. I used this patch and my friend Jon who really likes the Police was all like "woah I totally thought it was the record!!1!1!!" Sorry my usb cable is over at Jon's house so I can't record it.

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Funny thing to me is that if someone posted a clip of this tone is isolation with no context, not playing this progression, and said it was from the Helix, there would probably be a chorus of people saying it sucked... I'm always struck how "uninspiring" some of these guitar tones sound in isolation. Just goes to show that what works in a mix and what we think sounds good on its own are often very different.

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For this tone I use my BC Rich Warlock into a split parallel path. The first path is empty, just raw pickup output, the second path is three Line 6 Fatality amps IN SERIES, no cab, and a 70s chorus. I used this patch and my friend Jon who really likes the Police was all like "woah I totally thought it was the record!!1!1!!" Sorry my usb cable is over at Jon's house so I can't record it.

Lmao...what no "Satan's Overdrive" pedal?

 

Personally, I find this patch works best with this awesome sample I found of "Marching to Pretoria" played on a mouth harp and kazzoo, endlessly looping in the background...;)

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For this tone I use my BC Rich Warlock into a split parallel path. The first path is empty, just raw pickup output, the second path is three Line 6 Fatality amps IN SERIES, no cab, and a 70s chorus. I used this patch and my friend Jon who really likes the Police was all like "woah I totally thought it was the record!!1!1!!" Sorry my usb cable is over at Jon's house so I can't record it.

This one sounds pretty sexy. I have to find someone with a Warlock I can borrow. Or maybe I'll just wait for it to be added to Variax. 

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Lmao...what no "Satan's Overdrive" pedal?

 

Personally, I find this patch works best with this awesome sample I found of "Marching to Pretoria" played on a mouth harp and kazzoo, endlessly looping in the background... ;)

 

Saying the same thing lots of times is critical to any Police tone, so I think Marching to Pretoria would absolutely nail it.

 

Not sure about Satan's Overdrive, but no polished tone is complete without one of these:

 

cpfqta0waaahpkx.jpg

 

This one sounds pretty sexy. I have to find someone with a Warlock I can borrow. Or maybe I'll just wait for it to be added to Variax. 

 

If you can't get your hands on a genuine Andy Summers signature Warlock (I wish I had the Photoshop skills to provide a picture...), I've heard that a Telecaster with a humbucker in the neck position and an onboard pre-amp can get you pretty close. But that's just an old legend that school kids tell to scare each other...

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Saying the same thing lots of times is critical to any Police tone, so I think Marching to Pretoria would absolutely nail it.

 

 

I was listening to the Police box set last weekend, and my youngest daughter yells out loud "OK already, put on the red light...we get it!." Kids these days...

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I was listening to the Police box set last weekend, and my youngest daughter yells out loud "OK already, put on the red light...we get it!." Kids these days...

Ugh..."Roxanne" is worse than the "1-877-CARS-4-KIDS" commercial.

 

The CIA shouldn't need water-boarding. Just play that awful song endlessly. It'll break anybody...;)

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Here's what I read about Andy Summers rig he was using back then:

"At the very beginning of the birth of The Police, Andy Summers' rig was rather sparse. To Guitar Player magazine he revealed: â€œI had simple tools: a Telecaster, a Fender Twin, and maybe an MXR Phase 90. The next thing I got was a chorus, and that, along with the Echoplex, became very characteristic of the Police sound."
 

And of course he famously used Roland guitar synths with the GK pickup on stuff like "Don't Stand So Close To Me" and cool stuff on Synchronicity. 

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I play in a police tribute band called The Heat, and I use the Helix with snapshots exclusively. I have a patch for every song and with a little research and tweaking have come very close to most of Andy's tones. I am at work right now but I will post a clip of message in the bottle later. I usually have parallel path, use the Roland, Fender Twin, even a marshall in there. Echoplex, electro-harmonix, and seventies chorus are used quite a bit. I am usually more of a hard rock guy but we have a three piece band and decided to do the police thing on the side. It has been one of my favorite uses of the helix. I might have a little bit more dirt on my message in the bottle tone than that clip, but I have no doubt it can replicated very accurately! And yes, I cannot listen to Roxanne on the radio, but it's fun to play in the Crowd Goes Crazy, we usually do the live version and have a breakdown in the middle.. I would rather play Roxanne then Sweet Child O mine LOL

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Good lordy there's some children on this thread too! Doing a police tribute I'll try to get the sounds as close as possible, I do use a Telecaster but I also have a Epiphone custom Les Paul with coil split pickups that sounds amazing on this stuff. Andy did have quite a custom guitar, and obviously that affects the sound, but you would be surprised how close you can get with some good tweaking and research

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If you do post some clips, please start a new thread. This one has hit the bottom of the barrel. 

 

And if you are taking requests... Please do Syncronicity II, Bring on the Night, and Murder by Numbers  :D

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