Tina Turner "Private Dancer" Guitar Sound ?

[thedonkey68]

Hi all, 

 

I've always loved the sound of the clean guitar sound on the Tina Turner track "Private Dancer" - long reverb I think but would love if anyone could point me in the right direction of what settings is used etc. 

 

Much appreciated. 

[theElevators]

The key ingredient of the sound is the slapback delay.  It doubles your sound so that it has that "tile room" sound.  Then maybe some kind of a distortion, flanger... recorded directly without an amp.  It could be a thousand things that went into the sound, but I definitely hear the slapback. 

[DunedinDragon]

To me the key ingredient in that tone is the mellow mid-range which comes down to the guitar being used.  Highly doubtful that's from a single coil, but my guess would be it's more likely something along the lines of the 335 with humbuckers.  It's not as clean as one might think as it has a bit of a breakup when the guitar player digs in.  With the right type of guitar I think the sound is very achievable with a number of amp, cab and mic configurations.  I'd probably start with the HiWatt and definitely a R121 ribbon mic in the mix and maybe a mix with a dynamic mic of some sort.  I'd have to experiment with speakers to find the right sound.  Then the effects to top it off, but that's the easy part if you get all the other elements right.

[codamedia]

Jeff Beck is the guitar player on that cut.

 

I think that's a Strat middle position (or stacked humbucking bridge position) into a Marshall... then studio effects applied such as compression, delay and reverb. There is a hint of gain to the Marshall but it might be useful to know how JB does this. He cranks his Marshall(s), then rolls the volume back on his guitars to clean it up. He always has a lot on tap for explosive moments.  Alternatively, you could setup a Plexi Bright with the gain around 3 or 4 while keeping the guitar volume at full or slightly under. 

To really copy the sound you have to be in stereo... then run both a slapback (mono) and a longer delay (tap in the tempo... ballpark 400ms) which is only on the left side of the recording.

 

NOTE: Toward the end of the solo (the highest parts) you might think you hear an effect... that's just trademark Jeff Beck whammy bar. Practice, practice, practice - LOL! It is those high parts at the end of the solo that screams STRAT to me because the trem bar is so identifiable with Jeff Beck. No dive bombing, just a shake which leads to shimmer & sustain. 

 

FWIW, Private Dancer was written by Mark Knopfler and recorded by Dire Straits for their "Love Over Gold" Album. Mark wasn't comfortable with singing the song and thought it was better suited for a woman to do. Most of Dire Straits (sans Mark) plays on the track, Jeff Beck was brought in to add the guitar.