Anybody know how to get great Radiohead tones?

ijonty

What pedals and effects are good for reproducing Radiohead tracks? Are there tones that are easy to replicate for certain songs?

My board is pretty basic:

MXR Dyna Comp
Tube Screamer
Marshall Guv'nor
Belle Epoch take echo
Tomkat Day Dreamer
and a Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeller for the rest.

I've a Tele with a Cornell Romany amp.

EDIT:

What are your favourite Radiohead songs to play, and what effects do you use?

(Was trying to play Bodysnatchers yesterday, but couldn't get it quite right)



Any help really appreciated!

bingefeller

I think a Rat would be essential for the distortion part of it.

Moss

The original Bodysnatchers tone was recorded straight into the desk, hence the raspy tone

BintyTwanger77

You've got the perfect guitar for it, though I think Jonny Greenwood uses an AC30, might be wrong though. He uses a Roland Space Echo as well, so maybe a Boss RE-20, definitely a Rat.

DesVegas

Absolutely an ehx small stone

stickyfiddle

Thom is a big Rat fan, which would get pretty close to that sound with your rig.

The small stone is essential for OK Computer in particular, but it's not on Bodysnatchers iirc

EricTheWeary

TPS did an Ed OBrien pedalboard build in 2015, no idea if there are any clues in there.

ijonty

Great, thanks!

So sounds like Bodysnatchers ideally needs a mixing desk for authenticity, or maybe a RAT.

What are your favourite Radiohead songs to play folks, and what effects do you use?

Oh, and @EricTheWeary - that video is a bit mind-blowing! Would love to have mine built for me!

GavRichList

Digitech whammy too. Instant Iron Lung. 

midiglitch

For body snatchers a fuzz might be better than a rat, but in either case the eq is carefully managed in the mids and top end. So I would suggest an eq is essential. 
Radiohead 'tones' vary significantly depending on the era. 
The bends is characterised by marshal shredmaster, tremolo and whammy. 
Ok computer is probably the most 'interesting'. Lots of use of phaser, delay, the whammy and some weird pedal arrangements like tremolo into auto wah. The clangy Rat into ac30 sound can be heard in a few spots. 
From hail to the theif onwards the guitars are more 'normal' but characterised by big eq boosts-particularly in the mids on layered in guitar parts like jonny's parts that come in later on go to sleep, there there, and the aforementioned bodysnatchers.

You can do a lot with the pedals you've already got. For maximum fun add a whammy and a phaser and get stuck into ok computer. To get things sounding authentic put an eq pedal after your rat and try to tune the level of grit, mids and top end to whichever part it is you are trying to pick out. 

There there is cool to play, especially if you are allowed to play loud
Go to sleep is a cool riff. 
If you don't want to worry too much about fx try:
I will... and nude... beautiful. 
Knives out for kudos. 

Enjoy. 

Johnnyseven

Thom used a Turbo Rat and Jonny used a Fender Tele Plus (Lace Sensor humbucker at the bridge), Shredmaster and SD1 into an AC30 and Fender solid state combo - I forgot which one.

There's a website which lists loads of their gear through the ages.

Gadget

benmurray85

@midiglitch wis awarded simply for mentioning nude. My favourite Radiohead tune. 

For that "straight into the mixing desk" sound what about that JHS pedal? Is it called colour box or summat like that??? Sorry I can't be more specific. Also if anyone else does one of those types of pedals use an alternative coz, ya know, JHS :-/

DesVegas

The last 4 minutes of blow out live at the Astoria is my favourite Radiohead

pintspiller

We had a band open for us years ago who did some Radiohead covers. One of the guitarists spent ten mins between numbers fucking about with his pedals. 

ijonty

Thanks all, really helpful!

bwets

http://thekingofgear.com

juansolo

ijonty said:

Anybody know how to get great Radiohead tones?

Depression and self loathing have got to be a good place to start.

ijonty

@juansolo Yep, got loads of that. And I twitch when I sing...

JohnPerry

pintspiller said:

We had a band open for us years ago who did some Radiohead covers. One of the guitarists spent ten mins between numbers fucking about with his pedals. 

Ed's made a career of it

WarpedSounds

Johnnyseven said:

Thom used a Turbo Rat and Jonny used a Fender Tele Plus (Lace Sensor humbucker at the bridge), Shredmaster and SD1 into an AC30 and Fender solid state combo - I forgot which one.

There's a website which lists loads of their gear through the ages.

I think it was a Shredmaster into a Fender Eight-Five. 

This is the only resource you'll ever need (other than a huge bank loan): http://thekingofgear.com/