Yes! I'm obsessed with with Built To Spill, help me match this lead tone?

builttospill

I really really love this lead tone on 'Carry The Zero' apologies for poor video quality on the first link.
I know that Doug Martsch uses a Blackface Bassman, 88' Strat Plus no tone knobs! electrics stripped out over time, just the middle pickup, he doesn't use an overdrive i think? just 2 X EP Boosters one for boosting the other for grit, Xotic SP compressor, and maybe a vintage rat or some sort of fuzz made by the other guitarist Jim Roth (Germs FX!) Is there a distortion/fuzz pedal out there that can get reasonably close to this lead tone? I've tried a vintage Rat 2 with my set up and it didn't quite get there, kind of thin/honky sounding, using my Hotcake with the drive set to max nearly got there but sounded a little spluttery! Convincingly I've managed to replicate the gritty sounding overdrive with a Crazy Tube Circuits Blackface Stardust such a fantastic pedal this I love it! but the lead just doesn't work. Any help greatly appreciated.



    

GurrGurr

Didn't he even play 3 ep boosters?
If I remember correctly the strat is set on the middle pickup position. Read it somewhere.
This lead tone sounds like overdriven amp.
Love bts, too. Hope he'll find a 2nd and 3rd guitarist soon.

builttospill

GurrGurr said:

Didn't he even play 3 ep boosters?
If I remember correctly the strat is set on the middle pickup position. Read it somewhere.
This lead tone sounds like overdriven amp.
Love bts, too. Hope he'll find a 2nd and 3rd guitarist soon.

He may have used three EP Boosters or three Dunlop Echoplex Preamps? Absolutely fantastic live band! I think the other guitarists are still around? will be interesting to see if he sticks it as three piece, when I last saw them it was just him and Jim Roth, It was still awesome sounding though. Have you managed to catch them live?

BensonJones

Massive fan of BTS here. Ive read that Doug stacks up to 3 ep boosters now. In the past he used a danelectro pedal, as well as some pedals made by Jim Roth

builttospill

BensonJones said:

Massive fan of BTS here. Ive read that Doug stacks up to 3 ep boosters now. In the past he used a danelectro pedal, as well as some pedals made by Jim Roth

Great to see some fellow BTS fans on here... still searching for something that can roughly imitate that solo... imagine splashing out a couple of grand on a vintage 64 bassman, three EP boosters and an SP comp only for it to sound like utter shite!

BensonJones

Or just get a big sticker saying 'Ben' and stick that on your Strat, maybe that's the secret to the tone