Effects used in a couple songs

[jmusser]

The first song I'm wondering about is "Seven Nation Army" by White Stripes. What might that high pitch kazoo/syth sounding thing be? The next one has probably been asked about 100 times, but what fuzz is used in Led Zeppelin's Dancing in the Rain? That one sounds real "facey". The White Stripes guitar could be playing bottle neck slide on that tune also, but it's hard to tell because of the synthy tone of it.

[Johnny G]

white stripes i dont know. dancing in the rain on the solo is an MXR Blue Box for the solo.

7 nation army could just be distortion with some EQing to just pull upthe mids and highs but dont take my word for it

[KORGULL]

Going by some guitar magazine interviews with Jack White that I've read, the sound on "Seven Nation Army" most likely involves a Digitech Whammy pedal and/or a Big Muff. He says those are the only two pedals that he likes/uses.
I don't think they use synths (or bass gtr) at all.
All songs are recorded with only guitar, drums and voice.

I would say it is a whammy pedal on that song.

[Johnny G]

hm thinking about it that makes complete sense. what with the opening riff being played detuned and it definatelly sounds like a digitech pitch shifted up.....i could go cover itthen if i wanted to.......or not lol

[Ge_Whiz]

'Seven Nation Army' supposed "bass line" is a guitar through a Digitech Whammy. Distortion almost certainly a Big Muff.

[jmusser]

The Digitech Whammy is an effect I've never been around or owned because it's expensive. As far as I know, it's an intense pitch shifter, so it would make sense that it would be capable of that tone. MXR Blue Box huh? That's s a sweat sounding pedal to be sure. I've obviously been missing something not to have built that one. I've read a couple blurbs on the Whammy, that there was a certain issue that is better than others. Maybe it was the original that first come out, I can't remember.

[aaronkessman]

seven nation army was probably recorded with a hollow body, as that's what I've seen him play it on. the kazoo sound is the guitar with big muff played with a slide, yes. there is a whammy in there too, but not throughout the entire song.

the white stripes dont really boast about it they way some other bands do, but what's with numbskulls like rage against the machine boasting that they dont use synths? morello uses a friggin whammy and so many effects that the guitar is essentially just a drigger for a digital sound anyway.....ahhh useless rant, sorry.

jack white uses the big muff and whammy mostly. i think a couple other pedals, but rarely.

Aaron

[jmusser]

I was wondering about the "bass part" too. My son said that he had seen them hit a pedal or something in the video, and that they just used guitar. He was saying that he thought it was like my bass pedal (Arion MOC-1). Again, that would certainly make sense. I know no one here likes to use the "D" word (digital), but that sure seems like it would be a fun and versatile pedal. I was reading a little about it on Ebay, and the original WH-1 (I think) was supposed to be the good one. Someone has one starting @ $300.00 on there right now. Like I said, "Expensive".

[aaronkessman]

yes, the "bass" is done with a whammy. not a bad simulation, gotta say.

[Ge_Whiz]

If you want to play with a whammy, buy a Digitech multi-effect RP50 with a volume pedal, or an RP80 (includes pedal), or even a second-hand RP100. These pedals all feature the Whammy effect at affordable prices - actually, I don't know in what way the real Whammy is better - and playing with it is a lot of fun. I like to play a drum machine through it and shift the pitch up and down at different points...

I have a rig with a crossover filter that splits off the lowest octave of the guitar from the higher notes - this lower octave then goes to a BP50 with whammy set to one octave down, plus some amp modelling, so that I can play a bass accompaniment to regular chords or lead, even through separate bass and guitar amps. The whole scheme cost less than £150 to put together.

[Johnny G]

the whammy is a seriouslly power full effect. yes you can use it for doing all the dive bombs and squeals (i love the squeals btw ) but its so much more than that. people mistakenlly believe that a pitch shifter is just for shifting the pitch but hell you pitch shift every time you change fret or string. this is just another way of doing it. used well its a brilliant piece of kit.

as for tom morello, alot of people do say he over uses the whammy but when you actually look at it, he does come up with some monsterous riffs without it. listen to bulls on parade. yes there's the solo where he uses it a bit but the rest of the guitar on it is actually damn good. its as solid a riff as they come.

with regards to the old vs new on the whammy. supposedlly old is better for 2 reasons. 1 is that both of them have very slight attack delay but the origional is not quite as bad as the new one. the second is that suposedlly the old one is more organic/analog/(insert buzz word here). i have an origional and the attack delay is barelly noticable its so tiny. as for the sound, past a certain point it does sound digital but thats the nature of the beast. you put up with that and lets face it, if your playing with pitch shifting your not looking for a clean sound in general.

i have an origional because i had the cash available and im looking at it as an investment. they're only gonna get more expensive. im looking into buying another 2 or 3 just to sit on them for a while

edit: jmusser, an origional wh-1 will go for alot more than $300. i ended up paying $425 for mine buy it now and then there was shipping. not to mention i got shafted on VAT when it got here even tho its second hand. damn gouvernment

[RedHouse]

Would that Led Zeppelin's Dancing in the Rain be the song "Fool In The Rain" off the Presence Album?

If so, on Jimmy Page's red Les Paul, he has had a Roland synth interface installed that he uses for that sound, how he gets it (settings) I don't know.

[Johnny G]

oh yeah he did say dancing in the rain to begin with. oh well. im 100% certain that the origional was cut with ablue box on the solo. JP may use summat different now tho.

[B Tremblay]

Would that Led Zeppelin's Dancing in the Rain be the song "Fool In The Rain" off the Presence Album?

"Fool in the Rain" is on In Through The Out Door

[RedHouse]

B Tremblay  
"Fool in the Rain" is on In Through The Out Door

Doh! you're right, silly me.

Johnny G
... im 100% certain that the origional was cut with ablue box on the solo...

I'm was going by an old Jimmy Page interview (IIRC Guitar World Mag) back in the 90's where he said he used the Roland interface he had installed on his red Les Paul, my memory may be failing me on this though.

I have used an MXR Blue Box though and (personally) didn't hear the sound from Fool In The Rain but that may just be me.