"Purple Rain" Prince tone......

sevenisthenumber · January 19, 2009, 08:26:05 PM

How can i get that "Purple Rain" tone? Anyone know what he was using on the album?

iaresee · January 19, 2009, 09:57:01 PM

Ever try going direct? Guitar -> mixer with a little chorus, delay added at the board? I find a lot of 80's clean tones can be found that way.

Zen · January 19, 2009, 10:52:32 PM

good luck. the search I ran seems to indicate that he has the entire Boss line, as well as unknown rack-mounted effects, that run through Mesa amps. But, that also seems to be his more current (2000 era) line.

sevenisthenumber · January 20, 2009, 12:28:13 AM

thats the wall i hit. He is a boss lover for sure. Im guessing he uses a lot of post production effects.......

Caferacernoc · January 20, 2009, 11:51:25 AM

Sounds like a Roland Jazz Chorus amp to me. The Dirty Mind album has lots of that tone too. I've read he liked Fender Twin's back then though so...... He was also a big Boss pedal user then so a '80's boss chorus would work for sure. And on the dirty stuff I'm sure it's a DS-1 Boss. You hear Boss Flanger a lot in that era too.
I'll bet anything that his rig in the Purple Rain era was early eighties MIJ Boss: DS-1, chorus, flanger, and a Crybaby wha wha into a Twin. And Wendy playing the Ric into a Roland JC-120.
Ummm, yeah, I was into Prince back then. ;-)

reb · January 20, 2009, 04:00:40 PM

He must use something for octaves... Both upper & lower. Lie the intro to 'When Doves Cry'.

Caferacernoc · January 20, 2009, 05:56:16 PM

Quote from: reb on January 20, 2009, 04:00:40 PM
He must use something for octaves... Both upper & lower. Lie the intro to 'When Doves Cry'.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. That's all over that album.

gigimarga · January 20, 2009, 07:31:26 PM

If i remember well (i've read this a couple of years ago...) Prince used two choruses (CE-2 maybe) in series, with different rates...but i am not sure

reverbie · January 20, 2009, 08:27:37 PM

Has anyone heard the newest prince album..."planet" something?

I know this is gonna get me shot on here, but it is 100% garbage production-wise. WTF happens to these guys when they get older?

Caferacernoc · January 21, 2009, 11:21:19 AM

Here's what kills me on a lot of new stuff coming out. You read an interview where they say stuff like, "on this record we got to to produce ourselves, we really got to concentrate on our tones, we went for an old school sound...... blah blah blah"
Then you hear the record and it's an overcompressed mess ear burner. Very disapointing.
Which is an epidemic these days, everyone needs to sound loud for the radio and iPods. I know some records do get produced well but then get destroyed in the mastering stage when all the mega compression is added.

Ben N · January 21, 2009, 03:37:00 PM

Quote from: reverbie on January 20, 2009, 08:27:37 PM
Has anyone heard the newest prince album..."planet" something?

I know this is gonna get me shot on here, but it is 100% garbage production-wise. WTF happens to these guys when they get older?

No reflection on either his playing, compositions, production, blah blah, but his tones never did much for me.

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"Purple Rain" Prince tone......