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Re: Robert Fripp



> <<>>does anyone know what signal chain Robert
> Fripp uses to get that tone? I've always liked
> that. It sounds like a fuzz box to me, maybe 
> with an octave.<< 
> 
> I think it's just shit-loads of gain, though you
> never hear any buzz or hiss.... 
<snip> 
> also, mr fripp uses his tone controls very
> carefully- it's quite a mellow sound <snip>

> Well, at least in the early 70's, Fripp used just
> a volume pedal, wah wah, and fuzztone, with, I
> think, a tape delay of some kind (for regular
> echo effects). Fripp did an interview in Guitar
> Player back in 73 or 74 (Earthbound is mentioned,
> and so if Bruford, so it had to be about that
> time frame), and he said he wasn't even sure what
> brand wah wah or distortion pedal he was using at
> that point, and added "I've been able to get my
> sound regardless of what fuzztone I'm using" or
> something like that. 
> 
> At least the way it appears on records like
> Earthbound, I think it's the fuzztone, combined
> with the careful use of the wah wah and the tone
> controls on the guitar. I remember reading where
> Steve Stevens (when he was still playing in Billy
> Idol's band) said that he used "an old Robert
> Fripp" trick, which revolved around using the
> neck pickup and backing off on the tone control.
> I think he said that he prefered to use a Rat
> pedal, whereas Fripp used a Big Muff (not sure
> about the early 70's, but I know I read in other
> articles where Fripp mentioned using a Big Muff,
> and also that he used to use a Burns Buzzaround
> as well, in later articles and one of the boffins
> working for him build a switching unit that
> allowed him to switch between any distortion
> pedal he wanted). 

I was playing around a little last night and got sort of the character of 
the
sound I was thinking about using a BigMuff into a distorted British amp 
sim on my
DG Stomp, with the tone control on the guitar partly rolled off. I was 
using a
Strat-style guitar with Joe Barden pickups, if that matters (I don't 
really think
so, since the Big Muff tends to homogenize whatever you feed it). I 
certainly
don't sound like Robert Fripp when I play, but the tone at least had 
enough of
the character I was listening for that I recognized it.

Greg

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