Satch's distortion and musical prodigies...

[curiousgeorge]

Just to clarify, this is about two things, not about his distortions connection to musical prodigies. I know he used to use a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal (the orange one) and I tried one yesterday, but it was way tamer than I thought. My Ibanez Smashbox has tons more distortion. Did he just have really high output pickups or what? I don't know if he still uses that pedal or if he just uses the Peavey JSX's amp distortion. I saw him in Toronto recently and was floored by his tone. I imagine he uses a light delay for soloing. His guitar sound is really spacey when he plays lead (which is often,very often). About musical prodigies. I used to know a guy when I was in high school(way back) who could play every single song from Surfing With The Alien note-for-note with a JS-100 and a Peavey 5150 stack. It was scary how fast this kid could play and he was only 17 at the time. I've seen other jaw-dropping performances from other kids too here and there. It boggles my mind how they get so good. I was told I am a fantastic player, but I am definitely not that fast and precise yet(been playing 12 years!). Many of you guys say it takes years to develop these skills, but how are these guys shredding so quick so young?!
Frustrated,
the Beav.

[Bizarro]

Satriani uses a Keeley modified DS-1. Google should get you some more info, and you can send your pedal to him and he'll mod it just like JS. Satriani doesn't have too much "mega-distortion" in most of his stuff, IMO. A lot of his tone is in his hands... The Live in San Francisco DVD has a bunch of info on his gear, and Peavey had a long video online of him talking about the JSX amp and which channels/pedals he used.

IMO, it only takes 2-3 years to develop mega speed and chops if you are extremely dedicated and know how to practice. I had perpetual motion nailed less than 3 years of playing, but that was over 15 years ago! Maintaining your technique over decades is another matter all together. I continually struggle and have to pick and choose which techniques I want to be the most competent (classical, fingerstyle jazz, hybrid-country, legato, flat-picking, etc). A lot of the time I suck at every style!

BTW, some people are naturally faster (or slower) than others. That's life, and serious practice can make up for most of it.

[C-major]

i agree on not using a mega-distortion, and the fact that most of his tone is in his fingers. What you really need is a good technique, not a good pedal (although it can help )
and what's also quite nice about his tone is the delay. Now i'm not realy into copying someone's tone,but i do set my deay somewhat like his.
In fact, he uses 2 (sometimes even 3) different delays, one with short intervals, the next with a bit longer, wich sounds really nice if you get it just right!

[curiousgeorge]

who is this Keeley guy/company? How much does it cost and how do I contact him/them? The pedal's pretty cheap ($90) so I would do it. I like mods

[metalprep6969]

http://www.robertkeeley.com/

The mod is only 60 bucks (70 outside of the US), or you could get a new one for 109. It's on my list of things to get.

\m/

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks a ton dude! On my way to mod heaven!