Robben Ford Discussion

[kirk95]

First, I forgot that Robben opened the Soiled Dove show with "Chevrolet." Great tune and great version BTW.

A couple of things about the Robben tone, now that I have seen him play in a venue where I have played as well.

The first thing is Robben plays really LOUD! Man he has that Dumble turned up! He was easily twice as loud as I ever was in the Soiled Dove and the sound guy always screams at me to turn down. I know I'd never tell him to turn it down.

The magic tone involves some serious volume pushing the power tubes and speakers!! Despite Daved's warning (repeated warnings), the first show I was directly in front of Robben's cab. The second show, I learned my lesson, I was one table to the left of the cab. This was much more enjoyable!

The other thing that I really noticed is that he uses A LOT of TC2290 Delay. Those delays are mixed hot. He basically uses 3 Delay times 116, 168, and 250 and switches among them all night long. But you can really hear them. It's a big part of his tone!

He played mostly the Black Baker which is equipped with a Duncan 59 in the bridge, a Pearly Gates in neck position and a coil splitter toggle switch. He played mostly on the bridge pickup typically using it split in single coil mode for clean rhythm playing and switching to both coils for the signature singing lead tones. A couple of times he used the neck pickup but 85% of the time he uses the treble pickup.

Daved was saying that the Baker setup up specs are much different than anything he has ever used in the past. He said Robben had just had the 6105 frets trimmed down lower and the action is much lower than any other guitar he uses past and present.

He didn't play as much Tele this time out. But boy does his sound incredible! On "It Don't Make Sense (You Can't Make Peace)" Robben plays with just his fingers no pick. That has to be most incredible Tele tones I have ever heard! You could just listen to that all night long. Robben is already an extremely dynamic player, but with just fingers this is magnified 10x!

Just wanted to share those observations with everyone...

All and all, I give it a.............

Can't wait 'till next time!
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[PierreL]

Thanks for the info Captain, I was really wondering how he was using his pickups ( which one for clean parts, splitted or not ...) , now I know

[juspasinby2003]

David,
Thanks for sharing that. I noticed the hot delay mix also when I saw him recently. I think it's a new thing with him because I never noticed his using that much delay before. It's about twice as much as I have heard him use in the past. Did you notice if he had the ducking function engaged? In other words, did the delay diminish and seem to get out of the way during loud passages? Did you notice if it seemed to be gated so that the delay repeats were fewer when he stopped playing? It didn't seem as if he had either of those functions engaged when I saw him, but I couldn't be sure. It sounded good when I last heard it, but it was prominent and noticeable, and it struck me as unusual for him.

[bluejack]

Being unfamiliar with the TC 2290 i was wondering how does one switch between the three diferrent delay settings. Do you need three units or are there presets?
thanks,
J

[kirk95]

There are factory and userer programmed presets. Robben has a footswitch.
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[Flavum]

Robben's got a TC0144 foot controller. It's specifically designed to interface with the 2290 and has a TRS plug that carries power as well as program change (and other) commands. Unfortunately, they've been out of production for a number of years. I used to own one, but it got rather beat up and I, umm, threw it away. Not a smart move - they sell for big $ when they turn up on eBay.

For anyone that's interested, you can build a fairly vesatile 5-switch controller for the 2290. I can probably dig out the schematic (I think it's included in the 2290 manual).

And finally, a unit like the Tech21 MIDI Mouse can be used to send simple MIDI program change commands to any MIDI device, including the 2290.

[Flavum]

Hmm...I may be mistaken in the TC0144 comment. Judging by some pictures I've just seen of Robben's setup, he may be using the somewhat smaller TC0050 (although I honestly recall seeing an 0144 in his setup at one point). It's still tailored to interface with the 2290, but is a bit simpler in design and function. Anyone with some very basic electronics ability can build one using 5 footswitches and a few resistors.

[frank0936]

Thanks Captain,
I tried that last night with Godin LGX. It has dual humbuckers. It has a pull switch on the tone that isn't really a coil splitter, but it cuts some of the midrange to make it sound more like a single coil, if I remember right. It did help me gat a little closer to Robben's tone, especially on the rhythm parts. You say Robben plays much louder than you can in that club to get his tone. I wondered, have you ever tried a power soak? I've heard good and bad things about them and was wondering if I should get one. what do you think?
Frank

[frank0936]

Dxxx! I really should proofread my posts. Sorry for the errors, but I'm at work and we are a little busier today than yesterday.
Frank

[iamthewalrus]

[Blackface]

[abergdahl]

I think that a key element in Robbens tone is sheer VOLUME, a power soak will lower volume and you will not get the TONE. Most Dumble style amps have master volume that works better than a soak, but for some sounds you will need to move AIR.
Eric Claptons sound with Cream and BluesBrakers are other examples of Tone that comes from volume. I have played a VERY good LesPaul through a cranked Marshall, the Cream sound comes very much from the interaction between guitar and amp at high volume. Same goes from Robbens sound playing my Mystic Blues at high volume gives a sound, and FEEL, quite close to Robbens.

[Flavum]

The volume consideration is a good one, but there are differences between Clapton's use of volume and Robben's.

Clapton's old Marshalls were equipped with Celestion 25-watt (or maybe even 20-watt) speakers, and when driven hard, they contributed significantly to his tone. I believe that Robben's Dumble (and most Dumbles) have higher-wattage speakers that aren't as prone to breakup and distortion. What you end up hearing is based more on the sound of the amp's overdrive, rather than the speaker's.

Also, Clapton (and other Marshall users like Duane Allman and Jimmy Page) pushed their amps to the point of power tube distortion, rather than the preamp distortion that we hear with Robben's Dumbles. To achieve overdrive in the power section of a tube amp, you've got to seriously crank the volume, and that's often not possible at smaller gigs or at home.

An attenuator can be a valuable tool when used sparingly. If you're looking for rich, singing lead tones at bedroom level, you'll be disappointed. But to bring the volume down from "too loud" to just "loud", they can work wonders. My '68 Marshall 50-watt would be just about useless without a small amount of attenuation. Figuratively speaking, of course.

[bluesman]

If you're looking for rich, singing lead tones at bedroom level - buy a KOCH PEDALTONE or VHT VALVULATOR!!!