Most important piece of gear for vai's tone?

The name says it all! Discuss Steve's studios, your studios and gear set-ups, amps and effects here. This is not for discussing guitars (Steve's or otherwise).
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soloist4hire
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Other than the Jem and the legacy, what would be the single most important piece of gear needed to get vai's tone? Would it be a harmonizor, a delay, a reverb, what?
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fyrie
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Equipment-wise I'd say it's the Evolution pickup.
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al
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well if u have a jem id figure there a pickup in there already then the legacy too...

either the next most important thing just to get the tone is an overdrive/distortion, delay then the g-system
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fyrie
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al wrote:well if u have a jem id figure there a pickup in there already then the legacy too...
True, but there have been very many pickups in the Jem series over the years. I do however see your point in that the OP maybe included the pickup in the Jem.
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boswell
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I reckon if Steve picked up my Steinberger, plugged into my Mesa Express, then spent a couple of minutes tweaking the channel settings, EQ, Delay, Chorus and reverb he'd sound just like Steve Vai. 8)
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lydian2000
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Exactly. Just like the video I saw a couple months ago of satriani playing surfing or summer song on a very cheap guitar and amp and he sounded...just like him.


:peace
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Stephen Brown
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Hours put in.
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Desert_Runner
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soloist4hire wrote:Other than the Jem and the legacy, what would be the single most important piece of gear needed to get vai's tone? Would it be a harmonizor, a delay, a reverb, what?
His hands. :wink:
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Svelt Pen
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The fan
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soloist4hire
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Ok, i guess i should have been alittle more specific, but I understand, hands, and yada yada, im talking equiptment. in otherwords, the one thing he couldnt live without....lol
Last edited by soloist4hire on Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Svelt Pen
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soloist4hire wrote:Ok, i guess i should have been alittle more specific, but I understand, hands, and yada yada, im talking equiptment. in otherwords, trying to emulate his sound equiptment wise.
Legacy, JEM, Jemini, G Force, fan.
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Patill
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lydian2000 wrote:Exactly. Just like the video I saw a couple months ago of satriani playing surfing or summer song on a very cheap guitar and amp and he sounded...just like him.


:peace
oh, I saw the video, too and I would not say so. I think it sounded like a Single Coil Strat (just as it was :P)


I would say, even if you put this out of the poll, it is the Legacy, that makes 80% of the Sound you can hear from Steve. I was so stunned, when I first played a Legacy (was the same day I bought it), that I finally was able to achieve the sound I liked most in the world that time ;). The only funny thing is, that I sent myself out to buy a Legacy without knowing its sound...and after testing it, a Legacy I bought :P.


It sounds to me, that you wanna spend some money in "cheap" gear, to achieve Steve Vais sound. Save your money for a Legacy, that´s my advice!!!
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soloist4hire
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Yeah man, i have a legacy 212, and it is the most stunning amp I have ever heard in my life. I really enjoyed playing the peavey jsx, but got aggravated at the fact that the ultra and crunch channels sounded the same. I feel lucky to say I own a legacy. I honestly think it evokes music from within that I didnt even know was there....ya know, i might start a new post about that....lol.
Last edited by soloist4hire on Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Patill
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ah, so you own a legacy ;).

hmm, what Divebomb harmonics? Maybe you should go for a Distortionpedal to boost the gain? Just like a DS-1 or even the Jemini.

So is it a more guitarplaying technical question? You won´t fix that with gear, though, I don´t know how a Legacy 2x12 sounds, I´ve heared it´s a little bit diffrent to a Head...Steves settings were posted on the carvin website. You should get sound like Steve out of a Lgacy????? Usually it´s hard not to get them ;)
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soloist4hire
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Yeah ive seen some of the postings as far as the legacy settings go, but have yet to see one about effects and settings for windows to the soul. Thats the song that got me into guitar in the first place. The first time i heard it, i was like, I want to do that! lol. I swear, I almost cried the first time I heard that song...lol. Anyways, the 212 sounds really good. Im pretty happy with it. Im going to by me a half stack version as well tho next month i think. I think the head has more headroom. IMO. Plus, a buddy of mine has built amps for everyone from journey to orchestra conductors, so i wanna try and frankenstien one. Kinda like the peavey JSX clean, Legacy Lead, and find a way to cram a dumble channel in there...lol. It should be a fun project to work on tho. :D
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