Billy Idol Flesh for Fantasy

[Xabiche]

What effects did Stevens use on that clean tone? Thick chorus & some reverb? What guitar/amp was he using?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmQt71SCDJ4

[louderock]

That is a Rockman.

[GAD]

Man I love that song. Pure 80s memories...

GAD

[squeally dan]

I love that whole album. I saw him at a local college for that tour (Rebel Yell). That record was the soundtrack for one of my childhood summers. Best snarl in rock n' roll.

[rob2001]

Lots of compression, probably in mixdown.

[Xabiche]

So if you don't have a Rockman how do you get close to it? It's an effect combo that I've heard many times and really like but I'm not sure how to get there.

[rob2001]

Originally Posted by Xabiche

So if you don't have a Rockman how do you get close to it? It's an effect combo that I've heard many times and really like but I'm not sure how to get there.

I'm thinkin single coils, loads of compression and some chorus.

[louderock]

I worked with Billy Idol and Steve in the studio earlier this year. I recorded 3 new songs for the Greatest Hits. I specifically asked about that tone on 'Flesh' and he told me about the Rockman. It was the portable one with the headphone jack. There are other ways to get there but in the studio it's often direct. We even did some parts on the new stuff that involved plugging the guitar into a compressor and adding a bit of high end eq and then plugging straight in to the console. Added effects to the recorded sound. Basically a chorus with a stereo echo that is set to a different division of the beat for Left and Right. A lot of the chorus also comes from how the tremolo (whammy bar) acts with the delay regeneration. Also good to have some modulation on the delay itself to slightly bend the repeats.

[brent]

Rockman set on Clean sustain into a Dimension D, lots of echo and reverb at the board

[squeally dan]

Not to derail this thread, but I have another Billiy Idol question. Why does he not tour much anymore? I'd love to see him. I see all the 80's metal guys back on tour (Crue, Posion, etc.), but what about Billy?

[Kenny D]

I believe in a recent GP article (last couple of months) Stevens said it was a Rockman. I don't know what he uses live.

You can get close with any good stereo rig. Personally, I use a TC Electronic G-Major with the harmonizer set to +7 cents on one channel and -7 cents on the other. The bonus with this approachis that you don't get that swirly effect that a chorus pedal gives you.