Dr103 or Fender Twin for Gilmour Tones

[GodlyGilmour]

Okay guys let’s settle this once and for all.

For Gilmour tones….. Hiwatt Dr103 or Fender twin reverb 100 watt. Leaning towards buying a Hiwatt. Love the shine on tone as well as the distorted tones on money and comf numb. Which amp is going to get me to those great cleans and fantastic fuzz sounds.

 

[jay42]

Hiwatt carries the extra benefit of frightening the Sound guy as you bring it in.

 

[Bluesful]

How isn't the answer a DR103?

 

[jay42]

While I don't see ever regretting a DR103, you might find that some guitars need boosted to drive the amp into distortion.

 

[Waxhead]

Okay guys let’s settle this once and for all.

For Gilmour tones….. Hiwatt Dr103 or Fender twin reverb 100 watt. Leaning towards buying a Hiwatt. Love the shine on tone as well as the distorted tones on money and comf numb. Which amp is going to get me to those great cleans and fantastic fuzz sounds.

are you serious ?
neither amp can produce fuzz tones - Gilmour used fuzz pedals connected to Hiwatt amps for that.

If you want to sound like someone else always use what they used

 

[Big Monk]

How isn't the answer a DR103?

This. There is no other answer.

 

[Echoplexi]

Hiwatt for the amp. Read Gilmourish and Kit Rae’s websites for the rest (and also about the amps), if you haven’t already.

 

[Big Monk]

Hiwatt for the amp. Read Gilmourish and Kit Rae’s websites for the rest (and also about the amps), if you haven’t already.

I’m building a Hiwatt sometime next year. Very excited about it.

 

[Echoplexi]

I’m building a Hiwatt sometime next year. Very excited about it.

Awesome!

 

[Oinkus]

Hiwatt would be the easy choice and it would be very nice to have one around here. Going to have to use a fuzz to get those sounds and many different ones will work .

 

[GodlyGilmour]

are you serious ?
neither amp can produce fuzz tones - Gilmour used fuzz pedals connected to Hiwatt amps for that.

If you want to sound like someone else always use what they used

I shoulda been more clear. Very aware u can’t distort this amp a lot let alone getting a fuzz sound out of it lol.

 

[gulliver]

I did a comparison with a buddy, trying to get my THD Bivalve to sound like his vintage HiWatt (clip below). We came so close, a third buddy, who is not a guitar player, thought they sounded the same. Both having large transformers and both having a very impactful tone. The other night, I was messing with the Bivalve, trying to get more Fendery tone. One of the things I tried was the use of the more dynamic Ultimate Attenuator (re-amping attenuator) rather than the built-in THD attenuator. Dang, what a huge difference. There was a certain sag with the Ultimate Attenuator that transformed the amp to Fendery, with a flick of a switch (ok, two switches). The weird thing, I was using a KT66 + 6550 tube pair, which is not traditionally Fenderesque.

The reason I bring this up is that I've read about various recording techniques, that might make Gilmour's HiWatt tones sound more Fendery. Is he cranking and re-amping through the studio control room? I've read things along these lines but can't remember the specifics.

I don't know the answer here, but Gilmour's tone sounds more Fender than HiWatt to my ears, from a dynamics perspective. Is it Recording techniques? Some of Pete Townsend's more HiWatt/Marshall sounding tones were recorded using a Fender tweed.

My answer; whatever sounds the most Gilmour is more Gilmour, regardless of the gear.

My attempt at HiWatt tone, using the THD Bivalve.

 

[Longer]

Chasing a recorded tone without the recording aspect seems perfectly set up to be a frustrating endeavor.
But if it was my goal… DR103

 

[ufguy73]

I think my favorite tones only really used the hiwatt as the power amp?

What was that preamp he used for a time? Alembic(?), which I understood to basically be a Fender style preamp?

 

[JimmyBrungus]

I think practicing Gilmour's dynamics, phrasing, and bends will make up the difference between many high headroom clean amps and the hiwatt. That's coming from someone who spent a few years and a few quid building what was essentially a Gilmour cover rig. I never had much difficulty finding the tones with either dr103s or fender twins, but make sure to get nice speakers well suited for either amp, and a boss rt20 rotary ensemble is remarkably effective at covering that slithery Yamaha rotating speaker. That thing's the secret sauce for tones from shine on you crazy diamond and dogs, among others. Happy hunting!

 

[eigentone]

I think my favorite tones only really used the hiwatt as the power amp?

What was that preamp he used for a time? Alembic(?), which I understood to basically be a Fender style preamp?

I think it was an F2B which they bought for Roger; Roger didn't like it and Dave found a use for it.

I have an old F2B. It's like a Showman preamp. It's a two channel preamp. Not like a switcher but two independent channels in one rack space. Cascade the channels if you like for extra fun. The F1X is a single channel version with some added features (which are most popular with bassists.)

 

[nic'o'caster]

If you want a definitive answer : DR103 of course. Extremely powerful, efficient and searing with pummeling low end, incredibly dynamic, touch-sensitive responsiveness, etc... are the words !

That said, both amps offer tremendous headroom and take pedals extremely well, a Twin would work for the job too. For me, Gilmour tones are more about pedals and chops !

 

[DiPa]

I think practicing Gilmour's dynamics, phrasing, and bends will make up the difference between many high headroom clean amps and the hiwatt. That's coming from someone who spent a few years and a few quid building what was essentially a Gilmour cover rig. I never had much difficulty finding the tones with either dr103s or fender twins, but make sure to get nice speakers well suited for either amp, and a boss rt20 rotary ensemble is remarkably effective at covering that slithery Yamaha rotating speaker. That thing's the secret sauce for tones from shine on you crazy diamond and dogs, among others. Happy hunting!

Gilmour will sound the same with a Fender Twin Reverb or DR103; agree, practicing his dynamics, phrasing, bends and all the slides etc will be the place to start imo too.

 

[Timbre Wolf]

Harry Joyce & Rawson Sparfield have the combined solution for you:

Harry Joyce (UK) Custom 100 F2B 100 watt amplifier

 

[71strat]

Hiwatt, or Hi-Tone DG100. Harry Joyce
Rawson Sparfield Starfinder speakers. These speakers are accurate reproductions of the original Fane Cresendo 100w speakers Gilmour uses with his Hiwatt. They are very expensive speakers at about $390 each. This includes shipping from Europe. There is no alternative to these speakers, except fr originals. And they cost a fortune, if you can even find them. They dont sound like any other speakers on the market. They are also really heavy. Like an EV 12L, or JBL E120 range. Id use a 3/4 ply baffle with any cabinet I used.