Ebow?

[exodus]

I've been curious bout getting one for a few years, but never pulled the trigger.

Any Ebow users? It seems like a cool tool that not many have really exploited.

 

[pittster]

I've got one that I haven't used for years...still in mint condition....make me an offer and it's yours...it's just sat next to my 4-track looking lonely.

 

[Legend]

Long time Ebow user. Try it on a thinline hollowbody or semihollow, with a Great compressor, a volume pedal, and some delay. You'll have a blast. The compressor is a big part of my sound with it. Even with your guitar volume rolled down to 3, the ebow full on will be louder then your guitar at full blast with a pick. Much louder. With the compressor, you can get all kinds of great harmonics on top of or in place of what you're playing, at your normal volume. Great violin like or synth like sounds.

 

[Graham Sloan]

Hope this link works for you:

http://www.ebow.com/

 

[flume]

Another ebow addict here. Never get tired of hearing it. It's a good challenge to learn how to work it and I've only scratched the surface.

Middle era work from The Church really drives the point home. They know how to make it work.

 

[D.G.]

I've used an ebow for about 20yrs now and it's still sustaining!!! Anyway, I've actually owned two ebows, my original finally giving up the ghost after about 15 yrs. I've got the new one with the octave switch. It works really well. I find the key to ebow playing is to turn the tone knob all the way off.

 

[Tim Bowen]

It's just a great sonic tool. Above posts are right on, & to be taken quite seriously! With your guitar's volume & tone on '10', you will take the top of somebody's head off, & it's conceivable to me that you could possibly fry a speaker with the thing, it's that much of a beast. I go to the neck p'up, & down to below half on guitar's volume & tone knobs. It spikes quite easily, so I agree that a compressor should be used to tame it.

I love it with gobs of delay, & it's real trippy with wah & slide as well.

For a tune I tracked a while back, I wanted a keyboard-type wash underneath the main rhythm - I wanted an old analog synth vibe, but I wanted it be polyphonic. I couldn't get access to an old Moog or ARP synth, so I just used the E-bow. What I did was figure out the three note chord voicings that I wanted, & then just charted out three single note lines for the E-bow to play, on three separate tracks. I used a slide, which mimics the portamento function on analog synths. I used a ton of delay (Maxon AD-900), & the voice leading in the 'chords' is such that each line moves independently, & with the different delay trails smearing & blurring into each other, it's quite etheral sounding. It sounds like a cartoon if it's too hot in the mix, but as mixed low, it's a great texture. When folks hear the tune, it always gets the coveted "what the hell is that?" response.

 

[Jon Silberman]

I heard Chiba use one with his band some months back and I really liked the sounds he got with his.

 

[frets]

ebows are fun.ive got one of the orginal chrome ones without the switch(you shake the string and it turns on) it also came with the coolest heavey double layer leather holster with belt clip.i will never part with it.here is a photo link
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fretssss/detail?.dir=/858d&.dnm=c140.jpg
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fretssss/detail?.dir=/858d&.dnm=b3c5.jpg

 

[Benny]

I believe Ebows to be one of the most cost effective ways to gain a lot of additional tones out of the rest of your rig. If you are the only guitarist in your situation, the ebow makes it easy to create new voices without trying to play like someone else. It also allows you to play less and mean more in a dense mix or subtle recording or live situation.

I really think they are a great deal, and coupled with delays and/or modulation effects can provide a mind-blowing array of new tones.

 

[EL34]

I've heard that the ebow is dangerous for alnico pickups because it can degauss the magnets. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Axemaster]

Permanant magnets are made when the magenetic material is glowing red hot and a couple of magnets are placed on each side of the material as it cools. This causes the magnetic material to line up North to South magnetically speaking and when cooled, the material is frozen in this configuration. To degauss it would require heating it up a bit first. If it was hot though, any magnet could degauss it easilly.

 

[Axemaster]

Ok, I just performed a test to see just how much magnetism is coming off the Ebow I have. I did not have a gauss meter but an old crt tv can be used as a crude substitue. The Ebow made a slight color distortion when I placed it on the screen. It made a slightly more visible distortion on the colors as compared to a refrigerator magnet. It was nothing compared to the distortion of color I got from a real physical magnet. And just for grins... I put the alnico pickup I have next to the screen and...WOW. It distorted the picture all the way to the edges of the screen. The Ebow does not put out even a 20th as much magnetism as what the anlico magnet is putting off. I would say it is quite unlikely it could ever deagauss the alnico pickup under the course of normal operation.

 

[fatback]

Ebows are a blast and really respond to their proximity to a pickup. The closer you get the more gain you get...


...unless you are playing an acoustic:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1380301405204433261&q=ebow

 

[drolling]

Ok, I just performed a test to see just how much magnetism is coming off the Ebow I have. I did not have a gauss meter but an old crt tv can be used as a crude substitue. The Ebow made a slight color distortion when I placed it on the screen. It made a slightly more visible distortion on the colors as compared to a refrigerator magnet. It was nothing compared to the distortion of color I got from a real physical magnet. And just for grins... I put the alnico pickup I have next to the screen and...WOW. It distorted the picture all the way to the edges of the screen. The Ebow does not put out even a 20th as much magnetism as what the anlico magnet is putting off. I would say it is quite unlikely it could ever deagauss the alnico pickup under the course of normal operation.

Thanks for the "scientific" testing! I'd heard this rumour before, but it's never stopped me from using my EBow.. No damage to any of my guitar p-ups, as far as I can tell.

It will work better on some guitars than others, because of string spacing differences..

And as Fatback's implied, it works great on acoustic guitars, too!!

 

[Fuzzdawg]

ebows are fun, and totally offer a different sound than normal. great if you're doing a lot of songs.

however, i found it very difficult to get used to. they are just so danged tricky! and they are SUPER loud. i would definitely second the use of a compressor.

anwyay, i love mine.

 

[JamonGrande]

i've just discovered the wonderful dying battery sound with it. the indicator light gets quite dim, and while you are sustaining over the pickup, all sorts of beautiful glitchy noises from all sorts of octaves start jumping around. put a near dead battery and see, very cool

joe

 

[Mincer]

i use my circa 1976 ebow (with the cool leather holster) all the time. add some delay and i am in heaven.

 

[Wakarusa]

You can keep a room full of stoned people mesmerized for hours with nothing but a guitar, an amp, a digital delay, and an ebow. No talent required

 

[guitarz_dave]

It took a few months to really get the hang of the Ebow, but it was well worth it.

Create a simple atmospheric loop for backing while you do some nice Ebow lines.

I usually run a delay into a Zvex Ooh Wah with my Ebow. The Ooh Wah creates a rythmic feel and warm synth sound. When I pull away from the attack of the Ebow, the delay lets it bleed out nicely.

Also, my bass player gets a big grin when listening to the Ebow this way