I think that's definitely true. Exhibit A: Dick Dale's debut album, "Surfers' Choice", all recorded live. Dick's guitar sounds substantially more overdriven on there than any of his subsequent Capitol releases, all recorded in studio.

The Bobby Fuller Four live version of "Misirlou/Hava Nagila" is pretty crankin'!

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

I absolutely agree with your premise, Weird-oh84. Ivan, your examples are spot-on. It's always cracked me up that so many surf guitarists worship and opine about the ultra clean Fender sound, while playing through, or lusting after, Brownface Fender amps. Throw in a reverb tank, pushing the front end, and you're got significant (and glorious) grind. I wouldn't call it dirty, but it's that dancing on, and over, the line of breakup that is such an appealing sound. Playing the big halls, like the Rendezvous, would have required cranking their amps. Their rigs probably sounded quite a bit cleaner in the smaller club venues. Recording engineers, in those days, did not like, and often did not allow, cranked amps in the studio. So yes, I think you contention about live versus studio sound is certainly valid.

Bob

I think that it comes down to definitions. As Robbie Reverb commented, some serious grind going on. In one sense of the term, every amp is distorting, all of the time. Even a “clean” amp is changing the signal, somewhat, and we wouldn’t like the perfectly clean sound. I had a 50 watt Yamaha amp that was so clean that it sounded sterile, and it wasn’t pleasant to listen to.

The vaunted ‘62 Dual Showman sound was clean, in that the note definition was retained, but there was a lot of the above-mentioned grind, in the mix, and obviously, this increased as the volume was cranked up. But this strikes me as different from an amp breaking up to the point that note definition is lost. If I plug my SD-1 in between my guitar and a post ‘64 Fender amp, I’m not going to get this same grind.

I enjoy the sound of an amp when it’s breaking a sweat. It can be a very rich, evocative sound. I’m sure that was heard in plenty of the early Surf shows. However I do t think that they were aiming for a more distorted sound, such as the opening riffs of I can’t Get No Satisfaction. That sound hadn’t really become popular during the halcyon days of Surf.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Weird, I haven't logged on in a while, and I came here specifically to see if there's any mention of anyone using the Rumble with guitar.
And this is the first post I see! I feel like the Rumble makes a great surf amp with a tank in front of it.

stratdancer wrote:

These early "aggressive" volume pioneers should always be held in high esteem for the ground they broke. IMHO there was nothing like it on the planet before this time period. Leo and this group of maniacs quickly evolved an attack unheard of in musical expression through volume, BPM and picking style. Hats off forever and heavy adrenalin based musical expression was born! To deliver this music took skill and confidence at that volume.

Duplicating this in the real world today and especially at lower volumes is a challenge. I eventually moved to using the Quilters with the gain and limiter features to create that loud compressive sound at a lower volume so I can enjoy playing in a small room and not destroy my hearing even more.

Btw, that’s interesting. I think I have never touched limiter knob on my Quilter, is it worth giving a try?

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

This is the tone I want at low volumes. Quilters are the only way I have found to even get acceptably close to doing this. Randy's amp had to be pushed to the edge on this recording. You can really hear the breakup on the lower notes. It's incredible!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Last edited: Dec 11, 2023 07:11:39

Samurai wrote:

stratdancer wrote:

Lorenzo explained it to me that is basically tames the gain and turns it into simulated tube compression. What you end up with is the sound of Showman on 7 at bedroom volumes and up. For band practice volumes and by myself I have the gain at 6 1/2 and limiter at about 8.

But I have Blossom Point so probably no need in second limiter

I would agree.

Just my humble opinion, but I think that a lot of what people like about overdrive is the compression/limiting, which is a natural side effect of overdrive.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

weird_oh84 wrote:

BTW, my fist love will always be Firstwave and ProtoSurf from the late 50’s & 60’s, but I don’t want to be a slave to chasing down heavy 3000 dollar amps that constantly need repairs in order to get the sound.

My 1963 Bandmaster was recapped about 10 or 12 years ago and has been bullet-proof ever since.

I think your concern about the reliability of vintage amps is not justified. If anything, a vintage handwired amp that has been properly sorted out should be more reliable than a modern amp made with a printed circuit board.

THE HYDRONAUTS…Surf Music from the shores of old Cape Cod.

Last edited: Dec 11, 2023 13:36:01

beatcomber wrote:

I think your concern about the reliability of vintage amps is not justified.

100% this. Especially old Fenders. I actually had a big response typed up when you first posted. I ended up deleting it but then you said it. OP, you've been misinformed! My advice is to get a brown fender now while they are still semi-affordable. 6g6B Bassmans are very cheap in my opinion. Treat it well and it will last your whole life.

Daniel Deathtide

The Rhythm Rockers album sounds like you’re watching them play in your living room. Good stuff.

Sean

Last edited: Dec 14, 2023 09:36:11