Let's talk about compressors.
The compressor, it's a feature of Gilmour's clean sounds.
During the years he has switched between Mxr Dyna Comp, Boss Cs2 and Demeter Compulator.
But Gilmour's most distinctive compressor tone, was made by the Boss Cs-2.
That's the sound without the compressor.
And now with the Cs-2 turned On
Again, now without the Cs-2
and now with the Cs-2
Gilmour uses the Cs-2 as a booster pedal.
The Cs-2 doesn't increase much the attack and the compression, but increase the input signal.
By doing this, he riches more natural sustain boosting the input of the amplifier
and also a very distinctive attack. You can hear it now...
First the sound without the cs-2 and after that with the pedal engaged.
Now with the CS-2
You can hear the notes sounds like they're pushed when the pick hit the strings.
As we said Gilmour uses the CS-2 especially on his clean sounds
but he has also used the CS-2 as a boost for overdrive pedals.
Gilmour has never used proper boost pedals,
except for the Colorsound Powerboost, that he used with the Fuzz Face and the Big Muff.
I don't have a Colorsound right here to show you
but Gilmour used it especially to carve the mids and get more distorted and defined tones.
And of course definition it's one of the main skills of Gilmour's sound.
Gilmour has always chosen very transparent amplifiers to support his distorted tones.
Always high quality amps, with very specific characteristics.
We know he has always used Hiwatt's Heads
except for short Selmer and Sound City interludes.
At this point we must say that the Hiwatt Head doesn't entirely build Gilmour's sound.
Because with the Hiwatt Gilmour has recorded his first albums with Pink Floyd
I'm talking about Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother and Meddle
Afterwards Gilmour introduced a bass preamp made by Alembic in his gear
this kind of preamp it's the same we can find in the preamp section of a Fender Twin
we're talking about the Fender Blackface Series made in the 60's
a very particular amplifier, with a very big and sparkly sound
a little carved on the middle frequencies, but always rich of harmonics.
Gilmour has used this kind of gear for his live setup.
For Studio recordings, starting from The Dark Side of The Moon on,
Gilmour has mainly used Fender and Mesa Boogie amps, and a lot of other amplifiers.
Obviously the sound it's always been Gilmour's, cause it's made first by his hands and his brain.
Let's talk about overdrive pedals.
The most famous ones have been: The power boost, mainly a boost than a proper overdrive...
afterwards he started using an Ibanez Ts10
that has been replaced first by the Cornish SS3,
that is a bigger sounding TS-10 with a very particular attack,
lately replaced by a Chandler Tube Driver.
The Tube Driver was Gilmour's main overdrive during the years
between the albums "A momentary lapse of reason" and "The division bell"
Let me show you how it sounds.
Most of the time Gilmour used the Tube Driver with a Boss Cs-2.
The CS-2 provides a stronger attack and release.
