Early oasis settings

billando · May 2020

I play in an oasis cover group and im trying to nail down noel gallaghers jcm900 dual reverb settings. This is difficult as live he almost always played through more than one amp...i did find a youtube clip (sorry i dont know how to attach a link) where he just used the jcm900. Its "oasis mtv 1994" and its 12 mins long. To me that sounds like alot of gain. To back that up in the youtube clip of their knebworth gig in 1996 the camera sweeps past his amp and seems to show the clean channel at full gain and lead channel at 3/4 gain. There are people who say however that they used very little gain and lots of volume.

If anyone wants to help out that would be great. Please, no point saying oasis is rubbish or that tone sucks etc. It may not be the best tone ever but its a good teference point for me with my jcm900.

Thanks.

pintspiller · May 2020

At Knebworth he could have reduced the gain and upped the volume as it was an outdoor gig.

monquixote · May 2020

Just tune it in with your ears and a copy of the recording.

Who knows what tubes in the amp , pickups in the guitar, length of cable, pedals, how hard he picks etc.

kennedydream1980 · May 2020

I don’t think it’s rocket science for this type of tone so don’t try and over think it. Early on it sounds to me like they were using a lot of gain. So the gain settings you describe from the clip sound right to me.

When you watch Noel live he looks to me like he is picking very lightly. What tends to happen when you have a loud and somewhat gainy amp and you pick lightly you get a big sounding tone.

Tim pierce describes this in one of his videos as it’s a big part of his technique. Tim pierce and Noel Gallagher are worlds apart as guitarists but the theory is the same I think.

GoldenEraGuitars · May 2020

As a massive oasis fan (Noel gallagher was the reason I started playing) I can hand on heart say I never geeked out over his amp settings. At the time, I went through a lot of Marshall amps inc the JCM900. I’d simply do it by listening, playing and trying to hit on the settings that match your style to his sound. I certainly won’t be Noel bashing, but the tone is (let’s be honest) no mystery if you have a casino, Sheraton, les paul or riviera.

Much of his early stuff was done on a valvestate, JCM600 and then an orange stack as well as the JCM900 and blues breakers. Oasis were also notoriously loud early on too. I was partial to the “Live by the sea” and the “Earl’s Court” sound which differ vastly to the Maine Road gig and Knebworth. I suppose the main difference being those were indoor vs outdoor shows.

Id personally go straight into the amp to start with then add delay and overdrive. Forget his settings.

stickyfiddle · May 2020

The standard approach was, I believe, “everything on 10”. So if you’re in that ballpark you’re not far off. Add delay and a simple overdrive for solos and you’re pretty much there. No need for anything boutique as that fancy shit hadn’t been invented yet

Maine Road & Knebworth aren’t great benchmarks because they also had Noel with the brilliant but awful-sounding Union Jack Sheraton which has mini humbuckers instead of the full size HB- equipped Rivieras and Les Pauls used for all the records.

billando · May 2020

I have been geeking out about this tbh! Im lucky to have lots of the same type of amps that he used and attenuators if i need them. Iv gigged with a bluesbreaker and attenuator and although it sounded good i realised its the unique jcm900 sound of his im after....ok so if the gain was around 3/4 do you think he ran his mv wide open? My amp sounds like mushy mess like this but thats using an attenuator.....

Lestratcaster · May 2020

I was a massive Oasis fan in the 90's! That's how I learnt to play at the beginning, open chords and a simple strum pattern.

I think he would turn his Marshall stacks up to full on pretty much everything, as long as you have a Les Paul of some sort or a 335 through a cranked Marshall you'll get thereabouts. His early sound he didn't really use many effects, maybe a delay of some sort.

AlexO · May 2020

Big Oasis fan here also. Sounds like you are on the right lines.

I personally think they sounded miles better live later with Gem on guitar and Andy Bell on Bass.

For that early tone I read they used a clean boost pushing a breaking up amp and then a distortion pedal for solo's with Boss Space Echo or Line 6 dl4 for delay and the odd Wah.

AlexC · May 2020

I know he used and still uses a Boss Super Overdrive (the yellow one) - if that helps!

GoldenEraGuitars · May 2020

AlexO said:

Big Oasis fan here also. Sounds like you are on the right lines.

I personally think they sounded miles better live later with Gem on guitar and Andy Bell on Bass.

For that early tone I read they used a clean boost pushing a breaking up amp and then a distortion pedal for solo's with Boss Space Echo or Line 6 dl4 for delay and the odd Wah.

I used to think Gem was god. Brought such a different sound to the Oasis machine.

Then.. I realised that he over complicated a lot of the early stuff live. He was definitely the right player and songwriter to help take the band forward, but when you want to hear to full on hard power chords of the early stuff his style started to wear on me.

billando · May 2020

I love the original lineup....even prefer tony to alan with the early stuff.

The issue with using the jcm900 at pretty much full gain and volume if i am attenuating down is it gets compressed too much and tone gets sucked. I had a gig last year with volume on 7 where there is a noticeable jump in volume and gain at 2pm and although it sounded good i wouldnt say it was any better than master volume low and no attenuator....in fact it sounded weak next to the other guitarists non attenuated amp. It will be a continuous balancing act of how much attenuation i can use in the band context.

GoldenEraGuitars · May 2020

What attenuator are you using?

billando · May 2020

It was a power brake at the time. I also have a fryette power station which i thought made it sound too soft but i heard a few weeks ago that the power station sounds best with both bright and bass toggles all the way up....i had them in flat and when u compare it to all the way up its night and day....going to try it at practice when i get a chance after lockdown.....always find you dont know how good your sound is until you hear it in a band context.

Keiko · May 2020

stickyfiddle said:

The standard approach was, I believe, “everything on 10”. So if you’re in that ballpark you’re not far off. Add delay and a simple overdrive for solos and you’re pretty much there. No need for anything boutique as that fancy shit hadn’t been invented yet

Maine Road & Knebworth aren’t great benchmarks because they also had Noel with the brilliant but awful-sounding Union Jack Sheraton which has mini humbuckers instead of the full size HB- equipped Rivieras and Les Pauls used for all the records.

Pretty sure I read a Noel Gallagher interview in a guitar magazine and he said exactly this. Marshall amp, with everything on ten. Good luck doing that at home

He used a gibson les paul for recording with and mostly Epiphone semis live.

billando · May 2020

Keiko said:

stickyfiddle said:

The standard approach was, I believe, “everything on 10”. So if you’re in that ballpark you’re not far off. Add delay and a simple overdrive for solos and you’re pretty much there. No need for anything boutique as that fancy shit hadn’t been invented yet

Maine Road & Knebworth aren’t great benchmarks because they also had Noel with the brilliant but awful-sounding Union Jack Sheraton which has mini humbuckers instead of the full size HB- equipped Rivieras and Les Pauls used for all the records.

Pretty sure I read a Noel Gallagher interview in a guitar magazine and he said exactly this. Marshall amp, with everything on ten. Good luck doing that at home He used a gibson les paul for recording with and mostly Epiphone semis live.

I wont be doing that at home. I play in an oasis cover group as i said earlier. Not big venues though. For an example of loudness i have a vox ac15 that is borderline not loud enough....

GoldenEraGuitars · May 2020

I think running a DSL 20 or 40 might be better than your JCM 900. You need to be able to push a Marshall properly to get the sound... a JCM 900 that can’t be run hard isn’t going to do you any favours

monquixote · May 2020

Heard in the interview with rabea that the kracken is based on a jcm 900.

billando · May 2020

I can normally get jcm900 to 3.5 on mv without attenuator. Although its not really being pushed i would say its still more recognisable as early oasis than a pushed dsl20 or 40. Im not saying its better or worse...just that its a unique sounding amp and is the early oasis sound.

In my opinion after 2000 when he ditched the jcm900 and started using stuff like the blues junior the sound got softer and lost its edge for me. For those wanting a good oasis gig iv always liked the vancouver 1995 gig. The amps sound like they are going to explode.

GoldenEraGuitars · May 2020

You’re heavily focused on the JCM 900... he used a lot of different amps and especially an old Orange head and cab which he recently sold off (the one clearly seen on Live by the sea). I’d also look into JCM 900 50 watt combos rather than anything 100 watt.

Around 99 he moved to Clarke Amplifiers live (you can see these on Familiar to Millions) and also developed a fondness for vintage Tube Screamers. But again, he used a shitload of different amps throughout the various Oasis cycles. And don’t forget... a lot of the sound came from Bonehead early on. When you remove Arthur’s guitar parts the whole sound falls apart.

billando · May 2020

I explained why i focused on the 900 earlier. The youtube clip "oasis mtv 1994" where they play supersonic, rock and roll star and live forever is the only clip i can find with noel just playing one amp so im trying to focus on his settings there where it isnt confused by having other amps present. Especially gain level. If i knew this then i could decide how to set my levels to get close as possible. The 900 was also with him at every gig since he started using them in 1994 until 1999. I have the other amps he used too up until 2000 as i didnt like the sound so much then. My favourite oasis sounds in gigs are from the 900. "Oasis chicago 1994" is awesone and he is using 2 jcm900s here. Bonehead also uses a 900 in this gig. The 900 also has a clean channel to use for me to gig with some accoustic songs we do. You can always do things like remove 2 valves and change to triode mode if you like to lower the power. Ultimately i just want to home in on gain and volume levels especially in the mtv 1994 clip as the gain seems high contrary to people saying oasis was low gain and high volume.....maybe this just applied to later oasis.

stickyfiddle · May 2020

I would try not to get too hung up on exact settings (whether it's gain at 7.5 or 8.5 on the dial, etc), because unless you have everything identical (including having Noel's guitars, hands and brain) it's never going to be identical.

It's generally better to use your ears as a guide and tweak gain/volume/EQ until it sounds right to you.

CMW335 · May 2020

Have you tried a BOSS PW-2? No idea if it really gets you the sound but worth a try? Anyone else had one?

https://youtu.be/C8fdPpRNLM8

billando · May 2020

Since were discussing this if anyone is interested there was a very noticeable change in his tone during the whats the story morning glory tour and all 1996 gigs. Seems like his sound gets much cleaner. This is noticeable during the 1996 maine road gig and also if you listen to "oasis white room sessions". During aquiesce and good to be free he just has one jcm900 but dont look back in anger, roll with it, round our way and some might say (these are recoreded months later) the sound is much cleaner. During this time he used a bluesbreaker, wem dominator and jcm900. To my ears around this time the bluesbreaker is the dominant sound.

billando · May 2020

When oasis toured usa in 1994 they only used jcm900 dual reverbs. Im now convinced noels sound at least was the normal channel with max gain and almost max volume....not the lead channel. I can only test this out with an attenuator and not actual full volume but i think i am correct. They had a heavier sound here than 96 tour where a jcm900 was still used in conjunction with other amps but i believe the master volume was maybe at 7/8 instead of 10 giving the slightly cleaner sound.....maybe nobody cares but just my thoughts!

billando · September 2021

Does anyone know if oasis used the normal channel or the lead channel of the jcm 900 dual reverb when they used and recorded with these in the 90s? Songs i know that were recorded with this amp were Headshrinker, fade away and good to be free...there def were many others. Also, on some early live performances noel uses only one amp such as on "oasis MTV 1994" but its difficult to tell what channel is used

CaseOfAce · September 2021

“Liam wanted his vocal blisteringly loud, and Noel hadn’t really found the guitar sound he wanted — he was experimenting. I remember at Knebworth he brought loads of different amplifiers and he had a switcher box, the idea being that he could use different amplifiers for different songs, which was fine in theory, except what he did was leave them all on all night. He was nine feet behind the vocal mic, so for him to hear his vocals meant the monitors were constantly at 106dB. I remember Huw Richards (FOH engineer) saying that the best guitar sound he got from that rig, which was all out of phase, producing this monstrous noise, was when Noel moved his head out of the way of the vocal mic to look down at his pedals and start a guitar solo — that was the clearest guitar sound all night. It was a ludicrous amount of noise. Someone would get within 10 feet of a microphone and you could hear their breath.

billando · September 2021

i play in an oasis cover group. The sound i like best is the early stuff with the jcm 900 dominant sound. Check oasis chicago 1994 for what i mean. Very raw. Im assuming noel used the lead channel but cant be sure. One thing i am sure of is he would have had his amp really loud which contributed to the sound. For me its a fine balancing act as (in a band context unmiced) too little master volume makes it thin whilst upping the master and attenuating down too much loses punch and makes it too compressed......i also play with the idea he used the normal channel with the gain and master cranked....maybe one of the secrets is to get the speakers pushed to a volume that i just cant get to.

bingefeller · November 2021

You could try and get your hands on the Scran pedal.

https://www.soundladliverpool.co.uk/product-page/scran

Jalapeno · November 2021

Without being dismissive as I love Noel & Oasis, it's your basic overdriven 70s rock sound as used by loads of earlier bands.

It just sounds so distictive as they used it in the 80s. Then everyone else was going nuts about Van Halen's Brown/Mush sound or going for that very over processed 80s sound (typified by Phil Collen of Def Leppard).

If you can't run a JCM900 flat out, get something smaller as suggested ^^^^^^, even a Marshal Guvnor into a practice amp will do the 70s sound.

Danny1969 · November 2021

Jalapeno said:

Without being dismissive as I love Noel & Oasis, it's your basic overdriven 70s rock sound as used by loads of earlier bands.

It just sounds so distictive as they used it in the 80s. Then everyone else was going nuts about Van Halen's Brown/Mush sound or going for that very over processed 80s sound (typified by Phil Collen of Def Leppard).

If you can't run a JCM900 flat out, get something smaller as suggested ^^^^^^, even a Marshal Guvnor into a practice amp will do the 70s sound.

90's mate

But yeah I hear it as a basic Marshall sound too.
I generally play more cowboy chords than 5 chords to sound like Noel and avoid any vibrato on the bends. That gets me 80% there.

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