Paul Gilbert- Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar

[jwoods986]

I just got it yesterday, so I've only listened to it once so far (just starting second run through). But so far it definitely doesn't touch GOOMY - IMO. Of course, I've had GOOMY for a year and have listened to it plenty, so we'll see if my opinion changes over time. But I certainly agree about his tone - much better with the Marshalls than Laneys or Ampegs. I've been a PG fan for over 20 years and while I love his playing, I never thought his tone was "great" until now. It really hit me on Track 5 "I can not tell a lie". He never got a great, 'creamy', tone like that before.

[kotornut]

Yeah his tone is a lot better on this album. I think paul has good tone, but I think it's only good for solos. Every time he plays rythm it sounds too fuzzy and unstable in the lows.

[Jason Stone]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

Awesome tone, too. I wish I could dial this in on my 100W Vintage Modern head. I can get close to what I hear in "I can not tell a lie", but not 100%.

Paul posted his exact settings for his 50W combo version of this amp over at the Racer X board in the PG equipment thread.

[Ayrton]

Originally Posted by Paul Gilbert

I don't know where they got those numbers.

First of all, the Vintage Modern doesn't even have a "Gain" knob. It has "Body" and "Detail" knobs which are a really unique feature of the amp.

"Body" is a low frequency overdrive knob.
"Detail" is a high frequency overdrive knob.
So you can actually EQ the amp with these knobs before you start fine tuning with the usual treble, bass, mid, presence knobs.

I vary my settings slightly depending on the acoustics of the room, but here are my favorite settings in general:

BODY: 5.5
DETAIL: 4.5
MID BOOST: ON
DYNAMIC RANGE: HI
TREBLE: 5.5
MIDDLE: 4
BASS: 6
PRESENCE: 5.5
MASTER VOLUME: 8.5 (With the THD Hot Plate plugged in to reduce the output to the speakers)
REVERB: 1

This amp gives me the richest chords and biggest, punchiest single notes I've ever had. I hope you guys get a chance to plug into one and CRANK IT UP!

Thank you,

Paul

P.S. When I was in Japan, I was using a smaller Marshall AVT50X for some promotional things. Maybe the Young Guitar settings were from that amp. It doesn't have a Presence knob, so that would explain the zero.

Copied from the Racer X thread.

[mi2tom]

Just got it, just blows my brains away, I just wish I could play like him, he's so frigging groovy!!! IMO better than Vai and Satch albums certainly better at playing

[Darin]

But, does he any Zack pinch harmonics?

[waylay00]

It's really good, but I like GOOMY better so far! I might have to let this one set in for a while though.

[giannifive]

Just got this album today. It's great! Not sure if it's PAW great, but so far it's a delight to listen to.

[mi2tom]

Originally Posted by giannifive

Not sure if it's PAW great

IMHO it's better than PAW.

[axemanrio]

Originally Posted by mi2tom

IMHO it's better than PAW.

Yup, on par with Extremist and the best instrumental album to release in many years I've been listening to it a few times a day since I got it... the last time I was so hooked was when Crystal Planet released.

[jwoods986]

Wow, I guess I need to listen to it more. IMO, GOOMY is one of the best instrumental albums of all-time, and the first one in a long time that I could listen to front-to-back without getting bored by (or before) the end. I would definitely put it up there with PAW, Surfing, Wired, etc. But I'm not feeling the same about Silence yet.

[Josh_P]

I assume Paul is using his PGM with Fernandez sustainer system on Suite Modale. You guys agree or could he be using an Ebow?

LOVE THIS ALBUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chaos731]

Here's my little review...

I bought it late last week, loaded it onto my MP3 player, and I've been listening to it pretty much constantly ever since. Not a clunker to be found on the entire disc.

I think that this is going to be this generation's equivalent to PAW. That is, when PAW originally came out, every guitarist on the planet rushed out and bought the tab book, tried to emulate the sound, and was otherwise inspired to play guitar by the album. That's the power that PAW had (I remember this vividly...all of my guitar geek friends back then aped that album...or at least tried to... for YEARS).

I predict that this album will have a similar effect on this generation's young guitarists. It's a self-perpetuating cycle...every fifteen or twenty years, a guitar album comes out that people go ape-crap over, and it sets the standard. Then, when some of the people inspired by that album "grow up" and get record deals of their own, they release the next inspiring album, and so on...and on.

Honestly, when Racer X was "big" in guitar circles, I never paid Paul Gilbert much attention, mostly because I was so entrenched in Yngwie/Satch/Vai worship to give any time to other shredders (except Tony MacAlpine...love that guy) at the time. To me, it was a case of "tumeninotes", so to speak.

Now, Paul has clearly matured as a songwriter and a player, and though he can (and does) pull out all the stops on "Silence", he doesn't do it to show that he can do it. In short, he's become quite a tasteful artist. As he would say, "real hip". In this guy's opinion, "Silence" is the best instrumental guitar album since PAW, and it does so without having to get too weird. It's like Malmsteen meets Jeff Beck meets Vai, minus all the UFO and quasi-eastern-mysticism stuff.

High points of "Silence":
Eudaimonia Overture (every last second of it), but especially at 3:43 through the remainder of the piece. Absolutely wonderful. The leads during that section are amazing, but it's the underlying "rhythm" work that is absolutely stunning.
Suite Modale is one of the most eerily beautiful things ever recorded. Actually gives me physical chills when I listen to it.
I Still Have That Other Girl is not only a wonderful cover, but it just goes to show how expressive and soulful PG can get. It's not as simple a song as it sounds...lots of unusual chord progression and key changes. For my money, it's a rockin' guitar ballad that I'd listen to over Vai's "For the Love of God" any day of the week. I know...not a fair comparison, but whatever.

The rest of the album simply rocks, and is as varied in style and tone as any guitar dork could hope. "Silence" is the real deal, and it will prove to be at least as important to the furtherance of instrumental rock guitar albums as was PAW. Oh, and Paul's tone on this disc is nothing short of stellar.

Sorry for the long post, but I just had to share my feelings about this truly nice album.

[rastachild]

i'm not a vai fan at all, but i don't think there's any way this is going to have the impact of PAW or surfing. those were watershed albums for instrumental guitar. that being said, i like this way more than i ever did PAW, but that's not saying much for me. i do agree that gilbert's songwriting has matured a lot, which is one reason why it seems as though these tunes have more substance than what he did on GOOMY. but i don't think there's anything there that is so revolutionary that it will be the cd that will be looked upon like PAW and surfing were back then, or even now, 20 years later. people were saying similar things about guthrie govan's debut and while it is a great cd, i feel the same about it. great songs and playing, but nothing new. and as much as i like the new satch, same thing there too. not that there's anything wrong with any of that, it's just that instrumental guitar has been around for a long time now and there's not much that hasn't been done at this point.

[waylay00]

Originally Posted by rastachild

i'm not a vai fan at all, but i don't think there's any way this is going to have the impact of PAW or surfing.

Yeah, I agree. Don't get me wrong, I like the new album, but I don't think its any better or worse than his past stuff. Certainly not "revolutionary," IMO.