Money For Nothing (Dire Straits) tone

[PelliX]

If we do a little reading, we find out that even the mighty engineers and Mark himself couldn't repoduce the exact distinct lead guitar tone on the record.

"While aiming for a ZZ Top-style tone, Knopfler’s basic guitar sound was achieved by using his fingers (rather than a pick) to play a Les Paul Junior plugged into a Laney amplifier. But the utterly unique timbre of “Money for Nothing” is just as much a product of some fortunate microphone (mis)placement, as Knopfler discovered when he began warming up for the recording session.

Although the mics were still in the same random position where producer/engineer Neil Dorfsman had abandoned them mid-setup the previous evening, the sound in the control room immediately confirmed they had stumbled upon something special. Indeed, the guitar track required little else in terms of further mixing.

The team later tried to recreate the sound using the same gear, alas to no avail. Despite their best efforts, that particular combination of microphones in that room and on that day – one off-axis, another picking up floor reflections, and another in the room “somewhere else” – captured an unrepeatable magic."

I understand this, but I'm interested in how anybody else goes about playing this one. I find myself wavering between neck and bridge pickups on my LP Tribute, a tight noise gate (instant attack, decay not too long, either), and then a RAT at moderate settings into the high input of my JCM 800. Mark was on Laney's, so I could give it a shot on my AC15, but I'd have to crank the hell out of it, I think.

The gear at my disposal is listed in my signature, give or take (mainly looking at the Big Muff, RAT and the GX-700 here). Any recommendations, as I feel I'm not quite getting there?

TIA!


EDIT: The harmonics don't sound very good with the neck pickup, as expected. I've also just sussed that a part of it is a lack of negative feedback; I've cranked the presence on the JCM, and I'm getting closer. I think. Of course on the record there's some double tracking and so on, but let's leave that aside for a moment.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

could his Jr, have had P-90s? or mini hum's?

 

[PelliX]

could his Jr, have had P-90s? or mini hum's?

Hard to tell, pictures are scarce. I don't know.

This isn't quite spot on (well, that's impossible anyway), but old Marty seems to have something similar going on with some harmonic overtones:



I'm going to assume that he's actually using the Katana behind him. Obviously the record sounds a fair deal thicker and heavier, but that's the double tracking, I'd say. I'm also thinking Mark is double tracking with the same guitar, but once on the neck pickup, the other on the bridge.

 

[lespaul339]

Cocked wah tone will get you close.

 

[Beltalowda]

I haven't played this in years, but I probably used neck or middle of my 72 Tele which has a neck p90, into a cocked wah. Or it might have been an LPJ with tone rolled off a bit. It sounded ballparkish enough, in large part due to the wah effect and position of the treadle, but I don't claim it was spot-on.

 

[PelliX]

Cocked wah tone will get you close.

Yup, noodled about a bit more and came up with a wah-ish filter on the GP-8. Makes perfect sense now.

I haven't played this in years, but I probably used neck or middle of my 72 Tele which has a neck p90, into a cocked wah. Or it might have been an LPJ with tone rolled off a bit. It sounded ballparkish enough, in large part due to the wah effect and position of the treadle, but I don't claim it was spot-on.

Yup, this is making sense. I'm going to give this a shot on a Tele tomorrow, too. I'm close enough now on the LP for it to be acceptable, but I can't *not* try this on a Tele!

 

[Leonard Neemoil]

I read in a guitar mag a couple of decades ago that he accidentally had his wah on still from a previous track and just went with it when he heard it.