Yamaha SPX90: The Secret To An 'MBV’ Shoegaze Reverb Sound
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- Опубликовано: 24 июн 2023
- Have you ever wondered what gives Kevin Shields from 'My Bloody Valentine' his huge sweeping reverse reverb guitar sounds? Well I think I might have found the answer and it's in the Yamaha SPX90.
Forget the 'Fender Blender', this old 1980's rack unit is at the forefront of the 'mbv' sound. In todays video we're going to look at the spx90 and see if we can get something close to the sounds of Mr Shields. I hope you enjoy it!
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Here's the audio interface id recommend for guitarists:
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I’ve never clicked on a video title faster
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File this one under: “Gear I used to own and then sold when it was no longer useful, but then became cool and super useful 20 years later.”
Hey, I was the one who wrote that comment with the reverse gate settings. I set mine to that and haven't changed it since then! Great video!
The reverse gate used to be such a mystery because a lot of people dismissed the SPX90s and a lot of 80s/90s rack gear because it was "old", but now rack is back!
Your channel is helping me get new and better sounds from the gear I currently own. Experimentation in the last few weeks has yielded positive results! Thank you! Cheers!
That’s a really lovely comment. So glad it’s been helping you make some great noises! 🤘
The Yamaha SPX90 has a surprising amount of warmth to it. Love seeing what everyone is doing with theirs. Great video
Bought one (and your mentioned MIDIVerb II for the #45&49 Bloom reverse gated reverb) for a client wanting the MBV sound and this video is amazingly informative and helpful, thanks!
One thing you can't fake with gear is great arrangements, and MBV's guitar arrangements are a very important aspect of what makes it sound so good. Now I do want an SPx90 tho....
Those Roland,Lexicon and Yamaha rack modules...they still look (and sound) the part.
Skinny Puppy used a Lexicon delay with a pitch control. With long delay times it became almost a sampler.
Another band with great fx and sound is Cocteau Twins. To me a precurser to Shoegaze...
The album Treasure and song (from Garlands) Wax & Wane are epic!
Enjoy your new toy!
They’re awesome aren’t they! I love the look of the lexicon units too!
I haven’t listened to skinny puppy despite hearing the name, I’ll have to check them out!
Ahh yeah I love Cocteau Twins, what an awesome band!
ive been getting really into the idea of switching over to preamps and rack mount effects and this is definitely one I am going to look at.
Great video as always!
Thanks mate!
Love all your videos!
Legend. Thank you!
Love it Dan .....sounds wicked
Thanks mate!
Just found your channel and watched all of it you’re underrated as hell. I’ll be able to say I subbed before you reached 100k lol.
Thanks so much! Fingers crossed haha 😂
Great video Dan!
Cheers legends!
Great video. I've been obsessed with MBV for years, but have just recently tried to recreate Kevin's sound - specifically "Soon" and "To Here Knows When." I've been through lots of setups, but the closest I've gotten thus far is with the EHX Stereo Memory Man w/Hazarai and an op-amp (op-amp for more mids/saturation) fuzz pedal - in my case the MAE Black Math. The SMMH has a setting that recreates the early reflections preset on the SPX90. I love reverse reverb into dirt (the shoegaze default), but I've had better results getting the MBV sound with dirt into early reflections. Anyway, I ran the fuzz into the SMMH, strummed while using the trem bar and holy shit, I was 90% there. You'll never be 100% because Kevin is a God among mere mortals. Long story short, if you can't find an SPX90 for a decent price or don't want to worry about it dying on you next year, pick up a SMMH. There are a few videos on RUclips that cover the SMMH settings to get this sound.
Ahh that’s awesome. I’ll have a look into getting one!! I agree re: the signal chain. I can never get it to sound as good if I go reverb into dirt.
surprised this got the spotlight before the quadraverb, which is what i would have initially thought of as the quintessential shoegazer rack reverb in the same category (not super expensive, loved by all)
Fair!! I don’t actually know that piece of kit. I’ll check it out!
@@thesethingsmakenoisesc'mon, you definitely should. It's the sound of Storm in heaven by The Verve
@@thesethingsmakenoises 90's shoegaze guitar = alesis quadraverb... it's written in the shoegaze bible
The Microverb III was perfect for the first-EPs Slowdive guitar sound (Golden Hair, etc).
Pretty cool! I recently bought a twenty year old TC Electronic M-One XL for my ambient-ish/looping/lofi guitar rig mainly for the reverbs, which are VERY good. No reverse gate though, I don't think. But VERY massive reverbs, it basically has two engines so you can lay two different reverbs/delays/modulation on top of one another. Highly recommended, these can be had for a hundred bucks or even less.
Back in the 80's after the analogue era....l purchased a Rex 50....fx 500....then on to the spx 50 and so on.....The Reverbs are fantastic on the Yamaha digital equipment.....
One can simply use one of the factory pre sets....But, if you really want to get into it deeper.....Simply use a "User" # and start experimenting into the variant parameters.....Then you can customise some awesome original fx sounds....It's very tine consuming But , it's worth it and you educate yourself along the journey of how to competently use the device and if in doubt use the manual.
Back in the day most bug bands playing Live had their sound/ mixer person that was using a Yamaha spx rack mount as the industry standard and the beauty of them is.... They can be utilised for many different Audio applications...Not just for guitar.
Cheers 🍻.
Ahh I didn’t realise you could do that. Will have a go in the studio! Thanks so much.
This video was so cool and it's nice to see more secrets on Kevin Shields tone ♥
Thanks so much!
A big YES to this!!
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Great video thank you. What kind of Jazzmaster?
In my band big white stairs (early 90s) i used lots of floor pedals into an ibanez rack echo with the feedback set as high as possible , got the idea from kitchens of distinction a manchester band with unreal keyboardy guitar sounds (check out ' first time we opened the capsule')
Kitchens of distinction are an awesome band aren’t they!
Very cool video. I have a Yamaha Rev 7 and it has the same/similar reverse gate reverb. sounds great. Another way you can play with this is to capture this reverb as an impulse response (IR) and use it in a IR plugin as a reverb.
Thanks! Ooo awesome, that’s a great shout. I was thinking of doing some video comparisons with some reverb plugins too actually at some point
@@thesethingsmakenoises These older Yamaha reverb units have a nice "grit" and character to them and sound great. I think the closest I've found is Valhalla's Vintage verb plugin (which has some really nice flexibility and algorithms).
Yeah you’re right, it’s almost like when you drive them you get a cool breakup that eventhough it’s digital and not analog it sounds different but awesome.
Amazing video! Did you use the vibrato on the Jazzmaster to get the pitch warble in the opening clip or is that an effect?
In the intro yeah I’m just moving the vibrato!
Also nirvana, spx 90 was used on nevermind
(1-1) My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
(1-2) Ride - Nowhere
(1-3) Slowdive - Souvlaki
(1-4) Slowdive - Slowdive
(1-5) Chapterhouse - Whirlpool
(1-6) Pale Saints - The Comfort of Madness
(2-1) Catherine Wheel - Ferment
(2-2) Lush - Spooky
(2-3) Slowdive - Just for a Day
(2-4) Kitchens of Distinction - Strange Free World
(2-5) The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
(2-6) Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
(3-1) Beach House - Bloom
(3-2) Adorable - Against Perfection
(3-3) Blankenberge - Everything
(3-4) Slowdive - Pygmalion
(3-5) Curve - Doppelgänger
(3-6) bdrmm - Bedroom
(4-1) Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
(4-2) Asobi Seksu - Citrus
(4-3) Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll
(4-4) Lush - Split
(4-5) Ride - Going Blank Again
(4-6) Cocteau Twins - Treasure
(5-1) Swervedriver - Raise
(5-2) The Boo Radleys Everything's Alright Forever
(5-3) Lush - Gala
(5-4) Blushing - Posessions
(5-5) The Verve - A Storm in Heaven
(5-6) My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
(row-column) btw
Great video! One question, though. Did Kevin always distort first and then went into the Reverb unit? Because I heard somewhere, that he also used Reverb in front of the distortion, which sounds even more washy and nebulous. Ever tried that with the SPX90?
Thanks! Yeah I think you’re right. I believe a lot of it was just cranking up drive on the Marshalls etc. I’ve tried putting my reverb first but never quite managed to nail that sound. Maybe time for some more experimenting
He basically put the reverb first and cranked up the Marshall to 10 but clean. Then would basically reamp that through a cranked gained out Marshall to 10
Hey man, LOVE your content
Quick question, can this hook up to a 100-watt Fender head and cab?
Thanks mate! Yeah sure, it’s just like a normal Jack out. You could just run it in mono out of the unit.
Sounds good - amazed Yamaha haven’t added something like this into the Helix devices yet!
Have you tried the Afterneath by EQD? It seems a bit similar and is something I’m currently looking at
Thanks! Yeah that’s interesting they haven’t actually. Must be really easy to emulate it. No, I’ll have a look into it, cheers!
I love Afterneath but returned it because it’s mono only. I tend to run reverb at the end of a stereo rig. Just a thought for anyone else who might be considering that pedal, or any mono reverb for that matter.
Yep. Could listen to that for dayyyyyyyyyyysssss. Also RIP Kyle.
Thanks mate! Haha I know, it’s a sad day.
There’s a pedal builder under the name Julian or JMA that makes this reverse reverb in a pedal form. I have one and it’s incredible
I have midiverb II. and rex-50 😁👌🏼🤟
Great vid!! Love the spx90s but they break so easily which is sad, i got lucky on a studio closing and sold me a trio of spx90s! Along with the roger mayer stuff, its definiely a huge part of kevins sound
Thank you! Ahh no, mine comes up saying low battery when you turn it on, is that something to worry about? Yeah, it sounds really close to me. I tried getting a similar sound from the cathedral pedal, but could never quite get on with it.
@@thesethingsmakenoises I've had the low battery thing on an old unit yeah, generally it's a sign of things to come - I'd (or ask a tech) to check out all the caps for leaking/signs of being burnt out, that seems to happen to 99% of spx's unfortunately :(
@@thesethingsmakenoises agree on the cathedral too, great 'reverby reverb" pedal, but it's reverse function is very different to what the Yamaha does, it's more in the vain of the midiverb reverse patchs, but not the same either
Does anyone know of a pedal or plugin that can do this effect?
Have a look at the ‘soft focus fx40’ someone commented on TikTok saying that’s a patch from one of the other units. Not the same but similar
I made a pedal that nails it, Loomer or others are their own thing, I modeled the SPX ER. Was selling for a while, and may again sometime but time is a struggle.
Hi! What drum machine did u use? Thx!
I just used some of the sounds in Logic Pro and programmed them myself.
What are the albums are 0:15? I only recognise a couple
I can’t remember exactly without getting onto laptop but there’s:
A couple slow dive albums
Cocteau twins
Ride
Boo Radleys
Lush
Jesus and Mary Chain
Bdrmm
Kitchens of distinction
@@thesethingsmakenoises Great. Thanks for taking the time to do that :)
I thought it was the Yamaha FX500 on the Soft Focus preset setting?
I’m sure there was different units used to be fair, but this was definitely one of them! ✌️
Yes Slowdive used the Yamaha FX500 with the Soft Focus preset. We have one in our studio. I still use it from time to time. Also pretty good for that post-punk/Goth sound too. You can also get the catalinbread soft focus pedal which replicates this patch on the FX500.
I have had some good results using Bias FX vst for various ShoeGazey sounds too.
I have the Yamaha fx900. also 80s. wonder if the reverbs are the same
Yeah I reckon so? I’d that the one the ‘soft focus’ is built on?
@@thesethingsmakenoises Not sure about it's specifics.
@@thecookreporting The Soft Focus patch is from the Yamaha FX500. I just skimmed the Yamaha SPX900 manual for you and it does not have a Soft Focus patch. I believe the FX500 was released a few years later.
OK. Thanks for taking the time to look though @@gigaha
Would love to know some of the names of those bands in the intro! Just starting to get into shoegaze
Ahh awesome,
Well I’d have a listen to:
MBV
Slowdive
Ride
Cocteau Twins
Chapterhouse
The Jesus and Mary chain
And try some ‘newer’ stuff too:
Minor victories (part slowdive, part mogwai, part editors)
Nothing
Hum
DIIV
Bedroom
Midiverb II reverse program as well.
Have heard that. Looks like a really cool unit!
The Midiverb II is great! However, I love the SPX90’s digital display. The Midiverb just shows you the number of the patch you’re on (01-99), so you have to keep referring to a sheet of paper.
Yeah.. well, this "secret", which is well known in the community, has skyrocketed in price since a few years now so it's ridiculously hard to get hands on it
Ahhh I know right! I hadn’t looked as I have had it a couple of years, but when I was editing the video I had a look at prices and was absolutely shocked. What happened?
i hear slowdive not mbv haha, but great video!
Haha ahh fair! I wonder if it’s the beat behind it. I was thinking I’d made a ‘when you sleep’ type beat but when I was editing my girlfriend overheard and thought I was playing one of the new ‘The National’ tracks hahaha.
I do absolutely love slowdive though!
I still have my SPX90 I bought for $700.00 in 1986. $700 in 1986 is equivalent to $17,240.33 in 2024.
eh more like 2000 today 🙃
@@azizlewis Yeah I must have put 7000 in the calculator LOL
Nothing surpasses this... and yet. not one stupid boutique builder has created something that come even close, I can't beleive no one has emulated the DSP of the 'Reverse Gate Reverb'! Stick a fuzz in there and ya done!
As always dropping the hottest content
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Jeff Buckley used the midiverb too
Delay is 0, Kevin said this multiple times in the interviews
Ahh no way!
I would pay for an IR taken of this if you wanna do it
Hmm that could be something I could look into!