Eight Miles High Demo Guitar Sound....

6l6 · Post by **6l6** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:10 pm

When I saw the BYRDS play live in around '67, their stage amps were indeed Fender Dual Showmans.

6

budrocket · Post by **budrocket** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:01 am

He used the Epi amp on the MTM single, after that he did go direct into the desk, which were tube-powered in those days, & then daisy-chained through a couple Fairchild compressors.

The Byrds were supplied with all the Fender gear they wanted, amps, Rogers drums, etc., as CBS had just bought Fender in 1965, & it was certainly to their advantage to have their groups seen playing the equipment. The Byrds even appeared in Fender print adverts.

bw

8mileshigh · Post by **8mileshigh** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 2:02 am

I've got old copies of Melody Maker (British) with the Byrds appearing in adverts for WEM amps. Although I think Roger said they never actually used them! Oh the slippery world of advertising!!

janglebox · Post by **janglebox** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:41 am

I don't think the Byrds ever used WEM amps, but in the early 70s the 'Clarence White Byrds' audio engineer, Stuart "Dinky" Dawson, assembled a massive (for the time) WEM sound system for them that was used until they disbanded in '73.

rick36 · Post by **rick36** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:59 pm

I happened on this thread accidently, but its funny, I've recently been listening to the RCA versions of "Eight Mile High" & "Why". Driving along, all of a sudden it struck me - the Byrds sounded just like Jefferson Airplane on the "Surrealistic Pillow" LP: Then it hits me - RCA Studio! There's your sound. Listen to the Airplane LP and the Byrds demo and I think you'll hear the similarity. Same studio, Same sound - check it out. I'ts the distinctive echo and EQ that sets this apart from any other Byrds recordings.

eggman · Post by **eggman** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:41 pm

Howdy,

FWIW, The 'Stones recorded "I can't get no" and "Get off My Cloud" at RCA studios in Hollywood, too. Dave Hassinger was Elvis' producer, but he helped engineer or produce proabably ALL these recordings. Oh, "The Last Time" was done at RCA as well. I always thought "Somebody to Love" sounded HUGE, like "The Last Time". Same studio and engineers!

Eggman

teb · Post by **teb** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:58 pm

Ooooo.... Deja-Vuski...I had one of those big STP stickers on my bass case for a long time back in the early seventies - but I can't remember for the life of me where I got it or why I put it on there...

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:49 am

STP (Scientifically Treated Petroleum) was a popular gasoline additive in the 60s, especially after Mario Andretti (sp?) an endorser, won the Indy 500. For some reason STP stickers could be found everywhere - on walls, notebooks (mine included), skateboards and cars.

Rumor has it that it also represented "Serenity, Tranquility and Peace," a nickname for the drug dimethoxyl amphetamine.

karl_teten · Post by **karl_teten** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:57 pm

Also........Stoned To Perfection.

teb · Post by **teb** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 6:21 am

Remember the TV commercials with Andy Granatelli where they tried to hold onto the tip of a screwdriver dipped in STP to show how slick it was? And the jingle "STP, it's the racer's edge."
Luckily, I managed to make it through about eight years in the rock and roll business in the late sixties and early seventies running on nothing stronger than Pall Mall straights and a little bourbon, so I never got into the drug reference part of it. I just figured it was kind of like industrial strength Finger-ease.