One of Blog Of Tone’s intrepid writers has been playing the role of David Gilmour in a Pink Floyd tribute band for a few years now. Yes, we know, big shoes to fill. As he revealed in Part 1 and Part 2 of the story (which you should definitely read before starting on this! Part 1 is here and Part 2 here) it’s been a rocky road of gear, practice and superfans. But now, as the band have finally found their feet onstage, it’s time to tweak that David Gilmour guitar sound to perfection!

It doesn’t seem so long ago that our man started documenting his efforts to channel space-blues maestro David Gilmour after taking up guitar-playing duties in a Pink Floyd tribute band.

You may recall that his tool of choice for plumbing the sonic depths of Gilmour’s trademark killer tone was the GrandMeister 36.

Since then, though, things have changed a bit – so here’s what happened!

One band, two shows

First off, the band decided to work on two separate show formats. Why?

Well, it turns out you (literally!) can’t always fit the entire Pink Floyd experience on a poky little stage in a small club in the back end of Germany.

Consequently, the Elevator Sessions show was designed for gigs at space-limited venues, and looks and sounds a little like this:

The bigger arrangement, for full band and light show and all that comes with it, is called Lights On. It’s a much flashier format that seeks to capture the original Pink Floyd vibe in every respect, and it looks and sounds a little like this:

GrandMeister does Gilmour

As it turns out, the GrandMeister was an inspired choice for our guy’s great gig in the sky.

It helped him distill the essence of Gilmour’s tone into a streamlined rig that takes the idea of reduction to a surprisingly workable extreme.

It might look like a joke compared to Diamond Dave’s original space station, but size isn’t everything, as many of us know. And with an all-tube amp with storable sounds and effects like GrandMeister, you can go an awful long way with a single box.

Title

So, what’s changed since the band’s first show guitar rig-wise?

Well, the setup remains almost exactly the same. One small substitution was made in February 2017: the GrandMeister 36 was pulled out to be replaced by a GrandMeister Deluxe 40.

For our man, the GM40 is a touch more sonically versatile, putting a few more flavors of Gilmour’s tone at his fingertips.

It took more than a little finessing, tweaking and programming sounds and effects, but the work paid off because the GrandMeister Deluxe 40’s extended tonal spectrum adds even more intriguing flavors and exotic spices to the band’s musical stew.

Get the sounds for yourself!

If you wish to recreate our guy’s Gilmour-inspired tones on your own amp, be our guests – all the settings are here:

Comparing the GrandMeister 36 and the GrandMeister Deluxe 40

And if you care for a little dessert – some direct A/B comparisons of the GrandMeister 36 and GrandMeister Deluxe 40 sounds in a concert setting – you can help yourself to that too. It certainly makes for some interesting results:

The search for perfect tone

Happily, this particular Blog Of Tone writer’s pursuit of tonal perfection is a virtue, not a vice.

He is senior enough in years to know that it’s something that can only be approached, never reached. But that doesn’t stop him – or for that matter, the rest of us guitar players – from trying!

With that in mind, the next step in the Gilmour tonefest is already in the planning: it will be an attempt to take the signal from the GrandMeister’s Red Box Out and add another layer of stereo ambience, reverb and delay FX on top of the onboard effects to conjure the kind of big-screen, panoramic sound that David Glamour himself captures in the studio and on stage.

If that sounds pretty cosmic to you, then stay tuned for more!

P.S. If you own a GrandMeister Deluxe 40 and want the sounds delivered straight to your GrandMeister Remote App for iPad, you’re in luck – just download by clicking on the pic below and enjoy:

First published: December 08 2017. Most recent update: December 08 2017.