Who knows how many countless hours I have frittered away, trawling through Flickr, squinting obsessively at fuzzy, out of focus images of that magnificent band, Mono, and their gear. Does anyone have pictures of and/or know the amp settings used by Taka, Yoda and Tamaki?

fiveways might, if he shows up in the near future.

pics of their pedal boards have been posted before

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http://www.guitargeek.com/chat/showt...44#post1115144

http://www.youtube.com/user/burntumber

http://www.redbubble.com/people/robertswereda

Funny that, I'm listening to them now as I'm reading this thread! Aside from what's been said on these forums before (there's a couple of great threads in the archives), I can't add much.

The guitars revolve around Fender guitars and amps, and Tamaki plays a Gibson SG bass. Taka's DD-3 and RV-3 pedals seem to have tape over the control knobs in all the pics I've seen so it's fair to say his signature trem picking uses one setting for interval and level. It also means that many of their songs will have to be in the same tempo! Follow The Map is at 116BPM I believe.

seeing them live in a couple of weeks acutally, so I might be able to offer more advice later. In the meantime pile on the reverb and set the delays!

EDIT: this thread and this thread have good pics of the pedal boards with plenty of discussion of the effects involved. In a nutshell it's all about the Fender amps for the guitar sound but Taka switches to a Marshall valve head and 4X12 cab for the distorted moments. But yeah, I'll be taking a camera. They're one band I really admire sound-wise too, so I can understand why you're so awestruck at how the heck they can make the glorious racket that they do.

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Guitar rig: CIJ Fender Jazzmaster/CIJ Fender Mustang -> TU-3 -> RV-5 -> OD-3 -> custom IC Muff -> PS-2 -> DD-3 -> RE-20 -> LS-2 -> Fender '65 DRRI & Mesa/Boogie F-50

Bass rig: Fender MIM Jazz Bass -> TU-2 -> RAT 2 -> Sansamp BDDI -> RV-3

"...So now you know the true secret to great tone: all the espresso you can handle."

Or... The Feedback is set low and he just lets the repeats do their thing to fill up space instead of helping to keep time... That's how I've always used my non Tap Tempo delays.

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Good theory. I'm not sure whether it's ludicrously fast playing or a delay with the resonance set low that gives the trem picking effect! I wonder if the delay is making him sound like he's playing twice as fast as he is...the videos I've seen aren't clear enough really. I tried cranking the mix of my delay full up to bring the repeats to the same volume as the original sound and dropping the resonance to minumum to give one repeat, which gives a doubling effect, but setting the rate without a tap tempo is a real headache.

Not to mention the possibility that his RV-3 may be adding more repeats of its own and/or reverb onto the DD-3's sound. 'Ashes in the Snow' seems to have more than one delay going on during the clean tone sections...

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Guitar rig: CIJ Fender Jazzmaster/CIJ Fender Mustang -> TU-3 -> RV-5 -> OD-3 -> custom IC Muff -> PS-2 -> DD-3 -> RE-20 -> LS-2 -> Fender '65 DRRI & Mesa/Boogie F-50

Bass rig: Fender MIM Jazz Bass -> TU-2 -> RAT 2 -> Sansamp BDDI -> RV-3

"...So now you know the true secret to great tone: all the espresso you can handle."

As it happens, (to my shame?) I am somewhat of an expert on the subject of Mono's gear...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85...nopictures.jpg

About Taka's DD-3s and the RV-3, they are all set very similarly....

The original DD-3 has Level and Feedback both at 3 o'clock, Delay Time around 1 o'clock, and is set to Long (800ms) delay.

He added an additional DD-3 for the Hymn to the Immortal Wind material, with Level at around 2 o'clock, Feedback at 3 o'clock, Delay Time around 11 o'clock, and again set to Long (800ms) delay.

The RV-3 (which he stopped using in 2007, but started using again late last year) has Balance set to 12 o'clock, Feedback at 3 o'clock, Delay Time set to 1 o'clock, and Mode is set to 6 (Long delay + Hall reverb). He would only use the RV-3 if he wasn't using the RV-5+DD-3 combo, for example, in tracks which have an unchanged, delayed, reverberated sound all the way through ("Karelia (Opus 2)"), or tracks which use both a completely clean signal, then a delayed and reverberated signal ("COM(?)"). Hope that clears things up!

What I'm more interested in is their amp settings, specifically, EQ, Gain, Volume etc. Despite having a considerably large amount of pictures, as I linked to before, I've yet to come across some completely clear photos of their amp controls. Perhaps the closest I've got is this image of Taka's DSL 100 (link), but even then, only a few controls are clearly visible.

He actually IS playing this fast... saw them last year. Concerning the show you're going to see: Beware, it might get loud

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Wouldn't those controls be changed per venue at soundcheck anyway?

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Standard Strat with Lace Hot Golds; Standard Ash Tele; Fulltone OCD, Line6 M9
My Music

That's quite an interesting theory; I always assumed that (what with Mono being such a well-rehearsed and disciplined band, having pedal settings velcroed down etc.) that they had all their amp settings worked out at rehearsal stage, and used the same settings at each gig, for consistency of sound.

Hmm...yeah, I doubt the acoustics at a small venue such as the Brudenell will be up to the standards of Steve Albini's own studio so recreating that sound across different venues must be quite the challenge, as experienced as they must be in live situations. In any case, I'll keep my eyes peeled for how their gear's set up (making no promises of quality given the venue's lighting and my mediocre camera) since you've been more help to me than I've been to you so far!

Still, it's surprised me about the delay settings. I was expecting Taka to use a short delay time setting running into a longer one to give the textured rhythm parts...the idea that the speed of the trem picking effect is all his playing rather than the delay providing a doubling echo is kinda mindblowing. Having the resonance three quarters of the way up of a digi delay just creates an unmanageable mass for me.

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Guitar rig: CIJ Fender Jazzmaster/CIJ Fender Mustang -> TU-3 -> RV-5 -> OD-3 -> custom IC Muff -> PS-2 -> DD-3 -> RE-20 -> LS-2 -> Fender '65 DRRI & Mesa/Boogie F-50

Bass rig: Fender MIM Jazz Bass -> TU-2 -> RAT 2 -> Sansamp BDDI -> RV-3

"...So now you know the true secret to great tone: all the espresso you can handle."

If you could try and get some good shots of Taka's Fender and Marshall amps, that would be brilliant. He does indeed tremolo pick with those settings, rather exquisitely I might add. See 2:39-2:50 in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSEuJCRIyvk

Also, here is a good photo showing his DD-3 settings:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/...04556104_b.jpg

All this talk of Mono has reminded me that I am seeing them live on 17 March. I'll see if I can get some good shots of their gear. Here's hoping for "COM(?)"!

Every place sounds different. And I'm sure the sound guys adjusting their boards offer more control than a guitar amp, but still.

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Stuff I use:
Standard Strat with Lace Hot Golds; Standard Ash Tele; Fulltone OCD, Line6 M9
My Music

We (from IZAH) are supporting them in a week or two, so I MIGHT be able to check out some of their settings if the amps are already set up on stage! Remind me in a week or two by sending me a PM!

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Envy to the power of infinity. The support act for the show I'm attending is a band called Glissando who I've never heard of, but kudos to you and your bandmates for getting a gig supporting such an awesome band. Best of luck with your set, then - hope it goes well!

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Guitar rig: CIJ Fender Jazzmaster/CIJ Fender Mustang -> TU-3 -> RV-5 -> OD-3 -> custom IC Muff -> PS-2 -> DD-3 -> RE-20 -> LS-2 -> Fender '65 DRRI & Mesa/Boogie F-50

Bass rig: Fender MIM Jazz Bass -> TU-2 -> RAT 2 -> Sansamp BDDI -> RV-3

"...So now you know the true secret to great tone: all the espresso you can handle."

Thanks! I've been looking forward to this now for weeks!
It's gonna be awesome!

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Social Media:
facebook | last.fm |YouTube | SoundCloud

Music:
- Arafúra
Ambient / Shoegaze / Dream Pop / Post-Rock

- IZAH
Post-Metal / Sludge / Post-Rock / Noise

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- DCS' Ambient/Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Post-Rock/Post-Metal/Sludge Rig