nailing down the tone in the Bohemian Rhapsody solo

  • I've been trying to get as close as possible to Brian May's screaming tone in Bohemian Rhapsody recently (since I built a guitar with three singles wired in series and I can reproduce the correct pickup combination). I ended up getting pretty good results starting from the direct Vox VBM1 profiles by Eric Geurts ( FlyingSnowman I believe, right?). I was able to tonematch an impulse response that gets me pretty close to the recorded tone.


    So I figured I'd share the stuff in case anybody finds it useful. As I understand it I can't post the rig that I used on Rig Exchange since I'm not the author of the full thing (I'm running "Vox VBM1 Brian May 3" from Rig Exchange as my starting point). So here are the cabinet files: dropbox link


    Any feedback welcome, this is the first time I've tried something like this.


    I'm working on a youtube video showcasing this in full, but for the moment here's a quick demo:


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    Edit - adding the full demo video to the first post so that it's harder to miss it ;)


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  • Sounds pretty close to me man :thumbup:

  • Thanks guys for the comments!


    As I understand the terms for free profiles, you can post your tweaks, as long as you don't take credit as author.
    I've seen quite a few tweaked reposts before.

    I guess I can post a link to the full profile here, but as far as I understand the rules of Rig Exchange, I shouldn't upload anything that is not fully my own creation..

  • Sounds good. Is some of the original solo double tracked? Around 2.53 here....


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  • As I understand it I can't post the rig that I used on Rig Exchange since I'm not the author of the full thing (I'm running "Vox VBM1 Brian May 3" from Rig Exchange as my starting point).

    Hi Traqq,


    If you wish, I can upload your tweaked file since I was the original author, so you don't get in trouble because of the Kemper rules. Just let me know. Glad you liked the profile! And yes, it needs some tweaking :)


    Eric

  • Sounds good. Is some of the original solo double tracked? Around 2.53 here....


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    good ear i do think you are correct, some is double there,


    btw, nice profile and Brian May tone!

  • good ear i do think you are correct, some is double there,


    btw, nice profile and Brian May tone!

    thanks!
    I was wondering what those overtones are myself. To me it sounds like some artifact created by the hum of the amp cranked to hell and back, I don't think that's another guitar. Listen to the first 5-10 seconds of the solo, you also hear some extra sound coming through.

  • Hi Traqq,


    If you wish, I can upload your tweaked file since I was the original author, so you don't get in trouble because of the Kemper rules. Just let me know. Glad you liked the profile! And yes, it needs some tweaking :)


    Eric

    Hey Eric,
    nice to hear from you :) thanks again for the patch, I was using it already for a year or two with one of the stock Kemper Vox cabients, as my baseline Brian May solo patch. But now I did the exercise with Bohemian Rhapsody - it does work awesome in this context!
    So my rig is currently your amp plus my IR coverted to a Kemper cabinet, plus some small extra EQ.. here they are: dropbox link, if you could upload them it would probably make it much easier for people to try them. You'd just need to edit some fields (it says TraqGuitars as author etc)


    LOL now I'll probably need to change my demo video again, and it was almost ready .. :P initially I said that the patches are available on Rig Exchange, then I learned that I can't do that so I re-filmed that bit, now if they end up on RE in the end .. I think I'll just add a text saying that ;)

  • if you could upload them it would probably make it much easier for people to try them

    Hi Traqq


    Voilà, I edited the files to put my name (not that I want to give credit to you for the additional work) as you requested and uploaded them. They have the same name that you put (Bohemian VBM and Bohemian VBM Detail). Please let me know if I did screw up the sound! :)


    take care,
    Eric

  • great, thanks Eric!
    I'm away for a few days, I'll verify the profiles as soon as I get back. Can't see why anything would be wrong though :)


    Meanwhile I've finally finished the video, so if anybody is interested in a slightly more in-depth look, here it is:


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  • thanks!
    I was wondering what those overtones are myself. To me it sounds like some artifact created by the hum of the amp cranked to hell and back, I don't think that's another guitar. Listen to the first 5-10 seconds of the solo, you also hear some extra sound coming through.

  • Uups! Sorry for the empty post before...


    In Brian May's track you can hear what is called "ghost noting" or "amp ghosting". If a tube amp has low filtering in the power supply/B+ rail and is fully cranked then rippling anode voltage at the power tubes produces inter-harmonic distortion, audible as overtones. AFAIK Brian uses the normal input of the AC30, max volume and max cut to get a saturated, overdriven sound which is also dark and muffled. Sort of cranked power amp tone. He then uses the treble booster after his guitar to feed the amp with a boosted but thin signal (due to the low cut effect of the booster unit). This results in the singing, harmonically rich sound that (I guess) most of us love! Not to mention Brian's very specail guitar with extraordinary woods, sustain and possible pickup-constellations together with his outstanding and unique phrasing...


    Hope this helps, Josse