...need more cowbell - ahem - feedback!

    You all know the line in that BÖC video "Don't Fear the Reaper". Getting more cowbell is of course not the problem. I'm looking for advise on how to get that famous 8 bar long feedback at the end of the solo before verse 3. It was doable with my Hiwatt and a 4x12 - I just turned around and there it was, the feedback :). Last couple of times playing with the KPA I simulated it with my voice over the mike :pinch: . Of course the guys had put a gun to my head making me promise that I'll come up with the real feedback next time or I'm dead or out, which is the same...
    I play my toaster with main out stereo into the PA mixer at the rehearsal room, like in a gig situation but without a monitor. It seems the only way to get a decent feedback is to employ a monitor behind me. Problem is real estate is really scarce in our room (Wish I'd own something like the Abbey Road Studios...). Is there a trick that you professionals like to share here? Please? :D

    I had no issue getting controlled feedback at my last gig and I was running direct. You may need to switch to a fairly high gain profile to generate the feedback if you don't have a speaker at high volume in close proximity.

    Quote from guitarnet70

    You need a LOUD speaker to get that kind of feedback....nothing else.


    Means close to the guitar like an extra monitor or the "loud" PA speakers which point to me are sufficient when loud?
    As I said, with the Hiwatt and the 4x12 behind me and turning around no problem at all. That was loud! 8o


    @ Will_Chen: Did you had also a monitor for guitar on stage, like a wedge in front of you?

    Quote from Labrat

    Means close to the guitar like an extra monitor or the "loud" PA speakers which point to me are sufficient when loud?

    If you walk in front of the PA speaker that should definitely be enough...

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


    An Ebow was used on the recording. An Ebow is still used live (by Eric Bloom) to pick up the feedback off the tail of the lead while Buck goes back to the main rhythm riff. Sustainer is also a good option if you have the means and guitar to do it to. Easiest path would be to set up and find your sweet/feedback spot before gig. Of course every room is different and volume level greatly affects the ability to cop on-the-fly feedback.


    Funny/true/somewhat embarrassing tale: I played the Reaper with Buck at a clinic he was doing some years ago. I had played the Reaper live as a lead guitarist about 500 times. I had never covered the rhythm. Buck asked if anyone would care to accompany him on some jams and, after no one took the bait I said "Sure, why not?" I grabbed a lefty Squire Strat with single coils(have to adapt when duty calls) off the wall of the Mars Music store we were in, plugged into a stage amp and off we went. We jammed on a standard progression for awhile. Then someone asked Buck if he would play one of his songs. The Reaper it was to be. As we approached the lead break Buck turned and asked "Do you know this?" I said "Go Man!", not realizing that I was about to become very unfamiliar with the lead backing. I proceeded to slightly trainwreck the ascending rhythm, something Buck's wife would later describe as "off on some different trajectory". I nailed the F-G-Ab-G-F but lost my bearings on the G-B-D-Ab-G part of the run. As only the mind of a train-wrecking musician can understand, I pictured myself hurdling off the top of a tall spire and landing on a bed of very large spikes at the bottom. At least this vision would have been less painful than my reality at the time. After what seemed like 2 hours we were at the end of the lead. In a bit of desperation and hoping to redeem myself I grabbed the 12th fret G note on my off-the-shelf, single coil equipped Strat copy and spun to face the amp. It was then that an amazing thing happened. My little Squire picked up perfect feedback and the feedback held, for the entire verse, just like the record. As I pulled out to go into the pre-chorus Buck gave me a look like "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" From zero to...well, let's just say I didn't drive off a bridge on my way home. Buck was very gracious and simply thankful that I helped him out. BTW, it was Buck who had me play through his KPA that made me decide to purchase my own. And the rest (as they say) is history in the making!


    http://markhalls.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/L34.jpg

    For all the help and Suggestions.
    Since Budget is gone, res. I have to sell my "surplus" gear first before I can Show up with New gadgets, I will go with an extra Monitor close to me And I Need to train finding the Sweet Spot.
    I've found the vibesware GR 1 intriguing, but it Seems it is no longer made. So I Might try the Fender runaway at Musikmesse.

    I have no problems getting that feedback for that tune, or any song in particular... if necessary, crank the gain on boost pedal within the kemper and kick it in on that note and if you have a monitor for guitar, it should feed back easily. When you're done, turn it off.


    The ability of the KPA to generate feedback easily is one of the things that I use all the time live, it really responds like a cranked tube amp IMHO.