The Chetboard

I have a question that's been buggin' me for a long time! It's been said over the years that Chet used little or no reverb. I don't totally agree with that after listening to the Mister Guitar album and several others. Check out "Goofus" for some real nice reverb! So, in the studio how did Chet monitor his reverb since a lot of his recordings were made using an amp with no reverb? I don't remember seeing any photos of him wearing earphones and using the giant plate reverb panels in the RCA building basement. Or did he have a monitor to listen and tweak the "final product" to his liking? To me it's a whole 'nuther story playing with or without any reverb. Chet was a master of holding notes and letting his guitar "sing" and didn't really need anything else as in some of his early recordings. How do some of you guys do it with your recordings? Thanks, Steve

You have to remember he did most of his parts at home

For echo (“Slap-back” is an old term that describes a tape echo effect, now it's called delay) Chet used different setups over the years. Back in the 70's he used an Echoplex, then Lexicon came out with a delay and he started using, a PCM 42, and that was about it until I ran upon the Lexicon JamMan and he used it too.

__Paul Yandell cgp

Well Thanks, Norm, for the info! But I already know about the echo, echoplex, PCM42, EchoSonic amp and all the "echo" stuff. What I wondering about is the standard ol' "reverb", whether it be spring, hall, or plate as I suspect is what was in the RCA building. It doesn't really matter what studio Chet was in or was using I'm referring mainly to the technique of rendering "reverb" to the final mix. On some songs, like "Goofus" for example, Chet used LOTS of reverb and it seems to me it's just a little different playing it "dry" with no reverb and going ahead and crankin' up the ol' reverb right there onboard. Seems like it would be more difficult to mix in the reverb AFTER cutting the track than just monitoring it as you cut it. Just wondering how the "big boys" do it in the studio. We are all after the very best sound we can get. Thanks again, Norm, I 'preciate it!! Steve

That's a good question and I'm not sure there's a goodl, clear, simple answer to it.

Back In The Day one of the best Chet interviews was in, I think Electronic World or some magazine of that nature. He talked a little bit about the big plate reverb units RCA was using at the time. Big bedspring sized things and as I recall he said they worked pretty well. As far as Chet specifically on his own recordings, sometimes he'd book a bunch of musicians down in Studio B or Studio A and get the overall tracks he needed to work with laid down but he almost always left the center track open for himself and would take the tape home and do his part. From what Paul has said Chet often added his echo after the fact and he knew all the tricks for doing that.

Bwana make juju..

There is an album "Songs My Mother Never Sang" (Homer and Jethro) in which you get to hear some of the fascinating conversation that goes on as a recording is made. You can clearly hear the reverb as they speak but it isn't at all overbearing once the music actually kicks in. That's the difference between a pro engineer and a home dabbler. Taste.
I believe George Barnes is on the thing and he does a ripping good jazz intro on one of the songs.
You should really have that CD

The magazine was "Radio Electronics" and the editor of the magazine, Forrest Belt conducted the interview. I used to suscribe to that magazine because it focused a great deal on audio and television repair, and consumer electronics in general, which was my profession at the time. There were pictures of Chet, the studio, the studio equipment, and the Electromessteknik units (not sure of spelling). I remember Mr. Belt commenting on the purity of tone Chet had on his albums, and in true Chet style, he very humbly uttered a thank you. Mr. Belt - and all of us who read the article were mesmerized by Chet. Chet described harmonics and very casually performed some cascading harmonics for the interview like it was no big deal. Of course, Mr. Belt was very impressed! His description of the harmonics was very good. I'm sure that issue sold like hotcakes.

November 1966 found me in basic training at Fort Dix N.J. Atrip to the P.X. and there it was. A piece of sanity. A magazine with Chet on cover holding a double cut 6120 with his Standel amp. I was so happy I almost slept with that magazine. The next morning at inspection, the D.I. found it in my foot locker. "What's this puke? get down and give me ten and get ride of it". I almost cried. Last year I paid $40.00 for a copy I found on EBay. dumb but true. Stan......please excuse my cataracts and one finger typing.