Suggestions Please-Tremolo or Chorus

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I've been messing around with Riviera Paradise.
I was liking my version with Tremolo, but just to be sure I asked my friend and local SRV hero Tommy what he used. He told me that he sometimes uses a Fender Leslie but more often just a Boss DC 2w Dimension C (Stevie used a Roland Dimension D in the studio.). Rather than spend $200-$250 on the Boss pedal, I used my Mooer GE150.

Here's my tremolo version

Here's my Chorus version

Thoughts?
 

blackcoffeeblues

Student Of The Blues
I think either one of them would be good, if you slowed the TAP speed down a little--the wave is a little to fast for a song like that. JMOP I use the chorus with a little delay and tremolo with a touch of delay so i guess I have no certain favorites. I like acoustic with chorus--electric tremolo.
 

sloslunas

NM Blues
To be perfectly honest...the recordings were less than excellent from a man with your ability. To the point that it was hard to tell the difference. Although from what I heard the chorus is more better...

Steve
 

dvs

Green Mountain Blues
To me they both sound like the effects are applied way more heavily than you need. They both would benefit from turning the effects down to where you can just barely tell they're on. I believe tremolo will work better for this song than chorus, though.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
I agree with dvs. The added problem / difficulty is that when you use tremolo, the tempo of the song and the rate of the tremolo have to fit together just right.
Until you can play this song up to the speed of the original recording without the hesitations between phrases, no matter what you do with the effects probably won't sound true to the original (if that is what you are striving for). I would focus on really getting the flow of the song down first and worry about the effects later.
The chorus version sounded kind of boxy and lo-fi to me, like the mic was far away from the speaker.
It's a beautiful piece of music IMO, but not an easy one to play well. And it doesn't get any easier as the song goes on.
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
Out of the two I think the chorus is the better sounding of the two. There's something about the tremolo that I can't put my finger on that isn't as good. Maybe slow the trem down a bit and that might be it. Maybe the chorus is just all around better out of the two. However, as much as you play out (when there's not a killer virus on the loose), I'd say you need to invest in a good rotary speaker pedal. In my head, that's the sound for this one.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Yep, that's exactly why I'm working on it.
I think there can be great value in stretching to play a difficult piece that you really like.
It's a good way to improve one's technique in ways that other songs may not force you to do.
There are some pieces I have worked on for more years than I care to admit, and I am still not happy with them,
but they do keep getting better and it helps for playing other easier songs.
Stick with it and enjoy the process Mike!!!
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I think there can be great value in stretching to play a difficult piece that you really like.
It's a good way to improve one's technique in ways that other songs may not force you to do.
There are some pieces I have worked on for more years than I care to admit, and I am still not happy with them,
but they do keep getting better and it helps for playing other easier songs.
Stick with it and enjoy the process Mike!!!

Yeah, I've been working on 3 SRV songs (Pride & Joy, Texas Flood & Riviera Paradise) for more months than I care to say, but each practice moves me forward a tiny bit.
 
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