dobro sound emulators

Al Sato · Post by **Al Sato** » 14 Nov 2005 10:57 pm

I've read about the Matchbro and I was wondering what is the currently "hot" setup for someone wanting to get a dobro-like sound out of a steel guitar. I'm an acoustic guitar and dobro player gradually getting "forced" (ha, ha) to play Telecaster and lap steel for reasons of stage volume. However, there are songs where the dobro sound is integral to the feel of the song.

Thanks for your help.

Al

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So many stringed instruments, so little time...

Keith Cordell · Post by **Keith Cordell** » 15 Nov 2005 5:56 am

Bobbe Seymour has his Bro pedal out and it seems to be getting a lot of favorable press from the guys here. Mark VA has a couple, he might want to chime in as well.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 Nov 2005 6:08 am

I've got a MatchBro and have fooled Bluegrass pickers with it. However, whatever you use with the lap steel make sure you still think "dobro". If you tune the lap to a G tuning (or whatever tuning you use) it should still be about the same. If you just use the dobro simulator as an effects unit it will sound like crap - you have to "think dobro".

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 15 Nov 2005 8:39 am

I had a couple of the Goodrich units, and I like the Bo-Bro every bit as much. Nothing to adjust, and it does the job very well.
Nothing beats a miked up, good sounding reso, but the Bro gets very close. Using the plastic bar helps to imitate the sustain envelope of a reso, and it's pretty essential to play "dobroistic" phrases.
Some time in the shed copping ideas from "real" resoists will pay off. For Ballad ideas Mike Auldridge is a goldmine...
I have a spare if you want to try one out: http://www.markvanallen.com/store_accessories.html

Tyler Hall · Post by **Tyler Hall** » 15 Nov 2005 8:51 am

I have a Beringher processor I play my steel through. I've had it for 2 or 3 years, and was tinkering with it the other day, and it has a dobro setting! Not exactly the real thing, but it's awful close. I think it's a Virtualizer Pro or something...

D-10 Fessenden, Nashville 112, Session 500, Goodrich LDR

Jan Jonsson · Post by **Jan Jonsson** » 15 Nov 2005 11:15 am

I bought myself a Marrs/Flueger 'Cat-Can' Lapsteel earlier this summer and have used it extensively on-stage with the country band I play with. I has an authentic enough dobro-ish sound to fool quite a few players in the audience. Besides the metal can-shaped 'cone' under the bridge, the Cat-Can also has a built-in Match-Bro circuit card with controls for resonance and tone.

When I received the Cat-Can I spontaneously did some recordings with it. Below are two clips illustrating how it sounds. The first clip is the Cat-Can played alone thru my tube amp. In the second clip, the guitar has been added on top of a song from the country band's CD (the first solo is the Cat-Can while the second solo is a real acoustic Dobro). Pardon the semi-sloppy playing ...

Cat-Can played alone

Cat-Can playing with backing track

-- Jan

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Sho-Bud Pro II Custom 8+6, Fulawka D-10 8+8, Fender Deluxe 8, Marrs/Fluger Cat-Can, Fender CS Nocaster
[This message was edited by Jan Jonsson on 15 November 2005 at 11:18 AM.]

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 15 Nov 2005 4:53 pm

You can get "Hawaiian-style" dobro from one of those things, but modern dobro with hammers, pulloffs, scale fragments and rolls with open strings just won't work - the tuning is all wrong, and the tuning (with a couple variations) is inherent to "real" Dobro sound.

My take - if you want to sound like a Dobro player, buy a Dobro, a Jerry Douglas or Rob Ickes course and hide in the bedroom for a year or so.

I've been playing dobro for 25 years, and dobro emulators sound good tonewise, but all wrong musically.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 16 Nov 2005 3:19 am

Obviously the real thing is better than any "simulator". But that's not the question here, the question is about simulator units.

I had a Behringer Virtualizer Pro and nothing in there even comes close to my MatchBro. Same with the Profex II program, it's a far cry from the MatchBro.

I've never heard a BobbeBro so I can't comment on the tone, but one of the things that doomed the Goodrich MatchBro II was the fact it was fixed and no adjustments.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 16 Nov 2005 7:08 am

Jack,
Goodrich made several different models of the "Match-Bro". Some had fixed settings and others didn't. The model I have is called the "Super Bro" and it has a couple of different knobs you can crank on.
Erv

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 16 Nov 2005 9:45 am

Erv, I have one of the original models, with the two knobs and a built in Matchbox with tone control in the bypass position.

Goodrich made one model, between mine and yours that fixed - didn't have knobs. Neil Flanz bought one of these (used) and could never get a decent dobro sound out of it. He was doing some recording when he lived in Hollywood, Fl and wanted a dobro sound for one of the recordings. He heard mine and apparently couldn't get close to the sound I had. I talked to him about installing pots instead of the fixed resistors but I don't think he had much luck getting the needed info from Goodrich.

Al Sato · Post by **Al Sato** » 16 Nov 2005 10:01 pm

Thanks, guys. I do have more than one real dobro and I'm actually mostly an acoustic player. However, I'd like to get a dobro sound in a loud band (separate issue, not going to be addressed here). I've agreed to buy Mark's Bo-Bro and see where to go from there.

I appreciate all the discussion, which is most interesting to me. Believe me, I'm taking it all in for future reference.

Al

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 17 Nov 2005 2:32 am

I`ve had a Match-Bro for a number of years and only recently I found a combination that gives me a good enough approximation of the Dobro sound. I`ve used it with several different pedal steels and a couple of Supro lap steels. Ok , no cigar . I had a 25" lap steel made for me a couple of years ago and that guitar with the MB is so close to the real thing that I don`t use the Dobro live anymore in loud band situations. I guess the scale lenght , string gauges (16-56) and the tuning (high bass G ) did the trick . And it`s physically similar to play as the dobro. If you have for example an Asher and the MB , try the combination out !

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Olli Haavisto,
Finland

[This message was edited by Olli Haavisto on 17 November 2005 at 02:34 AM.]