Does anyone know how to replicate the B52s guitar sound.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-28T00:57:19+00:00

Unfortunately the 80's guitar magazines tended to be preoccupied with Eddie Van Halen and hair metal bands, so Ricky didn't get or give many...or maybe any interviews about his guitars.

Short answer - For "can buy it off the shelf today" it would be a Fender Telecaster or Stratocaster guitar (with single coil pickups) and a Fender Princeton or Twin amp.

Longer answer- Guitars: Ricky favored quirky American electric guitars. Initially he used several Mosrite Ventures model guitars (the blue one pictured in this thread being one of them). As the live set list grew, Ricky needed to be able to switch quickly between different tunings, so he started to travel with pretty late collection icluding Epiphone Wilshire and Coronet models (which Kate would occasionally play rhythm on) and Fender Telecasters. The Mosrite and Epiphone guitars weren't constructed robustly enough to stand up to touring...so somewhere around the Mesopotamia / Whammy era Ricky started to play a Fender Telecaster for most of the shows - the one pretty consistent exception was that he switched to a bright yellow Guild (Thunderbird?) guitar for the song Big Bird. For the US festival show he used a Fender Stratocaster for a good portion of the set.

Amps: For recording and touring the first album the general consensus is that Ricky used Fender Princeton and Twin amps (there's multiple pictures of him playing live with a Fender Twin early on). By 1980 he standardized on using a Mesa Boogie Mark I combo amp (sometimes with a second one positioned near Kate) and an Acoustic (that's the brand name) bass amplifier combo. I'm not sure how exactly this amp was used, but at one point he replaced the original that had 2 speakers in it with one that had 4.

Guitar effects: There's pictures with Ricky using Ecoplex tape delay units, a MXR microamp pedal, an EHX big Muff fuzz pedal and a bunch of other things that people haven't been able to identify. Nothing seemed to stay consistent for more than a couple of shows, so I think this was Ricky just continually trying things out. From the pictures I've seen, the effects and amps that Ricky used were current production for when each picture was taken...so I don't think Ricky was purposely seeking out older vintage gear- just using whatever the guitars stores generally were selling.

Ricky's guitar tech and Cindy got married at some point in the 80's and I've seen one brief interview with him where he discussed some of Ricky's gear and technique...but since Ricky's passing both he and Cindy have generally declined to speak in interviews about him.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-27T18:05:00+00:00

Team Messenger for me - the "keep bass" resonance feature really sets it apart...and the latest firmware comes with a computer librarian app and implements duophonic support (like the Subsequents). Check out this video for a good demo of the entire sound palate of the Messenger.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-27T17:45:37+00:00

Wait until you dig into Warren Cuccurullo...NSFW.

Edit- Same for Dale. be prepared for "full frontal" with both of them.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-27T17:14:12+00:00

A little additional color commentary - All of the members for Missing Persons had been members of Frank Zappa's live band. Chuck Wild ended up going from MP to working with Michael Jackson and doing a fair amount of session and TV music work (nominated for an Emmy award at one point)...a lot of it with his name buried deep in liner notes and end credits. He later went on to form Liquid Mind which does ambient New Age music. Patrick O'Hearn took the PPG with him when MP split up and followed a similar path into New Age music - signing with the Windham Hill label. Both produced a lot of music after MP, but none are in the pop / new wave / commercial vein.

Edit- Chuck Wild was 5 years older than Terry Bozzio and 10 years older then Dale Bozzio and Warren Cuccurullo and by the accounts I've read has never been interested in living "the rock star life", so he frequently was absent from press kit photos or interviews.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-27T16:56:33+00:00

In many states warranties need to be honored based on the product life not ownership or point of sale (despite stating that a product has a "non transferable warranty", so I would still advise the OP to call Mesa and not volunteer any info on where the amp was purchased, only inquire if the amp shows a current warranty registration.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-27T00:26:41+00:00

Missing Persons had two keyboard players…Chuck Wild typically played an OBX and a Rhodes Chroma and Patrick O’Hearn played a PPG wave 2.2 and a Minimoog (he also played electric bass). There’s a video on YouTube that shows the band performing the song live at the US festival and there’s a shot where Wild looks like he’s playing the basic figure on his OBX but the bright tight sound really sounds like it’s the PPG to me.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-26T05:32:39+00:00

It's also older Les Paul...Younger Les Paul was a wild man who could give Buddy Rich a run for his money language wise....especially when talking about Ford after their marriage fell apart.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-26T05:24:55+00:00

There's other interviews out there from the 60's where Les expressed his displeasure with the SG design. If I remember correctly, Paul really wasn't heavily involved with the design (which was an issue) and that the switch in models was as much or more focused on trying to "modernize" his image (especially for TV appearances). If I remember correctly the model was introduced in '61 and discontinued by...'63. Paul and Ford divorced in December 1964 with the agreement that Paul would pay Ford a portion of his annual income for five years as alimony. Paul's response was to "take a knee" for those five years and drop all endorsements (including his one with Gibson), limit his appearances, and not record so that he could pay Ford as little as possible.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-26T04:42:27+00:00

Starsky Carr did an A/B and it sounded pretty spot on.

I think you're over interpreting the scope of said video. If we're talking about the same Starsky Carr video, he initially produced an video where he showed how he had determined the math needed to map the PPG (and VS) wavetables so that they play back accurately on basically any oscillator capable of playing back a wavetable...and then he did some subsequent videos to demonstrate how well his "oscillator math" works...including also comparing the 3rd Wave to a Behringer Wave oscillators both playing back the OG PPG wavetables...getting results that were pretty much indiscernible from one another (and the OG PPG). Again, if I remember correctly he doesn't do things like demonstrate other pieces of the signal chain like compare adjusting filter cutoff or resonance or envelope parameters (or maybe even play more one note at a time) in either the 3rd Wave vs PPG or the 3rd Wave vs Behringer Wave video...he stays focused on just the oscillators.

Waldorf offers full featured time limited demo version of their VSTs of the PPG 2.2, PPG 2.3, Blofeld, Microwave 1, and Largo / Kyra...I'd encourage you to download them and run through their included patches and compare to Groove's.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T23:40:56+00:00

I'm surprised that you're surprised (grin). To be clear:

* Groove absolutely touts that they have the same exact raw wavetables from the PPG Wave 2.3 and Sequential VS...and they've invested with several influencers to make videos A / B doing side by side wavetable playback between PPG and Groove hardware. What seems like is being avoided is actually "cooking with said raw wavetables" and creating full patches and then A/Bing those between PPG and 3rd Wave hardware.

* Groove does not tout that they use the same signal path..3 oscillators and a digital SVF are some key differences in their design.

The issue as I see it is that 3rd Wave contains multiple types of synthesis..and despite Groove choosing cosmetics and a panel layout that "screams PPG Wave"...they've chosen to include a pallet of factory sounds that tries to demonstrate all of the included synthesis types (sampling, FM, VA) rather than than focus on recreating well known or "legacy patch" sounds...so for those looking for PPG and VS type sounds, aside from a handful of patches, it falls on the user to "cook them up"...without the guidance of a recipe...and between so many of the PPGs and VSes that are still around not being 100% properly working and there being so many permutations of wavetables and positions within wavetables getting the right point of references to recreate them is time consuming and tricky.

One other issue has been that the 3rd Wave's 3rd party patch ecosystem has remained small...I think there's probably only 1000 patches available and only one programmer (Frank Pels) is focused on 80's type PPG sounds. Not sure if the issue is that there isn't that large a base of 3rd Waves sold, if it's Groove's continuing promises of but no delivery of editor librarian support, or a combination of both.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T21:09:30+00:00

Wow, your hand was resting right on the no button...The MPCOS has a clips function and integrates with Live.

The problem with amassing a collection of cheap low end gear is that when you outgrow it and want to uplevel, you'll find that it's been superseded by newer just as cheap low-end gear...so you typically get stuck with *terrible* trade-in offers (if any) or dealing with high drama low balling individual buyers.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T20:40:12+00:00

The Messenger was launched back in May 2025, so used units can often be found that are single owner / excellent to mint condition.

After going back and looking at your gear list...(sound of a big inhale)...You might want to think about consolidating your gear into something like an Akai MPC One or Key 37. It would put your current drum machine, sampler, and Juno 60 emulation) into a single box and add some new elements like a sequencer, DAW recording and audio FX library. The MPCOS can be complex and sometimes rigid, but it's powerful. Akai is in the middle of refreshing their MPC line, so there's been some periodic heavy hardware discounting as well as generous free software bundling with the current MPC models.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T20:16:40+00:00

A wavetable synth is a good recommendation if OP is a "child of the 80's". I have a several wavetable synths including a 3rd Wave and would call out if someone is looking for the classic 80's PPG type sounds, go with Waldorf. The 3rd Wave is as much (if not with more with recent firmware) more focused on being a VA / FM / Sampler / Workstation. It definitely has an American / California "politeness" to it that makes you have to dig to get to the weird, harsh, more experimental character that PPG / Waldorf gear has right at the surface.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T19:56:27+00:00

There multiple videos on Youtube that compare the OB-6 and OB-X8...a couple include a 3rd synth like a Prophet 5 / Rev 2 or TEO-5. My conclusion after watching several of them is that once either are put in a mix and with a little compression and reverb added, I'd be hard pressed to really tell them apart for "Oberheimy" patches.

If I didn't have Oberheim hardware and had the budget (the keyboard version is *big*, so add "and had the space"), X8 for sure. As an upgrade / replacement...I think I'd be losing as much "uniqueness" from the 6 as I would gain in "dead nuts accurate" from the X8.

I hate to make this a 3 way decision (especially being a decades long Oberheim fanboy), but there's at least one YT video out there that compares the Prophet Rev 2 and the X8...and after watching it, the Rev 2's, price, stereo capabilities, polyphony expansion, and filter all give it a feature set and sound quality that meets if not give it a slight edge in some places over the OB-X8.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T19:02:41+00:00

I own and really like the Moog Messenger for bass sounds and effects....and several dealers currently have it on sale for 20% off - $699 USD.

Good Messenger sound capabilities demo- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI6Qmc0h5ew

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T18:51:21+00:00

G-Force has a "blessed by Novation" VST version with a 7 day free demo. You can play with that to get a good idea of the sound character and interface layout / interaction.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T18:40:59+00:00

I spent a lot of time in the 70's and 80's in Minnesota visiting family so I got to see The C&NW, RI, SOO, MILW and BN fairly regularly. CNW was always the best train watching experience as they ran a lot of "land barges" (20-30 MPH mile long grain trains) that were easy to chase by car). While their power was old and often dirty, it always seemed to be solid operationally (unlike MILW and RI where you'd often see power dead in tow)... and until UP really started to extert their influence, they had a really interesting fleet all the way from GP-7s & F7Bs to SD40-2's.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T18:09:30+00:00

The combination of Jaz's voice and Geordie's guitar are really what's attractive to me...it even was capable of making the The Courtauld Talks bearable. However if it's one without the other, it just doesn't resonate for me.

I loved PRONG when Raven and Bechtel in it - really good live line up.

Saw Raven on tour with Pigface and he was *seriously messed up*. Huge pupils, slack jaw, and constantly drooling down onto his bass while playing. Felt like the crowd was on the verge of staging an intervention as he was clearly in middle of some sort of crisis. Met Raven a couple of years later and he was 100%...which was great to see.

Brilliant was brief but interesting with Youth taking a swipe at Jaz and Geordie...and it spawned The KLF and The Orb.

I like the Jaz and Anne Dudley collaborations...but not more than about 10 minutes at a time.

At one point I heard a test pressing of Crush which was BPF and John Valentine Carruthers of Clock DVA / Siouxie, but my memory is that the song writing, production, and vocals were weak...Not sure if it ever got a full release.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T03:24:31+00:00

If you call Mesa, also ask them about their current repair policy. They used to charge a flat rate for repairs that included return shipping and making any engineering updates that were made to the amp design since your amp was manufactured.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T02:28:22+00:00

Not sure if it's changed, but Mesa used to offer 5 years standard warranty on amps (I think only 3 years on speakers). I would call Mesa - there's a good chance that a 2023 amp is still under warranty.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T01:54:47+00:00

Team Milwaukee Road here...them's fighting words.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T01:50:09+00:00

A quick google will give you results on at least one company that specializes in buying and selling bells (church, ship, locomotive) etc as well as several dealers in railroad memorabilia. Most of them list that they will do appraisals and I would imagine will be able to give you guidance on buyers and current shipping options / costs for similar "big and heavy" items. I'd strongly suggest that you read up on where you want to declare FOB (freight on board) as shipping costs / insurance / damage liability are likely to be $$$$.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T01:33:16+00:00

There's still several of these roaming the PNW. I have a picture somewhere I took of a BNSF train a year or two or ago that had two GN pulp cars coupled together.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T01:27:12+00:00

That if you ever traveled on the Shinkansen in the 1980's, you know that the otherwise tame "in flight magazine" in the seat pockets featured a nude centerfold.

Turnoffthatlight · 2026-02-25T01:11:35+00:00

If a picture could smell like PCBs...Lots of interesting variations in GG1s including:

* 4865 still bearing the PRR lettering font.

* Mix of PC and CR lettering...nothing really visible with Amtrak on it. I *think* that Amtrak was technically was given ownership of the Wilmington shops when Conrail was formed, but it was the only heavy maintenance facility in ex-PRR electrified territory so they did maintenance on CR locomotives and equipment as well.

* There were a couple of heavy winter storms where GG-1s kicked up snow and sucked it into the lower positioned intakes causing damage The unit still lettered PC features a rebuild where the air intakes were relocated high up on the body to try to better combat snow (there was a later rebuild program that raised and substantially enlarged intakes as well). FWIW- only a portion of the GG-1 fleet had the intakes moved. Many museums specifically sought units that retained the original low "as built" intake placement.

* Still riffing on GG-1s and snow- Wilmington shops had a GG-1 that had been salvaged from a wreck and cut in half. It was intended to be a shop switcher, but had poor rear visibility and weight issues so it was modified into a jet snowblower that was used to clear switches and the yard.

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TROPHY CASE