How to get Sax sound

[Delvin Morgan]

A while back I went and seen a band and on one song there was the sound of a sax, I caught myself looking around for the sax player. Of course there wasn't one. I never got a chance to ask what fx pedal was used. Does anybody have an idea? I know it wouldn't be good for everything, but for that Jazz like tune once in a while, it might be cool. And would it work with steel?

[Papa Joe Pollick]

Back in about 1968 my wife and I were at an after hours club enjoying a very good 5 piece country band.We heard a sax but didn't see one.We danced up by the band stand to check it out.It was the steel player,but I have no idea what he was using.
The best thing for that sound that i've found is the Roland GR20.I have one and when people here it on one of my recordings they always ask who the sax player is.I'm using it on a Strat at the time.I see no reason why it wouldn't work on steel except the pickup won't cover more than 7 strings.

[Don McGregor]

Delvin,
I once had a Roland Guitar Synthesizer, with their special pickup mounted on a Strat. It turned the vibrations of the strings into an amazing number of different sounds, most of which I found pretty useless. However, a couple of the sax sounds weren't bad, one of them even responding to harder pick attack with a growl-like effect. I remember the flutes were really good, too. You could even do chordal, or harmony parts on the flute or sax settings. The electric piano setting was good when simple parts, but you had to be careful, and not bend a note while on a keyboard setting, or it would start doing this weird yodeling. Sounded like an electronic gerbil in heat. I was a little let down, because I thought I could do some Travis picking, and have it come out sounding like a keyboard. Apparently, when one Travis picks, it's practically impossible to keep from accidentally, unknowingly, slightly bending a few notes.
I wish someone would come out with an inexpensive pedal that just imitated , say, flutes, or sax, as the Roland is kind of pricey, though it's worth it if you really use it. I never really did much.
There's a guy on the Forum right now, Leander Willie, with a Roland up for sale under For Sale, Amps. Here's the link.
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=154301

Don

[David Doggett]

I play a lot with saxes, and play sax myself. Many times while playing blues steel with amp or stomp box distortion or fuzz, my steel begins to sound like another sax, to the point the sax player and I get confused trying to intonate the other's notes. So, while there may be some effects specially designed to sound like sax, many overdrive/distortion/fuzz effects can sound very sax-like. You just have to try some and shoot for that sound.

[Richard Sinkler]

If not a guitar synth (check out the new product from Peterson - which requires an outboard synth), Go to Best buy, spend a few hun and get a synth. The cheap synths (Yamaha) you get at Best buy are good enough for a song or two. I have top of the line synths, and the Best Buy cheapie has some better sounds than my Expensive Korg and Yamaha.

[Greg Wisecup]

I was playing a few months ago with a fill in lead player and like Papa Joe and Delvin mentioned; I looked around for a sax player that I knew we didn't have. And I was in the band! It sounded like a sax section. He had a few stomp boxes he was working. He saw me look over at him with a surprised look on my face. He just smiled.
Very realistic...and a little scary! Greg

[Delvin Morgan]

Greg, did you ever find out what stomp box he used for the sax sound? I would like to do a couple Doo-Wop tunes, and you know that requires a sax

[Greg Wisecup]

Delvin I don't know what it was. He was a sub so I havn't seen him since. I may run into him again and I'll find out. It may be useful for steel. It was really good. Greg

[Jaclyn Jones]

I use a Roland GR 20 with several guitars that have a synth picup installed. The sax is one of the best sounds it does. Organ and vibes are also show stoppers. Many times you see folks looking for the horn!

[Jerry Overstreet]

I have one of the old Boss SE70 racks that has a built in synth. You have to use the guitar page of the presets to find it. I believe it is patch #41. It is titled synth horn and sounds a lot like a sax or perhaps a marriage of sax and bone.

With a little tweaking, you can build a pretty convincing mellow sax patch. You can also build other horn sounds like a licorice stick and trumpet..

The Roland units referred to are particularly nice also.

[Papa Joe Pollick]

I use a Roland GR 20 with several guitars that have a synth picup installed. The sax is one of the best sounds it does. Organ and vibes are also show stoppers. Many times you see folks looking for the horn!

Right on,I use sax, vibes,and some fantastic bass sounds.Trombone sounds good too...

[LARRY COLE]

I have the Roland GR-20. It has some killer sounds, sax's, trumpet especially in the higher registry(think Herb Alpert), organ w/ bass(E&A stings bass & D,G,B,high E organ), strings, splits with horns and sax(different instruments on different strings, you can do complete horn sections with this). It has the do bop sounds that change with harder pick attack. The piano sounds are better patched through another module.
It sounds better than using a keyboard controller on most things. If you stretch the strings on the piano or organ setting it goes to the next note just like a real piano or organ would. You can customize a lot of the settings too.