My guess is maybe it was an Eventide type delay of superior warm quality since eventide is known for that back in those days.
My g-Force delays don't get as hazy warmth as some other ones I got and don't work real well for this application-but as an example check out Brad Paisley-now right there is slap back up the wazoo on a clean tone to help you focus on that type of thing I am talking about.
Paisley is generally is known to use an analog pedal to get that fattening-there is ways upon ways of doing the same in the studio too-but this might help you hear it more for what it is.
Now adding some feedback repeats then you'll start sounding like rockabilly more than anything else-but with one flat out repeat its discrete and very subtle-Brad has this technique down cold.
Creates a "room type sound" while almost doubling your guitar and amp tone-thus giving the effect of having more dry sound than you do and in turn letting you add even more reverb than you could have had without swamping the signal.
You'll have to have the slap "almost" as exactly loud as the dry tone in level or volume-and turn the feedback off and play palm mute notes while listening for that ATBL quick slap Ed got and you're gonna start getting real close. ATBL has a couple repeats but most other songs on VH1 don't though. But just keep turning the time knob up and down in that 100-150ms range and listen to those palm muted notes.
Again-get the level almost identical to the dry-turn off the feedback-play palm mutes and listen as you pluck strings.
Too long of time will not be very tight sounding and seem less punchy and too loose-conversly too short of time won't give enough space and depth. Use your ear here.
And all this happens between 100-150ms.
Generally my dry cab is on one side and the slap on the other-sounds super huge.
Ever notice most reverbs today have pre-delays that range from off to 200ms????
That pre-delay is supposed to give the first and most important information of how big a room is since that represents the time it takes for the sound to start at the source-then travel to the wall-bounce back from the wall and travel the same distance again back to you ear. those "early reflections" can be simulated easy with a simple slap back delay while having no verb tail it still offers size to the sound.
But the high end rolloff of the delay and how well you can craft that treble top end of the repeat also plays a role in getting it to blend well and either support the source or overtake it. I prefer my slap to have a top end just slightly more but quite noticeably more subdued than the original. This is hard to fine tune and the lower more smeared less detailed delay repeats that are smoother in comparison like tape and analog work really well-so a straight up digital delay generally won't work very good for this and be too perfect and not hazy or coulded enough. This lo-fi type of replication and smoother subdued high end simulates the timber of a room like wooden floors and walls would do vs. the brittle bitey sound of tile.
The smoother woodier sound adds womp and fatness while able to stay sounding tight and natural while the brighter just gets more icepicky and unpleasant.
I can nail the sound easy since I have control over the timber of the delay and the delay volume and pan as well as full complete adjustment of the verbs same parameters so I can adjust not only the early reflection slap delay volume but the over all volume of the verb too. That stout early reflection mostly mono on one side opposite the dry sound and the verbs tail spread across in stereo on the rest of it.
Feed a dry signal and a delay slap to a killdry verb-instant mud
trying to turn the mix up and down on the verb won't fix it or make it better.
Now feed it just the slap back delay alone-different and much clearer.
The volume and wetness of the verb sounds heavy for one reason-you can use a ton of slap almost or exactly equal to the dry sound in volume-this never creates mud if done right
The slap can be really loud and not interfere with the dry easily.
Now you'll need very little actual reverb level mixed in from there to make it sound really wet when in reality it is not that wet. Slap is the key-thats the depth and size right there cranked up and in your face-the actual breathy reverb tail is really not that heavy or wet when you really listen to it. You may not want to have any predelay turned on in your verb itself since you're getting it from the slap delay now. But you can use a mix of the two together if you wanna play around some.
You hear the BIG ECHO slap and a softer quieter trail off of some verb tail there after.
Verb is really complex and is why those are the most expensive stand alone FX you can sink money into and for good reason-its hard to make it sound good on some things if you don't have a clue what you're doing or what the adjustable parameters are supposed to do.
Think about "initial reflections [the slap]" and then think of the "breathy tail trail off sound". Those are the 2 most important reverb parameters there can possibly be. The rest is just EQing the tail to be bright or softer warmer and getting the right length of tail just right. Not to short and not too long. Just complimentary tail is all you need after all this stuff above is sorted out.
Think huge attack from the slap imitating early reverb "initial reflections" that are the heart and start of any reverb sound-when you get that down where it needs to be-then add tail 2nd and last and craft that by ear.
VH1 has to be the most creative and crafty blending of actual delay and verb used together to create that whole ambience on the record-and if you use the two together how they are really related to each other doors will open here.
I used to ask myself whats better-just delay or just reverb? I mainly stick with delay since its just as effective and more discrete. But on VH1 they optimized the use of both to the max.
Remember-slap times should be under 200ms-longer times aren't even on most reverbs predelay parameters. they usually only go up to 200ms. And when you get toward 200ms of predelay the verb starts to sound not so natural. 100-150 ms really is where the milliseconds should be for the early reflections simulation for this type of sound if thats what you're looking for.
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Cool trick and hard to find unless you go pokin around for it deliberatly doing it this way.
