Hello Richard,
may I chime in although I am a bit late?
Oliver (Spyderman) here.
I did found and run a WHO tribute here in Germany and mainly played a Spyder 4 and a Spyder 8, lateron
a custom made Dragon Wing nicknamed Tears for John.
Well first: you cannot compare the LE Spyders to a Series like the one Alan Dover has.
But you can try to get as close as possible.
Well the most important to start with:
the strings.
I must say, sorry for that, that the stock Alembic strings are good, but not suitable for a JE like piano sound as they miss too much too end.
My favorite ones have been Rotos RS66. They are the best for that sound. DRs are also not bad as well as the Maxima/Optima Gold. But they are way too expensive and loose the high end quickly.
Secondly:
Setup and your fingers.
You should run the lowest possible action and you should develop a light touch to the strings as well try to learn the typewriter technique.
I played my Spyders and the DW with different rigs.
Started with an Eden rig to an Ashdown one, a Trace Elliot to TC Electronic.
To me the best one was the Trace Elliot as I could run it without any effects support to get the sound.
Let me know if I can help you if you need more info.
Have a great day
Greetz
Oliver (Spyderman).
