Got a special treat for you guys. I asked Rick Brantley of "All These Sounds" studio to write a tone blog for me on the four amps most used at his studio. He was telling me how these four can do most of what he ever needs.... so here is him talking about it in his own words... this is brilliant... in my humble opinion.
Jim Z
Now... Here is Rick
One “disclaimer”… as has been said before, using words to describe “sound” is somewhat akin to describing what you see to a person born blind. It falls VERY short of the actual experience. I’m definitely NOT the most knowledgeable or “ linguistically articulate” (can I even SAY that???!!!) authority on amps, guitars, and tone, but I’m the one given the job this time around, so I’ll do the best I can! I’ve tried to include info. as accurately as possible, but I’ll certainly defer to those more knowledgeable on the subject than I, where they offer corrections to my misinformation!
So, my buddy Jimmy Z. has asked me to write about the 4 amps that get the most “mileage” here at the studio (AllTheseSounds Music, www.atsounds.com). Well, then, let’s get to it!
My “fav four” are the following: A Marshall DSL 201 with a 25 watt- 12 inch “Greenback” speaker, a Vox AC15 from the 80’s with a 12” bulldog speaker, a 1968 Fender Princeton Reverb with a 10” Jensen blue-label speaker, and lastly, an Orange ad10 also with a 10” Jensen blue-label.
Why are THESE particular amps my favorites, you ask? Well, we’ll get to that, but first maybe I should shed some background on amps in general…
All four of these amps are low-wattage combo amps. As a studio engineer (and mediocre guitar player), I’m a big believer in the whole “Small amp = Big Sound” school of thought. What that means is the following:
1) most amps have a “sweet spot” where they sound best.
2) in the VAST majority of cases, that sweet spot is found when you run the amp fairly LOUD.
3) that being the case, if you crank a 50 watt or 100 watt amp up to achieve it’s “sweet spot”, you are likely to
a. lose your hearing,
b. piss off your neighbors/wife/parents/etc, and
c. have a REALLY hard time locating where to put a microphone in order to capture that sound because the amp is so freaking loud!
4) Unless you have a REALLY BIG room to track in, a high wattage amp is also going to overdrive the room. What that means is that your microphone, unless placed RIGHT ON THE GRILL, is going to pick up too much of the reflected sound from the walls, floor, and ceiling, TOO SOON, as opposed to the direct sound from the amp’s speakers. A concept called “early reflections” in recording. If these early reflections are too many/too soon, it will yield a muddy, or incoherent “tone”. Don’t get me wrong, you WANT some of the room tone, but a lot of smaller rooms found in “consumer studios” sound BAD. A bad sounding room doesn’t really beneficially effect a great sounding guitar and amp combo.
So… one of the “secrets” to recording great gtr. tones is to use quieter amps that don’t overdrive the room. The 4 amps mentioned have the following wattages:
1) Marshall DSL 201- 20 watt
2) Vox AC15- 15 watts
3) Princeton Reverb- 12 watts
4) Orange ad10- 15 watts
Don’t get me wrong, a 12-20 watt amp can get pretty stinking loud. If the amp’s circuitry is even reasonably efficient, the amp will get loud. That’s why The Edge uses a 30 Watt amp (Vox AC 30) (actually a few of them!) to play hundred-thousand seat stadiums!
OK, on to specifics about the individual amps…
1) Marshall DSL 201:
a. I love this amp! Marshall is known for it’s Rock N’ Roll tone. The amp you always hear about is the plexi. It was a late 1960’s 100 watt (and there was a 50 watt version as well) BEAST that is instantly recognizable on various Hendrix, Van Halen, AC/DC, Foreigner, etc… records from the 60’s-80’s. My main problem with the plexi is that it was (and is) TOO FREAKING LOUD !! It sounds wonderful, but they’ll make you deaf in a heartbeat. I know because I used to own one. 1970 with only a single volume control.
The DSL 201’s clean channel has a good bit of the plexi’s grit and bite when driven hard, WITHOUT THE HARSH TOP END that so many Marshall amps are plagued with.
It’s clean tones are (when compared to the other 3 amps I’ll mention here ) a little thin and generic, but are also uncharacteristically (for Marshall) “chimey”. They also preserve the guitar’s detail fairly well. Again, NOT harsh like so many Marshalls that I’ve played over the years.
The DSL also (again, unlike the other 3 amps listed here) has a 2nd, more modern, “gain” channel. It’s way over the top from the start for any type of “vintage” tones, but if you’re doing heavy rock/punk/or metal, it’s WAAAYYY useful right from the get-go. It’s my go-to amp for distorted tones for pop-punk tunes.
2) Vox AC15 (circa 1980’s)
a. OK, I love this amp also!!! My buddy Dave Eberhardt musta’ been hittin’ the rock too hard when he sold me this amp!! (just kidding! Dave is completely drug-free!)
These things sound beefier and punchier than Marshall amps. They have a more prominent low mid range to them that REALLY sounds great when you start to open them up. They GROWL….That’s the best way I can describe their overdriven tone!
Their clean tones are also very “bell-like and warm”. The classic examples of the Vox AC series amps are U2 and the Beatles. Listen to the CD “ The Joshua Tree” by U2. Probably one of the greatest examples of Vox AC amp sounds ever recorded. Many of the early Beatles clean tones (“Saw Her Standing There”) are a Vox AC 50 head… (the 50 watt version of the AC series). These amps, for whatever reason, sound particularly great when using electric 12 string guitars, BTW.
One other thing that deserves mentioning is that the AC series amps have (arguably) the best tremolo circuit of any amplifier ever made. It’s fantastic, and though different in character than a Fender tremolo, is equally useful and musical.
3) Fender Princeton Reverb –1968
a. Maybe I should stop saying “I love this amp!”, huh? ‘Cause guess what?? Yep, you got it! This thing sounds great.
What vintage Fender amps are renowned for is their clean tone. (Think Jimi Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughn/ Eric Johnson/Lynyrd Skynyrd/John Mayer/etc….). “Glassy”, “Chimey”, “bell-like” are a few adjectives that I’d use to describe it. Very clean, yet VERY warm and natural sounding. Very articulate.
When overdriven, it’s my experience that Fender amps produce a very “loose” sounding distortion. Almost “sloppy” sounding, but in a good way! These are NOT the amps you’d choose for tight, palm-muted, “Chugga’, Chugga’” rhythm parts! But if you like silky smooth “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!!” distorted solos and rhythms, this is definitely an amp lineage that you’ll want to try.
One of the things I’ve gotten to do over the years is play a LOT of different Fender amps. I definitely love the Tweeds (50’s) and Black-Faces (Late 50s-early 60s), but they’re VERY expensive. In ’68, the first production year after CBS bought Fender, word has it that they were still using the excess parts that FMI/FEI had been using, and the circuit topology of the Princeton Reverb didn’t change, therefore the PR’s that were made that year were essentially “black-face” models, with a silver grill-cloth and aluminum trim piping (only found on the 1968 models). I’ve had the opportunity to A/B this amp against earlier “black-face” Princeton Reverbs, and they sound remarkably similar. (as similar as 2 different amps of the same model are going to sound!) Fortunately, they are a good deal less expensive than their tweed and black-face counterparts!
Lastly, the PR’s have a very useful tremolo (think the “James Bond” theme, or any of the classic 60’s “surf-music”), as well as the best spring reverb, IMO, of any of the “standard” amp lines.
4) Orange ad10
a. OK, yep, love it too!
This is a pretty unique little amp. The ad series were usually built as 15 or 30 watt combo, with one or two 12 “ speakers. This amp was previously owned by Robbie Reider, and is one of a few “ad” amps built with a 10” speaker instead of a 12”. The cabinet dimensions are a touch smaller than the ad15, and, overall, it is a slightly brighter sounding amp.
What these amps do extremely well is give you articulation in your tone. Be it clean or overdriven. That means that it is very sensitive to your playing dynamics, and allows for a lot of the “pick” sound to come through in your tone.
The clean tone of this amp is difficult for me to put into words. It has the natural quality of a Fender amp, yet has a much more pronounced mid-range. Not a “honk-ey” tone, and certainly not a nasal tone. Just very “in-your-face” without being harsh or strident. I LOVE it, personally. It stands out in a dense mix effortlessly, and responds to adding delay/modulation/etc… excellently. The best example of this amp’s tone (both clean and overdriven) is on the Fray’s 1st CD release. The song “Over My Head (cable car)” comes to mind.
The character of the distorted tones of this amp are at the heart of a lot of Indy Pop Cds that have been released in the last 5 years or so. This amp has a very “edgy” sounding overdrive to it. Somewhat reminiscent of a Marshall with a little more “fizzy” top end. I find it REALLY unpleasant when the amp begins to distort heavily, but when you JUST get the amp to start “grinding”, it sounds fantastic! It definitely takes some gentle “tickling/tweaking” of the controls to find the sweet spot of these amps. Again, the best recent recording of this amp’s distorted character is on the Fray’s 1st CD.
Last thing I’ll mention about this amp is that it is a great amp to use for layering guitar sounds. Because of it’s unique voicing, I find that it “stacks” well with either a Marshall or Fender amp when you’re going for the “wall-of-sound” guitar thang! It can also work well with a Vox, but sometimes shares some of the same midrange frequencies, so you have to proceed with a little bit of caution. I realize that most of this applies to recording, but, as a guitar player who (fortunately) has regular access to these amps, I frequently will play in stereo when I play live. I will choose a pair of amps that compliment each other tonally, while still sounding different. This tends to give you a much more interesting tone, and really reacts well when used with stereo effects devices. Of course, it’s a lot more to carry, a lot more to trouble-shoot if something goes wrong, AND, if you’re not playing through a stereo PA system, it negates the “cool factor” of stereo delay/choruses/verb/etc…. for the audience. But once you’ve played that way, it’s really hard to go back to mono. It’s somewhat akin to giving up the ability to see in color, and accepting only seeing in black & white, I’d imagine!
Well, OK, that’s all I got! I hope that something here helps someone at some point to express what God’s placed uniquely in their heart. After all, THAT’S what music is all about. Bringing a “Unique Beauty” to this world. Cheers!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Solo Time- Making the Jump
I got an email yesterday asking me what I thought about doubling up on overdrive pedals and if that was ok to do. I think I’ll answer it in a more broad sense. When its time to play a solo or a line that needs to jump out what do you do? Lets think about some other things with that. Do you want it to jump in volume only? Drive level increase? How about a mid bump or high frequency increase?
Lets talk about a few of the options starting with the question I got.
Double overdrive/Distortion:
There are a lot of guys that do something like this because when their solo jumps out they want the overdrive level to increase. They want the drive level as well as the volume to increase. For instance I have a friend that uses a Fulltone Full-Drive as his main sound and then uses a Keeley TS-9 for solos. This is a good option but the rookie mistake here is to use both pedals with the drive up which makes the tone muddy and forces the sound guy to reach for your guitar level and pull it down. If you want to take this option you usually want to pull the drive most of the way down on the second pedal and push it with the volume. This is really nice with a tube amp because you can get a bit more grit out of the tubes that way as well.
Clean Boost/ Power Boost/ Boost
This is also a great option for guys who want to keep a consistent tone but want to push the overall volume and maybe even push the tubes in the amp a little bit. Some guys like to be all over the map with different types of distortions and levels and such--- other guys like to have one staple drive tone they use and boost it.
Channel switch with pedal
The primary drive sound that most people like to hear is actually the tubes breaking up and not a pedal. Tubes have the most natural sounding overdrive and so it sounds great to have a overdrive channel on a tube amp and boost it with a pedal. In this case either of the first two options will work depending on what you want.
Volume knob
Here is the old school way roll. You’ve got your amp cranked to a place that it’s distorting nicely with your volume knob on the guitar rolled back a few notches. Its time for a solo and you roll the knob forward which increases volume and a bit of drive at the same time. This is a great way if you can get used to having a stable place to move back and forth.
---- Side note on this! Most modern pickups have been over wound to produce more out put volume and have sacrificed tone in doing so. Some of the best sounds I’ve gotten have been by turning the amp up and the guitar down. This warms up the tone and gives you somewhere to roll up to for solos where it can be a bit more aggressive.
Treble boost/ Mid boost/ ect
Back in the 70’s this guitarist (you may have heard of) named Brian May started using a treble boost for solos. Few guys I’ve heard have done it well but sometimes its nice to not just jump out with drive and volume but also with frequencies that can cut through the mix and help you be heard. There is another called a germanium boost which gives a nice bump to the mids, which a good place for a guitar solo to jump out since those are the primary frequency covered by a guitar.
Higher output pickup
The last is worth mentioning. Some guys will have their amps and pedals set but use different levels on their pickups. (More of a Gibson thing) Then they will switch pickups to create the illusion of turning on an overdrive pedal. I saw Jimmy Page do that in the movie “It Might Get Loud.” He had the front pickup turned down and played a riff on it before switching to the other pickup, which was cranked for some killer lead riffs. Other guys will actually have a lower and higher output pickup they switch between for lead tones.
And lastly… some guys play light…. And then just dig in when its time to scream.
Lets talk about a few of the options starting with the question I got.
Double overdrive/Distortion:
There are a lot of guys that do something like this because when their solo jumps out they want the overdrive level to increase. They want the drive level as well as the volume to increase. For instance I have a friend that uses a Fulltone Full-Drive as his main sound and then uses a Keeley TS-9 for solos. This is a good option but the rookie mistake here is to use both pedals with the drive up which makes the tone muddy and forces the sound guy to reach for your guitar level and pull it down. If you want to take this option you usually want to pull the drive most of the way down on the second pedal and push it with the volume. This is really nice with a tube amp because you can get a bit more grit out of the tubes that way as well.
Clean Boost/ Power Boost/ Boost
This is also a great option for guys who want to keep a consistent tone but want to push the overall volume and maybe even push the tubes in the amp a little bit. Some guys like to be all over the map with different types of distortions and levels and such--- other guys like to have one staple drive tone they use and boost it.
Channel switch with pedal
The primary drive sound that most people like to hear is actually the tubes breaking up and not a pedal. Tubes have the most natural sounding overdrive and so it sounds great to have a overdrive channel on a tube amp and boost it with a pedal. In this case either of the first two options will work depending on what you want.
Volume knob
Here is the old school way roll. You’ve got your amp cranked to a place that it’s distorting nicely with your volume knob on the guitar rolled back a few notches. Its time for a solo and you roll the knob forward which increases volume and a bit of drive at the same time. This is a great way if you can get used to having a stable place to move back and forth.
---- Side note on this! Most modern pickups have been over wound to produce more out put volume and have sacrificed tone in doing so. Some of the best sounds I’ve gotten have been by turning the amp up and the guitar down. This warms up the tone and gives you somewhere to roll up to for solos where it can be a bit more aggressive.
Treble boost/ Mid boost/ ect
Back in the 70’s this guitarist (you may have heard of) named Brian May started using a treble boost for solos. Few guys I’ve heard have done it well but sometimes its nice to not just jump out with drive and volume but also with frequencies that can cut through the mix and help you be heard. There is another called a germanium boost which gives a nice bump to the mids, which a good place for a guitar solo to jump out since those are the primary frequency covered by a guitar.
Higher output pickup
The last is worth mentioning. Some guys will have their amps and pedals set but use different levels on their pickups. (More of a Gibson thing) Then they will switch pickups to create the illusion of turning on an overdrive pedal. I saw Jimmy Page do that in the movie “It Might Get Loud.” He had the front pickup turned down and played a riff on it before switching to the other pickup, which was cranked for some killer lead riffs. Other guys will actually have a lower and higher output pickup they switch between for lead tones.
And lastly… some guys play light…. And then just dig in when its time to scream.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Why Modify?
I wish I could give you a detailed history of how this whole “modifying guitar pedal” started but even my partnership with Google has yielded limited info. Somewhere along the line though someone realized… “Boutique pedals are expensive and store bought pedals don’t sound very good--- I wonder if there is a way to get the best of both worlds.” What really contributes to the sound of a pedal? Why do some pedals have the beauty of sounding like an extension of the amp and others sound like a vomiting cat?
One thing that really impacts the tone is the design of the tone stack. This is the sequence of components put together to achieve a certain tone. This is the hardest thing to overcome because you can’t do a lot to change this when modding pedals. If the tone stack is just really bad… it’s pretty hard to overcome.
The other main contributor is quality of components used. For example: Even a wonderfully designed pedal like the TS808 (or TS-9) isn’t the most beautiful right off the shelf. Because, if you are a company trying to make the most profit possible you are probably going to find out the cheapest way to make as good a product is necessary. Most pedals are pretty much made up of resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, and op amps. If you are Ibanez making a run of 100,000 TS-9s you probably are going to spend 12 cents on a ceramic capacitor instead of 50 cents on a metal film or silver mica one. That cost isn’t huge for you or I working on the few pedals we own but it’s a difference of $38,000 on a run of 100,000 pedals. That is why boutique pedal companies charge $180 to $400 for a circuit that is alarmingly similar to the $89 TS-9. I know that is a bit of an over simplification but it at least paints the picture for you.
I have personally had an absolute blast hearing a once sucky pedal come to life. I recently finished a Boss SD-1 which sounded gritty and harsh. Now with the change of just ten components I’ve got a warm and rich pedal I would be proud to play anywhere.
So how do you enter this brave new world? The easiest way is to sit down with someone who has a bit of experience and learn a trick or too… that is always the best way to learn something. But, if that isn’t a luxury afforded to you I would recommend this great book which has also taught me a lot in learning to walk this hobby out. http://www.indy-guitarist.com/inc/sdetail/102
This book has several examples to practice with and learn how to start working on this kind of thing.
Closing thought:
I’m always annoyed that the only people who can afford the best gear are usually guys who are to busy making money to actually play the stuff they buy. So, a lot of my motivation in this stuff is getting the best sounds for the lowest price. I hope this kind of thinking and some of what I’ve been through in the last couple years is helpful to someone.
Here is a list of a few pedals I’ve gotten great results from when I’ve modified them.
Ibanez TS-9, Boss SD-1, Boss BD-2, Boss OD-1, Boss DS-1, Boss OS-2, ProCo Rat with Serial # under 300,000.
Here are a few I’ve done and they didn’t even sound that good with a Mod.
MXR Distortion+, Marshall Drive Master, Danelectro Daddy-O, ProCo Rat over serial # 300,000, and I’m not having much luck with the Electra 500d I’m working on right now… so we’ll see.
OK- That’s all for now.
One thing that really impacts the tone is the design of the tone stack. This is the sequence of components put together to achieve a certain tone. This is the hardest thing to overcome because you can’t do a lot to change this when modding pedals. If the tone stack is just really bad… it’s pretty hard to overcome.
The other main contributor is quality of components used. For example: Even a wonderfully designed pedal like the TS808 (or TS-9) isn’t the most beautiful right off the shelf. Because, if you are a company trying to make the most profit possible you are probably going to find out the cheapest way to make as good a product is necessary. Most pedals are pretty much made up of resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, and op amps. If you are Ibanez making a run of 100,000 TS-9s you probably are going to spend 12 cents on a ceramic capacitor instead of 50 cents on a metal film or silver mica one. That cost isn’t huge for you or I working on the few pedals we own but it’s a difference of $38,000 on a run of 100,000 pedals. That is why boutique pedal companies charge $180 to $400 for a circuit that is alarmingly similar to the $89 TS-9. I know that is a bit of an over simplification but it at least paints the picture for you.
I have personally had an absolute blast hearing a once sucky pedal come to life. I recently finished a Boss SD-1 which sounded gritty and harsh. Now with the change of just ten components I’ve got a warm and rich pedal I would be proud to play anywhere.
So how do you enter this brave new world? The easiest way is to sit down with someone who has a bit of experience and learn a trick or too… that is always the best way to learn something. But, if that isn’t a luxury afforded to you I would recommend this great book which has also taught me a lot in learning to walk this hobby out. http://www.indy-guitarist.com/inc/sdetail/102
This book has several examples to practice with and learn how to start working on this kind of thing.
Closing thought:
I’m always annoyed that the only people who can afford the best gear are usually guys who are to busy making money to actually play the stuff they buy. So, a lot of my motivation in this stuff is getting the best sounds for the lowest price. I hope this kind of thinking and some of what I’ve been through in the last couple years is helpful to someone.
Here is a list of a few pedals I’ve gotten great results from when I’ve modified them.
Ibanez TS-9, Boss SD-1, Boss BD-2, Boss OD-1, Boss DS-1, Boss OS-2, ProCo Rat with Serial # under 300,000.
Here are a few I’ve done and they didn’t even sound that good with a Mod.
MXR Distortion+, Marshall Drive Master, Danelectro Daddy-O, ProCo Rat over serial # 300,000, and I’m not having much luck with the Electra 500d I’m working on right now… so we’ll see.
OK- That’s all for now.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Overdrive
The overdrive choice.
As most of you know there are three kinds of pedals that will give you the “grit”… Overdrive, distortion, and Fuzz. Often the sound is coming from the amp but if its not its coming from one of these pedals. The most common “distortion” sound you here in modern music is overdrive. If you are going to have one pedal that dirties up your sound I would recommend having an overdrive before you buy any other distortion pedals.
Pedals may include: Fulltone Full-drive, Ibanez TS808, Ibanez Tube screamer, Boss Blues driver, Lovepedal eternity, the Timmy, Klon Centaur, Visual sound Route 808, Xotic BB preamp, Damage Control Womanizer, Voodoo lab Sparkle drive, and even the decent little Danelectro cool cat transparent overdrive. There is a fun comparison video here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMy_Jt7A1wA
Of course even of the pedals I mentioned there is a variety in price from $39 up to about $400. The cost varies due to quality of design and even more so by the quality of components in the pedal. The technology of an overdrive is pretty old and there is only so much you can change in the style of circuit so that isn’t going to be the biggest impact toward the quality of the pedal. There are so many out there I would recommend putting some in a lineup and see which one jumps out at you for both rhythm and lead lines. Overdrive is often described as the “warmest” of distortions but they vary quite a bit. Without a pretty extensive mod the Boss blues driver is never going to be as warm as the Fulltone full-drive. One of the Big reasons is the Fulltone uses much better components.
I’ll talk more about this in a blog on modding pedals but… most store bought pedals will use a 12 cent capacitor in the tone circuit and a boutique pedal may use a 60 cent cap. Doesn’t matter a bunch if you only make a few for yourself but when you are making 100,000 pedals like Ibanez it makes a big difference. If your pedal cost $25 to make, by the time it gets on the shelf at guitar center they can sell it for $90 and make out fine on each pedal. If they spent twice that (about what I spent building an 808) that would affect the bottom line a lot. Keep your eye out on craig’s list, ebay, and from friends though because you can get a great overdrive and not have to turn to Keeley or Klon to do it.
As most of you know there are three kinds of pedals that will give you the “grit”… Overdrive, distortion, and Fuzz. Often the sound is coming from the amp but if its not its coming from one of these pedals. The most common “distortion” sound you here in modern music is overdrive. If you are going to have one pedal that dirties up your sound I would recommend having an overdrive before you buy any other distortion pedals.
Pedals may include: Fulltone Full-drive, Ibanez TS808, Ibanez Tube screamer, Boss Blues driver, Lovepedal eternity, the Timmy, Klon Centaur, Visual sound Route 808, Xotic BB preamp, Damage Control Womanizer, Voodoo lab Sparkle drive, and even the decent little Danelectro cool cat transparent overdrive. There is a fun comparison video here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMy_Jt7A1wA
Of course even of the pedals I mentioned there is a variety in price from $39 up to about $400. The cost varies due to quality of design and even more so by the quality of components in the pedal. The technology of an overdrive is pretty old and there is only so much you can change in the style of circuit so that isn’t going to be the biggest impact toward the quality of the pedal. There are so many out there I would recommend putting some in a lineup and see which one jumps out at you for both rhythm and lead lines. Overdrive is often described as the “warmest” of distortions but they vary quite a bit. Without a pretty extensive mod the Boss blues driver is never going to be as warm as the Fulltone full-drive. One of the Big reasons is the Fulltone uses much better components.
I’ll talk more about this in a blog on modding pedals but… most store bought pedals will use a 12 cent capacitor in the tone circuit and a boutique pedal may use a 60 cent cap. Doesn’t matter a bunch if you only make a few for yourself but when you are making 100,000 pedals like Ibanez it makes a big difference. If your pedal cost $25 to make, by the time it gets on the shelf at guitar center they can sell it for $90 and make out fine on each pedal. If they spent twice that (about what I spent building an 808) that would affect the bottom line a lot. Keep your eye out on craig’s list, ebay, and from friends though because you can get a great overdrive and not have to turn to Keeley or Klon to do it.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tone Is First In The Fingers
That is very interesting Philip- I'm surprised the Crate V30 amp worked best for you since I've never gotten one to sound good...
-----But, I've learned an important lesson... What sounds good with my fingers might not with someone else's. There are amazing pieces of gear that I sound like crap playing because its just isn't a match for the way I play. It's also the main reason I'll never recommend a particular piece of gear on here--- just cause it sounds great (or horrible) when I play it doesn't mean it will for someone else!
We did an experiment last week:
I set up a Fender Princeton amp with several overdrive/distortion pedals and had me and three other guitarists play as we switched between pedals. All the pedals were either boutique or had been modded to sound as good as possible. We had a custom 808, Fulltone Full-drive, C4 (aka Direct Drive), Boss DS-1, Danelectro Daddy-O, Boss OS-2-- later I also tried a ProCo Rat.
The strange thing was that there wasn't a clear winner. Each of us had a pedal that sounded best when we played it. My friend Charlie said, "What have we learned here? We have learned that we can never recommend a pedal because it depends on who is playing it!" Mind you they all sounded good, were played through a good guitar and a great amp... but there were different stand outs for each of us depending on our attack, approach and a bunch of other factors I can't fathom. It was a great lesson though. Tone is first in the fingers!!!
-----But, I've learned an important lesson... What sounds good with my fingers might not with someone else's. There are amazing pieces of gear that I sound like crap playing because its just isn't a match for the way I play. It's also the main reason I'll never recommend a particular piece of gear on here--- just cause it sounds great (or horrible) when I play it doesn't mean it will for someone else!
We did an experiment last week:
I set up a Fender Princeton amp with several overdrive/distortion pedals and had me and three other guitarists play as we switched between pedals. All the pedals were either boutique or had been modded to sound as good as possible. We had a custom 808, Fulltone Full-drive, C4 (aka Direct Drive), Boss DS-1, Danelectro Daddy-O, Boss OS-2-- later I also tried a ProCo Rat.
The strange thing was that there wasn't a clear winner. Each of us had a pedal that sounded best when we played it. My friend Charlie said, "What have we learned here? We have learned that we can never recommend a pedal because it depends on who is playing it!" Mind you they all sounded good, were played through a good guitar and a great amp... but there were different stand outs for each of us depending on our attack, approach and a bunch of other factors I can't fathom. It was a great lesson though. Tone is first in the fingers!!!
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Greatest Amp
What is the best sounding amp?
Is it? :::
Marshall 1959SLP 100Watt Super Lead Plexi Head - cause that's what Hendrix played?
Dr Z Maserati- Like Brad Paisley?
Marshall JMP 100Watt Master Volume Head - Cause that's the sound of AC/DC?
Two-Rock- like John Mayer's?
Vox AC30- Cause thats what The Edge uses on every U2 album?
Fender Deluxe Reverb and Marshal Plexi at the same time like Eric Johnson?
65 amps- like Keith Urban?
Fender Bassman- Like Stevie Ray Vaughn?
Supro, Hiwatt 50, Valco amp- like Jimmy Page?
Eric Clapton? well lets see... he has been all over the map -- Fender Custom Shop Tweed Twin Amp, Cornell Amplifiers with Tone Tubby Speakers, Soldano SLO-100, Marshall 800 series heads, Fender Dual Showman---- geez
That doesn't even scratch the surface.... so what is it?
(more at http://guitargeek.com/)
Shouldn't you just play the best? What's even out there? (http://www.ultrasoundrehearsal.com/sellrent/index.html -- should give you an idea)
Most pros know you need tubes and its better to go with something point-to-point or hand-wired if at all possible (avoiding circuit boards) ... but after that- who knows?
There are so many out there that are fantastic and what matters is what sounds best for your fingers and what sound do you want to go for.
Questions to ask!!!!
More clean or more grit?
- You may want a real clean sparkle tone where you decide to make it dirty with pedals.
-You may want some grit always in the tone and your tubes putting off a bit of harmonic sparkle.
What volume will I be running at?
- If you are playing in a coffee house that seats 50 people you may not want a 100watt head with a 4x12 cab... you'll never get to run it at the volume that sounds best for the amp.
- If you want to use amp distortion you may have to get a smaller, quieter amp that will break up at louder volumes. If you want a clean amp you might need something with a bit more power that you can turn up without it breaking up.
Break up point?
- Somewhat redundant... do you want the amp to break up at lower or higher volumes?
Style?
- Do you want one channel or do you want another lead channel on the amp instead of using pedals?
Simple or Complex?
- Do you want a simple plug-and-play amp with only a volume and tone knob? Or, do you want several knobs where you can control different aspects of the amp and tone?
Size?
- What are you willing to carry around?
I think its good to here guitar players that play similar to you and find out what they use... it helps a little... but you may not play like them- you might just want to;)
There are also some places to get vintage designs or clones that don't cost nearly what an original would cost and are well made amps... like- http://www.ceriatone.com/
Please share any other thoughts you might have!!!
Is it? :::
Marshall 1959SLP 100Watt Super Lead Plexi Head - cause that's what Hendrix played?
Dr Z Maserati- Like Brad Paisley?
Marshall JMP 100Watt Master Volume Head - Cause that's the sound of AC/DC?
Two-Rock- like John Mayer's?
Vox AC30- Cause thats what The Edge uses on every U2 album?
Fender Deluxe Reverb and Marshal Plexi at the same time like Eric Johnson?
65 amps- like Keith Urban?
Fender Bassman- Like Stevie Ray Vaughn?
Supro, Hiwatt 50, Valco amp- like Jimmy Page?
Eric Clapton? well lets see... he has been all over the map -- Fender Custom Shop Tweed Twin Amp, Cornell Amplifiers with Tone Tubby Speakers, Soldano SLO-100, Marshall 800 series heads, Fender Dual Showman---- geez
That doesn't even scratch the surface.... so what is it?
(more at http://guitargeek.com/)
Shouldn't you just play the best? What's even out there? (http://www.ultrasoundrehearsal.com/sellrent/index.html -- should give you an idea)
Most pros know you need tubes and its better to go with something point-to-point or hand-wired if at all possible (avoiding circuit boards) ... but after that- who knows?
There are so many out there that are fantastic and what matters is what sounds best for your fingers and what sound do you want to go for.
Questions to ask!!!!
More clean or more grit?
- You may want a real clean sparkle tone where you decide to make it dirty with pedals.
-You may want some grit always in the tone and your tubes putting off a bit of harmonic sparkle.
What volume will I be running at?
- If you are playing in a coffee house that seats 50 people you may not want a 100watt head with a 4x12 cab... you'll never get to run it at the volume that sounds best for the amp.
- If you want to use amp distortion you may have to get a smaller, quieter amp that will break up at louder volumes. If you want a clean amp you might need something with a bit more power that you can turn up without it breaking up.
Break up point?
- Somewhat redundant... do you want the amp to break up at lower or higher volumes?
Style?
- Do you want one channel or do you want another lead channel on the amp instead of using pedals?
Simple or Complex?
- Do you want a simple plug-and-play amp with only a volume and tone knob? Or, do you want several knobs where you can control different aspects of the amp and tone?
Size?
- What are you willing to carry around?
I think its good to here guitar players that play similar to you and find out what they use... it helps a little... but you may not play like them- you might just want to;)
There are also some places to get vintage designs or clones that don't cost nearly what an original would cost and are well made amps... like- http://www.ceriatone.com/
Please share any other thoughts you might have!!!
The Tone Conversation
I am well aware that every guitar player is different and the same setup doesn't work for everyone... and even if it did... how boring would that be. But, I would like to start a conversation that might be helpful to start thinking through tone and how to approach it or what has worked for people. A couple things!
1. Having great tone will not make you a better player- so practice because the thing that impacts tone the most is your fingers!
2. You don't have to have a Dumble or Trainwreck amp with vintage guitars from the 50's and 60's with a pedal board that consists of Keeley electronic effects with a Eventide delay, Klon Centaur Overdrive, Xotic preamp, Z-Vex something or other, ect... to have great tone and sound like you.
You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get "that sound."
We'll talk about good sound and smart shopping. Whatever topics you guys want to talk about we'll do that. I've just noticed that I keep having the same conversations with people and maybe we could streamline some info to be informative and helpful to each other.
When I came to Cincy I was playing a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp (not bad- just not that interesting) and some store bought cheap-o pedals I threw together. It was a massive improvement on the solid-state amps with on-board effects I had before that but I was needing a major over hull. Thanks to the amazing guys here I had a new world opened to me and started learning about electronics, building and modding pedals, amps, guitars, ect... I started learning there is musical life outside what you see on the shelves at Guitar Center and Sam Ash.
The quest for tone is pretty personal so--- lets just help each other find what works for us.
1. Having great tone will not make you a better player- so practice because the thing that impacts tone the most is your fingers!
2. You don't have to have a Dumble or Trainwreck amp with vintage guitars from the 50's and 60's with a pedal board that consists of Keeley electronic effects with a Eventide delay, Klon Centaur Overdrive, Xotic preamp, Z-Vex something or other, ect... to have great tone and sound like you.
You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get "that sound."
We'll talk about good sound and smart shopping. Whatever topics you guys want to talk about we'll do that. I've just noticed that I keep having the same conversations with people and maybe we could streamline some info to be informative and helpful to each other.
When I came to Cincy I was playing a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp (not bad- just not that interesting) and some store bought cheap-o pedals I threw together. It was a massive improvement on the solid-state amps with on-board effects I had before that but I was needing a major over hull. Thanks to the amazing guys here I had a new world opened to me and started learning about electronics, building and modding pedals, amps, guitars, ect... I started learning there is musical life outside what you see on the shelves at Guitar Center and Sam Ash.
The quest for tone is pretty personal so--- lets just help each other find what works for us.
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