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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → Joe's lead tone
From what I understand, Joe tends to use the Two Rock for his lead tone. I know he uses the drive channel. Anybody familiar with Joe's setting for that amp? I'm wondering if most of the gain on his lead tone comes from the Jubilee.
I am a great believer in the view that a guitarist will sound like themselves no matter what gear they use, that's why I never try to get a guitarists 'tone', just get your own first. It is immanently more satisfying.
Jon
IMHO - Finding your own sound comes from understanding tone, mapping your idols tone, experimentation etc. When I descover a new axeman I admire I try and understand his approach(playing) and tone. These are some i'll never master(i'm just not up to the job i.e Robben Ford, Larry Carlton and some one called Joe Bonnamassa 
)
It can be very negative though if your not careful.... as I discovered very early on. I idolised Angus Young and got to the point were I could play and sound like him .... then I got into Thin Lizzy and found I did Lizzy in the style of Angus.... not good ... you get the point.
Joe has a very thick creamy 'Mid' tone, he rides the volume a lot so I don't think he has a 'lead tone' as such ... he just whacks the volume up on the guitar. I'm sure Joe would clarify this if you asked nicely 
Hey Jason, Joe will come along and verify, but I have seen him use the two rock, the cat 5 and the carol ann for lead, depending on the song. I have a pic of his rig in the gallery section under telluride(about halfway through with a female roadie setting things up) that shows his two rock settings- at least for the show before telluride. You should be able to tell which channel he usies from that-I actually thought he used the clean channel(which he says is not very clean in his particular two-rock.) www.category5amps.com Rest assured there will be some lead tones in that Tempest:). DonR
IMHO, finding your own tone involves a TON of money and a lot of time playing the RIGHT guitars and the wrong amp.
It takes so long, by the time you got what you like, you've evolved your tone to a different sound.
IMHO, finding your own tone involves a TON of money and a lot of time playing the RIGHT guitars and the wrong amp.
It takes so long, by the time you got what you like, you've evolved your tone to a different sound.
lol Amen to that.
I appreciate the responses, but I guess I should've phrased the question differently. I've been playing long enough to know I can only sound like me, nothing more and nothing less, and I'm fine with that. I'm not really interested in what his eq settings are. The Two Rock eq seems to be pretty subtle. The eq switches have a more dramatic effect, IMO. I'm more interested in learning where the gain and saturation is coming from. I suppose the majority of it just comes for sheer volume.
True to say that you get more natural compression with the output tubes running hot....so volume has to be a part of the equation. Gain may be at the front-end (pre-amp) but I reckon Joe's volume has to play a huge part too. And...as previously said.....give any named player (or un-named for that matter) a guitar and an amp and they'll sound like themselves....we all find our own sweet spot on any amp. Just my couple of quids worth 
I appreciate the responses, but I guess I should've phrased the question differently. I've been playing long enough to know I can only sound like me, nothing more and nothing less, and I'm fine with that. I'm not really interested in what his eq settings are. The Two Rock eq seems to be pretty subtle. The eq switches have a more dramatic effect, IMO. I'm more interested in learning where the gain and saturation is coming from. I suppose the majority of it just comes for sheer volume.
I agree with GSJ......you can't make those 6L6 tubes melt in your mouth unless you turn 'em up...way up. It's the only way to get that front end "crunch" when attacking the strings. Rock guitarists discovered this rather early on. There's no way a guy like EVH could've achieved that tone without cranking the Marshall into oblivion. There's also the resultant "scream for mercy" sound that comes out of the speakers when an amp is cranked.
If you watch "Rockpalast?" then watch him play on guitar worlds Blues notes and then watch him live today, he sounds like Joe with completely different amps. The Rockpalast show looks like a budda and a bluesbreaker, live is the 4 amp tower of power, and on the guitar world CD its a Marshall JVM 40 knob head. So yeah its probably his guitars, how he plays, and his use of tone controls and just his mojo that gives him his Lead tone.
I can bet if I plugged into his set up with his guitars I'd sound nothing like him.
I am a great believer in the view that a guitarist will sound like themselves no matter what gear they use, that's why I never try to get a guitarists 'tone', just get your own first. It is immanently more satisfying.
Jon
That's one of the truest statements I've ever read. Bravo. I wanna' have a beer and a long conversation with you one day! The only thing you can really do is change things enough to inspire yourself to play better, but chances are only YOU will hear it. I just got a pedal that did that for me.
I appreciate the responses, but I guess I should've phrased the question differently. I've been playing long enough to know I can only sound like me, nothing more and nothing less, and I'm fine with that. I'm not really interested in what his eq settings are. The Two Rock eq seems to be pretty subtle. The eq switches have a more dramatic effect, IMO. I'm more interested in learning where the gain and saturation is coming from. I suppose the majority of it just comes for sheer volume.
Try a Mesa Dual Rectifer or Buddha for some ballsy saturation at sheer volume.
My brother Bob, (Mr.Guitar) plays a LesPaul Custom through a Blues Jr at small gigs like blues jams and he has a Fuchs for when he wants to get fancy. I don't know how he gets that monster tone out of whatever he plays, but I've seen other players go "whoa...". He might have a Rat with him , or not.
Maybe 42 years of blowing his brains out helped him figure it out. I really don't get it.
Yep, do it for long enough and it'll help no matter what you plug into...you'll find the sweet spot!
My brother Bob, (Mr.Guitar) plays a LesPaul Custom through a Blues Jr at small gigs like blues jams and he has a Fuchs for when he wants to get fancy. I don't know how he gets that monster tone out of whatever he plays, but I've seen other players go "whoa...". He might have a Rat with him , or not.
Maybe 42 years of blowing his brains out helped him figure it out. I really don't get it.
Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → Joe's lead tone
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