Guitar Tone (Page 2 of 4)

JBSRV

goto www.steviesnacks.com

Its a guy who has the whole site pretty much dedicated to getting SRV's tone and techniques down. Some of the early stuff is free, but the later things are 5 bucks a piece, although i have always found his earlier stuff very imformative. He also has some things about his setup and how he gets "that tone".

tewker

Stop!  Don't go with the noiseless pups...please.  Based on what you're saying, you'll be disappointed.  If you like compressed mush, go ahead - but the chimey, bell-like strat tones will be hard to find with those things.  Pickups are not your problem!  You might look into the tone mod to the bridge pup that someone mentioned earlier, but I don't think that's even the root of the problem.  And by the way, there's a ton of bridge pickup useage in alot of Stevie's music...for some reason, people tend to say he was a neck or neck pup only guy...simply not true.  Listen to the solos in "Lenny" and "Pride and Joy" just to name two, and you'll hear him toggling in and out of the bridge pickup.  Don't change your pups!

I'd look at the amp situation.  I've never played thru that Marshall you've got, but you can find a really good single channel tube amp for not much coin these days.  Try and swing a good tube amp and things will really open up.  Epiphone, Traynor, and some of the smaller Fender stuff...Also, check your pickup height.  I'd say there's a good chance they're set too close to the strings.  Of course this is all just my somewhat blind opinion...I could be wrong

JBSRV wrote:

this is the exact tone that I want

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKThn4hD9bE

In the 89' performance on ACL, he was using the fuzzface that Diaz built him alot.  You can hear that sound all over this song.  So try a "GOOD" Fuzz pedal and see if that takes you wear you want to go.  I will be honest though. the more this thread advances it sounds like the sound you are after is the Fender cranked sound.  That clean pre with the power tubes doing the heavey lifting.  Don't think that its completly unatainable with a Marshall though.  Set your pre to a slight breakup point (make it so when you roll the volume on the strat back to 5 its completely clean).  Get a decent overdrive in front and use volume instead of gain to help get sustain. 
On another note I have never been a huge fan of Stevies tone at this time.  I really dig the sound he had earlier around Couldn't Stand the Weather.  Thats the sound for me. 
Mike

JBSRV wrote:

this is the exact tone that I want

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKThn4hD9bE

Hey Eric -

The good / bad answer is that you will likely need to get rid of your current rig...unfortunately there hasn't been a solid state amp built yet that can live and breath like a tube amp.  The Axe-Fx rack mount unit is getting some raves but is really being used more for effects than anything else.

You just need to decide what you really want.  The SRV stuff is based more on the Fender amp > TS-808 stomp box tones ( with a bit of Marshall thrown in ...).  The Bonamassa is primarily Marshall flavors with some Dumble-ish cleans mixed in.  Both guys use a healthy dose of cranking up the amp and rolling back the guitar volume for the cleans (some of my favorite tones...)  The good news is that there are more amp choices than ever and you can put together a great setup without going broke.  The Fender Hot Rod series is a great platform for pedals.  Older Marshall tube combos like a DSL can be had reasonably as well. 

It comes down to the 6L6 vs. EL34 tone issue...you may find that you want / need a multi amp rig like Joe B.  I agree with this method.

I'll throw in this monkey wrench too - check out this guys tones, Phillip Sayce (Joe digs this guy too).  He loves his Fenders, he loves his Marshalls....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3MTFr3jHIk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ChA_ZmtB9c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YcicI6r … re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XisTM3z … re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8eJzrVx … re=related

Last, I'll direct you to a site that hopefully won't prove to be a quick road to GAS:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/

Check out the amps section, ignore the cork-sniffery, soak up up the info.

Good luck in your search ~
Steve E

JBSRV wrote:

this is the exact tone that I want

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKThn4hD9bE

Hey Eric -

The good / bad answer is that you will likely need to get rid of your current rig...unfortunately there hasn't been a solid state amp built yet that can live and breath like a tube amp.  The Axe-Fx rack mount unit is getting some raves but is really being used more for effects than anything else.

You just need to decide what you really want.  The SRV stuff is based more on the Fender amp > TS-808 stomp box tones ( with a bit of Marshall thrown in ...).  The Bonamassa is primarily Marshall flavors with some Dumble-ish cleans mixed in.  Both guys use a healthy dose of cranking up the amp and rolling back the guitar volume for the cleans (some of my favorite tones...)  The good news is that there are more amp choices than ever and you can put together a great setup without going broke.  The Fender Hot Rod series is a great platform for pedals.  Older Marshall tube combos like a DSL can be had reasonably as well. 

It comes down to the 6L6 vs. EL34 tone issue...you may find that you want / need a multi amp rig like Joe B.  I agree with this method.

I'll throw in this monkey wrench too - check out this guys tones, Phillip Sayce (Joe digs this guy too).  He loves his Fenders, he loves his Marshalls....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3MTFr3jHIk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ChA_ZmtB9c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YcicI6r … re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XisTM3z … re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8eJzrVx … re=related

Last, I'll direct you to a site that hopefully won't prove to be a quick road to GAS:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/

Check out the amps section, ignore the cork-sniffery, soak up up the info.

Good luck in your search ~
Steve E

Ocean wrote:

Steve E wrote:

Hey Eric -

The good / bad answer is that you will likely need to get rid of your current rig...unfortunately there hasn't been a solid state amp built yet that can live and breath like a tube amp.  The Axe-Fx rack mount unit is getting some raves but is really being used more for effects than anything else.

You just need to decide what you really want.  The SRV stuff is based more on the Fender amp > TS-808 stomp box tones ( with a bit of Marshall thrown in ...).  The Bonamassa is primarily Marshall flavors with some Dumble-ish cleans mixed in.  Both guys use a healthy dose of cranking up the amp and rolling back the guitar volume for the cleans (some of my favorite tones...)  The good news is that there are more amp choices than ever and you can put together a great setup without going broke.  The Fender Hot Rod series is a great platform for pedals.  Older Marshall tube combos like a DSL can be had reasonably as well. 

It comes down to the 6L6 vs. EL34 tone issue...you may find that you want / need a multi amp rig like Joe B.  I agree with this method.

I'll throw in this monkey wrench too - check out this guys tones, Phillip Sayce (Joe digs this guy too).  He loves his Fenders, he loves his Marshalls....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3MTFr3jHIk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ChA_ZmtB9c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YcicI6r … re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XisTM3z … re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8eJzrVx … re=related

Last, I'll direct you to a site that hopefully won't prove to be a quick road to GAS:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/

Check out the amps section, ignore the cork-sniffery, soak up up the info.

Good luck in your search ~
Steve E

Ignore the cork-sniffery?  Now there's a task!  If you go on TGP looking for input on how to nail SRV's tone, the insults will come a flyin'!  And by the way, I would agree with using a big bottle 6L-type amp for a platform.  Stevie never used much distortion but he did crank the crap out of a clean amp with tons of headroom.  And even when he'd use an 808 or a fuzz, the volume knob seemed to be where most of the dirt was coming from.  It kills me to hear SRV covers dripping with distortion!

My comment about the cork sniffery was more than just a little tongue in cheek as I'm as guilty as anyone in that respect (maybe moreso...)  I'm currently playing through an Aiken Intruder, a new Allyn Meyers amp based on a Komet Concorde, I also have the TGP "S2 Bedroom Wreck" at my house for a test drive...the last 2 years I've gone through several Mojave's, Soldano's, Dr. Z'z, Cameron modded Marshalls, VHT's, Valvetech Hayseed 30, Suhr Badger (or two...), Swart SST....each and every one magic in its own way.  The Aiken stuff has been the one constant - simply unreal amps. Blowing through all of these amps has less to do with the search for tone and amp ADD than it does from the desire to want to try everything out.  We are in the Golden Age of Amp Building and once you drop the $$$$ into something very cool its still easy to get your $$$$ back out of it and get something else.  Buy used, and buy often...For me it's still Marshall andFender tones - just better built versions of them.

I agree with you agreeing with me about the big headroom and guitars volume knob used for the dirt...the other big factor some people miss when chasing Joe B.'s tone is use of the fingers.  Hide that pick and use the fingers more. My other favorite J.B. (Jeff Beck) stopped using a pick decades ago - he and Joe B. have a very similiar tone and feel in some phrases, especially when Joe B. is playing the Tele's.

Steve E