What tones do you use most often?

[Layne Matz]

What kind of sounds are you after?

For example, I use an archtop style acoustic and lots of mids and lows to get a very organic classic jazz guitar tone-similar to Wes Montgomery, Eric Gale, Kenny Burrell and Joe pass. However with my Esquire I go after the tones of Muddy Waters, Rory Gallagher, and Jeff Beck primarily.

 

[Tony M]

It depends on the particular song.
I try to play what I want to hear in the song,
rather than what I want to play in it.
These 2 things are not the same but
are also not mutually exclusive.

 

[Biddlin]

When I'm playing out, Mick Taylor's tone on Sympathy for the Devil is pretty close. It is what those brave souls who hire me expect most of the time, though I have a couple of singers who require more of a Gabor Szabo Gibson A/E tone. Right now I have my p-93 Riviera and Crate tube amp set-up for John Lee Hooker tones, an artist I'm happy to emulate. Boogie Chillen......

 

[Didds]

I mainly use an Angus Young tone but I also use some Peter Green, B.B King and Chuck Berry tones too

 

[plankton]

When I'm playing out, Mick Taylor's tone on Sympathy for the Devil is pretty close.

My favourite Stones era, the Mick Taylor years. Is that the version on Get Your Ya Ya's Out?

I play covers, so I'm usually trying to do justice to the original, but I'm also not overly pedantic in trying to copy it exactly.

When I'm just messing around my tone is usually an AC/DC sort of vibe or a Neil Young Tweed Deluxe thing.

 

[Biddlin]

. Is that the version on Get Your Ya Ya's Out?

Yeah..

 

[Bad Penguin]

The ones in my head when I pick up a guitar for practicing at home. For a live setting, the ones needed to replicate the tones I am covering.

 

[plankton]

Yeah..

Not to derail the thread, but now that I think of it, other than the free Hyde Park show, I can't think of any other recorded versions of Mick playing Sympathy.

 

[HackeIommi]

Basically, I am after Tony Iommi kind sound. For heavy sounds, I can't think the other alternatives. One exception is Savatage Streets album sound. I even bought a Jackson DK2 to reach that kind of sound. RIP Criss Oliva!

One habit of mine is, when I am playing different genres, I always use lots of mids. Blues, thrash, classic rock, crunch, clean, etc. doesn't matter. I feel incomplete without mids.

 

[rotorhead]

For most of my playing years I pretty much avoided middle switch settings and stuck with either full treble or full rhythm noises. For the past couple of years, though, I've really got into the middle setting and played around with it.

 

[cerebral gasket]

 

[plankton]

One habit of mine is, when I am playing different genres, I always use lots of mids. Blues, thrash, classic rock, crunch, clean, etc. doesn't matter. I feel incomplete without mids.

Love the mids!

 

[cerebral gasket]

Mids are the frequency range where the guitar naturally lives. Scooping them buries the guitar in the mix and makes the guitar difficult to hear.

A well-balanced mix happens when the EQ of all the instruments are dialed in so that their frequencies are not competing with each other.

 

[Layne Matz]

Mids are the frequency range where the guitar naturally lives. Scooping them buries the guitar in the mix and makes the guitar difficult to hear.

A well-balanced mix happens when the EQ of all the instruments are dialed in so that their frequencies are not competing with each other.

This is critical point that many probably havent heard before!

I used to dial in the settings and tone for my last bassist for this very reason... The guy wasnt so great at anything besides making an ass of himself.

 

[Joncaster]

I am constantly trying to sound like a whale entering the atmosphere.

I have found that SG's are the best for this.

 

[HackeIommi]

Love the mids!

Mids are the frequency range where the guitar naturally lives. Scooping them buries the guitar in the mix and makes the guitar difficult to hear.

A well-balanced mix happens when the EQ of all the instruments are dialed in so that their frequencies are not competing with each other.

I agree. Mids, where the electric guitar lives. Some people around me hate mids. Some of them blues-vintage style players, some of them djent-metal players. A matter of taste I think.

 

[Layne Matz]

I am constantly trying to sound like a whale entering the atmosphere.

I have found that SG's are the best for this.

Might I suggest some zappa then? Waka/ Jawaka Hot Rats perhaps?

 

[Layne Matz]

I will say, I like to have a lighter qauge on my SG to really nail down Robby Krieger and Zappa tones. Im trying 12-56 on it right now but Im going to put 11-52 on it next. I dont bring my SG anywhere anymore becuaee I dont have a good case. My one fender bag case can fit my green Cort S2900 and my homemade Esquire. Between those two and my ibanez DIY archtop which has a a hardball Almost all my bases are covered. Used to use my SG exlusively before i had to repair the neck due to harsh travel conditions, it needs a hardshell case before it goes anywhere.





Sound quality on this is aweful, Im playing lead on my SG with 12-56 ernies. Rythm played by a good friend who is now in a mental facility sadly. He was playin gmy squire strat with the p94 in the bridge, i was using my G400s neck pup. We just recorded this last week and he was fine then... Hope he comes back to reality soon.

 

[Clifdawg]

I tend to prefer my cleans fairly warm with just a touch of the mids scooped to give it that nice, full, sparkly sound.

And then I give it some gain and really beef up the mid-range.

I don't necessarily know what I sound like, because I like to try to sound like me and no one else... But if I ever drew comparisons to Mark Tremonti, I would still sleep at night.

 

[DanB]

I tend to like to use crunch or overdrive tones on my amplifier, trying to get that late 60s early 70s, Cream, Hendrix, Yardbirds, Aerosmith sound, but I do like playing the cleaner tones for jazz or soft rock.