Problem getting correct guitar tone:

[magritte]

I've been asking a few questions today - my apologies.

I am using a '65 fender champ (blackface) and a fender jazzmaster (92 japanese reissue).

The guitar tone I am getting is driving me nuts. It has that bright/punchy/twangy "new string" sound, yet at the same time, it sounds kind of dead - there is no sustain to the chords. Any ideas on how to get a better tone? I'm not really using any effects - maybe that's the answer.

[elberto]

well, jazzmasters aren't big on sustain in the first place (pretty much the opposite). do you have another guitar?

[magritte]

well, jazzmasters aren't big on sustain in the first place (pretty much the opposite). do you have another guitar?

no, just an acoustic.

[awolski]

If the guitar is not set up properly it will compromise the sustain. If the guitar is set up properly and you've done everything you could with the guitar and amp, you could always use compression on the guitar to boost your sustain. You could use a pedal or place a compressor in the effects loop of the amp (assuming it has one).

[djslayerissick]

send some extra clean volume to the amp and overload the input and back off the gain a little on the amp. it will increase the sustain by so much - basically infinite if you're near the amp - b/c any feedback is getting a boost before it hits the amp.

i've been doing this lately to get a cleaner, but punchy tone. i've been using an Alesis 3630 to give me a 20dB clean boost and using the noise gate, but no compression.

[the woodbee]

are you talking about a recorded guitar tone or are you not satisfied with even your live sound?

[Zeppelin4Life]

add a room mic like 7 feet away, pan is to the left or right like 90 degrees, and pan the close mic about 20 degrees from the center (on the mixer knob I mean) should add the extra sounds u need


close micing alone never works IMO

Dave

[neemer]

Hmm. What kind of guitar tone are you looking for?