Guitar tone

[Auxillary]

Im looking to get a good chunky, slightly distorted guitar sound. ala promise ring. Lots of body, you know the kind of sound where you can just hear each and every string really strongly. What type of stuff would get this sound? I imagine it's almost all in the amp right? It really sounds that way to me...

[guitar4lyfe]

Try a guitar with humbuckers and a clean tube amp. Fender Twins distort like that, you could maybe add a boost pedal if u need a lil more gain. I have an older silverface Twin Reverb('75 I think) and it sounds pretty close to what you want.

Edit: An Ibanez tube screamer might emulate what u want too if u have a decent amp.

[Auxillary]

I think I need to add something to argue about in my posts this is the 10th post ive started that just floated away

cmon guys, im sur eif oseone reasponds, you can argue with him!

[Catoogie]

It's not all in the amp. It's never all in the amp, or all in the guitar, or all in the anything EXCEPT...all in the fingers.

In my experience Twin Reverbs need to ber VERY loud to ge the kinda break-up you're seeking. I would suggest using a small amp and slowly turn the volume up as you're playing until you achieve the amount of crunch you want.

For a simple, cheap, widely available amp try an Fender Pro Junior. You will not be disappointed. There are other great amps out there you may be able to get for less but you can walk into almost any music store and buy one new and they are great. Like Andy York says "There's not a bad sound in 'em".

[clodock]

I like tele's through medium size fender amps - vibroverbs and deluxes. I think it's the hugest guitar sound. Like bedhead, or echo and the bunnymen going further back. those single note, slightly distorted leads just rip right through the mix and sound huge.

[endofanera]

cmon guys, im sur eif oseone reasponds, you can argue with him!

Well, I could argue that in my experience, healthy Fender Twins dont distort at all, and if you were looking for slightly broken up, basically clean tone, you may wanna look for a Marshall Plexi (reissue). They dont get all distorted, hi-gain chunky like an 800 or something, and certainly not crazy saturated like a Boogie Rec, just twist the volume knob to the right til it sounds like you want. Best thing is they're very sensitive to yr playing -- play lighter, and they clean up quite remarkably.

Also worth considering would be something like an older Fender Bassman, preferably a black face one or a tweed if you're made of money. A Marshall JTM-45 (again, reish) would be pretty equivalent.

[endofanera]

It's not all in the amp. It's never all in the amp, or all in the guitar, or all in the anything EXCEPT...all in the fingers.

Man, truer words were never spoke.

[wayne kerr]

It doesn't matter what kind of guitar you use at all. Just plug into Amp Farm w/ AxeModeller and Hendrixizer plugins and you'll sound like a pro in no time! AxeModeller is so good, you don't even have to tune - it takes pitch correction to the next level! In fact, you don't even have to play the guitar, you just hold it in your hands and shake it violently to make the strings vibrate - Hendrixizer does the rest! Just don't forget to bias the power tubes in your Mac - I suggest a matched quad of Svetlana EL34s.

Make sure you post MP3s when you're done so we can all hear the brilliance of AxeModeller and Hendrixizer working together... gotta go, Christina Aguilera just showed up for her next "Women in Rock" photo shoot... we're not using the guitar this time!

[Auxillary]

I read that Vox's a rebig on this sound too? I have not tried one before. But it seems like My option is a smaller fender amp, I've already coralled a few of their smaller things to trym an old old transistor amp and a peavey tube amp. Keep it comin guys, later today im going on a fest!

Suggest to mic further back or closer? Im gonna try it all anyways, but id like to know wher to start if at all.

[PatrickBrown]

Mesa Boogie's V-Twin Preamp Pedal is capable of some nice tonal coloration. It's basically the preamp section of a Rectifier amp(basically), and uses two 12ax7's which can be replaced with a couple of 12at7's. Not sure what's in mine. Never took em out to have a look.
Mine's one of the older ones, but it was a used one at a great price. The mother of tailgate construction makes them virtually unbreakable.

[kayagum]

You may have answered your own question. The key is to dial *down* the distortion, especially when recording. My rule of thumb is whatever you think you need, dial that down by another 25%, and make up in volume.

For amps, I like Sovteks. Even though Sovtek amps are Marshall JTM45-like, their *clean* sound is great, because it has the "slightly distorted" sound. I heard Doug Martsch from Built to Spill likes the Fender Vibroking for the same reason.

Also (slightly downsignal from the fingers) is the strings. Don't expect chunky sounds out of a superlight set. 10-46 won't cut it either. Try at least elevens, maybe even more if you have hard tails. (Guitarists as varied as Stevie Ray Vaughn and Lee Renaldo espouse heavy strings). You can even capo a baritone guitar if you want extra meat.

[inverseroom]

I like the sound of a little old harp amp--they break up early and at very low volume. Use some outboard reverb (I like the EH Holy Grail on guitar!) and close miking (if this is for recording), and whatever your favorite guitar is. You can get a nice clear chugga chugga thing going. Or, if you like modeling stuff, I use the Tweed and Bassman settings on my Tech 21 PSA1 Sansamp all the time, esp. to run pedals through--the sansamp responds great.

[les_chupacabra]

Check this site...

http://www.proguitar.de/AudioDemo/AudioDemo.html

[Auxillary]

holy shit that bogner sounds AMAZING

wow

[Catoogie]

I don't believe that you need heavy strings to ge a fat sound. Ed Van Halen uses .008's tuned down to Eb. And Billy Gibbons uses .008's tuned down to C.

Ed Van Halen could possible be one of the greatest RHYTHM guitarists EVER. He grooves!! AND is tone is....er....was happenin!