my guitar tone. LISTEN and tell me what you think!

D

drumminsnowman

New member
Hey everybody,
well, before reading this, realize that i am a drummer, and not all a guitar player, nor should i ever be let near a guitar, because i suck. However, im trying to get a good tone for a punk rock guitar... and i have no idea what it should sound like...
So any suggestions on this clip would be greatly appreciated.
I am recording thru a peavey transtube amp, micing it with a shure sm57, and the signal is running thru a dmp3 to my m-audio sound card.
Here is the clip -->

WARNING! ITS LOUD, so turn ur speakers down!

ok, so more treble? mid? bass?
or should i just go cry and give up?


when you click on the link... it doesnt seem to work for me... so jsut copy and paste in your adress bar if it doesnt work. Thanks!
 
Well...it's pretty sloppy playing. Don't take offense to that because I'm being honest. The tone is pretty....stale. And keep in mind that tone starts from the fingers.

Coupled with the fact that I hate the sound of the Peavey Transtube amps. They're a joke. Merely a marketing tactic. If you want a good Peavey, go for the Classic, Ultra, or Triple X. My first amp was a Peavey Ultra 410. It was pretty awesome. I wish I still had it, actually.

The sound you're getting from the mic isn't the problem...however, you might try using mic positioning to get a better sound. Use the mic to your advantage as much as you can.

Also, you ask what should the guitar sound like. Well...whatever YOU want it to sound like. It's whatever you think sounds good. Tone is subjective anyway. But your ability to play is really holding it back. A lot.
 
I would say that the tone is pretty good. I can see that working well for the type of music your going after.

The playing,...well,..you already know.

Take 'er easy,..
Calwood
 
Wow... that has to be one of the worst tones I've ever heard. I don't know if I could help, though, because I'm not one for "punk rock" guitar. When I hear that phrase, I usually think of people competing to have the worst sound possible. However, if you actually wish to pull off decent tone, step one is to turn the gain WAY down. You should understand that micing and amp will add gain in itself, so you really don't need that much at all. I play with a Mesa Triple Rectifier solo, and I record with my gain on 3 for all rhythm stuff. Second, I would suggest a big boost in the mids and a slight lowering of the bass. Turn the presence down as well. You may not like it, but that's what I'd do if I were in your position.
 
Not trying to rude or ignorant, but can you get your guitar player to tune the guitar and play a sample? I could help you out a little better. I'll offer some suggestions anyway:

1. Turn the gain down. You don't need that much distortion.
2. Listen to the punk bands you like and try your best to emulate the guitar tone.

I'm assuming you only have an SM-57 to mic it with? You can get usable results with a 57, but it wouldn't be my first choice. A couple of questions for you:

Where are you placing the mic? (center of cone will give you a brighter tone, off axis will tend to "warm" it up a bit)
How far away is the mic from the speaker? ( sounds like it's up close, but I heard some verb and I didn';t know if it was the room or if you added verb to the track.

I'm not sure what a Peavy transtube amp is. Is it a head and a 4x12 cabinet?

No you shouldn't cry and give up!!!!!!! You can do it. I think it would help you a great deal to have your guitar player help you out. I really think you should have a particular sound in mind before you just attempt to get a "punk" sound. Anyway don't give up, have fun with it. If everyone on this forum chips in their ideas, like they have for my questions in the past, you'll be recording a good tone in no time. Just give us as much info as you can. ;)
 
Okay, as far as i have read, the guitar sound is pretty much comprised of the players ability, the guitar, the amp, eqing, ridiculously expensive equipment, and mic placement...
and i realize that
but i really want that full/thick/not so distortiony, but still rockish guitar type... confused?? well heres a sample from a song, and i love the guitar in this song... any comments on how that tone was accomplished?


i dont understand how much distortion u would put on a guitar? i mean compared to my sample, that guitar sounds like theres no distortion... or something... idk
 
the recording quality (to me, and im not super experienced) didn't sound godawful...but when your playing between chords mute it out or something.clean it up. But then again as other people have said if thats the tone your going for than hey, as long as your happy.
 
ACtUALLY i just realized the amp is a line 6 spider! sorry

hey everyone! listen, im a drummer... i just learned three chords off the web... and then i tried to play them... i suck at the gutiar!!

as for mic placeement... i have the sm57 pointed off center of the speaker about 3 inches away
 
well i have both a peavey transtube and a line 6 spider... which one would u suggest using?

i also have a v-amp 2... and im thinking about using that instead... good idea?
 
You can try the V-Amp. Line out from it into your soundcard and see how that sounds.

If it doesn't sound good, sell the V-Amp, Spider, and the Transtube and get a better amp.

And most of all...practice.
 
Okay, heres a sample from the v-amp... and an actual guitar player is playing this time :) ... any comments on the sound? too much distortion?



what im looking for is a clean-distortion/punchy guitar.

thank you soo much for reading this crap, and helping me!!!
 
Those 2 samples are hard to compare,..tone wise. One is palm muting and the other is full chords,(attempted full chords anyway).

I think I like the first tone you had. I think you could really make that work.

My 2 cents.

Take 'er easy,..
Calwood
 
Alright, you're looking for a pop-punk sound. Your first sample would work well in a Black Flag style hardcore band. The second one is more of what you want. What you want is overdrive, not fuzz. Turn the gain on the amp down to like, 5 at the most (it sounds like you have it on 10). put your EQ in the general area of treble: 6; mid: 4; bass: 7. Then what I do is turn the tone knob on my guitar all the way up, and then back off until I get rid of the extreme highs which cause the "shrills", but not so far that there's no highs at all. Other than that, all I can tell you is: experiment.
 
drumminsnowman said:
Okay, heres a sample from the v-amp... and an actual guitar player is playing this time :) ... any comments on the sound? too much distortion?



what im looking for is a clean-distortion/punchy guitar.

thank you soo much for reading this crap, and helping me!!!
Click to expand...

Keep in mind...what you hear on CD's isn't one amp working. Well, most of the time anyway. There's a lot of layering that goes on. Meaning it could be a mix of a JCM800 and a Fender Twin or a mix of a Mesa and a Vox. Who knows. The possibilities are nearly endless.
 
Myriad_Rocker said:
Keep in mind...what you hear on CD's isn't one amp working. Well, most of the time anyway. There's a lot of layering that goes on. Meaning it could be a mix of a JCM800 and a Fender Twin or a mix of a Mesa and a Vox. Who knows. The possibilities are nearly endless.
Click to expand...
Yeah. Tom DeLonge generally uses his Triple Rec, Marshall JCM900, and JMP-1 all at once. You're not going to be able to get his tone, but you can take from it's ideas the best you can.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top