The Tone Thread - Post your guitar clips here

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ido1957

ido1957

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- Record a short clip of your guitar tone and post the link in this thread.
- tell us about the guitar/amp setup you used
- all types of guitar are encouraged (metal/pop/reggae/emo)

This will no doubt help those looking to obtain a specific tone as to what equipment might do it for them... Pictures are pretty but a recording of the tone really tells much more about the guitar...

Here goes:
Rayc asked me to play a solo on one of his tunes. So I picked up my guitar and played this solo:

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?id=14190

Tools of the trade:
- 1989 Eric Clapton Signature Blackie Stratocaster
- Roland GP8 Effects Processor (Comp/OD/Delay/EQ)
- Marshall JCM900 100 Watt w/4X12

I recently had my JCM900 tubes redone and took a while to get the tone back in the mix but I think this is where I want it to be
 
Excellent idea for a thread! I'll post some for sure when I get back to where the goodies are. :D
 
Ok, this is the only clip I have handy, and it's a pretty rough demo. The solo, in particular, was just a one-take improvization over a set of chords that moved back and forth between major and minor tonalities, and I'm a little rusty on that sort of stuff. :lol:

"Zero Mantra"

The acoustic guitar was a Martin MC-16GTE, with an AKG C3000B maybe 1-2' away, and a bit above the guitar (maybe head level), pointed towards the 14th fret. for some reason, that seemed to work...

The clean rhythm was my Ibanez Universe UV7PWH, on the bridge pickup, into a Mesa Rectoverb combo, with a bit of delay added in the mix. I don't remember at all how the amp was set back then, as I'm still toying with clean settings. I probably had the amp's reverb on, and I was palming the bar for a little bit of bar vibrato on the sustained notes.

The distorted lead was either the vintage or (more likely) Modern mode of the Rectoverb, same guitar, with settings something like gain at 4, treble at 0, mids at 8-9, and bass at 3-4, with the presence most of the way back. I've since taken to running the presence a bit higher as it sort of augments the upper midrange rather than boosting the treble in Modern mode, and I kind of like that. Same settings for the melody and solo, I just switched to the bridge pickup. I MIGHT have had a Bodenhamer-modded TS9 in line - I leave it in line between the guitar and the amp, but it's true bypass modded, and I don't remember if I'd turned it on or not. If it was, the gain would have been at or near zero, and the volume at unity - it'd just have been a slight EQ tweak more than anything. Listening back, I bet I had it off, but I wouldn't stake my life on that. The guitar was either mic'd with a SM57 or an Audix i5 - I go back and forth between the two. Eitehr way, it'd have been just on the outer limit of proximity effect - pointing head on to the speaker, but maybe 1-2" back.

The bass was a Sherman 5 string custom, into my Rectoverb as well, probably with the same mic just bumped up right against the grill. If I was recording this as anything more than a rough demo I'd have split it for a direct signal and a mic'd signal, but I just wanted to get this idea down, so it's just all amp for simplicity. Again, I wouldn't remember what the EQ settings were on the amp, as I'm still working on getting a bass sound I like.

It's neither the greatest performance of mine, the greatest mix, or the greatest example of my tone (it's a LITTLE too muffled sounding here), but it's what I happened to have on hand, so... lol. It'll definitely benefit from a re-record with a more confident solo performance.
 
I agree, this is a great idea for a thread, and I wish I had something more useful to contribute to it. I stumbled onto this nasty fuzz a few years ago in an apartment where I couldn't crank my amp up. It's just a Peavey Strat copy overdriving the crap out of a little Radio Shack mixer, followed by a little bit of delay and recorded direct. Yeah, the chords are still a little too wooly, but I like the way the lead sounds.



Looking forward to hearing other setups; please keep 'em coming.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
Ok, this is the only clip I have handy, and it's a pretty rough demo. The solo, in particular, was just a one-take improvization over a set of chords that moved back and forth between major and minor tonalities, and I'm a little rusty on that sort of stuff. :lol:

"Zero Mantra"

The acoustic guitar was a Martin MC-16GTE, with an AKG C3000B maybe 1-2' away, and a bit above the guitar (maybe head level), pointed towards the 14th fret. for some reason, that seemed to work...

The clean rhythm was my Ibanez Universe UV7PWH, on the bridge pickup, into a Mesa Rectoverb combo, with a bit of delay added in the mix. I don't remember at all how the amp was set back then, as I'm still toying with clean settings. I probably had the amp's reverb on, and I was palming the bar for a little bit of bar vibrato on the sustained notes.

The distorted lead was either the vintage or (more likely) Modern mode of the Rectoverb, same guitar, with settings something like gain at 4, treble at 0, mids at 8-9, and bass at 3-4, with the presence most of the way back. I've since taken to running the presence a bit higher as it sort of augments the upper midrange rather than boosting the treble in Modern mode, and I kind of like that. Same settings for the melody and solo, I just switched to the bridge pickup. I MIGHT have had a Bodenhamer-modded TS9 in line - I leave it in line between the guitar and the amp, but it's true bypass modded, and I don't remember if I'd turned it on or not. If it was, the gain would have been at or near zero, and the volume at unity - it'd just have been a slight EQ tweak more than anything. Listening back, I bet I had it off, but I wouldn't stake my life on that. The guitar was either mic'd with a SM57 or an Audix i5 - I go back and forth between the two. Eitehr way, it'd have been just on the outer limit of proximity effect - pointing head on to the speaker, but maybe 1-2" back.

The bass was a Sherman 5 string custom, into my Rectoverb as well, probably with the same mic just bumped up right against the grill. If I was recording this as anything more than a rough demo I'd have split it for a direct signal and a mic'd signal, but I just wanted to get this idea down, so it's just all amp for simplicity. Again, I wouldn't remember what the EQ settings were on the amp, as I'm still working on getting a bass sound I like.

It's neither the greatest performance of mine, the greatest mix, or the greatest example of my tone (it's a LITTLE too muffled sounding here), but it's what I happened to have on hand, so... lol. It'll definitely benefit from a re-record with a more confident solo performance.
Click to expand...

Cool, nice tone. Sounds like a perfect mix of Satriani and Vai.
 
I don't have one tone, but I'll submit two clips that I've previously posted (earlier versions of) here.

First - and I guess this would be my acoustic tone:



two mono tracks (rhythm and lead) played separately on my 1972 Martin D-28. Both recorded with slightly modded Oktava MC-012 into my Black Lion Audio modded MOTU Traveler (clean pre). Dry. I *love* this guitar -- I learned how to play on it 25 years ago (after hijacking it from my Dad), and it never gets stale. Not the easiest to play, but the sound and responsiveness are rewarding enough to compensate.

(note the URL contains MXL603- this was from my messing around with both the 603 and the 012, which I prefer. I like the SM81 for background acoustic tracks, and generally with this guitar also).

edit: I'm snipping what I posted for the electric, since you have to sit for a couple of minutes until you hear the solo -- I'll post something more to point later. My mistake was posting before I listened to the previous posts :o
 
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OK - finally got to a place where I can *listen*

ido1957 - nice smooth sounding - mixes really well with the jangliness -- any eq applied? Great thread btw.

K_Road - must be my setup, but I can't get it to play

DrewPeterson7 - hear some Trower in there -- very nice listening, and I love the harmonics and feeback. Reminds me of a guy who taught me a lot when I was first learning

danw - wild how energetic and clean the clip is, despite the major clipping. Nice playing
 
Great idea for a thread. The short clips work best for me to focus quickly on the key tone in question.
I wish I had a lead tone to offer but you can hear my jangly Bruno Semi acoustic through a Behri Vtone bass DI on Ido's clip - I usually mic up but I was in a hurry & I'm quite happy with the BDI21 result.
Does anyone have a good sample of a Big Muff in action? I can't make my mind up about the effect it has on my guitar.
Oh, I LOVE the tone & contrast with the other guitars on your solo Gerry.
 
Didn't get a chance to listen last night, guys - just want to apologize and reiterate that I owe you a few listens. Thanks antichef and famous beagle - never been been on most of Vai's work, and I'm completely unfamiliar with Trower's work, actually, but Satch has been (obviously) a bit of an influence over the years...
 
I used the clip of my last song posted on the MP3 clinic-it's the 1st solo and played on an Epi Les Paul Standard-stock-through a blues driver pedal into a Peavey Classic 20 amp.
The rhythm guitars are the Mexican Fender Stratocaster in 'funk mode'-clean in the neck & bridge switch position and my Firebird copy-dirtier tone.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6843468
 
Don't shoot me for posting a modeling tone, that's how I record. This is pretty much my "go to" rock n roll tone. Epi Les Paul into Toneport with a Bassman amp model with 4-12 Celestion Vintage 30. Classic "Rat" distotion with drive and gain about 20 %. The lead is the Variac'd Plexi with the gain about 80% and again Vintage 30's. No eq or anything added later..just the raw guitar.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=594504&content=songinfo&songID=6843561
 
Good thread. My band just finished recording a demo... have a listen if you like. The guitar tone is the only thing that I'm happy with. The guitar playing, of course, is pretty sloppy.

Here's my usual guitar setup: I'll point out changes per song:

G&L Invader --> Fulltone OCD --> TC Electronics Nova Delay --> Fender Hot Rod Deville.
On the Deville... Treble 5, Mids 9, Bass 6, Presence 2. Keep in mind on Hot Rods everything goes to 12.

1. John Carpenter - The main line was my normal rig through an AKG Perception 200. The other trax are actually played through a ghetto blaster. I think there are 4 tracks, but, 900 beers later, I can't remember.

2. Loneliness of Long Distance Pornography Part I: This is the normal setup... There are 2 main lines panned hard left/hard right with bridge pickup left and neck pickup right, same or similar settings on the amp with a shure sm57 right against the grill, no angle. Then during the 'solo' there are probably 6-8 tracks, representing about 5 takes all recorded with a 57 and the AKG Perception 200 at the same time. I think most of the takes that made it were SM57 takes.

3. Loneliness of Long Distance Pornography Part II: This one gets kind of interesting. The main guitar line is normal setup with a 57 in front of the grill... but there's another line--the really thick, almost synth-y guitars (choruses they're real present) is actually an old fender fat strat (mexican) with a Seymour Duncan invader in the bridge straight into the clean channel of a 20W H&K tube amp (1x12") with a 57 angled at the cone. It sounded FAT to me, which I liked. And by "straight into the clean channel," I mean, I dimed the preamp, and had the master volume yanked pretty high as well. That amp breaks up really nice on its own.

4. IF... The main parts are just the normal rig, 57 straight on. The 'solo' is G&L Invader--> Big Muff Russian --> Electro Harmonix Holy Grail --> H&K.

5. Boxcar --> 2 Guitar tracks, Hard left, hard right, 57 in front of the grill. Done.

6. Make Out --> Various tracks, 57 right against the grill. The slight delay on the 'solo' has some delay added in cubase.

anyway, here's the tunes. http://www.myspace.com/redquiet

Hope this helps someone. It at the very least helped me remember what I did. Suggestions welcome.

Cheers.
 
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since riffmaster used the "m" word, I'll post this:



this is a collab with user hectorius on macjams -- he did everything (hence the awesome production quality and bass playing :D) except the two lead guitar lines, which is me through a Vox Tonelab SE (which also supplied the wah), using a Gibson SG Supreme.

Once again, I'm posting ahead of listening - I'll catch up soon.
 
ido- very nice tone, reminded me of a nice fat Santana sound.
K-Road- stellar clean tones,sweet.
Drew- Nice Vai type tones, that's a sound I would use a lot.
I'll listen to more when I get the chance.
 
I'm way behind on listening as well...:o
I like the lines on your solo Ido-and especially how well it fits in with RayC's PygmyBeat sound-what a cool combination!

K Road-that jazz is just too cool, I wish I could play something close to that!

I'll be back after a few more listens....Tony
 
OK, I just found this thread. I listened to a couple, but I am itching to render a track to add...

Be right back....

Oh, and you guys are soooo much more talented on that axe than I will ever be.
 
Nevermind... I can't find a tone I was happy with that I didn't end up using an amp modelling plugin to fix... :(

All I have for amps anymore is a cheap Yamaha 10 watt practice amp that is too fuzzy to record with, and my Fender Audition Chorus 125 watt that I haven't tracked with because it's too loud for the little space I was tracking in.

:(
 
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