Guitar/amp feedback, the good type - how?

[Tadpui]

One thing that can help a guitar go into feedback is vibrato (the string bending kind, not the Fender amp kind). It's another way to keep feeding a bit of energy into the string.

Yup, good point. Something about the slight texture of the fretboard when the string rubs across it tends to generate a little more sustain and help feedback.

To the OP, with your Blues Junior, it may be a matter of positioning the amp so that the sound from the speaker is really directed at you and your guitar. Try leaning it back, try sitting it on a chair or amp stand, anything to elevate it a bit or point it directly at your guitar's pickups.

 

[tonesponge]

The most important thing, first of all, is speaker choice. Celestion Vintage 30 or G12H30 or Greenback 20 or Vintage 10 will produce musical feedback, and so will Emminence Wizard. Many other speakers will just give unmusical squealy feedback.

You want a brit style amp having a flat eq circuit, like a marshall, and not an american style amp having a built in mid-scoop in the EQ, like a Fender or Mesa Boogie. You want to set the tone controls for a mid boost. I suggest treble and bass at 9 o'clock and mid at 3 o'clock.

You should use a guitar with humbuckers and loads of sustain, like a les paul.

Once you have that rig, select the bridge pickup and place your pick hand over the pickup, just hovering over the strings, while you crank the gain with your left. Don't strike the strings at all, just lift your pick hand away from the pickup and lower it again without touching the strings, so you are intermittently shielding the pickup. When the feedback kicks in as you lift your hand away, and fades as you shield the pickup again, you're there.

You now have musical feedback on tap. It will kick in as your notes fade and your hand opens away from the pickup.

 

[ggunn]

The most important thing, first of all, is speaker choice. Celestion Vintage 30 or G12H30 or Greenback 20 or Vintage 10 will produce musical feedback, and so will Emminence Wizard. Many other speakers will just give unmusical squealy feedback.

You want a brit style amp having a flat eq circuit, like a marshall, and not an american style amp having a built in mid-scoop in the EQ, like a Fender or Mesa Boogie. You want to set the tone controls for a mid boost. I suggest treble and bass at 9 o'clock and mid at 3 o'clock.

You should use a guitar with humbuckers and loads of sustain, like a les paul.

Once you have that rig, select the bridge pickup and place your pick hand over the pickup, just hovering over the strings, while you crank the gain with your left. Don't strike the strings at all, just lift your pick hand away from the pickup and lower it again without touching the strings, so you are intermittently shielding the pickup. When the feedback kicks in as you lift your hand away, and fades as you shield the pickup again, you're there.

You now have musical feedback on tap. It will kick in as your notes fade and your hand opens away from the pickup.

Lots of midrange, I agree with. Humbuckers and sustain, yes, in my experience. I don't think it's necessarily speaker specific, though. I've made this thing happen on a variety of amps and speakers. In my experience, waving my hand around in front of the pickup without touching the strings didn't affect it, either.

 

[ocnor]

I suggest treble and bass at 9 o'clock and mid at 3 o'clock.

It's pretty silly to suggest arbitrary settings as if they will work the same for everyone's rig and playing style.

Once you have that rig, select the bridge pickup and place your pick hand over the pickup, just hovering over the strings, while you crank the gain with your left. Don't strike the strings at all, just lift your pick hand away from the pickup and lower it again without touching the strings, so you are intermittently shielding the pickup. When the feedback kicks in as you lift your hand away, and fades as you shield the pickup again, you're there.

You now have musical feedback on tap. It will kick in as your notes fade and your hand opens away from the pickup.

I call bullshit on this one. Just sticking your hand in front of the pickup will not stop sound waves from feeding into it. This is especially true if you are playing at a respectable volume. Only turning the guitar in a direction away from the speakers will have the affect that you've described.

 

[miroslav]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it already....

Use a semi-hollow body guitar if you want all kinds if feedback options (that Neil Young would be proud of)...and then get a good deal of gain going on your amp....crank her up, if too loud, leave the Mater up high, but roll back the channel Volume to desirable levels and tones.

With a semi-hollow body...you can just get near the amp and it will start to feedback, and then you can slowly move around in front of the amp to change the feedback tone...almost endlessly.

 

[Kingofpain678]

The most important thing, first of all, is speaker choice. Celestion Vintage 30 or G12H30 or Greenback 20 or Vintage 10 will produce musical feedback, and so will Emminence Wizard. Many other speakers will just give unmusical squealy feedback.

You want a brit style amp having a flat eq circuit, like a marshall, and not an american style amp having a built in mid-scoop in the EQ, like a Fender or Mesa Boogie. You want to set the tone controls for a mid boost. I suggest treble and bass at 9 o'clock and mid at 3 o'clock.

You should use a guitar with humbuckers and loads of sustain, like a les paul.

Once you have that rig, select the bridge pickup and place your pick hand over the pickup, just hovering over the strings, while you crank the gain with your left. Don't strike the strings at all, just lift your pick hand away from the pickup and lower it again without touching the strings, so you are intermittently shielding the pickup. When the feedback kicks in as you lift your hand away, and fades as you shield the pickup again, you're there.

You now have musical feedback on tap. It will kick in as your notes fade and your hand opens away from the pickup.

Douche .

 

[Minion]

The most important thing, first of all, is speaker choice. Celestion Vintage 30 or G12H30 or Greenback 20 or Vintage 10 will produce musical feedback, and so will Emminence Wizard. Many other speakers will just give unmusical squealy feedback.

You want a brit style amp having a flat eq circuit, like a marshall, and not an american style amp having a built in mid-scoop in the EQ, like a Fender or Mesa Boogie. You want to set the tone controls for a mid boost. I suggest treble and bass at 9 o'clock and mid at 3 o'clock.

You should use a guitar with humbuckers and loads of sustain, like a les paul.

Once you have that rig, select the bridge pickup and place your pick hand over the pickup, just hovering over the strings, while you crank the gain with your left. Don't strike the strings at all, just lift your pick hand away from the pickup and lower it again without touching the strings, so you are intermittently shielding the pickup. When the feedback kicks in as you lift your hand away, and fades as you shield the pickup again, you're there.

You now have musical feedback on tap. It will kick in as your notes fade and your hand opens away from the pickup.

I notice just the opposite with my rig , I get the sweetest sustain that gradually morphs into a nice feedback and I have my Mids cut all the way(-10db at 680khz) ..... I use a home made 100w Tube/Solid state hybrid amp with a 15 band eq and it sound super sweet .....

I also notice that you get a much sweeter sustain and feedback with a high gain tube amp compared to a solid state amp .....

 

[MikeSknabriaf]

Listen to the AC/DC song "Shoot to Thrill. It opens with the kind of feedback you're talking about, and it sounds really cool.

 

[Kingofpain678]

I notice just the opposite with my rig

exactly my point. It's a douche move to just throw out settings that YOU THINK work *cough* lovesponge *cough*


Can anyone say, Victory Pete?

 

[tonesponge]

Lots of midrange, I agree with. Humbuckers and sustain, yes, in my experience. I don't think it's necessarily speaker specific, though. I've made this thing happen on a variety of amps and speakers. In my experience, waving my hand around in front of the pickup without touching the strings didn't affect it, either.

I think you might be right about needing to mute and unmute the strings to get the effect I'm talking about. I rest the side of my palm on the bridge and fold my hand to the right to "lift away." I think I'm probably touching the strings very slightly, just enough to mute and unmute them, even though I wasn't conscious of it.

All I can say about speaker choice is that I had some Weber copies of Celestion Greenbacks in a Bassman copy that sounded great, but I could not get them to feedback musically at all. Since then, I have only used Celestions. And when I was at NAMM a couple of years ago, I stopped by the Emminence booth where they had all of their speakers footswitchable with the amp of your choice, so I got to try them all out. The only two speakers I thought did a good job on feedback were the redcoat and the wizard, and i found the wizard to be surprisingly good all around.

There have been a couple of rude comments about the settings I described. As I said originally, those settings are for the Bassman, Marshall Plexi, JCM800 line of amps that I use, and that have a flat eq circuit when the knobs are at noon.

 

[ggunn]

I think you might be right about needing to mute and unmute the strings to get the effect I'm talking about. I rest the side of my palm on the bridge and fold my hand to the right to "lift away." I think I'm probably touching the strings very slightly, just enough to mute and unmute them, even though I wasn't conscious of it.

All I can say about speaker choice is that I had some Weber copies of Celestion Greenbacks in a Bassman copy that sounded great, but I could not get them to feedback musically at all. .

When you said earlier, "The most important thing, first of all, is speaker choice.", that's just not necessarily so. Speakers are just one variable; just because you couldn't get the effect you wanted out of a particular speaker in a particular context, that doesn't mean that same speaker won't wail like a banshee in a different combination of amp, guitar, settings, etc.

The "rude" responses you got were, I believe, in response to your implication that yours is "the way" to get what the OP was asking about instead of saying "here's one way that works for me."

 

[ocnor]

The "rude" responses you got were, I believe, in response to your implication that yours is "the way" to get what the OP was asking about instead of saying "here's one way that works for me."

Or it could be that he was sounding too much like a reincarnation of victory pete.

 

[tonesponge]

I was ust trying to be helpful.

Fuck this forum. I will go elsewhere.

 

[Minion]

Hey Tonesponge , Don"t leave , this place is full of assholes so you totally fit in and you are needed here .....

 

[Lt. Bob]

I was ust trying to be helpful.

Fuck this forum. I will go elsewhere.

wow ...... that's pretty sensitive don't ya' think?