The New Tone Thread

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Gregorry, that Strat clip sounds pretty good. I dont like to play them but people sure can make them sound good.

JDOD, that lead tone sounds good to my ears and I dont hear any tuning problems but Im a newb and my listening skills arent that advanced. I wish i could play like that!
The g string was a little flat when I started playing again after posting that. Cheers though, mate.
 
I think it just sounds a bit dull/dead to me. There could well be a couple of small tuning issues in there as I'd done a fair few takes to get this close to right. The tuning thing could be the odd note choice at the end though, I change to A Major on the ascending run at the end and its a little bit jarring at first. To be fair, it might sound better as I get better at playing it and my hands relax a little more.

Dude, it's all good man, I know you're still working that stuff out...You do a lot better than I do on that stuff man, seriously...The tone's good IMO, the rest will fall into place...:)
 
OK, so I'm not normally that arsed with lead tones - I normally just use my rhythm tone and turn it up a bit, maybe add a hint more gain. I'd like to make this fit better in with the Rhythm but I don't know quite how. Its a similar tone to the rhythm, possibly with a little more gain.

View attachment 97964

Yes, I know my playing is still a little flakey on this - but I've done loads of takes and keep making tiny mistakes! All I've done in the DAW is add a bit of reverb.

It doesn't sound bad to me. It's pretty good and fits the style. I think it needs two things: 1) More mids. It sounds kind of hollow. Mids will make it stand out without having to be crazy loud on top of everything else. 2) I think it could use some guitar-hero delay. It is *that* style of lead, so you might as well go full Dokken on it.

Lastly, and far be it from a skill-less chump like me to say anything about playing, but I think your sustained notes need some vibrato. Or bend up to them. Something to keep them from being just a single unwavering note that rings out.
 
It doesn't sound bad to me. It's pretty good and fits the style. I think it needs two things: 1) More mids. It sounds kind of hollow. Mids will make it stand out without having to be crazy loud on top of everything else. 2) I think it could use some guitar-hero delay. It is *that* style of lead, so you might as well go full Dokken on it.

Lastly, and far be it from a skill-less chump like me to say anything about playing, but I think your sustained notes need some vibrato. Or bend up to them. Something to keep them from being just a single unwavering note that rings out.
Weird init? The amp is mid crazy when I'm playing rhythm but not middy enough when I'm playing lead. Actually, fuck, just realised. I have the same EQ on this I have with my rhythm track which has the small scoop at 530. I'm a total berk.

Delay, sounds awful with the delay in the front of the amp, I'll try it in the back when I go for a final take in a few days. Might just be my delay is a bit shit though. I still haven't sorted my back row/front row board.

Hmmm, vibrato. That's been mentioned before, I think I'm just being a bit shy.. Or I could go full shred wanker on it and use a whammy bar.

Listening back to it now, the flat g string is obvious!
 
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Some delays do sound shit in front of the amp as opposed to in the loop. Some do both fine. On the very rare occasion I use delay, I prefer it in the loop myself.
 
Some delays do sound shit in front of the amp as opposed to in the loop. Some do both fine. On the very rare occasion I use delay, I prefer it in the loop myself.

Yeah and in my limited experience with amps mine sounds best in the loop of this amp.
 
Here's some more Strat with fresh strings. Ernie 10s. I fiddled through the pickup combinations. It's nothing fancy as I can't play anything that properly showcases a Strat, so I did a halfass take on Wild Weekend.

Fender MIM Strat
Marshall JMP 2204
Presence - 6
Bass - 5
Mid - 6
Treb - 6
Pre vol - 5
Master Vol - 5
Marshall 1960A 4x12 Celestion Greenbacks
Shure SM 57 on axis, on grill, halfway to edge
No EQ or FX

Starts on bridge, then bridge/mid, mid, mid/neck, neck, ends back on bridge.

A Taco Strat's Wild Weekend
 
A Taco Strat's Wild Weekend!

lol

Was Annette there?


That's very surfy/King of the Hill .....

I gotta say, my strat bridge p'up NEVER sounds that good .... I always thought I just had a shit strat when all I needed was a JMP!
 
A Taco Strat's Wild Weekend!

lol

Was Annette there?


That's very surfy/King of the Hill .....

I gotta say, my strat bridge p'up NEVER sounds that good .... I always thought I just had a shit strat when all I needed was a JMP!

Lol. Thanks Boob. It's not the amp man. I mean, yeah, get a JMP because they're awesome, but one thing I've always said about this particular Taco Strat, and one thing I like about it....it's not crazy shrill like Strats usually are. The pickups are mellower, for lack of a better word, than the usual screeching bright thin tinny Strat nonsense. I don't know if it's cheap Mexican pickups or what, but whatever it is, I'm not changing them.
 
OK, so I'm not normally that arsed with lead tones - I normally just use my rhythm tone and turn it up a bit, maybe add a hint more gain. I'd like to make this fit better in with the Rhythm but I don't know quite how. Its a similar tone to the rhythm, possibly with a little more gain.

View attachment 97964

Yes, I know my playing is still a little flakey on this - but I've done loads of takes and keep making tiny mistakes! All I've done in the DAW is add a bit of reverb.

Yeah, it could use a little midrange excitement. You might even be able to pull that off in post by giving it an EQ hump somewhere in the 2K-5K range. That's one thing a TubeScreamer is good for, that midrange hump to give a little presence.

Nice playing though, and I did like the tone itself. But for a solo, it could cut through more.
 
Here's some more Strat with fresh strings. Ernie 10s. I fiddled through the pickup combinations. It's nothing fancy as I can't play anything that properly showcases a Strat, so I did a halfass take on Wild Weekend.

Fender MIM Strat
Marshall JMP 2204
Presence - 6
Bass - 5
Mid - 6
Treb - 6
Pre vol - 5
Master Vol - 5
Marshall 1960A 4x12 Celestion Greenbacks
Shure SM 57 on axis, on grill, halfway to edge
No EQ or FX

Starts on bridge, then bridge/mid, mid, mid/neck, neck, ends back on bridge.

A Taco Strat's Wild Weekend

I think that most of those sound good. There's one in there that I didn't like at all, I'm guessing it was the middle pickup by itself. But hell the rest all sounded good to my ears. I think that there are lots of tones there that'd fit right into a mix.
 
It's not crazy shrill like Strats usually are. The pickups are mellower, for lack of a better word, than the usual screeching bright thin tinny Strat nonsense. I don't know if it's cheap Mexican pickups or what, but whatever it is, I'm not changing them.
Those 'cheap Mexican pickups' were designed by Duncan.
 
I think that most of those sound good. There's one in there that I didn't like at all, I'm guessing it was the middle pickup by itself. But hell the rest all sounded good to my ears. I think that there are lots of tones there that'd fit right into a mix.
Thanks man. Yeah some of them are okay to me. I was pleasantly surprised actually.

Those 'cheap Mexican pickups' were designed by Duncan.
Really? He did a good job then because to me this guitar sounds better than even expensive US Strats. I always just assumed that it was serendipity that these low-budget MexiStrat pickups work better for me.


Just for comparison, here's the Hallmark 60 Custom Mosrite clone through the same amp/cab/mic setup with my custom one-of-a-kind-for-Greg "Fat Pig" bridge pickup and stock Mosrite-spec neck pickup.

Hallmark Wild Weekend
 
Greg I like that strat tone a lot man, it's got the right end of high end/bite to it, without being shrill even on the bridge p'up (which I like best out of those)...

The Mosrite sounds good too, it's got a different character to it though...All these clips would fall right into a mix no problem at all man, I'm actually really impressed with the strat clips...


I've been fucking with my amp today, trying out some different tubes...Not cork-sniffing tube rolling, lower-gain tubes to try & tame it a little...I tried a Tung-Sol 12AU7 in V1 (which I assume the the main pre-amp tube), & it definitely took away quite a bit of gain...I'm not sure I like it or not, it sounds kinda neutered like this, so I'll have to play around with it trying different tubes in the next couple of days...
 
wow .... in this case I think I prefer the sound of the strat.

The Mosrite's big huge single coils sound WAY different ..... almost humbuckery to me ..... both sound good but for just this one single, out-of-context comparison, the strat sounds damned good.
 
Greg I like that strat tone a lot man, it's got the right end of high end/bite to it, without being shrill even on the bridge p'up (which I like best out of those)...

The Mosrite sounds good too, it's got a different character to it though...All these clips would fall right into a mix no problem at all man, I'm actually really impressed with the strat clips...
Cool thanks man.


I've been fucking with my amp today, trying out some different tubes...Not cork-sniffing tube rolling, lower-gain tubes to try & tame it a little...I tried a Tung-Sol 12AU7 in V1 (which I assume the the main pre-amp tube), & it definitely took away quite a bit of gain...I'm not sure I like it or not, it sounds kinda neutered like this, so I'll have to play around with it trying different tubes in the next couple of days...
I was gonna suggest that, but I just don't know how that works on modern amps. Dropping gain is one result from going from a 12AX7 to a 12AU or 12AT, but sometimes other features of the amp go through those same tubes and I don't know how that effects it. Like what if the effects loop is buffered through one of those tubes? I have no idea.

wow .... in this case I think I prefer the sound of the strat.

The Mosrite's big huge single coils sound WAY different ..... almost humbuckery to me ..... both sound good but for just this one single, out-of-context comparison, the strat sounds damned good.

Yeah, for me, I like the Hallmark better. As soon as I plugged it in, I immediately was like "yeah that's it". It's plucky and plonky. Lol. Almost more P-90-ish, and I'm a retarded fool sucka for a P-90. :D

But I was pleasantly surprised with the Strat. I still don't like it though. :D
 
great strat tones greg. Very nice rythym guitar playing too man. Nothing about it sucked.
Anyone who thinks mex fenders don't have tone should check this out.
 
I was gonna suggest that, but I just don't know how that works on modern amps. Dropping gain is one result from going from a 12AX7 to a 12AU or 12AT, but sometimes other features of the amp go through those same tubes and I don't know how that effects it. Like what if the effects loop is buffered through one of those tubes? I have no idea.
I switched to a 12AT7 in V2 on my bravo amp before recording that last clip I posted. It's less fizzy and has a sweeter sounding high end to my ears.
the tube was like 12 bucks (JJ) So I said what the hell, give it a shot.
 
Greg, I just looked up Dokken... shudder. I need to get this fucking song finished before I end up perming my hair and snorting coke. Its the last one left out of an older more metal sounding set of tracks that I really want to finish - hopefully some grungier vocals will at least drag it into the early 90s.

I've just listened to both your clips. I thought the strat sounded great, particularly on the more trebbly pickups, was OK on neck settings when you were playing single notes but tended to get a bit mushy when you were strumming hard, but that's not surprising, I only use a neck pickup for lead or completely spanky cleans.

The fat pig sounded great when you were on single notes but tended to get a bit too thick I found when you were strumming. That's a really hot pickup for a single coil isn't it? That's a tiny nit-pick though - it didn't actually sound bad at all.

I bet the two guitars would sound great in a surf mix, strat doing rhythm and fat pig doing leads.
 
I've been fucking with my amp today, trying out some different tubes...Not cork-sniffing tube rolling, lower-gain tubes to try & tame it a little...I tried a Tung-Sol 12AU7 in V1 (which I assume the the main pre-amp tube), & it definitely took away quite a bit of gain...I'm not sure I like it or not, it sounds kinda neutered like this, so I'll have to play around with it trying different tubes in the next couple of days...
Miner, your gain tone is really good for what you're after. You're probably better off not fucking with it and getting a decent quality solid state head for your cleans and get a switch so you can switch between amps. Hey, if its good enough for James Hetfield, why not Minerman?
 
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