Famous guitar sounds recipes

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scaron

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Hello all,

I think it could be great to have us all describe in our own words and experience how we get certain famous guitar tone, our own recipes with our effects (type, settings and order), amps settings and so on. A cool discussion on our effects and how we tweak it.
Some of us may have a particularly good Rush sound, others may reproduce Rolling Stones like no others, etc.

For example, a few great tones that immediately comes to mind and for which I'd like to see how you all manage to get close to: Michael Franti & the spearhead, Alex Lifeson (Rush), The Edge (U2), Satriani, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Brian Setzer, Brian May (Queen)etc....

That's just to share our own experiences and for the fun of it cause we all know about how every players may sound different on the same equipments, we all know the importance and value of creating our own sound, not reproducing other's, etc.

So, let's go, share in !
 
Not really sure what you're looking for. A lot of it comes down to the guitar/amp combinations that these players prefer. If you do a little research in Guitar Player's online archives, you'll find interviews with all those people in which they talk about their gear.

That said, I could recommend some pointers for a few of those that you have named.

For The Edge i'd pick an amp with a big full clean tone and break out the delay pedal. Probably start with a guitar equipped with single-coils.

Satriani changes all his gear (except guitars) every so often, but basically you're looking at hot humbuckers pushing a high-gain amp, or a high-gain distortion pedal into a clean amp.

Jeff Beck - can't help you there. I think he could play through anything and sound like Jeff Beck, and I could play through everything and never sound like Jeff Beck.

Jimmy Page - medium gain Marshall, bridge pickup on a LP, split coil. A thin, reedy sound. Or a Danelectro with lipstick pickups (a Telecaster is a good substitute)

Brian Seltzer - big fat hollowbody (I think he's a Gretsch user?), clean amp like a Twin, some slapback delay

Brian May is a tough one because of the tone of his unique guitar, the Red Special. (I think Muttley said that he has actually laid hands upon this one.) He's known for using Vox AC30s with a top boost pedal pushing the front end.

Alex Lifeson's tone isn't too unique, I don't think - mild HB-equipped guitar into a medium gain amp, with a chorus or flanger, a little delay.....

Anyhow, hope that helps.
 
Greg_L said:
As corny and cliche as it seems, it really is mostly in how you play.
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That's true for sure. Especially for someone like Jeff Beck, it's all in how he plays. I think other guitarists have a more "generic" sound that can be acheived with the right combination of technique and gear.
 
Hey guys.....hold on, my idea behind this thread is not for me to get your sound recipes for those artists I put down im my thread !

Nah....I simply wish to have you all share your own recipes, how one may get his Rush sound (we may end up with interesting variations), another may describe his "recipe" for his Hendrix sound, etc. Those artists I mention here ARE JUST EXAMPLES !

We all interpret our favorite artists sound (or tone) in our manner/style. And some of us may be very proud of their set-up (tone wise).

So I simply wish to see you all put in your own $0.05 into that matter. Personnally, I like discussing amp/guitar/fx tone. That's the whole issue here. Let's talk & share how we do it !
 
:confused:

Well, ya know, I just sit down with all my stuff and get it to where it sounds the most appropriate for what I want to do.

I'm playing cover stuff and have a versatile amp rig, a good pedalboard, and a number of guitars, and I've gotten pretty good at dialing in most guitar tones that I hear. I'm not sure what more I can offer unless you want to get into the nitty-gritty.
 
Not to sound snooty about it...but I've never really tried to get anyone's "sound".
Like Greg said, I just get my own sound.

Granted, a lot of us know in general the tones of BB King or Hendrix or Malmsteen...etc, and we can hear their tones in our head just from years of hearing their music, but AFA actually trying to find a recipe for anyone's tones, I've never really bothered with that.
A lot of that probably comes from my personal disdain of doing covers, but I'm sure the guys that spend a lot of time in cover bands might actually search for "tone recipes of the stars" or some such thing :) ...in order to better nail their covers.
I can't wait to see some of their recipes. If they are tasty, I might try one.
I'll go pre-heat my oven.... ;)
 
TelePaul said:
I just really love compressors.
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I don't use a comp all the time...but for recording, the rack mount ART PRO VLA does a real nice job for guitar.

For a stomp version...I recently pickup up a Pigtronix Philospher's Tone (the original, small one)...and was quite impressed with it. Most stomp comps suck the life out of your tone when you push them...but the Pigtronix box seems to avoid that very well.
 
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