Fender Jaguar distortion sound

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submelodic

New member
Has anyone gotten good results recording distorted rhythm guitar tracks with a Fender Jaguar? I don't have access to any other guitars for the project I'm working on. We're using a vintage Jaguar through a bassman head into a Marshall 4x12 miked with an SM57. We also have a SansAmp Classic pedal. We've tried many settings but can't get a nice warm & full distortion, just a very harsh sound with nasty overtones. Any recommendations (other than getting a new guitar!) would be really appreciated.
 
You have that nirvana sound but you want the led zeppelin sound. try replacing the single coil pickups with humbuckers that fit in the same hole as to not ruin a potential classic ax.
 
The consensus seems to be change the pickups to humbuckers. That would probably improve the sound a lot - and get rid of the nasty hum we have to deal with too. How do I convince the guitarist that he won't lose "his sound"?
 
Well, he WOULD lose his sound. Single-coils have their own sound. Humbuckers do, too. And humbuckers with set neck add another layer to the sound.

Best advice - borrow a Les Paul for the project. Or look for a second-hand set-neck humbucker.
 
TexRoadkill said:
If his sound sucks so bad you are asking for recomendations then why would should he be afraid of losing it?
Click to expand...

Well, it's more like *I* think the sound sucks, but he's ok with it. My first choice for the sound I think would best fit the material would be a Les Paul. Since the guitarist is pretty much set on using his guitar I'm going to suggest replacing the bridge pickup.

Seymour Duncan makes a pickup called "hot, bridge" and another called "quarter pund" specifically for the Jaguar. Anyone familiar with either of these or any other brands/models that would be good?
 
bassman head is part of the equation

Some of the sound you are describing is the bassman head...it's not a high gain head and does NOT do modern distortion well (scooped mid, etc...). It's got the same type of sound as a twin reverb...when the amp itself distorts, the low end will get distorted and 'farty' and the high end will be glassy and cutting. Think 'surf' and blues style distortion.

To top it off some of the bassmans don't have 'mid' controls at all...

A Jaguar has some of the highest output single coil pickups around...plug one into a Marshall stack head and you will get more of the sound you want.

Do you have another head you could use to drive the 4x12? How about pedals? Try running an overdrive, fuzz, or distortion up front with EQ to get a fatter tone. Keep the bass control on the bassman down, and the eq on the pedals way up...

I have had a lot of success using a Boss Turbo Overdrive in conjunction with a Boss Hyper Fuzz in order to get a huge variety of distortion tones with my Twin Reverb. I'm playing a fender mustang, which has even lower output pickups than the Jag, but with the pedals overdriving the preamp stages in the amp, you can get a lot of different tones.
 
Pod's are great for more modern distortion sounds also. But it still wont have that humbucker crunch. Try some better distortion boxes first and see if that helps.
 
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