The New Tone Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter Telegram Sam
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I had a chance to play around with the Les Paul and the Marshall Class 5 amp a bit today.

It definitely sounds a lot better running it through my 1x12 Greenback Cab than through the stock
10" speaker, I was able to get some pretty tasty tones.
 
Telegram Sam said:
Do you fiddle around with the pickup height?
Click to expand...
sorry .. I'm busy.
i'll adjust the height so it's fairly close to the strings .... back off a bit when it's obvious it's pulling too hard (the magnet) .... you can tell that by a weird sorta ghost note you'll hear.
Then i put the treble side of the p'up closer than the bass side ..... whereever the volumes equalize. I need the small strings to be as loud as the bass.
 
21 guitars for 24 songs.

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Hey there Home Recorders, long time, no see. Work got incredibly busy so I had to put the fun off for a while but I have returend with a new toy.

I have a new guitar that sadly i haven't put alot of time into but today i got to sit and play with it. And so far i like what i am hearing. It's my first real Gibson!! A Les Paul Jr with P90's in both the neck and bridge position. Nice Cherry Red Finish. I'll attach a picture!!! Straight from the plant to my hands. Pretty impressive. It is a newer one, so no real vintage qualities to it but for a starter Gibson I really have no complaints.

Anyways here is how it sounds so far. I think it needs just a minor set-up. The Intonation seems to be just a little bit out to my ears?

Here is a quick clip of Social Distortions "Through These Eyes" (With P90's how could I not pick a Social Distortion song!)



Please let me know what you think. I hear a bit of fizz in it now that i play it back to myself.
 

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Hey man, nice axe.
I think the clip sounds a bit boomy, you may want to drop the bass down a bit on your amp (I asssume you are using the bridge pickup).
 
it does sound good. What's the amp?

I'm not hearing an objectionable amount of fizz ....... not on my 'puter speakers anyways.
 
Weird, i don't know that i have ever seen a LP Jr, with a bridge and neck pick up? How do you like that ? Did you order it special like that or something? I never really paid much attention to the juniors really. maybe they do make them?

That last clip sounds infinitely better then your previous attempts. I don't hear fizz at all not sure what you are talking about? I don't hear it.

Sam mentioned a bit of boomyness and i can agree with him a little bit, i'd keep it as is and roll off some low end when you mix!!!! Casue honestly that tone you got there sounds great as it.

If i were to make an educated guess, you were most likely playing along with the original version. Which would make the boomyness make sense casue they worked some magic on that record in particular with the Bass tracks, and you were probably dialing in according to that. It doesn't suck at all. Just i can see where that could happen.

Which brings me to another point i'd like to raise If you haven't thought of this already. When you are trying to get a tone to match something else you like, try to keep in mind those guitar tones or any other tones for that matter are all post processed by professionals. So, essentially you are trying to make a polished sound from the root of the signal based on someone else's polished turd. Which, unless you are Greg, is almost fruitless. I do agree that getting the best possible input signal is the right way to do it, i do however think referencing a mixed and mastered final product to be somewhat of a waste of time.

I would say if you are going to reference someone else final product, do it in your own post processing. You know.???

The guitarist may have had input on how the engineer shaped those tones but ultimately the engineer and mastering guy have the final say on the tone.

And the funny thing about social distortion guitar tones (i am glad you chose this as an example) but their recording's never do their tones justice in my opinion. I have seen them live and tonal qualities are night and day.

So now, SP.... take that tone you got there and stop polishing and finish that face to face cover. I want to hear that as a finished product. Do you have any original material ?
 
Sounds good Shane, & a big +1 to everything Atom suggested to you. I personally think this is the best tone you've posted man, good job!!!!!

On the fizz thing, I do hear just a tad (just like every tone I record), but remember, in a mix, the other instruments will mask a lot of this, & if you do the high/low pass thing, it won't be heard at all......

Atom's right about the post-processing thing too, you're trying to sound like something that's been mixed/mastered/processed by pros, so you probably could try your tone(s) in a mix, with your own mastering/processing, & you'd hear a big difference. Most of the time, when I'm mixing, I usually keep my "mastering" chain loaded, & switch it on/off to hear what it'll sound like finished.

This clip sounds really good man, you're getting a lot better at it!!!!!!

BTW, my nephew has a guitar just like that, except it's black. I did some clips with it a couple weeks ago, I'll have to dig 'em up & post 'em.......

I'd like to know what you used for an amp myself........

Again, sounds good!!!!!!
 
Hey. Thanks guys. I felt really good about it. The sad part is i think i tweaked it shortly after posting it. I rolled off some of bass and may have turned the treble back a little too? Not entirely sure.

@ Lt. Bob: I may disappoint you but that is an Amp Sim. It is simulating a 100w Hiwatt Head with a 4x12 T-75 Cab. Mic Sim is an off axis 57. with the room set at about 14% If i remember correctly?

@ Atom Bomb: I love it! I think it is nothing out of the ordinary. I ordered it from Long and McQuade? But it plays awesome, sounds deadly compared to me Epi and they compliment each other well. The will mesh nicely. I get what you are saying re: using other artists stuff as a ref. point. It makes total sense and that explains a lot when playing back some of my other tones and songs. I think what i walked away with this attempt is that i need to focus my own ear, and stop relying on the blasted Built in EQ on my simulator. I was relying on that too heavily to polish my tones and i have actually found i have been getting better results by just not touching it.

Yes, HaHa I will finish the face to face cover, thanks for the kick in the butt. I do have original stuff but just not really ready to cut the umbilical cord on all that. I think i am going to just work on covers till I carve out the sound i want. I know it is a never ending battle but it is getting closer.

Thanks for the rep. too I am a big Social D fan myself, and i will second the statement re: their live vs. recorded tones.

@ Minerman: How do i know when to use a hi and lo pass filter? and why? Funny you say that about your nephews guitar. I had considered a black one, but it didn't come with the bridge and neck P/ups.
 
ShanPeyton said:
@ Lt. Bob: I may disappoint you but that is an Amp Sim. It is simulating a 100w Hiwatt Head with a 4x12 T-75 Cab. Mic Sim is an off axis 57. with the room set at about 14% If i remember correctly?

.
Click to expand...
nah .... I love it when amp sims fool me.
 
Me too, I even knew it was an amp sim, but it sounds great!
BTW, I've mentioned it before, I'm pretty much limited to amp sims in my situation.
I use an Axe FX II, I need to get some more tones posted up to keep up with you guys.
 
ShanPeyton said:
How do i know when to use a hi and lo pass filter? and why?
Click to expand...

I always high pass my guitars around 80-100 hz, so they don't get in the way of the bass' frequency/space, this depends on source material, what kind of sound you're looking for, etc. On the low pass, I always start at about 12 khz, & work my way down from there. Sometimes it's not needed any lower (or at all sometimes), but sometimes it is, again, this depends on a few different things too....The main reason I low pass my guitars, is to remove a lot of the fizz, hiss, noise, & helps make the cymbals/oh's cut through a little better sometimes...Remember, I just do this shit for a hobby man, & nothing I say about mixing/eq/whatever is "the" way to go, this is just the way I do this stuff......

On the high pass, go too high, & you lose your low end chunk/bottom....
On the low pass, go to low, & your guitars will sound dull/flat......
It's really impossible to say how to high/low pass guitars unless you have 'em in a mix IMO.....just try to find what works best (& sounds the best) for you.....

On the clip you posted, I'm impressed, it sounds real man, good job!!!!
 
Here's The Vibrators "Keep It Clean" through my Axe FX II



Criticism / comments welcome.

Fender strat lead pup on 9.
Plexi Treble bright cap clipped.
Bass -0 , Mid, Treble, Presence all 10
2 ea 4x12 (basketweave G12M25 and G12M20 - redwirez)
sm 57 and R121 mics

From the Axe FX Wiki:

8.Cliff (about the Plexi model in the Standard/Ultra): "One of the first mods people make to real 'Plexi' Marshalls is to "clip the bright cap". The bright cap varied over the years, supposedly depending on what was lying around in the shop. The model defaults to the bright cap in the circuit. If you turn off Bright you're effectively clipping the bright cap. The bright cap in Marshalls can be very bright and harsh. However, if you crank the Master you might find the extra brightness helps compensate for the power amp getting darker."

9.Cliff (about the fizzyness of the Plexi model): "It's the way a Plexi is supposed to sound. That's due to the cathode follower. That raspiness helps it cut through in a mix. I own three of them and they are that fizzy"
 
I really want one of the Fractal units. And I have .... lemmee see, 7 modelers so I'm not one of those modeler-averse guys.
I think it's clear that modeling will eventually be the dominant technology in guitar. In general it's not quite there yet although individual units are closer than others. The Fractal stuff is supposed to be pretty damned close. But I can get a couple or three pretty nice amps for what that Fractal costs.

Sam .... liking that sound quite a bit! Sounds nice and tubey!
 
Telegram Sam said:
Here's The Vibrators "Keep It Clean" through my Axe FX II



Criticism / comments welcome.

Fender strat lead pup on 9.
Plexi Treble bright cap clipped.
Bass -0 , Mid, Treble, Presence all 10
2 ea 4x12 (basketweave G12M25 and G12M20 - redwirez)
sm 57 and R121 mics
Click to expand...

Hey this is really good! I think a touch more clarity would be be cool maybe? Like a little more treble or brightness? Maybe. to my ears???

You did an awesome job of capturing that era's guitar sound. Definitely hear the strat tonal qualities there. This one is a keeper man.

Good tune too!!!!!
 
Thanks dudes, I'm going to tighten it up and record it again sober!

Bob, the Axe unit is extra cool insofar as every time they tweak the models the owners get a free upgrade.
This unit (the II), is on firmware 6.01.
They add amps, effects etc., and its all free.
Firmware 6.0 remodeled ALL of the amps and incorporated realistic control knob settings to the selected model
(Ie, the "knobs on the fender model are tapered the same way as the real life fender).
Huge support community and a great wiki rounds it out as what I think the future will look like.

Check out "Details of All Amp Models"
Axe-Fx II Wiki Home - Axe-Fx II Wiki

Here is the forum:
Fractal Audio Systems Forum
 
Spent the weekend trying out some guitars and amps, looking for tones for a couple of songs I was flushing out.

Here's a couple of jams I ended up doing which will evolve into two new songs.
The first already has some arrangement structure. The second is still in the idea phase.
Both clips were done with just a single rhythm guitar track and a lead guitar track.

Jam 01
Reissue Hagstrom Super Swede into a Savage Macht 12X (12W, 6v6)
Rhythm track used the Single Coil split off the neck pickup, Amp was on low gain, about mid volume and mid tone.
Lead track used the neck humbucker, Amp was on lo gain, about 3/4 volume and mid tone.

Jam 02
Vintage Swede into a Tungsten Creme Cortez (like a 5E3 amp, but a bit smoother)
Rhythm and lead used the neck pup, with pretty much the same amp settings, just a bit more volume on the lead.
 
Savage Macht sounded very good ..... didn't care for the Cortez ..... it had that 'notes die away a little quick' thing going on and I hate that particular quality.
The Macht sounded very nice though.
 
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