What's the secret to your tone?

[junkemail86]

We all have our secrets to achieving our best tones.  My favorite tones come from a Dimarzio PAF Pro neck pickup into a Timmy or Menatone Blue Collar +- post-overdrive Demeter Compulator into my Marshall DSL401. 
BUT, the one thing that is crucial to my recorded tone is my Studio Projects B1 condenser mic (I have the older version before the switches were added).  I absolutely love the thing.  I drape it from the top of the amp or cabinet, right on the grill, turned a little away from the cone and it always gives me a great clean or distorted sound.

What's your secret?

[chromesphere]

Probably my amp (2004 bad cat hat cat 30r).  I get comments about it all time and it has a unique sound both clean and overdriven.  I could never sell it, I just couldn't do it...
Paul

[Smugtronix]

My secret's my amp rig (on bass). 1986 Gallien-Kreuger 400RB into a Hartke 4x10 of about the same vintage. The vintage Hartke cabinet has 60 watt aluminum cone drivers (as opposed to 100 watt drivers in the newer cabs). You get the most incredible midrange snarl.

[midwayfair]

Fingers.

[chromesphere]

Diodes

[gingataff]

Peterson strobostomp.

[GermanCdn]

Yeah, Jon's got it right, it's fingers.  i remember a quote from Jerry Cantrell when they opened for Van Halen in the Carnal Knowledge tour, and he played through Eddie's rig with Eddie's guitars playing Eddie's songs, and he still sounded like.......Jerry Cantrell.  The Nuge said something similar when Damn Yankees had the opening slot.

[Jabulani Jonny]

BUT, the one thing that is crucial to my recorded tone is my Studio Projects B1.

Man the old SP B1's are such great, underrated mics. I have two B3's and use them on every recording.

+1 to Jon's comment. However I spent a lot of time looking for the right amp and I settled on a Guytron GT20. This thing has an incredible clean channel and a gorgeous crunch. The Gretsch through this thing just sounds beautiful.

I'd prolly hump it if the jacks were big enough.   


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[midwayfair]

Yeah, Jon's got it right, it's fingers. i remember a quote from Jerry Cantrell when they opened for Van Halen in the Carnal Knowledge tour, and he played through Eddie's rig with Eddie's guitars playing Eddie's songs, and he still sounded like.......Jerry Cantrell.  The Nuge said something similar when Damn Yankees had the opening slot.

I wasn't being flippant or really talking about sounding like one's self, though. There's stylistic ticks from the left hand of course, but sonically, I sound the way I do because of fingerpicking. It's a particular kind of physical relationship with the strings on the guitar that doesn't exist once you use a plectrum (or even, I'd argue, fingerpicks).

I just don't use enough "stuff" otherwise and the only effect I use consistently is a compressor set to a light setting. A clean amp with a tiny bit of reverb and often a little bit of delay.

[jimijam]

a good tube amp that is turned up quite loud. and for any modulated tones. adding a transparent compressor post modulation to tame any harsh frequencies at the top of the sweep. a compressor at moderate compression settings early n the chain as well. not enough to kill dynamics but enough to smooth everything out a bit, particularly on clean tones. i use several pedal comps early, a old mij boss cs1 is what i use at the moment. and a rack comp like a dbx 160a or a tc triple c. at the end of the chain. oh and dimarzio paf pros. and hs single coils

[GrindCustoms]

LoveSqueeze Comp with the right amount of bloom dialed in, it's alway On, no matter in what i'm plugged...

[jubal81]

Great tube amp. As much as I love building effects, I don't actually use many at all - mostly just very mild reverb and compression - and I'd really be fine without them.

Digital effects and 'special' effects suck all the life and personality out. I think this goes back to the fingers - with a 'nakeder' signal and without gimmicky digital sounds, you really have to play yer guitar. I love working on simple things and really concentrating on the dynamics/attack of each note.

[whitebread47]

Great tube amp. As much as I love building effects, I don't actually use many at all - mostly just very mild reverb and compression - and I'd really be fine without them.

I sometimes get razzed about this, being a builder, but I'm very much the same way about effects.  When playing for fun, I usually just plug my Tele straight into my Princeton Reverb.  The trem and 'verb on those amps are heavenly (and also my favorite effects), so everything else is more or less experimental or for specific applications.  I do like using a Klone for a little more tonal body and enjoy a tweed-like OD for some old mushy/saggy drive stuff.

That said, obviously my playing style is a huge influence on my tone, but to me it sounds about like a 50's style Tele through a Blackface style amp.  A pretty common combo, really.

[alanp]

WRT what I sound like live, short answer is it depends.

My 'sound' (effects, distortion, technique, general approach to the song) depends strongly on whether I have a rhythm guitarist there, and also whether the song is traditional (eg a song set to the Slane tune), or something modern (like 10,000 Reasons.)

[jimilee]

Biggest secret in short is a compressor and a lot of power. I've found on bass, the more power you have the clearer your tone. Doesn't have to be loud, just a lot of watts into a speaker that can handle it.