I was just wondering out of all the guitar players on here (and bass players - why not?!), what do you prefer, a clean tone or a dirty tone?
in the last year i find myself going for a clean tone almost all the time. I like distorted tones too but i always find that something about them dissapoints me. But if i use a clean tone that just starting to get cooking im content. If i use distortion i always end up tweaking it but its never perfect.
These days i just plug into my epi valve junior at about 9/10 o'clock, just where it starts to get some drive. I dont even have the volume on my guitar all the way up. Mike me up and i'd use it for playing gigs.
I have done the same thing over the years. I used to crank the preamp gain all the way and slowly but surely it's backed down to about 55-60% over the years. I don't play through tube amps, never have, and the only solid state amp I have found that gives nice power section saturation is my Gallien Krueger 250ML, It gets grittier as the volume goes up, in a nice sounding overdrive. All my other amps I am forced to use the pre-amp gain stages. (I love my Randall RG100es crunch, nothing is similar) and my new Zoom G2.1u is giving me fantastic results live. I personally like the edgy, cold chainsaw buzz of diodes cooking as opposed to tubes.
The addition of a more clean signal in your tone makes total sense to me these days. Clean is always more percussive and punchy along with the guitars natural unaltered harmonic overtones. Giving it just enough push to go into the grind of overdrive lets you hit harder, louder and dynamics are WAY better.
Oh bring me some CHUNKY PUDDING, and bring it RIGHT NOW!!!
rice_pudding wrote:I was just wondering out of all the guitar players on here (and bass players - why not?!), what do you prefer, a clean tone or a dirty tone?
in the last year i find myself going for a clean tone almost all the time. I like distorted tones too but i always find that something about them dissapoints me. But if i use a clean tone that just starting to get cooking im content. If i use distortion i always end up tweaking it but its never perfect.
These days i just plug into my epi valve junior at about 9/10 o'clock, just where it starts to get some drive. I dont even have the volume on my guitar all the way up. Mike me up and i'd use it for playing gigs.
I play with both clean and dirty tones. When practicing something, I'll play clean to get it down and with the proper dynamics. As far as dirty goes, I'm kinda more like Eddie where I like sustain mostly with just a bit of crunch. Sounds better than full on distortion, which sounds a little like a tyrannysaurus Rex taking a dump with difficulty.
lately i find myself using the ac30 setting on my vox hybrid. i set just a bit of gain, enough to give the tone some bite but still sound clear and pretty. the chords ring and the lead has just enough grit.
Last edited by frank on Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
McLowery wrote:I have done the same thing over the years. I used to crank the preamp gain all the way and slowly but surely it's backed down to about 55-60% over the years. I don't play through tube amps, never have, and the only solid state amp I have found that gives nice power section saturation is my Gallien Krueger 250ML, It gets grittier as the volume goes up, in a nice sounding overdrive. All my other amps I am forced to use the pre-amp gain stages. (I love my Randall RG100es crunch, nothing is similar) and my new Zoom G2.1u is giving me fantastic results live. I personally like the edgy, cold chainsaw buzz of diodes cooking as opposed to tubes.
The addition of a more clean signal in your tone makes total sense to me these days. Clean is always more percussive and punchy along with the guitars natural unaltered harmonic overtones. Giving it just enough push to go into the grind of overdrive lets you hit harder, louder and dynamics are WAY better.
frank wrote:lately i find myself using the ac30 setting on my vox hybrid. i set just a bit of gain, enough to give the tone some bite but still sound clear and pretty. the chords ring and the lead has just enough grit.
you have a vox hybrid too? Very nice i like using the fender dual reverb setting. A little too loose sounding for heavy rock IMO. But it has a great range tones from clean to driven that you can get just by the way you play.
McLowery wrote:I have done the same thing over the years. I used to crank the preamp gain all the way and slowly but surely it's backed down to about 55-60% over the years. I don't play through tube amps, never have, and the only solid state amp I have found that gives nice power section saturation is my Gallien Krueger 250ML, It gets grittier as the volume goes up, in a nice sounding overdrive. All my other amps I am forced to use the pre-amp gain stages. (I love my Randall RG100es crunch, nothing is similar) and my new Zoom G2.1u is giving me fantastic results live. I personally like the edgy, cold chainsaw buzz of diodes cooking as opposed to tubes.
The addition of a more clean signal in your tone makes total sense to me these days. Clean is always more percussive and punchy along with the guitars natural unaltered harmonic overtones. Giving it just enough push to go into the grind of overdrive lets you hit harder, louder and dynamics are WAY better.
rice_pudding wrote:I like distorted tones too but i always find that something about them dissapoints me. ....... If i use distortion i always end up tweaking it but its never perfect.
I felt like that for years till I tried this:
Think about this: Eddie, Randy, Malmsteen, Schenker, Gary Moore and countless of others in the seventies and early eighties used them and all had great tones! That's no coincidence. I wished somebody gave me this advice 20 years ago, it would probably save me a 2 years permanent holiday on a subtropic island. No kidding.... But you get this advice now from Mr. Dutchman for free!
I've set the channel volume on the Randall at full
and then control it by the master volume. Backed
of the gain completely and EQ'd the amp with hardly
no bass at all. As my Dean is mostly mahogany
I'd like to think that the guitar provides the bass
Add the Cat's Eye box and the Dean with the EMG 85
in bridge position and you're good to go
McLowery wrote:I have done the same thing over the years. I used to crank the preamp gain all the way and slowly but surely it's backed down to about 55-60% over the years. I don't play through tube amps, never have, and the only solid state amp I have found that gives nice power section saturation is my Gallien Krueger 250ML, It gets grittier as the volume goes up, in a nice sounding overdrive. All my other amps I am forced to use the pre-amp gain stages. (I love my Randall RG100es crunch, nothing is similar) and my new Zoom G2.1u is giving me fantastic results live. I personally like the edgy, cold chainsaw buzz of diodes cooking as opposed to tubes.
The addition of a more clean signal in your tone makes total sense to me these days. Clean is always more percussive and punchy along with the guitars natural unaltered harmonic overtones. Giving it just enough push to go into the grind of overdrive lets you hit harder, louder and dynamics are WAY better.
didnt the guy in Rush use a Galien Krueger?
I believe he used a hughes and kettner.
i think he used a galien krueger in the 80s i will check it out...
P.S. im surprised at how many people here prefer a clean tone...interesting
I've set the channel volume on the Randall at full
and then control it by the master volume. Backed
of the gain completely and EQ'd the amp with hardly
no bass at all. As my Dean is mostly mahogany
I'd like to think that the guitar provides the bass
Add the Cat's Eye box and the Dean with the EMG 85
in bridge position and you're good to go
That's a pretty nifty and clever idea. This would kinda work similar to EVH's variac used to lower the headroom of his Marshall, thus causing more tube saturation. My personal suggestion though would be to set the chan volume to about 7 or 8, then set the dist really low, like .5-2, and then adjust the master volume with the guitar at full bore to your personal ideal tone. This way, you can roll your guitar controls back or switch pickups rather than changing settings a lot.
That's cool, just thought I'd suggest a different perspective you may not've thought of yet.
My personally tone is a high end distortion, with a nice full, solid eq job, kinda like Gilbert, but with a little more mids, probably around Schenker territory. Plus the DOD250 I use gives a slight Yngwie tone to the british high gain thing that's happening. Kinda the typical 80s shred tone, but with a nicer high-end/presence, and a fluid bass (which means it sounds heavy, but it doesn't rumble), and a 70s penchant for MORE MIDS! I have em at about 7-8 depending on the day. sometimes 6. If need be, I can adjust the guitar's tone and not even get a muddy tone at 0. Pretty cool.
i like using the fender dual reverb setting. A little too loose sounding for heavy rock IMO. But it has a great range tones from clean to driven that you can get just by the way you play.
