Blues: Clean or dirty?

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Thats a hard one to say because I realy like an acoustic with a slide and the sound of a strat just pushing the edge. I realy enjoy listening to some of Rober Cray's music. Some of it borders R&B but his the other stuff has some awesome tone.

Youngpup
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I think Joe Bonamassa (for me personally) nailed it with a '63 Strat, a Budda Superdrive, and an echoplex on his version of Reconsider Baby off Had to Cry Today.

If you haven't heard it ad you like blues go get that record NOW.
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

That's tough. I used to be straight dirty, but lately, I've been enjoying playing cleaner and with fingers, and my ear is starting to appreciate cleaner a bit more. I still like just a slight bit of sand on the hardest picked notes, not enough to really be heard, but just enough to be felt, if you know what I mean.

Brett
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Since Artie asked me this in a PM, I'll give you random parts of my responses:

*********************

I like it on the edge a little
but I like it fatter, like Buddy Whittington more than clean like Robert Cray, although he's a fine player
I like Coco Montoya's tone a lot, too, and saw him a few years ago in a little blues joint down the street from me.

I was weaned on LP/ Marshall tone, like all the Bluesbreaker stuff, and Bloomfield's cleaner tone through Fender's

I've been listening to Sonny Landreth's new live disc, and although he's not a blues player, per se, he has an awesome tone with his Dumble/ Matchless combo - another one with some of my favorite tone

I usually listen to the performance as much as the tone, but it seems like most of the good ones feed off of a good tone ... maybe that's one reason I like blues ..

John Mayall's "Best of the Bluesbreakers" on Silvertone (the newer stuff) has a bunch of good tone from Buddy Whittington and Coco Montoya, BTW.

the amp is kinda key, though

would you say BB King is a blues player?
dumb question, right?
yet, if you listen to his tone very carefully, he really plays with a clean tone, at least on his albums - I've seen him RIP live, and it surprised me!
most of the cats in his band have jazz backgrounds, too

Luther Allison, who was probably a contempory of Bloomfield's in Chicago, usually has a pretty dirty tone - I see him pictured with LP Classics often

then you got the juke joint cats like Houndog Taylor, who are playing something like Teiscos through a Silvertone, and they just have a cheap NASTY tone

haha, I love old Silvertone amps! cheap, undersized trannys, good but underpowered Jensens, cardboard boxes .... perfect blues tone!

I've said a few times, I like the idea of playing with something like a Fender amp and good class A together - that's what Robert Cray does, and kinda what Sonny Landreth does in a way ... those amps both have their own characteristic clean & dirty tone, and I think they compliment each other.
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I like to hear/listen to any blues. But, I like to play blues that is dirty and overdriven.

If I have to choose, I would say that I like electric blues whether clan or dirty ala Hendrix or early JimmyPage, Albert King, Albert Collins, SRV.
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I like all blues! From Eric Clapton with an alnico 5 humbucker pushing the daylights out of a Marshall with Cream to BB King playing through a Twin Reverb or Norlin solid state Lab Series amp.

It's all good if the player has real soul, depth and maturity...otherwise who cares what gear they're using?

That said, it's hard to beat a nice Super Reverb and a nice Strat with vintage style alnico 5 pickups for SRV type tones.
 
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Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

For me, Blues is clean channel with natural overdrive of a tube amp.
Not dirty, clean overdrive. That's the way I like it.
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I like a fat, dynamic tone for blues -- and that means an amp and pickups that will go from clean to gritty as you vary your pick attack. There are lots of good choices in amps and pickups within those parameters -- the guitar itself is a matter of personal taste (the more of 'em the better). That's the key characteristic I hear from BB King, Freddie King, Eric Clapton, Albert Collins, SRV, Roy Buchanan, et al. I don't care for over-saturated and compressed tone, as that limits the dynamics and can sometimes sound harsh and overbearing. The blues is largely a matter of emotion and dynamics, not just one thing, and not just a raging-angry-young-man thing all of the time.
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I have no clearcut fave in a general sense, and use both clean and dirty sounds...but

The tone I personally use the most/think of first and by far my fave is:

Jimmy Page , "Since I've been Lovin You" from the Song remains the Same. That middle pup position Les Paul through a cranked Marshall sound.

The key is having both volumes about 1/3 to 3/4 the way up....they are never full up......it's almost stratty but has the fat low end thickness of a humbucker. If I need more bite I roll the neck pup's volume down and let the bridge pup take the lead (pardon the pun)...if I need more "smoothness" up the neck volume goes. God I just LOVE that sound.

My second fave and second most oft used blues tones: Ritchie Blackmores volume rolled back "tiny strat" sound or his full on super thick yet biting strat Marshall Major sound. IMO he was by far a "better" blues player than the Big 4 (clapton, hendrix, page, beck). His note choice and phrasing was always far more bluesy/tasty and MUCH less repetitive/derivative than the Big 4's styles were/are. e.g. MIstreated from Live in Europe, and any of the little impromptu blues jams at the end of most Rainbow concerts.

For "classic" blues players I'd have to say Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and SRV are the only one's whose tone I really really like. I tend to prefer some hair or slight OD over crystal clean, but It really depends on my mood.
 
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Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Lewguitar said:
I guess my favorite blues tone to listen to is BB King (355 through a Twin) or Albert King (Flying V through a Twin)
Click to expand...

I was always under the impression that Albert King was mostly into solid state amps?

Or, at least he was for a significant portion of his career....
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

For me, blues has a variety of tones....it really depends on who's behind the guitar making them. ;)
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I like dirt for blues. Actually, I prefer quite a bit of it. I can play it clean or semi-dirty or whatever, but if I can kick in a bunch of OD, I will. Too fun. :)

Makes me wonder what kind of setup we'll be dealing with for the UGD jam.
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

For me, I think of blues Texas style, strat with 3 SC's, pushed through a Fender with a good OD pedal. Mmm....
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Ive kinda changed my opinion on this. I usually think SRVs clean tone, Strat w/ Alnico 5s through a fender. But after getting jimi Hendrixs Blues cd, i also am beginning to think Strat w. alnico 5s into a warm round and fuzzy fuzz face through a Fender or Marshall Plexi.
 
Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

When I think of Electric Blues I think of either a Strat or a 335 thru a Deluxe Reverb or a Super Reverb depending on the size of the room. A Deluxe with the volume set on 7 gives you all the basic tones you could need to play blues. Roll the volume down on the guitar it is crystal clean, crank rhw volume up and it is thick with sustain. If you want to go to a more modern sound I would put a tubescreamer in the mix.

When I think of Acoustic blues, I think of a Martin finger picked, or a National tricone for slide. That is the Blues!
 
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