country clean tone??

[RockNRoling]

I am still not quite happy with my clean tone... I have a fender twin RI and the clean sound is too thin by itself, I need something to give it a bit more drive to it. I have been using my Maxon od9 (tubescreamer), but its just not right. I have tried Blues Drivers, SD1, TS9s, and still no luck. When my strat is using the middle and bridge pickup possition, it has a real bad midrange honk that I hate. I want a slightly overdriven Skynyrd southern clean sound. (jesus just left chicago, by ZZ Top)

Should I try some kinda compression or something? Or are there other pedals I should try? My next pedal I want try and play with is a Bixonic Expandora.

Any help would be great

RYAN

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: country clean tone??

I am still not quite happy with my clean tone... I have a fender twin RI and the clean sound is too thin by itself, I need something to give it a bit more drive to it. I have been using my Maxon od9 (tubescreamer), but its just not right. I have tried Blues Drivers, SD1, TS9s, and still no luck. When my strat is using the middle and bridge pickup possition, it has a real bad midrange honk that I hate. I want a slightly overdriven Skynyrd southern clean sound. (jesus just left chicago, by ZZ Top)

Should I try some kinda compression or something? Or are there other pedals I should try? My next pedal I want try and play with is a Bixonic Expandora.

Any help would be great

RYAN

A Bixonic Expandora is NOT what you are looking for...

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: country clean tone??

Nothing will cure a thin amp, other than get the amp fat on its own.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: country clean tone??

Thats true...I also use a Twin Reverb...to make it sound it's best you have to run it up a bit...make it breath good and will sound better...

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: country clean tone??

I'd recommend either a G2d custom, or cream-tone. www.g2d.co.nz.

Also, guitar Player has a pedal roundup online right now:

http://www.guitarplayer.com/feature.asp?featurecode=3

-The Fulltone and the RC booster sound like good choices.

But to be honest, if you're not into the twin's clean sound, I'd suggest trying a different amp. Twin ris are great, but not for everyone. I chose my vibrolux over a similarly priced twin ri precisely becuse the clean tone was fatter. Maybe check out a super reverb ri, or a bassman ri. Both will overdrive earlier and sound fatter.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: country clean tone??

I"m not sure what kind of hurry you are in, but you should give the new Tweak Fuzz a chance when it gets here. I'm excited about this thing after playing it at NAMM. The word Tweak should be in all caps and the word Fuzz should be in lower case letters. Highly customizable.

Your poor Twin is just a beast. You could experiement with putting some different preamp tubes into it, but a leopard just doesn't change it's spots. Slide a Groove Tube 12AX7M (mullard copy) into the first preamp slot on the channel you're playing the most. It'll give it a bit of a darker, warmer tone. Might be a 20 dollar fix to this thinnes. I love mine.

 

[flank]

Re: country clean tone??

sounds like you might want a bassman

 

[aestus]

Re: country clean tone??

I'd recommend a clean booster like the SD SFX01 pickup booster or the Xotic RC boost if you can afford it. I like the RC Boost better than the SD pickup booster, but for $79 you can't beat the SD pickup booster.

If you want a really good sounding tubescreamer clone with treble and bass controls without the nasal midrange, try a digitech bad monkey. Seriously.... this is one great sounding pedal. It is ALL ANALOG. This is the best kept secret. It's so cheap everyone should try it. It's only $40 and made in the USA. The guys at the gear page can't stop talking about this pedal and this is coming from boutique connoisseurs and tone nazis that lurk that place. Go to here and here for reviews of the pedal. I think for the most part, people here on this forum seem reluctant to try the pedal since it is made by digicrap heh, but seriously, this is a VERY good sounding pedal.

The bad monkey sucks for heavy distortion tones through a clean amp. It is best used as a clean boost and a slight overdrive to a cranked clean or distorted amp. Another bad side is that the pedal is not true bypass. Supposedly a boutique pedal manufacturer is in the process of making a bad monkey clone with true bypass.

Tom

 

[Hellion]

Re: country clean tone??

Why not just boost the gain on your Twin? Keep your volume the same. That ought to put at least a little hair on it's tone.

 

[Falstaff]

Re: country clean tone??

Compression might help you a little bit, but I'm not sure you want to have it on all the time. A Bad Bob Booster might be a good solution for you...it will make your amp sound like it is turned up louder than it is. An attenuator might help, too.

You might want to try checking some of the Fender forums to see if there are any threads about stuff people have done to their TRRIs. I am not sure if it would do the same thing for a reissue, but removing the first preamp tube in the non-reverb channel might provide a bit more 'give.' I had the negative feedback loop made switchable on or off on my Pro Reverb and it definately gives the amp a bit more 'grease,' especially at low volume levels.

That amp is a lot of amp and I would try to tame it before looking for some type of box other than a clean boost type of thing. If it still ends up being too much, you can snag a silverface amp like a Pro or Super Reverb that will give you the Fender clean with a bit more give.

Good luck...lots of pros use those amps so I am sure you can figure something out.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: country clean tone??

I'd recommend putting some great speakers in the Twin...maybe some Celestions.

A mix of G12H-30 and Vintage 30 are killer in a Twin.

Also, check out a Boss DS-1...or the new Duncan Pickup Booster. John has been raving about that one. Haven't had a chance to try mine yet.

Lew

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: country clean tone??

What's throwing me a little is your thread's title: Country Clean Tone.

To me, modern country music is pretty much pop or rock music with someone singing in a country voice.

Old time country guys (thinking Don Rich or Joe Maphis or Chet Atkins) used to play through Twin Reverbs (or Standells) with JBL's alot.

I'm thinking you don't really want that super clean tone...right?

You might need to go to a smaller amp if you're having a hard time turning your Twin up loud enough to get a full "modern" country tone.

Maybe a Pro Reverb or Vibrolux Reverb or Bassman Reissue or something 40 watts or so instead of 80.

 

[Curly]

Re: country clean tone??

I have a question: how loud are you playing your Twin?
because unless you push ANY tube amp, you will not get the best tone

Twins are great amps, but they are not for everyone, and I think they are one amp that a lot of players over the years LOVE, but a lot of others feel that it's just too much amp for their situation

the reason you are getting a mid range honk is because all the tubescreamers, and the other pedals you've mentioned, HAVE A MIDRANGE HONK!!! However, lots of people also run tubescreamers as a clean boost by turning down the drive, and increasing the level. There are other ODs that are more transparent, though, such as the Maxon OD808 & OD 820, the Klon Centaur, and the Fulltone OCD. The Fulltone FDII is a tubesceamer type pedal, but with the boost feature, you should be able to dial in a good OD tone too.

BUT, your basic problem is your amp and guitar. What kind of pickups are in your strat? Also, before giving up on the amp, I'd swap the preamp tubes, as Scott suggested, and the power tubes. You may be able to simply have the amp rebiased, since Fender is known to bias amps cold from the factory.

First of all, take a look at your power tubes and tell us what they are, and if they are the stock GT tubes that Fender uses, what color are they - red, white or blue?
Fortunately, there are several good production 6L6s out there now, like the JJs, the SEDs, and the TADs that Scott likes.

The good news for you is that tube amps are highly tweakable. Often, a fix is as simple as the preamp swap that Scott suggested. You may need to find a good amp tech in your area to help you dial it in, but you can help yourself out by trying a few simple things first.

I would also suggest that you "ask Myles" over on the Expert Forums for some specific tube recommendations.
I've found Myles to be one the best resources at that. You can help by giving him specifics about your gear - guitar & pickups, amp & current tubes (whether stock or not, etc.).

and, keep us posted

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: country clean tone??

One tweak that would help your Twin get a ballsier clean tone would be to have the negative feedback resistor doubled or even tripled. That's a job for a tech but it will loosen up your Twin a little and make it easier to get a ballsy clean tone as opposed to a slightly sterile clean tone.

Personally I think you have to much amp. Those Twins are just to loud for the tone most guys use these days.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: country clean tone??

that would be similar to turning up a presence knob right?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: country clean tone??

that would be similar to turning up a presence knob right?

Turning up a presence knob resists negative feedback from cancelling higher treble frequencies...so the treble frequencies get looser and louder.

Changing the neg feedback resistor to a higher value resists negative feedback from cancelling ALL frequencies...so all frequencies from bass to treble get a little looser and louder.

That's the diff.

Lew

 

[RockNRoling]

Re: country clean tone??

WOW, thanks for all your advice. As far as how loud the amp is running, its at about 3-4. any louder and it will blow me right off the stage. I didn't think about the attinuator. Would a THD hot plate work?? This will give me a lot to work with for now.