jimmy_fowler
New member
Hey guys,
This will probably end up being a long and ranting post, and I'd be sooo grateful if you stayed with me and offered opinions hehe.
Background first: I'm an 18 year old English kid in need of tonal advice. I've been playing guitar for six years, and whilst am by no means amazing, I feel competent. I've been playing music of some variety or other since I was four or five, as well as studying it at school, so in terms of theory I'd like to think myself somewhat knowledgable. My problem is not the playing of guitar, but finding tone. Having only had one amp for five years I don't know how to find what I want and it's frustrating me. I think I have a good grasp of EQ but not of equipment itself. This is incredibly frustrating as I have intentions of becoming a record engineer eventually. Obviously this lack of knowledge won't help! I've just bought my first mixing desk so I can begin to learn the art of producing and engineering records, but am now realising my tone sucks and sounds rubbish when recorded!
On then, to the problem...
I just bought myself a very nice new guitar: a sunburst Fender Telecaster, fitted with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails at the Bridge. It plays nicely and sounds cool. But I can't get good tone from my amp and things.
I have an old 100 watt Marshall Valvestate amplifer (VS-100) which was second hand when I bought it five years ago, and I think is slowly dying.
I also have a Line 6 POD 2.0, but it doesn't seem to help my tone much, and I think it sounds too processed and not "real" enough. I'm thinking of selling it. Thoughts?
I know people come on all the time and ask to sound like their favourite band. I know this is stupid, especially as I don't even like the tone of half of my favourite bands! But I feel I should list some of the bands whose tone I DO like, even if I am not their greatest fan.
I like the guitar tone on the following albums:
- "Bayside" - Bayside
- "Blink 182" - Blink 182
- "Stranger than Fiction" - Bad Religion
- "Good Mourning" - Alkaline Trio.
I hope this helps. I play in what is, essentially, a heavy-ish punk band with emo leanings. I hope this doesn't garner me too much of a slating! My songs sound something like this: the melody of Bad Religion/NOFX, etc, with the dark/goth sound of AFI/Alkaline Trio, with a touch of punky solo-ing, a la NOFX/Bad Religion again, with the heavy, palm-mute based fast rhythms of bands such as Metallica, Anthrax, and more recently, Trivium, and so on. I'd like to think despite the growing and saturated market of very lame emo-bands, I mix my influences to keep my sound fresh. I guess we sound most like a cross between Bayside and The Beautiful Mistake, perhaps with some Alkaline Trio and Taking Back Sunday thrown in.
When asking about tone, the problem is a lot of terms are thrown around on these boards that I can't "hear" in my head. I suppose for the music I play I want/need:
- Not too overdriven; I like to hear the tone, and I like clarity, as opposed to a lazy, loud mess that many pop-punk and emo bands have these days.
- Enough crunch so that palm-muting is clear but chunky, but not too metal-sounding and heavy-gained.
- Enough scream for solos, but again, punky-type solos, so not too high gain.
- I suppose is essence, the basic rundown is this; crunchy but not too high-gained, so I can play fast alternate-picking palm-mute on/off rhythms, with a clear, slightly raw punk tone and just enough wail for a good solo.
I'm not asking you to tell me the exact amp/pedal combo to go out and buy; an impossible task, and obviously personal preference plays a part... BUT... if you could suggest a small range, or even the terms/things I should look for, that would be awesome.
Price isn't really a problem but overall around £500-£600 would be ideal so I don't break the bank.
This will probably end up being a long and ranting post, and I'd be sooo grateful if you stayed with me and offered opinions hehe.
Background first: I'm an 18 year old English kid in need of tonal advice. I've been playing guitar for six years, and whilst am by no means amazing, I feel competent. I've been playing music of some variety or other since I was four or five, as well as studying it at school, so in terms of theory I'd like to think myself somewhat knowledgable. My problem is not the playing of guitar, but finding tone. Having only had one amp for five years I don't know how to find what I want and it's frustrating me. I think I have a good grasp of EQ but not of equipment itself. This is incredibly frustrating as I have intentions of becoming a record engineer eventually. Obviously this lack of knowledge won't help! I've just bought my first mixing desk so I can begin to learn the art of producing and engineering records, but am now realising my tone sucks and sounds rubbish when recorded!
On then, to the problem...
I just bought myself a very nice new guitar: a sunburst Fender Telecaster, fitted with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails at the Bridge. It plays nicely and sounds cool. But I can't get good tone from my amp and things.
I have an old 100 watt Marshall Valvestate amplifer (VS-100) which was second hand when I bought it five years ago, and I think is slowly dying.
I also have a Line 6 POD 2.0, but it doesn't seem to help my tone much, and I think it sounds too processed and not "real" enough. I'm thinking of selling it. Thoughts?
I know people come on all the time and ask to sound like their favourite band. I know this is stupid, especially as I don't even like the tone of half of my favourite bands! But I feel I should list some of the bands whose tone I DO like, even if I am not their greatest fan.
I like the guitar tone on the following albums:
- "Bayside" - Bayside
- "Blink 182" - Blink 182
- "Stranger than Fiction" - Bad Religion
- "Good Mourning" - Alkaline Trio.
I hope this helps. I play in what is, essentially, a heavy-ish punk band with emo leanings. I hope this doesn't garner me too much of a slating! My songs sound something like this: the melody of Bad Religion/NOFX, etc, with the dark/goth sound of AFI/Alkaline Trio, with a touch of punky solo-ing, a la NOFX/Bad Religion again, with the heavy, palm-mute based fast rhythms of bands such as Metallica, Anthrax, and more recently, Trivium, and so on. I'd like to think despite the growing and saturated market of very lame emo-bands, I mix my influences to keep my sound fresh. I guess we sound most like a cross between Bayside and The Beautiful Mistake, perhaps with some Alkaline Trio and Taking Back Sunday thrown in.
When asking about tone, the problem is a lot of terms are thrown around on these boards that I can't "hear" in my head. I suppose for the music I play I want/need:
- Not too overdriven; I like to hear the tone, and I like clarity, as opposed to a lazy, loud mess that many pop-punk and emo bands have these days.
- Enough crunch so that palm-muting is clear but chunky, but not too metal-sounding and heavy-gained.
- Enough scream for solos, but again, punky-type solos, so not too high gain.
- I suppose is essence, the basic rundown is this; crunchy but not too high-gained, so I can play fast alternate-picking palm-mute on/off rhythms, with a clear, slightly raw punk tone and just enough wail for a good solo.
I'm not asking you to tell me the exact amp/pedal combo to go out and buy; an impossible task, and obviously personal preference plays a part... BUT... if you could suggest a small range, or even the terms/things I should look for, that would be awesome.
Price isn't really a problem but overall around £500-£600 would be ideal so I don't break the bank.
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