Tips on improving clean tone?

[uOpt]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

aside from using heavier gauge strings? what else can i do to get a better clean tone w/ just guitar---amp

Tubes in the right amp. A tubed thingie like a Vox Tonelab also works pretty well.

I fine that heavier strings only help at heavier play. Thinner strings have more shiny treble which can be useful.

Is this for humbucker guitars or something Fenderish?

 

[Stratman]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Learn to play like me.....

 

[ES350]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Learn to play with cleaner articulation, learn how to get sustain from the resonance of the instrument and how you pick and hold a note...

 

[baritone]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Add an EQ pedal to your signal.

 

[sonnyblu]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Right... Buy an amp based upon it's clean tone not it's gain sound. There are so many great sounding dirt boxes. The markets is all about selling you gain. Most of these amps sound like crap on the clean channel. Some great amps are Fender Twin RI, Bassman, Marshall JTM45, Marshall 50 watt Plexi, Vox AC15 & 30. Smaller ones Vibrolux, Princeton Reverb.

 

[Got_tone?]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Like all other tonal things, "clean" is relative. Do you want "sparkling drop of spring water", or "scrape some poop off the bottom of your shoe before you walk in"?

I'm really sick right now and I couldn't stop coughing/laughing. :haha:

 

[korovamilkdud]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

If someone could post a "poop on your shoes clean" clip as a reference to this thread I'd be quite grateful.

 

[Markk]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Like all other tonal things, "clean" is relative. Do you want "sparkling drop of spring water", or "scrape some poop off the bottom of your shoe before you walk in"?

Excellent way of putting it :friday:

 

[Jackson Distortion]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

aside from using heavier gauge strings? what else can i do to get a better clean tone w/ just guitar---amp

Have you ever read your amplifier's user manual and used it's suggested or recommended clean settings?

Never underestimate those as the manufacturer has great experience with your particular model and have tested it, to know which settings sound best for it as is and for the applications that it's best for.

I haven't looked back since doing this a couple of years ago. I used to be frustrated with tone, but then I just applied suggested settings and things got kosher immeadiatley! I figured, "Hell, what do I really know about live tone anyway. The manufacters specialize in live and recoded tones." :1:

Another thing about applying these settings is that it immeadiately gives you the true voice of the amplifier, so if you think it doesn't work for you, you can immeadiately search for a different amp model. You waste much less time that way.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Ummm - I need way more direction prior to giving a decent answer. My personal clean prescription:

Les Paul, (either P-90 studio based or my PAF/SD 73) into
- Studio, Neck vintage 90
- 73, Both pups with SD turned down a bit


Roland Cube on JC-120

EQ roughly
- studio, 4/2/7 B/M/T
- 73, 6/3/8

with
- studio, just a touch of verb
- 73, wide chorus plus delay

strings are all 10's

Or....

P-90 neck, into Holy grail verb with a bit of Spring, into a Fender Pro Jr. Careful on the guitar/amp volumes!

In general I like an EQ of around 9/3/8 B/M/T and lot's of headroom with a very little bit of Verb s a starting point.

 

[Stratman]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

One word - PRACTICE!

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

i think it comes down to what youre playing, your setup and your playing ability really.

invest in each.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

To the guys that say "practice with just a clean tone", sorry guys, but it doesn't really work like that.
A high gain tone is extremely unforgiving and will show off any inconsistencies in muting technique that you can never hear with a clean tone. It will also readily display inconsistencies with legato and sweep picking technique quite easily too.
It's particular important for recording that you practice with your amp and whole rig, if the intention is to record using an amp and rig

It's often a cause of frustration for many tracking engineers.
Guitarist walks in, sloppy as hell.
Tracking engineer asks why and it turns out the guitarist hasn't bothered practicing with his amp and rig despite the fact the parts call for it.
Tracking engineer then proceeds to go outside and scream for 5 hours in frustration.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

I'm sorry, but I think a good portion of you guys are wrong. Clean tone isn't necessarily from playing poorly. Shiit.... I'm a horrible player and I get great cleans. It's all in a) having an amplifier with good headroom, b) keeping the gain controls down (if your amp has them) and c) using medium output pickups or lower. Some pickups will drive amplifiers to distort... just take a look at EMGs. It doesn't matter if you can play like David Gilmour if the lightest pick attack will still kill the headroom of a 50w head. I don't know what amplifier the O.P. is using, but if it's a tube amplifier and the tubes haven't been changed out, the headroom can be cut as well (or you may have a power amp or preamp that is voiced hot and will for whatever reason cause the amplifier to clip even at moderate settings).

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Test it on a track against backing tracks. When I set up guitar tones/presets, I always do so in the context of a band mix to make sure that the eq compliments the mix overall and that the levels are pretty close.

 

[t1r12003]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

For my optimal clean tones, I use 10-46 gauge strings on a fixed bridge type guitar. Make sure your strings aren't too old, but freshly strung will sound pretty bright. Compression helps. If you're using a tube amp, make sure you got plenty of headroom if you don't want it to break up. Eric Johnson uses Fender amps for his cleans, then switches to Marshalls for his gain and lead sounds. A little chorus, reverb and delay will all help color your tone if you like.

Make sure your guitar is set up correctly with no fret buzz. You can get away with a little more on high gain sounds, but cleans really pick up a lot of that. Try using the curved edge of the pick to strum chords instead of the point. Experiment with thinner or heavier picks to find what you like. Try finger picking as well for alternate sounding cleans. Use your ear and have fun man.

 

[korovamilkdud]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

I went from Dunlop Delrin-made picks to the Dunlop Big Stubbys and noticed a HUGE difference. You'd be surprised how much difference a pick can make. Look online for the materials the picks are made of.

 

[B2D]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Without specifics on the OP's rig, it's hard to give him suggestions. For me, getting good clean tones with nothing but guitar/amp is just like any other tone... fresh strings (start with 10-46's and go from there on comfort/playability and response), a good setup, correct p/up height, good pickups and pots, good cable, good tubes (if your amp has tubes) and good speakers.

 

[James Rock]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

WHat is a clean tone to you though. Like suggestions here include Humbuckers into Roland Jazz Chorus style sounds . There are numerous types of clean sounds suitable for different kinds of playing. You can get gorgeous jazzy cleans out of an ES-335 and a nice fender but it would be kinda pointless for funk. I see the main ones as Ric into AC30, nice fender into AC30. Gretsch into a 50's fender, Strat into a 60's fender and Strat into a Hiwatt (david gilmour style). But these are all better for different genres. I prefer Beatles, Smiths and U2 sounding stuff so I opt for fenders and rics into AC30 style amps.
Now if you just want to improve the sound I reccommend keeping the mids lower then you would for drive sounds have a medium amount of bass and plenty of high end. Chorus and Reverb can be used to shine a fairly dull clean sound.

 

[mudpuppy]

Re: Tips on improving clean tone?

Shiit.... I'm a horrible player and I get great cleans.

:biglaugh:Glad to hear I'm not the only one.

A little bit of compression is probably a good idea if you feel that you're not getting enough sustain. Going to a clean tone, you naturally loose a lot of the compression that you would otherwise get from an overdriven pre-amp or from hot pickups. There a bunches of possibilities when it comes to reverb. If you have an effects loop that will take line-level signals, I love the old Alesis Nanoverb. A little bit or chorus can be helpful. The thing with effects like chorus is that you want to use as little as possible. Just enough to sweeten the tone, and so little that you can't hardly hear that you're using effects at all. Stereo effects are more effective than mono. For recording, I always record guitar to a stereo track so that I can use stereo effects on it.