Sweetwater Sound: How to Achieve a Classic Blues Guitar Tone

[o0SpeedKeed0o]

This was just a commercial...lol not what I expected..

[seancloonan22]

....Woody



[jude924]

Tre-mow low????

[tight384]

the boss tuner cause it brings out a really woody tone

[kristoffersweden]

This must be the what not to do video

[TheCelestialTeacup]

"Today, I was..."

Present tense followed by past

GRAMMARNAZIRAGE :/

[TimBirkenholz]

Now that you're talking about tone. On a strat roll the damn tone knob down a little so that you don't get that ugly thin sound

[slpplexi1969]

@TimBirkenholz Strats bridge pickups don't have a tone knob. Only the neck and middle.

[TimBirkenholz]

@slpplexi1969 i know, but he's using both the middle and bridge pickup. You can roll down the tone knob. And at the end he's using the neck pick up. You can roll down the tone knob

[88watchman]

this blues tone has that robert cray type of tone or close to it

[zalez100]

Ha Ha !!!

[sdiver35]

Informative, but could have left the Berkeley Alum out...it's about the music.

[utopianreality]

Enter your text here! lol

[ghostwaverider]

I want the last 4.22 minutes of my life back.

[MaloneyGuitars]

@ghostwaverider Go to  "back minutes dot com" lol

[simonlillfordwildman]

"There's a lot of ways to get a really good blues tone; and that's really up to you..."

Yeh, thanks for that...

[klingman308]

his guitars got a nice ash

[Vermillion2176]

The guy is a video sales guy for Sweetwater Sound. What do you expect him to do show up with an old Kay flattop missing two strings and play a three string blues lick , while tappin his foot on a cardboard box.

This is his job. You might learn something watching it, and if not that handy little mouse thingie hanging out of your computer can easily direct you somewhere else.

Ron

[scullpolisher]

boring,

[dimebagalways]

Amazing how people always have to sell u some new peice of kit that will " give you the perfect tone", strange how people like srv, bb king chet atkins etc got on without it lol

[Tbonetardis]

Great gear can be the icing on the cake, but real tone comes from your taste, phrasing and finger-placement. You don't need expensive or custom kit to get this, just a lot of listening and practice!

[Labtec86]

agree

[SungguhMenegangkan]

@Tbonetardis you can not be more wrong. you can get good tone with market gears, but GREAT tone, no

[Tbonetardis]

@SungguhMenegangkan I'd have to agree to disagree with you there! There's a local blues guitarist I know who gets a fantastic tone from a miked-up Pignose! It's his style, taste and touch that makes it sound great. Of course, if you have great style, taste and touch - and great gear - well, that can't be beat for sure, lol!

[SungguhMenegangkan]

Put a Fulltone OCD after A tube screamer, and then into a line 6 dl4, into a decent clean amp, and you got some sexy tone

[Tbonetardis]

@SungguhMenegangkan I'd like to hear that!

[slpplexi1969]

@Tbonetardis The tone comes from the stuff, the notes come from your hands. There is a difference. If you think that all of the tone comes from how you play then try playing a Squier Bullet through a Line 6 Spider.

[Tbonetardis]

@slpplexi1969 - I know most of a player's 'tone' comes from the fingers and I've learnt this through experience. It's taken me a great many years to understand the difference between sound and tone. Of course good gear can help create a certain sound, but no 2 guitarists can create exactly the same 'tone' even playing through identical gear.... :o)

[Danthehorse]

@slpplexi1969 Yep, tone is in the gear, technique and phrasing in the fingers.

[Wizmar]

@Tbonetardis Obviously they're trying to sell you on the idea you need pro rig to get a respectable sound.

[donottawaguitar]

nice

[barryplem]

I'm sure they are experts. Experts at selling you thousands of dollars worth of gear you probably don't need.

[gnlman]

I respect this guy but the the way he pronounces tremolo is wrong. I personally disagree with his statement regarding reverb thinning your sound.

Delay is a cool effect but its not the same as a rich Fender spring reverb. thats my 2 cents

[Paulaum1]

Didn't help at all...

[lazibug]

agree with dmac8894

[DuhJeffmeister]

he's saying tremolo wrong...and he's a Berklee alumni?

[musicman69123]

dmac8894, it really doesn't matter because good tone is all opinion, just like music.

[theshyguitarist]

WOW....Nice woodiness sound.

; )

[dmac8894]

i can play a SQUIER strat through a marshall and it sounds better than that

[TrooperEddey]

umm i order some stuff from them online and it came in a week which was good but when i opended what i got at the very bottom of the box there was some candy whats that about?

[anthony0803]

yeah lets ruin the tone of beautiful handwired marshall by putting cheap hundred dollar distortions in front of it.

[theshyguitarist]

I had to laugh. Nice post.

[bluesbren]

Not bad advice - I reckon you can't beat a TS9 Tube Screamer for blues overdrive. It's generally not a good idea to run more than one drive pedal as this tends to muddy up the tone...

Any good tube amp works for blues really - although some better than others (depends on taste, I guess).

At the end of the day, the true tone is in your fingers and the way you play....

[DuhJeffmeister]

Sparkle Drives are pretty freakin sweet too for a good blues overdrive.

and the thing about the true tone in your fingers is completely right. frank zappa said true tone is in your head, which is completely true.

[andrewt248]

Blues tone = plug the guitar straight into the amp (tube, of course) and crank it up!

[davey1272250]

Nice Amp!!!

[joshlespaul1952]

Well, I much prefer my blues tone...not trying to sound pretentious, but a G2D Cream Tone is a much better pedal for blues than a rat... :-)

[prad1234]

haha tra mo low. thats pretty funny

[damo636]

woody....haha what a n00b word

[tragictravisty]

turbo rat = suck

[guns1rose]

any rat=suck (for blues)

[wellyaa]

So right ..Dude.. ((( Rats ))) not a Blues tone....sure ur gunna think im crazy..but ive been using a Digitech Bad-Monkey pedal for Lead Blues for years... Friggin smokin sound ...Just a ES335..into a DR Z Maz 18....with the Monkey for overdrive....

...WOW Killier ((( TONE ))) check out the Monkey ...played live Volume @ stage level...It sings !!

[tragictravisty]

ive heard good things about the monkey, but never through a 4000+ rig. looks like ill have to try one out.

[8tsRwild]

I have an Ibanez analog delay. What settings do you use most often?

[slinkyc66]

For the video, I had these settings:

Delay Time: 1 'O Clock

Delay Mix: 11 'O Clock

Delay Level: 10 'O Clock

Those settings will give you some depth and wetness but will not thin out your tone like

a lot of reverbs tend to do. Enjoy!

[jakopus]

W O O D Y !!!

[thumbsuckerjoe]

"Enter your text here" lol

[dagooch]

Great video! I use a '62 RI Strat thru a Vox AC30 so I know that EL84 sound. I also use a TS808 as well as a Hotcake. Yes the 808 colors your sound on or off. But since I gig more than practice you really can't hear the tone coloration when there's a 20" Paiste cymbal 3 feet away. To the poor poster - yes gear can be pricey, but it's not impossible to obtain. Save &/or sell to get want you want. Don't settle.

[soo313]

okay so all these techniques and stuff...

do u learn them by ur self

or wat?

i mean...ppl know SOOO muchh

[dagooch]

Listen & practice. Practice & listen.

[slinkyc66]

I play a strat straight into a Fender Princeton so when I started trying out pedals, I was very critical how those pedals changed my tone. Did the pedal enhance the tone or detract from it? If I thought the pedal was a musical enhancement to my tone, I added it to the pedal board. That approach allowed me to

use pedals in a combination that was musical and that was "stitched" into the tone as opposed to laying this new stuff right on top.

Playing techniques came from great teachers, live & vinyl

[rwijaya]

nice playing, but tube screamer really color your tone, its not only overdrive the tubes. even when you turn it off.

really nice playing though :)

[christophereu]

wow dude nice playing but i think you need to pick up a thesaurus, look up the word 'woody', and learn some new words man. personally i like the sparkle drive and lovepedal church of tone to get my 'bluesey woody tones' but... its all good. nice video man

[gkb911]

what do ya need those talent boxes for?:P

[slinkyc66]

Yeah, I do not always use pedals on my gigs - I usually don't - Just a good tube amp and a guitar - Let the fingers pull out the tone. I do like running different pedals through each other just to see what's possible and what I maybe able to use in a certain playing situation. Just as I over used the term "woody" in my demo, pedals can be over used too.

[fenderstratman4567]

I actually agree, some of the best blues shows i have seen have been guys controlling their sound with the tube amp only, and their volume and tone knobs

[jimmyaintnogigolo]

how many times can say woody in one sentence?

[smauro3]

i was thinking the same thing haha

[slinkyc66]

Apparently a lot! Sorry about that.

[IHARTCRUSH87]

or trem-oh-lo-oh

[starassist1977]

@jimmyaintnogigolo  hahaahahahahaaa

[jhachey222]

coulda been a telecaster,coulda been a les paul...

coulda been a lady.

[acerocks34]

didnt help

[DreamedOfHugeSpiders]

and i guess if you spill anything it wipes right off.

didn't really learn anything from this except that i'm a million miles away from sound that good. but i know enough to know that great sound had much more to with great technique than great gear.

[melvin12in]

lol ...  woodiness =]

[Frank4268]

DrUrsus mumbled: "You guys managed to make this very boring."

YOU are boring. Pay no mind to this troll, Tom. Your presentation was just fine.

"Sorry."

Yeah, your type certainly are.

Frankie

[realfuckinggas]

simple.....It's all in the fingers!

[DrUrsus]

You guys managed to make this very boring. Sorry.

[slinkyc66]

Yeah, I should of talked less and demonstrated more. I will do better next time. Thanks

[slinkyc66]

Here are the settings/tweaks I used for this demo.TS808-Overdrive: 1:00; Tone: 12:30;

Level: 11:00.Turbo Rat- Distortion: 12:00;

Filter: 10:00;Volume: 10:00. Marshall 1974x -

Volume: 2 1/2;Tone: 5; Intensity: 0; Speed: 0;

57 Fender Reissue Strat with Callaham bridge assembly, Fralin PUs(Callaham Wind), Callaham blender pot on tone control, GHS Nickel Rockers (med)

[pleasecheap]

Tom, Love that sound. Is your guitar's setup important to get this tone?

Action height?

Pickup height?

String and pick gage?

Eb tuning?

Treble bleed cap in guitar?

[slinkyc66]

Yes, I do think setup plays an important role in tone. In my opinion, the most important would be neck bow and action height.

Action is set a little on the high side so I can dig into the strings when bending. Enough bow so the strings will vibrate freely and longer because the strings are not vibrating on the frets.

In the demo, I am using a medium set of GHS Nickel Rockers, (heavy enough to get a big sound), blender on the tone pot, Callaham bridge & Fralin (Callaham Special Wind) pickups

[GnR4EvEr123]

this one isnt as bad as the others

[hrhra]

You got it man... Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green) ROCKS... AWSOME band really interesting music they play... Peter Green was the king of the blues music i dont know if he is still... ROCK ON !!!

[slinkyc66]

I agree!I love Peter Green's version of Freddie King's "The Stumble"

[romanowskistudios]

How do I sound like the classic "Green God", Peter Green? (For those of you who don't know or are NOT an old fart son of a bitch like me, Peter Green was Fleetwood Mac's original lead guitarist in the late 1960's).

[cardude6987]

My guitar is woody!

[Dark13]

I would like to HEAR the pedals, on and off, akin to a demo? I kept waiting for the talking to stop and it never did. Could have done this demo without the equipment, just use a picture, it would accomplished the same. All talk, no reference to settings on the pedals, tweaks, etc.

[tony93666]

reverb is essential, in my opinion - it's the only effect I use 100% of the time

[BucksStudent]

Actually, some of the best blues tones were Clapton on Mayall's Beano, and anything by Duane Allman or Warren Haynes. You sound alot like Stevie Ray Vaughan, but not when he has really orgasmic tone on something like Pride and Joy.

Reverb sucks by the way. I love a dry sound like Tony Iommi.

[bencol123]

If i could afford it, these would be my ultimate rigs:

For Blues: Fender USA '52 Telecaster, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Fender Twin Reverb.

For Rock: Gibson Les Paul Standard, Marshall Bluesbreaker.

[erdina99]

Any recommendations for poor people? ;)

[bigdavejeep]

A great rig for under $1000 is a Fender MIM Standard Stratocaster run through a Peavey Valveking 112. Loud, sounds good. The guitar is about $400, the amp is about $400, and cables, maybe a stomp box and accessories will put you at about $1000. I have this setup, it's pretty darn good, I have no complaints for the money. Make sure you play a strat before you buy one, they're not loved by all. Also, some MIMs are duds, but there are good ones. Pick the one you like best ;)

[erdina99]

Cool. I have a Mexican-made Fender right now and a basic amp. I could never achieve much of a tone with just the guitar and the amp. I have a pedal now that produces trademark sounds (Tele, Ledzep, etc.) but it's just not authentic. Any suggestions as to what I could do with what I have?

[bigdavejeep]

Really, I don't know what you could do with that. Without a good amp, there isn't really anywhere to go, so you'll have to consider a new one (either tube or solid state). For the money, I don't know how to beat the valveking. If there are any music stores that carry Peavey near you, go test one out. The cleans are great, and pedals sound good through it. I may try to post some videos of how it sounds within the month.

[krelbar]

Seriously, what pedal and amp do you have? You didn't elaborate. Also, most Led Zep is tough with the single coils on the strat. Exactly what players guitar tone are you trying to emulate? How much do you want to spend to get there?

[bsuite123]

Get a Job?

[erdina99]

Haha. I got one, fella. I'm just commenting on the fact that this type of setup can be a pretty penny and understandably so.

[jeffhamula]

I think those peavey classic tube amps are really good for a low price. I like the fenders that they copy. I own one but they are 500 bucks+. I even think if you are on a super budget, the line6 spider is not bad. Just shop around craigslist

[bloozeguitar]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to post the "tone" series of vids. I liked the blues one, but wound up watching them all. By the way y'all, Sweetwater is a great place to buy stuff..they really do care if you're satisfied with your gear.

[slinkyc66]

Sorry, you are correct - Got my singulars and plurals mixed up!

[Superphilipp]

The word is "alumnus". :D