Sweetwater Sound: How to Achieve a Country Tele Twang

[BIGBODYCONNECTION]

you don't need a HotRod Tele, all you need is a stock Tele. a compressor will squash everything, that's why this Demo sounds like shit. ALL YOU NEED IS A STOCK TELE AND A TWIN. IF YOU WANT A DELAY PEDAL, THAT'S UP TO YOU. EASY AS THAT! DON'T WASTE MONEY ON EXPENSIVE CRAP.

[fallenentity2]

@BIGBODYCONNECTION Compressor doesn't "squash" your tone, it brings up the low end and evens out the peaks. Compression pedals are pretty standard. Having a delay pedal to give you snapback is pretty important to country tone. Sorry to burst your bubble. Although you really don't need a $250 DL4, you could do it with a DD3 or a Carbon Copy, or something like that.

[BIGBODYCONNECTION]

@fallenentity2 so bringing every low note and peaking high note to a linear signal is NOT squashing? wow I"m sorry, it must be a low ceiling.

[morrisman64]

what about strings??

[Dontwant2thinkofuser]

Marshall Amp right there ! :)

[RedDeadHank]

it doesn't sounds good, in my opinion.

[cgravier]

that does not sound good. Check out Lindy Fralins YOUTUBE video, "Lindy's New Tele" for what a Telke should sound like.

For bakersfeild country straight into a twin reverb, for Brad Paisley type country a vox ac30, a compressor and a delay.

I have a twin reverb and to get a country tone I use a squier CVC tele with Fralin stock pickups into a biyang compress X into a garagetone drivetrain into a delay.

This is very simple stuff. juts like country. simple but awesome!

[JackDawsonRMS]

SOUNDS LIKE SHIT

[Maafa1619]

You couldn't give me a Tele (let alone a $2300 one) with a flat 9¼" radius neck.

[cgravier]

@Maafa1619

I prefer 9.5 its makes bending easier and notes ring out longer and sound better.

9.5" radius has been used on teles since 1950. Most were between 7.25 and 9.5. Check out The Blackguard Book for actual measurements and serial numbers.

[Maafa1619]

@cgravier ...I don't need to check anything but a radius gauge, thank you very much.

[MaloneyGuitars]

It sounds like he has a .oo8" gauge set of strings. Very loose

[fakepapercup]

totally not a twin reverb. lies!!!!

[MaloneyGuitars]

@fakepapercup The name on the amp was Fender Twin

[fakepapercup]

@MaloneyGuitars yeah the amp says fender twin...but he says its a twin reverb. 2 different amps.

[MaloneyGuitars]

@fakepapercup Your right.

But they made all the controls and speaker configuration to look just like a Twin Reverb. You got to cut him some slack and not be drastic to the point of saying "lies" after all, look at the way he plays guitar. He doesn't know any better.

I had a Fender Quad Reverb. You had to put a power (volume) booster into the input to drive it. I like the idea of getting these low wattage amps and turning them up real high. Bands run it though the PA anyway.

[astroboirap]

he look like he wants to kill himself

[rhtchilipepper]

@astroboirap hahahaha so true

[tom27j]

you could do this with a squire affinty or classic vibe tele, a fender champion 600, and reverb pedal. all of that would be under 400. this?! over 3000!? stupid.

[shredjelly]

Yupp, can't get much more truth there. Sweetwater just wants to sell more crap.

[Johi2410]

How to accomplish a Tele guitar twang tone?

Tele - Cord - Amp.

[ellioteaston93]

beautiful tone dude, is exactly the sound im looking for

[voxsupreme]

My God! In order to emulate the Tele sound of the original 50:s pickers - why don´t You do as they did? So: Ditch the pedals! Can´t You hear the mile wide difference? The same goes by the way for the legions of Hank B. Marvin epigones who try to emulate his Stratocaster-Meazzi-Vox AC15/30 with an army of pedals and computer gadgets. Keep it simple, plug straight in! Period.

[41224jason]

that delay is KILLING it. too long, bright, and loud to really work well.

[maico125]

This should be called how to ruin your tone in three easy steps. Geez what's with the pedals? False it up man....

[Funkyryno]

It's so thin. 

[Roddog61]

I love these guys. Why? Because they're for real. No ups, no downs, just real. I'm not really in the market right now but when I am, I'm buying everything can from these guys. Just because they deserve the business.

[MaloneyGuitars]

@Roddog61 How long has your dad been a salesman at sweetwater ? :D

[Rikk303]

good talk in a short time

[thermality]

I don't wish to disrespect the good intentions of the OP, but at best I'd say he's demonstrating a very basic approach to the Nashville Tele sound. He hasn't really dialed in the sweet spot on the guitar or the amp, and there's lots more the pedalboard he's not addressing. The result is a very thin sound that doesn't do the gear justice.

[davesabog]

Did he mention anything about the strings?

[burlyburt123]

Very country sound, I agree. Of course everybody has their own taste but I do believe I've seen more tellys in country music over the years than anything else. It seems like more folks use the strats for rock music and it sounds fitting to me. As for the amp, Fender is a good sound for anything and you can adjust for as much reverb as you like or not at all.

[HOUNDDAWG]

well, @burlyburt123, it's a very "Moose Lodge country sound", I agree. But, if he showed up to a real Merle audition and played with those chops and that tone he'd be taken out back and given directions to head back up Nawth.

This lousy tone is why so many people say they don't like country music. Bad guitarists invariably play country because they believe it's less of a challenge. But, they shouldn't make videos unless they can do the genre justice.

[dirtybax]

Can you get a similar effect with a Roland Jazz Chorus?

[TheRooster456]

Jesus, turn down the treble and lose the reverb.

[TheTangentUK]

@TheRooster456 its a twin reverb, why would he want to turn it down, its kind of the hole point of having a twin reverb

[TheRooster456]

@TheTangentUK

I own a Twin Reverb. I know what the point of owning one is, and it's not to sound like shit.

[TheTangentUK]

Don't tell me your life story I.M not your councilor

[TheTangentUK]

@TheRooster456 I always thought the hole point of a twin was the reverb,

[gergthims]

I'm sorry, but this is silly. Horrible tone and weird playing (out of time).

[Alion59]

@gergthims Did he play ??!

[TheTangentUK]

@gergthims out of time ? what are you talking about, he has no backing track to be out of time with, try not to make comments on things you clearly know nothing about, and as for his playing it may not be your taste in music but its a good playing style all the same, abit of respect would not go amiss. People who make bad comments for no reason tend to be bad them selfs.

[Elimnio]

nice, but I would'nt turn back the mid knob like he did...the tele already has a thin sound

[gittar1]

in order to make a strat ..or tele less thin ...SIMPLY ROLL OFF SOME OF THE ""HIGHS!! TREBLE DOWN ON THE AMP!! IT AINT "ROKET SCIENCE! TURN OFF THE "BRIGHT ..TELE S R ALREADY "BRIGHT!! ADD MID ...AND BASS ! THANK YU .

[benmachin03]

is it just me or does any1 else feel thats everybody else has loads of money. i could never afford this gear lol

[gretschchild]

@benmachin03 HAHAHA I FEEL EXACTLY THE SAME, AMEN!!!

[TheTangentUK]

@benmachin03 I nearly bought a twin, but in the UK they R around £1200 which is around 2000 dollars & they r far 2 loud 4 in the house, so I got a hot rod deluxe coming friday, which was nearly £800 gbp which is around 1300 dollars, so U se were I am coming from. Marshall R UK made & that works in the same way, only they R cheaper here compared 2 america, but I am a clean channel guy so fender all the way. If I was in US I would buy a 59 bassmen, even if I orded from US it cost 350 dollar 2ship

[TheTangentUK]

I am happy with the hot rod deluxe mk 3 though, as guy at local shop has one and I gave it a go, it rocks hard

[antigrav118]

@benmachin03 just the 2 percent of people with all the damn money. >=0

[fryloc359]

@benmachin03 I walked around their showroom once, I got a little nervous around the $1000 guitars, but when I got to the $5000 axes I got really nervous and left the room.

[daveyjdrums]

Go David! Sounds Great man.

-DJ

[kingshorsesbc]

does he know what hes saying?

first he says "i like to scoop out a little bit of the mids"

mid is on 1, thats more than a little scooped.

then he says "i would back off the presence a little bit"

once again, its on 1....

haha i understand what he's saying, but a n00b might take that the wrong way...

[S7E4L7H]

@kingshorsesbc I would say its music not a competition

[joshanator1]

Ya, thanks for clearing that up! LOL

[here4thedonuts]

Way to make your tele sound like a strat

[zanik00]

@here4thedonuts Sounds like a Tele and nowhere near a Strat

[NateAsh060708]

@here4thedonuts That sounds nothing like a Strat whatsoever.

[here4thedonuts]

@NateAsh060708 Sorry guys, I just meant that I didn't like how thin it sounded, and I usually don't like strats sound too thin for me.

[joshanator1]

I would love to know how Brad Paisley get's the sound he has!

[NateAsh060708]

@joshanator1

Awesome tube amps, some really HOT blues pups probably, a little delay, reverb, slight distortion, and throw in some compression. At least that's what I use...you can get close.

[IamtheActionman]

YIKES!

[lampeo]

Is that the Guitar picker from Sex With Midgets? :-)

[hessofthewest]

@lampeo You got me................ looking at these comments over the past year it make me chortle. I think at one point one of my kids was up here defending the old man !!! If they only knew :-) When marketing asked me to do this I thought it would be fun. I hope it sparked a few folks to try something different anyway. Now I will go detune and crank my Rivera and smile :-)

[larrybillguitar]

step loose half the compression

[cheel83]

Check out Robert Renman in youtube, he just bought a squier classic vibe telecaster 50's and it sounded amazin with his fender pro junior, i think thats what a tele should sound like

[northbayguitar]

Good points - thanks! Man, tough crowd here! : ) I like that you add that, of course, every player should work with their setup to get their tone, and agree that these basic components will certainly get you in the right direction. A lot of a Tele 'twang' sounds come right out of the guitar, plus technique. Similar tone could be used in a variety of different styles. Good stuff - thanks!

[celtno1]

That tone totaly SUCKS, i can acheive a better tone through my little Marshall valvestate 2000, along with my 52 reissue,..Bottom down to no 4, Middle to no 6, Treble to 6 or 7, sounds lovely, also i back off the treble down to about 7 on the guitar itself, little bit of reverb, away you go, sounds sweet.

[mrfinksta]

@celtno1 Shitty comment pal. Sound a litlle hung up on yourself.

[YearraeY]

i hate Les Pauls and Telecasters, terrible guitars, for over 20 years they've been trying to tell me they're good, but i wouldn't accept one for free.

[basicallyben]

@YearraeY just curious, which guitars do you play and why? thoses two are my favorites by the way thanks

[sale8532]

@YearraeY I HOPE THAT YOU DIE IN FIRE!

[dennisl2008]

Step 1: Buy a '52 Fender Telecaster Re-Issue, Step 2: Buy a Vibroking. Step 3: Turn it on, Step 4: Plug the guitar directly into the amp with no effects, Step 5: Engage Fat Switch, back off the treble, up the mid and put the bass ~5, Step 6: Turn amp up to ~ 4. Done. You'll thank me later.

[GiftedNq]

52 reissues are pretty fuckin sweet

[discotechwreck]

@beachhutblues isn't 'what a Tele should sound like' pretty subjective?

[rodbuoy]

teles can do it all

[jassrv]

there nice BUT you dont need a fender twin and a fender hotrod tele to get that tele twang .....i have a fender blues deluxe tube amp and a fender standerd tele with stock pick ups and it sounds pertty DAMN GOOD to me tele twang in all

[heartache2005]

That amp is the Fender Twin Amp - NOT a Twin Reverb! Also, roll off some of that treble and leave the bright switch alone. I run everything to 5, then tweak slightly up or down as needed (Don Rich used to set all controls to 5 on his Twin Reverb) and roll off volume and tone slightly on your guitar. Guarantee you'll get a better country sound than THIS!

[franglediddup]

Huh?, Humbucker?...um get a maple board( makes it easier but a rosewood WILL do), standard pickups, ashtray, Klusons and a Fender amp , a Vibrolux or Deluxe Reverb if ya can afford one( a real one, not a reissue) or a Twin Reverb( no red knobs)....clean but low power is the secret....forget about compressors, or ANYTHING else between the guitar and the amp ............then all you need is some talent , not a shitload just enough to understand when to shut up.....and some good songs............

[fraterlucifer888]

ugh thats awful tone,,,you cant just add slap delay and take out the lows and call it country ,twang is fatter ,there s so much life in a tele and this dude is wasting it,hed sound more country thru that amp with a 335,a tele really needs a tweed or a tweed clone imho

[ollyworld]

in the vid it sounds like a cheap fender frontman which sounds not bad at all...very thin..and hard

shame that many people dont bother about their yt recordings...

[Gradey3]

thankyou this is a rockabilly tone..not country

[KsiazeIgor]

@t0nt0b0b u're damn right there, fellar.

[kpgpwi64]

what a crap tone this guy has. about the worst country tone

[daveyjdrums]

@kpgpwi64 why?

[cgravier]

@kpgpwi64

not crap but a little thin for my tastes. Hes got more of a Bakersfeild twang than say, Brad Paisley

[TheTangentUK]

@kpgpwi64 what a load of fucking spunk coming out your cheesee dick mouth. How the fck is it the worst country tone, their is nothing wrong with it, and any musician would know that. Go and play your epiphone through a marshal you plum. You have got to be the dumbest son of a bitch ever.

[kpgpwi64]

@TheTangentUK it's not good in my opinion, there are too much highs and it kind of ruins the sound. And I have an american standard telecaster going through an mxr comp, a ts808, and i have a Peavy Nashville 400 and a vox ac-30 so i know a little bit about good tone..

[HOUNDDAWG]

@kpgpwi64 wrote: "what a crap tone this guy has. about the worst country tone"

Yup.

I hate to dis Sweetwater but David ain't making it as a country Tele player. If he cut back the reverb, plugged straight into the amp and dumped the compressor and delay pedals he'd have a much better "Workin' Man Blues" tone. David did demo traditional "music store tone and chops", though. And of course the store wants to sell stompies to young players so I suppose the demo had to include them.

[PortalsEdge]

teles have such a wonderful tone for country music

[gittar1]

try dropping the treble to about 6 ... otherwiswe ..sounds "thin "!

[Johi2410]

Ah right, didn't know that! Thanks a lot for the info, well, I think the point of what I wanted to say is clear ;-)

Have a nice weekend!!

[InstrumentalofMe]

Love it! Hard to think i used to hate country.

[lesscunning]

great demo.

[jimibrood]

this suckssss

[kpgpwi64]

all you need is a tele with vintage noisless pickups, fender blues deluxe 4x10, ts808 tube screamer. cs-3 compressor, dd-7 delay. thats my rig.

[teofaouaz]

Deluxe 4x10"? Do you mean DeVille 4x10" or Deluxe 1x12"?

[kpgpwi64]

yes a blues deville reissue

[teofaouaz]

I got one too. It sounds superb with my Strats and Tele, specially for classic rock and blues. Some people don't like this amp. Maybe they didn't find out how to tweak it to get good sounds...

[ahoghilllad]

No David, It Does Not start with a Tele with a "Humbucker" Forget Pedals, Plug straight into that amp, Turn the Trebel Down to about 5, Middle Off, Bass at about 3 . Reverb about 3 or 4.Take any Tele with ordinary Tele Pickups and turn the guitar up Full. That`s the sound Redd Volkaert, Don Rich, "Real" Tele Players Use.

[Johi2410]

You're so damn right man!!

No James Burton, no Don Rich, no Roy Nichols EVER plugged their guitars into those effect pedals!

[singingfeces]

way to just sell some gear without giving any insight into what the purpose of any of it is.

[davman2412]

what the hell? NO, I'M DAVID HESS....but your better at guitar...

[pjmuck]

I agree, the tone is a bit too thin and bright for my taste. FYI, the Boss CS-3 is crap but with a Monte Allums Opto mod is a killer compressor.

[HerbWalker]

O Yea, Thats how I do it too! Nice tone "WE" have......hehehehe

[BJKowal]

too much slap back... also the low strings are robbed of tone, and sounds muted bc of the compression

[oaeoeao]

A lot of talk & no twang. Also, Sweetwater, the Boss CS-3 is not the pedal you should be showing off.

[snoffess]

Man he makes Fender thru fender sound very thin ....

[yepitsahemi]

secret sauce

quick snap

reflection

[yepitsahemi]

Dude, get the hair out of your eyes, your giving your generation a bad rap. Bonaroo BOUND!

[valleyguitarman]

IMHO I think the comp robs some of the twang from the low stings and ends up making the everything more punchy than twangy. I own a CS-3 and a Dyna Comp and don't use either right now.

[kpgpwi64]

i have the same but i switched to no compressor to a ts808 tube screamer, all nobs pointing straight up gives me a nice paisleyish tone

[lexist7]

that's a twin amp. not a twin reverb.

[joeymad777]

back in the 50s 60s and 70s the glory days of country there were no real pedals it was all dry signal into the amp fender all the way

[tiddlywinks98712]

'cept a good ol' fuzz face :D

[zodiackilla]

"Guitaar Twang Tooone"

[SECblackmagic]

These twin amps are great when using the crunch distorsion channel, totally different from the old twin reverb, this guy is using that amp as a twin reverb.

[joshlespaul1952]

No, they are not.

[guns1rose]

how can you say the twin, and the twin reverb are not pretty much the same. They sound nearly identical.....

[joshlespaul1952]

Take a look at the internal schematic, then get back to me.

[guns1rose]

sorry man your right.... i didnt even see the gain knob!!

[delayedpilot]

step one. buy a telecaster

[forthorton]

step two. plug it straight into an amp. done.

[moeger]

@delayedpilot Step Two. buy a fender twin reverb.

[cgravier]

@delayedpilot

step 2 buy a twin reverb. 

[zoso1119]

Where's Kenny Taylor when you need him lol!

[joshlespaul1952]

That is NOT a Twin Reverb...it is a Twin. Completely different....

[guns1rose]

they are pretty much the same.

[garyguitar]

You meant well and Sweetwater is cool with great service. Check out Redd Volkaert, Brent Mason, and Gutherie Trapp on youtube--the real deals!

[roquero42]

The sound is awfully clinical. Too much effect. You can achieve this sound with a cheap digital signal processor and go straight into the console.

[Ducatman1960]

Yeah..by all means...use slap-back echo AND reverb..because you want your sound to be as muddy and splattered as possible!

[MarQTwang]

Is this a joke?

[billyk338]

Not enough bass.See Redd Volkaert for a great Country,Tele Tone.

[funkyjones]

Well put.

[jclar146]

heres how to get a twang! use a slanted single coil in the bridge! wow thatdidnt need a 4 minute video now did it! oh and this twang sounds so crunchy..

[sebm89]

think the effects its abit overused.

Maybe its sounds killer in band playing, but alone, it souns abit overused IMO.

but nice

[telecaster360]

This thing cost $1,650!!!!!!!!!

[mackieauralex]

Dios te bendiga david saludos ami hermano de tu hermano en el caribe Eugene (kike) Carasquillo grasias por recomendar me avalon737 ,universal audio 2-610.david es un profesional

en todo el centido de la palabra .chuck surack dale un aumento de sueldo a david hessy la jente de sweetwater. son los mejores

saludos desde la Estrella brillante del Caribe Puerto Rico.

Dios te Bendiga .

[paolomarletta]

a bit boring

[birdmankustomz666]

Dude, get vintage tele and a vintage Fender Twin Reverb and that'll give you all the twang you need.

[azzaroz]

I got a vintage tele, its a great guitar, its got a nice feel to it when you play it.

[birdmankustomz666]

I want one so bad, I'm almost ready to sell my car to buy one. (no joke)

[pat976]

No shit !?... mister obvious ...

[birdmankustomz666]

Well its apparently not obvious to him as he seems to think you need effects pedals to get that sound.

[pat976]

well, a little slapback echo is part of that sound too ...

[JKryanX]

sure a tele is naturally twangy, but if you add some compression and a really fast slap back delay you will get a better "country twang" to it(i havent watched the vid yet, i bet thats what he says)

[hoppinhockeyhess]

Ok just so everybody knows this is my dad and he can play pretty much any song just by listening to it so Whoever says ergh or he can't play needs to go take a jump in a lake and stay there.

[wes94]

May I ask how he got his job? I would love to have a job like that, and was just wondering how he went about it.

[guitarman5560]

I wouldn't take too much offence. Maybe he can play but that was pretty sloppy what I saw on the video.

[tragictravistie]

a tele and twin isnt good enough for a "tele twang" tone? we need to buy allot of pedals from sweetwater first?

[flyinbryan63]

Nope.................

[ItaloBen]

Entirely too much FX!

Yes, we will show you how to make the "tele twang", and ironically enough, all of those pedals can be bought from sweetwater.

[igormita]

I don't like this twang at all. Delay is too long and loud, and nothing comes from his finger tips

[twooos]

Ergh.

[hippiebob01]

"Ashtray is a reference to the bridge cover, not the actual bridge itself. It's called that because no real players actually put them on a guitar, and their only other known use is for ash collection.

[OnionsMcGee]

The tone this guy had on that Tele disappointed me...

[HOUNDDAWG]

TastyMetal Kinda nailed it.

Just a teenie bit heavy on the reverb for a tone that hasn't really been happening in Nashville for a while.

The kat's using the amp 'verb and a delay pedal and that's a bit much for me.

You may still hear that gymnasium echo guitar in roadside country bars though. Some of the old timers still like that reverby twang, especially the oldsters who ain't up to speed on Brent Mason's sound. (or Heaven forbid) Brad Paisley's killer sound! Not bad for a sales rep I guess.

[loungecruz]

thin

[TastyMetal]

I feel his tone is a bit watery and thin. The reverb waters down the Tele, and the pedals just ruin it even more.

Maybe if he just plugged the guitar straight into the amp...

[bloodrivercanyon]

What you COULD do is plug the Tele into a good amp (Carr, Swart, 65, Aiken, etc.), and you'd get a good tone.

A Boss Cs-3???

If you MUST use a compressor, use a real one...like a Keeley, or a Barber.

Oh...and by the way...new Twins SUCK.

[tbmagis]

Hey, I love my tele... but have NEVER thought about using a compressor. Anyone feel the same, or maybe the complete opposite?! I just like the rawness of the tele sound, which is why it's my favorite guitar!

[HOUNDDAWG]

I like compressor. It really helps with that clackin, MERCURY BLUES (Alan Jackson) solo sound. (probably played by Brent Mason on the session)

[spacemanvector32]

Thin/weak. Took that nice fender clean and made it sound like a Line 6 Pod on a "county setting" or something. Ouch.

[HOUNDDAWG]

spacemanvector32;

That tone is reminiscent of Early James Burton and even Roy Nichols (WORKIN' MAN BLUES) twang (minus the heavy 'verb) and and it's ok for sidemen these days.

Obviously is ain't exactly in the pocket for classic ROY BUCHANAN, Danny Gatton or any of the other high priests of the Telecaster.

I'm guessing that this Sweetwater rep doesn't actually play country if he gigs out, and maybe he thinks that's the sound that kountry katz want.

[Kaelan66]

I agree

[meatbundle]

Very good! Sweetwater has outfitted my studio several times over! I post a few tele twangin' lessons if you care to check them out.