Post
by bluefuzzguitar » Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:14 pm
I've said this in several posts across this forum but I can't emphasize this enough so here goes one more time:
The secret to not only a good blues tone but also a good classic rock tone is to not go over 5 or 6 on your amp volume (Fender OR Marshall) and to use a good OD and/or fuzz pedal to drive your amp's front end. This is the secret to not only SRV's tone but also that of virtually all the great rock players from the late 60's/early 70's.
Cranking your amp will sound great if you rely on natural tube distortion only but will sound muddied and undefined when used in conjunction with diode clipping. Reversely, diode clipping will sound thin, brittle and 'plastic' if your amp's volume is below 5. That's because it's a rather thin signal that was designed to run with amps on breakup point, not below or beyond that. Only then will you find the transistor signal is just enough and will complement the slight tube breakup you get from your amp in a very natural way, provided you use a decent tube amp and OD and/or fuzz, of course.
This is always preferable over gain channels and master volumes IMO which rely heavily on preamp tube distortion. Your power tubes, provided they're good ones who can take the abuse the pedals will give you, will always give you a warmer, fuller, richer and fatter sound with more headroom than your preamp tubes, no matter how good your preamp tubes are. You simply cannot squeeze any more tone out of those small preamp tubes than those bigger end tubes will provide. The secret is therefore not to overdrive your amp's preamp stage too much, which goes back to my amp-at-breakup-point comment. This is one of the reasons why I use a 5751 (30% less gain than a 12AX7/ECC83) in the first gain stage of my amps, another SRV special.
As for my OD of choice, I really, really like my Menatone Red Snapper. Its circuit is based on the TS808 but you'd be doing it injustice by referring to this pedal as a TS clone. It's become its own animal because Brian Mena actually improved on the circuit by making this THE most transparent OD I know with NO mid hump and bass loss. It works great as a clean boost and will bring out TS-like qualities when you add drive but in a very natural, tubelike way. You'd be hard pressed to tell whether it's the actual pedal you're hearing or the amp's natural breakup, especially with the two signals blended together! The Menatone Red Snapper is one of the best-kept secrets in the boutique pedal business today and will eat any Fulltone pedal or the overpriced Klon Centaur for breakfast. I'm sure that had he lived SRV would have loved the Snapper!
Favorite fuzzes are the J. Everman Fuzz Drive Deluxe (another such great unknown pedal) and the 80's silicon fuzz-face reissues Dave Fox made for Audio Crest. Favorite octave-up pedal is my Chicago Iron Octavion. Favorite treble booster is my Roger Mayer Concorde +. They all sound great with my amp(s) on breakup point. Remember that, folks! An amp might sound great on its own cranked and driven by one or more pedals but will sound like total dog pooh when used in a band mix. You need that clean headroom to cut thru and your tone will open up more with less gain.
End of lesson.
Mike
There's no tone like your own
)
