Trey Anastasio guitar tone

[TheWizard]

I'm not a big phish fan or anything, but Trey's guitar tone would compliment some of my songs really well, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting his tone right

I have a tele, a peavey classic 50 a hot rod rock dist. a crybaby, a chorus, and delay

I'm pretty sure he's got his wah pedal on all the time, just put in a certain position, but any amp settings or things like that would be appreciated

[rarebird]

First off, Trey doesn't use his wah all the time.
Second, the key to trey's tone is his Ross Compressor coupled with his Ibanez TS-9 tube screamer. If you want the closest you can get to the original ross and vintage ts-9. Keeley Electronics makes some amazing products.

Trey's tone is very midrange 7-9, with the bass and treble around 4.5
Trey plays Schaller Golden 50 Humbuckers through a 67 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, with a bunch of modifications done to it by all sorts of amp doctors.
Trey's setup is amazingly complex, and it's literally a rat's nest of cables and equipment. I've tried to emulate it for a year or two, but what it REALLY comes down to is Trey's chops. It wouldnt matter if he played this stuff thru a junk solid state amp with no reverb, he'd still rip some very original tasty licks. I highly suggest you sit down and learn his complex compositions, and a lot of his licks will naturally pop up in your playing.

There are a number of options you could consider. Basically any combination of compressor and tube screamer is going to get you something similar. Trey also has a pretty sweet Digitech Whammy II pitch shifter that he uses quite a bit.

I know a lot more if you have any questions so don't hesitate to ask! :D

rarebird

[TheWizard]

thanks a lot

I have a ton of respect for Trey's playing, he's one of the best out there, but I just can't listen to his songs for some reason

I just really dig his tone but I'm not getting anywhere near it

I've spent so much money on different dist. pedals (Ds-1, big muff, hot rod, fuzz face) that I hate to buy another one

but let me play around with the settings you gave me, it should help out a lot

[hwarang76]

Hey Rarebird that's some great advice....besides his GUITAR!!! which I think is on the top of the list the TS9 and ross compressor really are a big part of it... you can really hear the change in tone after Trey somehow lost?? his compressor...the compressor really keeps the highs and lows at bay giving him that sweet mellow tone...I've always said it sounds more like he's pulling the notes out of his guitar rather than playing them..that being said I think your advice about the amp settings are good for tele and strat players...I've been using my strat exclusively for years and have gotten pretty close to trey's tone with that and my mesa boogie amp (a middy sound for sure) but recently I picked up a Ibanez artcore AWD82LTD and that made a big difference....that guitar has a much more rich tone and actually I had to invert the amp settings..I took the mids down and brought up the treble and bass

part of the greatness of his tone is that mellowness with the ability to make those notes "pop" at the same time without getting too harsh....basically what I'm saying is if you really want to emulate his tone a semi- (or full) hollow is the way to go...my strat got really close but when I picked up the Ibanez I really noticed the difference...

...now if I could just get all those licks down!!!! but I guess that's why I'm here

RB...what are you playing thru if you don't mind me asking??

[Douglas Showalter]

Indeed. Don't under mind the power of Tre's guitar that he uses. As with any artists, it is almost impossible to emulate anyone as each player's own touch (including your own) is very different.

Tre plays a custom guitar made by Phish soundman Paul Languedoc. Bassist Mike Gordon plays a bass made by the same luthier. You can get your own Languedoc at the link below. These are not cheap and I believe the wait for them is quite a long period of time as well;

http://www.languedocguitars.com/

If you like Phish, please check out these other bands as well;

Umphrey's McGee
.moe
The New Deal
New Monsoon
Yonder Mountain String Band
The Derek Trucks Band

[hwarang76]

Indeed. Don't under mind the power of Tre's guitar that he uses. As with any artists, it is almost impossible to emulate anyone as each player's own touch (including your own) is very different.

Tre plays a custom guitar made by Phish soundman Paul Languedoc. Bassist Mike Gordon plays a bass made by the same luthier. You can get your own Languedoc at the link below. These are not cheap and I believe the wait for them is quite a long period of time as well;

http://www.languedocguitars.com/

If you like Phish, please check out these other bands as well;

Umphrey's McGee
.moe
The New Deal
New Monsoon
Yonder Mountain String Band
The Derek Trucks Band


there's a gentleman out on the east coast making laguedoc like guitars and by "like" I mean pretty much the same thing...he'll even custom make them for you and they are a quarter of the price....check out his site

http://equatorinstruments.com/

[sixpicker]

Hey all,
As Douglas said alot of it is his touch, or what I would call technique. I can get really close with a tele, Fender Hot Rod Deville 212, compressor, and some distortion.

Set your clean sound first, and you may want to add a little more sustain. You want a little scream when you hold the note for a couple of seconds. After you get the depth of the tone figured out, add your distortion.

I also like it when he plays clean too, he's just a great player no matter what effects he uses.