More Big Band problems.

Some of you might recall the thread I started in open discussion a few months ago with questions about my tone in a jazz big band at school. Well now that the school year has started, I'd like to bring up some other stuff.

I sold my LP, and now have a Washburn J6, I love the guitar and the tone (but you'll see my problem soon).

The school's amp is a fender ultra chorus, and it works awesome, and gives me the "fat" or "big" tone I need.

But the guitar fits in almost too well, if you ask me. The guitar blends in so well, I can't even hear myself playing anymore! I can pick out individually the saxes, trumpets, trombones, piano, drums and bass guitar but not myself! For example there's one song where I have the melody shared with a trumpet, tenor sax, and flute. I cannot hear one note that I play. I have so much bass involved that the tone is killer, like wicked mellow and jazzy, but how is the audience going to hear me if I can't even hear myself?

Now volume isn't really the issue. For the most part, I'm playing just as loud as anybody else, and when I do turn it up, the band director immediately says "less guitar." I don't even know what to do.

Well I started thinking: If not volume, then it's eq. So I add some treble to help me cut through some of the band. But now it just sounds like crap (my guitar, that is).

Any advice? The things I've got access to are my guitar (which has 2 pickups, each with seperate tone and volume controls, I've mainly been using the neck pickup), the amp (which has 3 band eq, and 2 channels - clean and distorted) and I could buy a pedal or something, I've got about a 100 dollars in stowaway.

Thanks a lot!

-The Ace

I know of two ways to cut through a mix without adding volume they are either adding midrange or adding chorus or both for that matter ,the chorus thing works really well for me i use it to make a solo more aparent when recording just try it.

Originally Posted by: The Ace... Well I started thinking: If not volume, then it's eq. So I add some treble to help me cut through some of the band. But now it just sounds like crap (my guitar, that is)...

[font=trebuchet ms]You're right about using EQ to solve your problem, but adding treble is not the right approach. Guitar is a midrange instrument. Too much bass makes it sound muddy. Too much treble makes it sound harsh.

A jazz guitar 'voice' is somewhere between a flute (clean) and a sax (distorted). Roll off the bass to about 2. Drop the treble to about 4. Use both of your pickups and balance the volumes to get the smooth richness of the neck with some detail and sparkle from the bridge. Roll off the bridge tone control a bit to keep it from getting harsh, but turn the neck tone up full to keep it sweet. You can also change this balance as you play by picking closer to the bridge or the neck.[/font]

Another thing too is that a great guitar tone on its own may not sound right when you mix the rest of the instruments in, and if you isolate a single instrument from a great sounding band, it may not stand up on its own.

So, even though the tone you dial in with more treble/mids might not sound good on its own, try it out with the band and maybe it will fit in!

Forget all that tone junk, people aren't interested in that stuff, my suggestion is to wear a real freaky looking mask, it's all the rage today.......

I actually prefer lighting my arm on fire to get attention.


Oh BTW guys, thanks I'll try that stuff out.

Originally Posted by: Lordathestrings[font=trebuchet ms]
A jazz guitar 'voice' is somewhere between a flute (clean) and a sax (distorted). Roll off the bass to about 2. Drop the treble to about 4. [/font]

You mean on the amp right? What about the middle eq?

turn the neck tone up full to keep it sweet.

So you mean the bassiest it can get on the neck pickup? Sorry, I never really learned what the numbers mean on the guitar tone controls. I just want to make sure that everything I'm doing is synchronized with what your saying: tone on neck up to 10, which is the most bassy on the guitar's tone control.

Or do you mean that 10 is the most trebly of the tone controls?

Originally Posted by: The AceYou mean on the amp right? What about the middle eq?



So you mean the bassiest it can get on the neck pickup? Sorry, I never really learned what the numbers mean on the guitar tone controls. I just want to make sure that everything I'm doing is synchronized with what your saying: tone on neck up to 10, which is the most bassy on the guitar's tone control.

Or do you mean that 10 is the most trebly of the tone controls?

10 is the highest treble.