Thanks.
H60
[FONT=Tahoma]"All I can do is be me ... whoever that is". Bob Dylan [/FONT]
ZZ Top sound
Not sure if this is the correct place for this question (so if not, please feel free to move it) but do you guys know how Gibbons and ZZ Top get that heavy sound on the rhythm and such a clean sound on the leads? It seems like there should be about 6 guitars in that band.
Thanks.
H60
Thanks.
H60
# 1
Not sure exactly how Billy gets his tone... the www.guitargeek.com database doesn't have him in it either...
But the way that I get a good set of tones for "La Grange" is by dialing my Fender Blues Deluxe in so that my guitar juuuuuuuust pushes it to where it's breaking up. Not any farther than that... I'm positive that Billy uses tube amps... and it's kind of hard to get that broken up tube amp sound unless you're cranking a tube amp or if you have an attentuator on your tube amp... But what a lot of blues musicians do is hit that sweet spot where if you have the guitar volume between 8 and 10 the amp is just barely breaking up... you get a nice snarl out of it... That combined with a small bit of overdrive and you should get a nasty gritty blues tone similar to what Billy uses....
Then to get that nice clean tone you can just roll your guitars volume knob back to about 6 or 7... it should pull the output back enough to pull your amp out of the "break up zone" and into the "clear tone zone"... Giving you two different tones without even having to touch your footswitches.
The key is fiddling with your amp settings so you can dial in your tones... I have a notebook that I write down settings for all my tones... That way I can instantly recreate it if I have to... A lot of people neglect the fact that the volume on the guitar can act in a few different ways... I use mine to clean my tone up and also to kick in a nice boost when I need it... I normally run my guitar volume at around 7... 6 if I want a cleaner tone 8 if I want it with a bit more bite... then 10 when I want that boost.
This works becuase the most common kinds of pots are what's called audio taper pots... Where the pot doesn't increase or decrease the volume in a linear amount... it increases and decreases it in an exponential amount. With audio taper pots you'll notice that the difference in volume between 1-5 is a lot... you go from completly silent to a good clean tone... The difference in volume from 6-10 is very slight however it changes the characteristics of the tone enough to allow you to go from a loud clean tone at around 7 to a loud broken up tone at around 10...
Linear taper pots increase and decrease the volume at an even rate... I use linear taper pots for my tone controls... and audio taper pots for my volume controls...
A lot more information than what you asked for.... but I figured it would be helpful for you in finding that biting tone and that clean tone that Billy uses.
But the way that I get a good set of tones for "La Grange" is by dialing my Fender Blues Deluxe in so that my guitar juuuuuuuust pushes it to where it's breaking up. Not any farther than that... I'm positive that Billy uses tube amps... and it's kind of hard to get that broken up tube amp sound unless you're cranking a tube amp or if you have an attentuator on your tube amp... But what a lot of blues musicians do is hit that sweet spot where if you have the guitar volume between 8 and 10 the amp is just barely breaking up... you get a nice snarl out of it... That combined with a small bit of overdrive and you should get a nasty gritty blues tone similar to what Billy uses....
Then to get that nice clean tone you can just roll your guitars volume knob back to about 6 or 7... it should pull the output back enough to pull your amp out of the "break up zone" and into the "clear tone zone"... Giving you two different tones without even having to touch your footswitches.
The key is fiddling with your amp settings so you can dial in your tones... I have a notebook that I write down settings for all my tones... That way I can instantly recreate it if I have to... A lot of people neglect the fact that the volume on the guitar can act in a few different ways... I use mine to clean my tone up and also to kick in a nice boost when I need it... I normally run my guitar volume at around 7... 6 if I want a cleaner tone 8 if I want it with a bit more bite... then 10 when I want that boost.
This works becuase the most common kinds of pots are what's called audio taper pots... Where the pot doesn't increase or decrease the volume in a linear amount... it increases and decreases it in an exponential amount. With audio taper pots you'll notice that the difference in volume between 1-5 is a lot... you go from completly silent to a good clean tone... The difference in volume from 6-10 is very slight however it changes the characteristics of the tone enough to allow you to go from a loud clean tone at around 7 to a loud broken up tone at around 10...
Linear taper pots increase and decrease the volume at an even rate... I use linear taper pots for my tone controls... and audio taper pots for my volume controls...
A lot more information than what you asked for.... but I figured it would be helpful for you in finding that biting tone and that clean tone that Billy uses.
# 2
Thanks Asch. Appreciate the information. I will have to try and see if I can emulate it a little bit anyway. I love the way that Gibbons plays and his use of 'pinch harmonics' is pretty impressive. I managed to hit one of those. Once. Haven't been able to pull it off since. Again, thanks for the info. :D
[FONT=Tahoma]"All I can do is be me ... whoever that is". Bob Dylan [/FONT]
# 3
