Originally Posted by: jwb72Pamjeff, which amp are you using? I love that "type" of sound you talked about.

Also, I have a modeling amp and have noticed that the wah has a much different effect depending on which amp is selected.

Since I've just 'restarted' playing and am reassembling gear, I don't have the ideal currently. I have a Marshall Valvstate which is workable considering I can't blast away anymore. I just plying now for the fun.

Honestly, it's not the gear. When I had my 'ultimate' tone is when I was poorest and had utter crap that I made work.

I had this weird 70's era Peavey model 'Classic' Tube/Solid state hybrid combo amp (that had 4 inputs that were supposed to work in series somehow...). I ran the 'always on' Crybaby in to a Boss OD2 Turbo Overdrive (on the Turbo setting) straight in to the front of the amp. Since the Amp had a line out, I ran the 'head' of the combo out to a generic 4x12 cab. To be sure, a Frankenstein of a 'rig' if you want to call it a rig. Thing is, all that crap made massive tone. I didn't plan it. I just got parts that came together nicely. Also note that my guitar was a very Nice late 80's Kramer Beretta II and EMG 89.

The real trick to great tone starts with your hands. If there is no conviction in your playing, you can try all day and your tone will never come.

For whatever reason, I have a knack of getting good tone out of most amps. Doesn't matter what it is. I will futz with it until I get a tone I can live with.

However, a tip for building great tone. Start from zero. You night have some equipment and toys...Don't start with any ideas of how it is 'supposed' to work. Start poking through the different models on your line 6 with and without your wah and just build from square one. I never follow someone else set up or ideas. I need to work from scratch and just use my ear. Start with your amp in a clean setting. If it sounds tinny or muddy when clean, it gets worse when you get loud. Get a nice clean warm sound that has a little shimmer in the higher end strummed chords (I always strum open G's and D's). Once you got a good base, then go on to adding overdrive. Don;t go to the most distorted setting you can find. Work your way towards your desired overdrive setting. Sometimes you find that setting is cleaner then you thought (a reason I like overdrive over distortion stompboxes). Once you have that, then factor your wah in. As you add these elements, you may retro 'retune' the previous setting on your overdrive or amp but this tends to be more of a fine tuning.

The key is to start clean and work from there. It should also be said that guitar and pick ups matter. While what makes you sound like 'you' will still come through, these can inhibit your ultimate tone. I tended to shy away from Duncan Distorions but also JB models too (thus the EMG).

I know that didn't give you a specific rig set up but I don't know that this would help anyway, I feel it's more about experimenting but doing so methodically.