Re: Seesaw

Tony Done <tonydone@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Derek" <derek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:5fd05727-65ef-4ff4-807b-413c029eff93@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As far as rock/pop/blues goes, I am with Squire.

I am a 6L6 or 6V6 guy with a Fender circuit, though it doesn't have
to say Fender on it.

From there, I want to drive the amp. TS type pedals and fuzz really
are about it for me.

I have a nice high gain pedal that does the job well, but I rarely
use it, because it doesn't sound like the amp anymore, just the
pedal.


I think you are missing my point, which is that there is a gradual
transition from squeaky clean to the "wall" that Squier mentions.
There are various ways of making the transition and reaching the wall
eg using the amp gain, chaining up a couple of OD pedals, using a
heavy fuzz/distortion pedal, a booster pedal, amp emulators etc.
However, as you approach this wall, the guitar becomes of less and
less consequence as the tone is driven almost entirely by the
amplification chain (*whatever you choose it to be*) rather than the
guitar characteristics. For example, I currently have a set up in my
lounge room that gives two kinds of saturated sound 1) The gain on
the amp (supposedly JCM800 style) set to 3 o'clock, or 2) the Mesa
Dual emulator set to gain 7 on the Toneworks AX3G. These two sound
different, but swapping guitars and twiddling the tone control has
very little effect provided the output is moderate to high.

FWIW, for low to moderate OD, I like "clean amp plus pedal". - 808
types but with a bit of a preference for asymmetric clipping.
However, I'm having fun with the saturated sound as an interesting
technical exercise in controlling unwanted noise, and the amp does a
good job of that. Think Sonny Landreth.

An upshot of the "seesaw" is that, over whole tonal spectrum, the
guitar only contributes a minor part compared with the rest of the
gear.

Tony D

I'd argue that fat humbuckers vs. low-impedance single coils would make
a difference, even in the high-gain regime. Otherwise, I think you're
right. Tone subtleties disappear.


.

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