Simple as

el-guapo

I'm not sure whether it will prove to be a transformative experience, but I had the best time on Wed night.

My long-time band split in March, and I've had a bit of time off and have in the last 2 months been exploring some acoustic projects, so I have played electric other than at home in a while. All my previous bands have been cover bands and I've always endeavoured to get pretty close to the "right" sound for a song (at least the right ball-park for gain - delays and mods have always been more of a hassle for me), so as at March I was gigging with a huge board (fuzz, boost, three drives plus the usual non-drive suspects), channel-switching amp, at least two guitars. And I do still think that when you're doing 40 songs across a huge range that there is justification for that.

On Wednesday my old drummer called me and invited me down for a jam that night at the Viper Lounge in Glencairn (CT's deep south). Open-mike vibe. I figured I'd get up and do some 12-bar blues with randoms, but it turns out he had managed to get the whole band down as well as the bassist from another band the drummer and I were in before.

So we jumped up (drummer, that bassist and I) and did about 5 songs, and then the full lineup of the more recent band got up and did 6 or 7. Instead of grungy blues we did a fairly full range of different songs in different styles from my two most recent bands' repetoire. And this was in both a three-piece setting and in a lineup with another guitarist.

Thing is, all I took was a Les Paul, my Laney Cube and a tubescreamer. And it was marvellous. I put the Laney up behind me at a nice face level for me, got a beautiful crunchy sound with the bridge p/u volume on 8, and then just used the controls. Tubescreamer on if I needed a tiny bit more gain and compression, otherwise it was all volume/tone up or down. I spent a good 1/3 of the night in the middle position and it felt (to me only, I'm sure) that I had this glorious Mick Taylor-ish tone. It felt liquid and beautiful. I could have played all night. It made me play more sensitively and responsively, and I could find a sound for everything. It may not have been an exact match, but everything sounded great to me, and I know that loving my tone gave my playing the most unbelievable lift.

I think I've always been reasonably good about using the guitar's controls, but this was an absolute game-changer of a night. It's like I suddenly got it. Maybe it was the nostalgia of the evening, maybe it was playing in front of people for the first time in ages, whatever. I am not about to sell all my other gear, but I think this does signal a real change in the way I approach things.

AlanRatcliffe

el guapo wrote: It's like I suddenly got it.

We live for those moments. ?

singemonkey

Hallelujah! My brother, you have been saved! You have seen the light of righteousness! ?

The reason it sounded (I'm sure not only to you) Mick-Taylorish, is because all he was doing was running a Les Paul or SG through a cranked Ampeg tube amp. No insipid pre-amp drive.

Playing like that is a joy and a pleasure that the fun of having 8 different distortion pedals cannot match. You finally get to really hear your guitar, and use its knobs, as nature intended.

Psean

el guapo wrote: It made me play more sensitively and responsively, and I could find a sound for everything. It may not have been an exact match, but everything sounded great to me, and I know that loving my tone gave my playing the most unbelievable lift.

I think I've always been reasonably good about using the guitar's controls, but this was an absolute game-changer of a night.

?
It's good, innit ?? For me the responsiveness of decent amp is what makes electric guitar playing. Picking dynamics as well as the guitar 's controls... The amp really becomes part of the instrument rather than just something that makes it louder.

el-guapo

It's not like I've been playing nasty-ass solid state amps with an MT2 in front up till now, but it was still a bit of a Damascus moment (and Singe is so right about my reliance on pre-amp gain). The amount of sustain I got with a remarkably low level of gain was astounding, too. That advice about "take however much gain you think you need and drop it by a third" finally hit home.

briang-telkomsa-net

When I do get to play electric that's the way I do it - basically plug in and play.
Not because I really prefer it that way - none of my pedals work and my old Peavey amp's reverb unit is shot. ha ha :?

Have to agree though - without all the "extras" one does have to really listen to what you're doing, so "less is more" then?

Psean

el guapo wrote: It's not like I've been playing nasty-ass solid state amps with an MT2 in front up till now, but it was still a bit of a Damascus moment (and Singe is so right about my reliance on pre-amp gain). The amount of sustain I got with a remarkably low level of gain was astounding, too. That advice about "take however much gain you think you need and drop it by a third" finally hit home.

It was similar for me. Had a nice amp but, the way I use it has changed over the last few years and it's become a hell of a lot more fun.
I have a Laney VC-15 and used to use the channel switcher, with squeaky cleans on the one channel and relatively high gain on the other. This meant I had to keep the master volume low, otherwise the cleans weren't clean. Somewhere along the line I ditched the switch and started using it as a single channel amp. I now crank the master vol a lot more, and back the preamp off 'til the point where, with my Strat's volume on 7 I get cleanish tones with a light strum. Turn up full and it's pretty filthy, but still responds well to how hard you whack the strings. I still use effects pedals to add different colours or whatever, but I don't see myself moving away from amp drive as the foundation any time soon.

singemonkey

Psean wrote: ?
It's good, innit ?? For me the responsiveness of decent amp is what makes electric guitar playing. Picking dynamics as well as the guitar 's controls... The amp really becomes part of the instrument rather than just something that makes it louder.

This.

Bob-Dubery

singemonkey wrote: Hallelujah! My brother, you have been saved! You have seen the light of righteousness! ?

The reason it sounded (I'm sure not only to you) Mick-Taylorish, is because all he was doing was running a Les Paul or SG through a cranked Ampeg tube amp. No insipid pre-amp drive.

Playing like that is a joy and a pleasure that the fun of having 8 different distortion pedals cannot match. You finally get to really hear your guitar, and use its knobs, as nature intended.

It's fun to listen to as well.

Currently playing in my car is the live Fleetwood Mac album recorded in early 1970 and you get that old fashioned sound and dynamics and it's great. All they had was the guitar and the amp, and yet you don't want for dynamics or variation. Spencer in particular goes from a whisper to a roar (with the band responding) in a single solo.