Best setup for Jazz

Squonk

Seeing that I might soon have a Jazz Guitar what should I be looking at to get some serious Jazz Sounds.

I think Tuck records straight into the mixing desk?

I am thinking of Lee Ritenour, George Benson, Larry Carlton tone

Effects and Amp(Tube etc).

[deleted]

You might soon have a jazz guitar? Tell, Squonk...

Squonk

... Well Warren is selling this Tanglewood Jazzy thing that's looks quite perky ?

Warren

Special price for Squonk ?

Plugged it in now, such a great sounding guitar!

Warren

Squonk wrote: Seeing that I might soon have a Jazz Guitar what should I be looking at to get some serious Jazz Sounds.

I think Tuck records straight into the mixing desk?

I am thinking of Lee Ritenour, George Benson, Larry Carlton tone

Effects and Amp(Tube etc).

I'm no great jazz-cat but:

Don't think you need anything really fancy to get into some Jazz along the lines of George Benson or Wes Montgomery. The music is often more about jazzy rhythms (and rhythm changes) and chords and interesting harmonies and note selection than any particularly singular tone. The semi-hollow guitars do get a very nice warm, mellow clean tone, but you can get a reasonable approximation on any guitar. Neck pickup, roll off the tone and you're good to go.

Amp-wise, I go for a decent clean tone that is warm and full but still has good articulation. You should be able to achieve that on pretty much anything I would think. I get wonderful clean jazz tones out of my Valvetronix's clean models, based on Fender and Dumble rigs. Effects-wise a dash of reverb or delay is all you need to spice things up.

My Line6 Gearbox software has a decent enough "Modern Jazz" preset which is perfect to get going. I'm sure your POD should have something similar!

What you really want is to try and track down some nice free jazzy drum tracks on the web, so that you can waste big portions of your life improvising over those ?

Squonk

Thanks for the info Warren.

I think a good amp will be next on my GAS List.

Currently I play my Peavey through the Zoom or Pod into my Yamaha Stagepas or my dodgy little Kustom practice amp which sounds so thin and tinny at the best of times.

Cant wait to experience the "mellow" clean tones ?

AlanRatcliffe

Warren nailed it I think. As long as you're clean, you're OK (unless McLaughlin, DiMeola or Scofield are more your thing).

One other thing though: flatwound strings, at least .011 gauge. Nice and mellow.

Warren

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Warren nailed it I think. As long as you're clean, you're OK (unless McLaughlin, DiMeola or Scofield are more your thing).

One other thing though: flatwound strings, at least .011 gauge. Nice and mellow.

Yeah once you start approaching the jazz-rock / fusion realm the tone obsessiveness thing becomes as bad as it is anywhere else ? My TS808 can get some great distorted tones out of this little Tanglewood though (is it just me, or does the Tube-Screamer range really *sing* with humbuckers? I've been a bit underwhelmed with the single coil / TS combo in comparison...maybe once I get those Kinman Woodstocks in around 10 days things will change... ?). But you can still use the same guitar.

I tried flatwounds for a while and found them a bit too mellow for me, but they are very nice to play on.

AlanRatcliffe

Warren wrote: (is it just me, or does the Tube-Screamer range really *sing* with humbuckers? I've been a bit underwhelmed with the single coil / TS combo in comparison...

More people prefer them with single-coils than 'buckers (not that a TS is bad with 'buckers). SRV, EJ and countless others. Especially if you start including all the players of clones.

Warren

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
More people prefer them with single-coils than 'buckers (not that a TS is bad with 'buckers). SRV, EJ and countless others. Especially if you start including all the players of clones.

Well that's the thing, so I need to start experimenting a bit more to get that tone I'm looking for on the Strat. I find that when I stomp on the TS with my Les Paul, I get a great singing edge to the tone, whereas it seems pretty muddy on the strat, even with the gain backed off completely.

Keira-WitherKay

for that dated jazz tone. think hollow body guitar and straight into a tube amp but played at low volume......... even in full jazz orchestra's the guitarist never turns up ............. but in jazz/fusion thats where one gets louder ........ but for traditional or fingerstyle jazz a 30 watt tube amp is more than enough even a 15 W tube amp you just need to match the level of a piano

but to say just keep it clean and you good for jazz as some of the above posts says in not quite right ........... thats good for the entry level jazz but to get "good" ......well various opinions will exist on what good is ........ tone for jazz is also an endless testing of amps/guitars / PUPs and strings and NOT as simple as just play clean ..............cos thats like me saying just plug a les paul into an overdive pedal to get a rock sound just too much generalising ?

so yes happy jazz days squonk...... finding good jazz tone is your next quest then.......... looking forward to hearing you jazz it up .......

enjoy your new guitar

Warren

Keira WitherKay wrote:
but to say just keep it clean and you good for jazz as some of the above posts says in not quite right ........... thats good for the entry level jazz but to get "good" ......well various opinions will exist on what good is ........ tone for jazz is also an endless testing of amps/guitars / PUPs and strings and NOT as simple as just play clean ..............cos thats like me saying just plug a les paul into an overdive pedal to get a rock sound just too much generalising ?

Don't think anyone mentioned clean being good for all jazz? I was talking specific guitarist's tones i.e. Wes Montgomery / Benson which is almost always clean, and I wouldn't call either of those players "entry level". Maybe it is from a listener's point of view, where people get interested in light "cafe-style" jazz and then move into deeper, heavier territory.

Alan also mentioned the likes of Sco' and co. as being different altogether, tone-wise.

But yes, a decent amp will help loads regardless of style. Considering the rock guys are gigging with 15W amps these days, I'd say that for light jazz you could get away with a lot less than that, amp-wise! To match a piano's volume a decent 5W should suffice (unless you're playing with a Jerry-Lee Lewis).

Squonk

Thanks Keira, Alan and Warren

And definately no upcoming gigs with Jerry Lee ?

A 5w tube amp should suffice? Need to find ways of contributing to my GAS fund!

I will have more questions once I get the guitar and plug in.

My first objective will be to get that George Benson tone, I know he did dip into R n B and pop, but his tone(and his licks) almost give me the Gilmour Goosebumps.

Wes Montgomery will be on my research list now. Any good album suggestions?