i know I know. The best way to achieve this tone is to buy a Gibson. However, Gibson’s subpar instruments and their PR decisions lately leave me unable to give them my money. I’ve got 4 PRS guitars (CU22, CU24, Singlecut from 2001, McCarty 594) and i don’t want to mess up any of their sounds in my pursuit of this certain tone. I’d be proud to ad another PRS to my home. Has anyone had a combination of pickups or anything that can mimic a good LP tone (specifically Slash AFD tone) with a decent, upstanding PRS guitar? Don’t flame me, bro.
Slash's main guitar is not Gibson. It's a boutique copy. The story went that his tone was born when his tech put in the alnico 2 that shimmi mentioned.
What I've found helps to get a Slash AFD tone is a treble booster pedal. Specially one that you can adjust the gain of. Set it fairly low just to give an overdriven amp a boost and give it some cut. I would have thought that your 594 and an amp with some decent Marshallesq overdirive, and a bit of treble booster on top would get you in the ballpark.
Don't discount the scale length (achieved with your 594) and .010 Slinky's tuned down a half-step. To me, these are critical details.
Agreed 200% E flat tuning is very important. On my side I have a Greco Les Paul with APH-2 set (just because these PU set matches well this LP), but the key is 11 gauge and E flat tuning. I also roll off the tone a bit. I mainly use treble PU but sometimes using the neck PU is mandatory like for sweet child. 594 seems to be the most adequate guitar in your collection, but the CU22 could be a good option too (if it is with D2). Roll off the volume to have less juice
Slash uses Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 Pick-ups - I believe he has his own Signature Pick-ups. If you don't want to change your PRS guitars, you can get a decent Epiphone and stick those SD Alnico 2 PU's in and it will do a great job. Also need to make sure you have the amp to do it too because that also had a lot to do with his sound too - it does depend on how close you want to get and how much you are willing to spend to get it. The closest Amp I have ever heard is the Marshall AFD amp but that was limited edition and, if you can find one, not going to be cheap. It wasn't just the guitar that gave Slash his sound but a combination of that with a modded Marshall and the rest of his Rig. The closest I have heard is the Marshall AFD with a Les Paul and his signature Pick-ups but I have heard numerous other guitars/amp combinations that do decent enough versions. I don't know how many different humbucker/amp combinations I have heard doing the Sweet Child intro because there are so many people that do it to demo guitars - inc a demo I heard for the PRS 509 which is quite different from a Les Paul. At the end of the day, you have at least a couple of guitars that could get relatively close with the right amp and settings but it really depends on how close you really want to get. There are quite a few people that have spoken about his AFD tone, the gear etc so you can find out what you may need to get to get closer but it really depends on how close and what budget you have.
It's not the gear. A decent amp and your 594 will do it all night long. It's your fingers. Play that Slash riff 10,000 times and turn your tone knob. You'll find the sound.
i remember circa 2002-3 i went and played either a PRS Standard 22 or Custom 22 (can't remember it was ~$2400 then) and was laying down the creamiest Slash solos through a Marshall (think Sweet Child, Knockin on HD, November Rain) and had goosebumps, and the guy at the shop was like dang that sounds good. I still regret not buying that guitar (someone had dropped it and it had a dent in the bottom and was $600 off, plus i was broke). I think either of those guitars had Dragon II pickups and i only played in the bridge pickup.
@hord1080 you nailed it, no one talked about the most important of Slash sound: fingers So to summarize, a lot of practice, marshallish tone (with a boost if needed) , E flat tuning, and use tone pot.
I have a set of these still need to be installed - https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk/creamery-87-humbucker-pickup.html. By all accounts they should be an excellent set of pups for the AFD sounds. I just need to stop browsing Reverb and eBay for my next PRS and sit down and install them so that I can actually make a forum post with some constructive info.
A lot of it will be using the right amp - the Slash amp initially used on recordings was modded. Tune down a half step as Hans suggests, mess with the tone controls, and I’d be surprised if you can’t come very close.
AFD sounds like AFD & you're just not going to replicate it without millions of dollars of studio equipment. Slash himself has not replicated that tone live or on any other album. Learn the tunes as best you can. Play with attitude & emotion & you'll have 80% of it. Tweak your amp for another 10
Agreed. My point is don't kill yourself overthinking everything. Don't waste time trying to do what Slash himself hasn't done. For Slash, it's all about the music & the tone is part of that. But the music is first.
From a practical view, 100%. For some, the quest to nail a particular tone is the journey that motivates them. To each his own.
I saw a mini Silver Jubilee at NAMM that looked pretty cool! An SE245 with Duncan A2s would complete the set...or, at least, you’ve run out of excuses for not sounding something close to him.
Getting 'close' isn't too difficult. Its been done hundreds of times to varying degrees but getting it spot on is not easy and the only Amp that I have heard that nails it was the AFD Marshall Amp. It really depends on how close you want to get but you can get close enough with relative ease with a double humbucker guitar...
I expect that if you got the same amp, guitar and slash to play through them you would only get 'close' rather than dead on as a lot of the final sound would have been tweaked in production.
That maybe true - but Slash playing his Les Paul with Signature Seymour Duncan's and the AFD Amp sounds incredibly close and you would really need to have great hearing to distinguish which was which. Over the many years since Appetite really took off, there have been countless people - inc Slash himself that has played those tracks. Its worth mentioning Slash because his 'Live' performances were not using the exact AFD gear - inc the Guitar as he plays Gibson's live. I don't know many that would say its not close enough that its 'bad' or being over critical of the tones that the vast majority have managed with numerous brands, models, amps etc. Like I said in my first post, it really depends on how close you want to get. I am sure I could get reasonably close enough to with the gear I have. It may not be 'exactly' the same but would be close enough to do an acceptable version. Maybe get even closer in the production. In any case, why does it need to be 'exact'??
