Cleaner Tone

Steven Lafferty

New Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2019
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110
Location
Wood River, Illinois
I have a SE Custom 24 and I like the idea of the Split Coil Option. But, there are times I would like having a cleaner tone in Humbucker Mode. Any helpful hints are much appreciated. I am playing through a Fender Twin and I also carry a Fender Champion 100 as a backup, just in case. I also carry a Fender Nashville Telecaster just in case, but I don't like switching much. Besides, I love playing my SE too much of the time. I use D'addario XL 10-46 strings. I change strings about every couple weeks. I run a volume pedal, compressor, carbon copy delay, and a Tumnus OD. I know I could switch to the Tele. But, as I said I just love playing the SE so much. Thanks so much in advance for any help you can give me.
 
But doesn't that take away the volume on lead runs??
Lowering the pickups will make your overall sound cleaner and brighter, it's a fine solution if that's what you're looking for.

Many top pro guitarists never open the volume knobs all the way -- treating 7 or 8 as their baseline lead volume. It takes a bit to learn how to play this way but, players like Gatton, Buchanan and others did this to great effect.
 
What exactly do you mean by "cleaner tone"? Since you're playing a Fender Twin, I would imagine getting a clean tone isn't an issue. Do you mean less breakup, or just a different tonal quality like "chimey" or something? What is it about how your SE humbuckers sound thru your Twin that you'd like to change?
 
Oh, I forgot the easiest way to clean it all up. Use the low gain input on your amp. Easy peasy. That is literally what it is there for.

Back in the day, cheap guitar had weak pickups, good ones had powerful pickups. The idea behind the high and low gain inputs was to match the input level to the pickups for the best clean tone (because that's what the goal was) with a low noise floor.
 
I have a SE Custom 24 and I like the idea of the Split Coil Option. But, there are times I would like having a cleaner tone in Humbucker Mode. Any helpful hints are much appreciated. I am playing through a Fender Twin and I also carry a Fender Champion 100 as a backup, just in case. I also carry a Fender Nashville Telecaster just in case, but I don't like switching much. Besides, I love playing my SE too much of the time. I use D'addario XL 10-46 strings. I change strings about every couple weeks. I run a volume pedal, compressor, carbon copy delay, and a Tumnus OD. I know I could switch to the Tele. But, as I said I just love playing the SE so much. Thanks so much in advance for any help you can give me.
Set the amp up for a good clean tone with the guitar volume on 5 instead of 10. Turn the guitar volume control up for more gain, 5 or below for cleaner sounds.

It's pretty simple.
 
What exactly do you mean by "cleaner tone"? Since you're playing a Fender Twin, I would imagine getting a clean tone isn't an issue. Do you mean less breakup, or just a different tonal quality like "chimey" or something? What is it about how your SE humbuckers sound thru your Twin that you'd like to change?
There are times that I want a little "grit" and times I don't. I use a Tumnus Deluxe Pedal for the times I do. I would just like it to be "no grit" when I want it that way. Like a Tele but without having to switch to the Tele in the middle of a song or on ballads. I just like the Custom 24 to the point I wish it was all I had to play. One guitar to do it all. I guess maybe I'm asking too much or maybe I'm just lazy. LOL
 
Sounds painful!

Quite.

There are times that I want a little "grit" and times I don't. I use a Tumnus Deluxe Pedal for the times I do. I would just like it to be "no grit" when I want it that way. Like a Tele but without having to switch to the Tele in the middle of a song or on ballads. I just like the Custom 24 to the point I wish it was all I had to play. One guitar to do it all. I guess maybe I'm asking too much or maybe I'm just lazy. LOL

I'd put on a treble bleed if you don't already have one. Then when you roll back the volume it'll clear up considerably.
 
There are times that I want a little "grit" and times I don't. I use a Tumnus Deluxe Pedal for the times I do. I would just like it to be "no grit" when I want it that way. Like a Tele but without having to switch to the Tele in the middle of a song or on ballads. I just like the Custom 24 to the point I wish it was all I had to play. One guitar to do it all. I guess maybe I'm asking too much or maybe I'm just lazy. LOL
You can get one guitar to do everything. There have been many years I've done professional session work in connection with my ad recordings while only owning ONE guitar and ONE amp.

Watch this.

 
Joe is The Man.
I think Joe Bonamassa is a total Stud when it comes to guitar. He is one of the most knowledgeable and creative students of guitar today. I have always been in awe of his tremendous talent. If I had to pick only one super star of guitar today that is top of all the people I hold so high in opinion of, it would be Brent Mason. I don't say that Brent is better than Joe. I just say that Brent Mason's style is more in tune with the direction that I am in tune with. I have tried to copy certain licks from them both. I guess you could say too that Brent's style more resembles the pinnacle where I am trying to get too and knowing that I never will. Don't get me wrong, Joe Bonamassa is a true "Monster Guitar" player. He is certainly number 2 or 3 in my top 5 of the many many guitar players that I am in awe of.
 
You may need to reevaluate your amp/pedalboard set up. Sounds like your signal chain and amp settings are set up for a gritty 'clean' tone. It could be altered so your 'clean' tone is really sparkling clean, then grit gets introduced when you want it (likely through your pedalboard).

The other option is rolling back the volume at the guitar, but if you do it that way, you'll probably want to make sure your guitars have a treble bleed cap so you don't lose highs.
 
I think Joe Bonamassa is a total Stud when it comes to guitar. He is one of the most knowledgeable and creative students of guitar today. I have always been in awe of his tremendous talent. If I had to pick only one super star of guitar today that is top of all the people I hold so high in opinion of, it would be Brent Mason. I don't say that Brent is better than Joe. I just say that Brent Mason's style is more in tune with the direction that I am in tune with. I have tried to copy certain licks from them both. I guess you could say too that Brent's style more resembles the pinnacle where I am trying to get too and knowing that I never will. Don't get me wrong, Joe Bonamassa is a true "Monster Guitar" player. He is certainly number 2 or 3 in my top 5 of the many many guitar players that I am in awe of.

For me, 'The Man' is just an expression, meaning, I take Bonamassa's opinion seriously. But I don't think there's such a person as 'best guitar player'. There are lots of them!

I don't want to sound preachy, and hope I don't, but I think it's a topic worth discussing, and besides, I make my living in the arts and have a perspective that might be a bit different than most folks'. In any case, it's an interesting topic.

In my sessions, I've employed players with astounding chops who've blown my mind, each in their own way, and who've toured with famous artists and bands. They're all different. They all do great things. I respect them all.

As a band leader, performer, session player, writer, producer and singer - all of which involve different (related) skills, Bonamassa is certainly worthy of a high degree of respect. I'm sure that's all he'd even want. So is Brent Mason in a different way, and so are lots of others in their ways.

Perhaps trying to answer the question, "Who's the greatest artist?" does a disservice to the art. Everyone who's great carves out their own space, absorbs influences from those who came before, has unique tone - I could go on and on.

I can't say for sure what art is, but I'm pretty sure there isn't is some kind of competitive game, with rules, statistics, and championships, This is why I think awards shows are kind of silly; they're just promo bs.

I have my favorite artists, of course. But there isn't much point in creating a pecking order for them, or anyone else, really.

For me music is a celebration of what's possible artistically, and there are so many people of merit making it that it's actually a little daunting to put my own stuff out there in the world - I know it's inevitably going to be compared to what's already there (well, what genre and what composer or band does this sound like and blah blah) because so little is taken on its own merits. However, I think art should be taken on its own merits.

It's a difficult enough thing to be in the arts professionally. Pecking orders just make it harder.

"Then why do you say your orchestral work sucks when you post it?"

"Oh, well, because it pretty much does. But I'm working on it!!" ;)
 
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