TONE TIPS!

[manicstarseed]

PON, I appreciate your input on this. 

I am really just wondering if there is any value (or harm) in getting a bypass-able buffer built into a loop system.

[picture_of_nectar]

prolly not, I don't know a whole lot about them...

[sour d]

In another thread, Sour D mentioned the added connections, extra cable, etc...

That was just my personal preference after using a switcher at gigs. I tried my rig both ways and that's the road I took. I don't usually have to kick on or off several effects at once with the shit I'm playing. Usually they come on one at a time and get turned off in the reverse.
If you are serious about learning about true bypass I would suggest googling 2 names. Pete Cornish and Bob Bradshaw. In a nutshell I believe they both prefer a good buffer. I had AO install the unity gain buffer in my phiga bolt and I would recommend that to anybody that is pushing there signal through a long chain. Worked for Jerry. Works for me. Trey seems to enjoy the benifits of buffers as well. Warren Haynes runs a 20' cable into his wah and a 20' cable out just because he likes it that way. Personal preferences. Jimi Hendrix never even heard of true bypass and he sounded ok. 20' cable into a pedal, 10' cable into another, when he was done there was like 80' of cable or something. The key, and I think most of you understand this, is what sounds good to you. When everybody told Trey he was wrong for running tubescreamers before his compressor he said I don't give a fuck.

[IamWILSON]

sour d - I agree with your thought process about the loop master as I remember reading it recently.  I've been thinking about getting one for over a year now and as I weighed the cost of twice as many cables + cost of the loop master and realizing that when I do have enough various pedals on in my chain, my cable length will actually be doubled in length, I started rethinking the whole thing.

As far as buffers out there, what are some options?  And what about pedals that act as a buffer?  As I've heard the boss tuner pedal acts as a great buffer.  When I read the manual from the Alesis Microverb I, I was under the impression that it is actually a buffer as well.  And if it's second to last in my chain, is that all I need?  Also, keeping in mind that I pretty much always have a tubescreamer and my compressor left on. 

[manicstarseed]

So far we chatted a little bit about proper grounding, ground loops, noise and buffers. Tone is developed from so many variables its hard to name them all. In my quest for tone, one place I looked at was the source of the sound... "Plucking."

The manner in which we pluck the strings dictate the source frequencies. The presence or absence of any particular frequency is the ultimate source of Tone. Good tone is subjective and can be achieved with fingers or a pick (and any combination thereof). The picks can be paper thin or brick thick. Trey uses a 2mm graphite pick, played on edge... Santana uses a huge paper thin triangular pick. Mark Knoffler uses his fingers. All of them have great tone.

I have used differing pick thicknesses and here are my findings;

Thinnest (0.1mm) - Trill picking and fast lead picking super easy, virtually no pick noise, compression happens at the pluck. You can only pluck the strings so hard so the dynamic response is decreased. Beautiful legato tone.

Thickest (0.83mm) - Greater dynamic range, increased control, increased attack on pluck, Staccato tones. Easier artificial harmonics.


I tend to use the Tortex greens or yellows (.83/.68) , but I do know I can use thinner picks for a legato/speed effects. I find I tend to want more bite on the strings than less.  I wonder if I should try a thicker pick....


I need to get on with my day for the moment, but I did want to put this  topic out there for the Tone Tips. Ill be back for more....

[IamWILSON]

Manic, this is quite the can of worms in my guitar world.  Mostly because I have been through the ringer and back on guitar picks over the years and have tried as thin as .5 mm to as heavy as 3.0 mm, and pretty much everything in between, including the little small sized picks (like the Dunlop Jazz III) and those big over-sized picks. 

I agree mostly with what you say with the exception of speed picking.  I find it easier to pick faster with a heavier pick as opposed to thin.  Reason being that a thinner pick has the give and flexibility to grab the strings and slow down some fast alternate picking, and as I've taught speed or tremolo picking to my students, the ones who were using thin picks and tried a heavier one, found it easier after the change.  Also though, with a heavier pick I find it beneficial to alter the angle of pick attack to about 45 degrees to the string instead of the pick flatly attacking in line (parallel, or horizontal whichever way makes more sense) to the string. 

When I was younger and learning my craft I used to use those green Tortex .83s religiously.  As I grew up I went through a phase of liking lighter picks, and then kept moving heavier and heavier.  Now, as cliche as it sounds, I do use the Adamas 2.0 graphite picks, but only for electric rock music.  The tone they produce is really desirable for an amplified sound, but I quickly found that I don't like them on my acoustic, or for jazz.  So on my acoustic I'll use either the Dunlop gator grip 2.0 or 1.14.  This is all dependent on what kind of music I'm playing.  If I know I'm gonna really be strumming hard I cut back to the lighter pick, as sometimes I tend to make the bridge buzz a little. When playing jazz, I usually play with a much lighter attack, and also didn't care for the Adamas pick's tone so I can get away with the gator grip 2.0s, but I also like the little tiny Dunlop Jazz III picks, and lately I've been sticking with the 1.14mm, but I've also got another pack, I think 1.5 that I don't mind at all either.  And I also find it easier to cup the pick when I use my thumb for strumming while comping, or even when I want to use thumb and fingers. 

[IamWILSON]

As I replied to Manic's last post I realized I could keep on going so instead of typing way too much info for one post I decided to break it up and start another thread for this matter, as I believe pick choice has to take into account the following variables: your guitar's action and the attack strength of your strumming hand.  My guitar tech made me aware of this probably about 3 years ago and this directly correlates as to why I use so many different picks for different styles of play.

If you prefer to have very low and fast action, you need to have a light attack with your strumming hand or you will get fret buzz that will negatively affect your tone.  There are 2 ways to solve this - pick lighter (which sometimes is hard to do when you are "expressing yourself," and/or use a lighter pick.  If you are still getting fret buzz, then you should raise your action slightly until the fret buzz stops.  Remember that fret buzz means that some strings are not vibrating freely and the sounds the string produces will dampen faster because of it.  Because of my delicate picking attack when I play jazz, I can have my jazz guitars set up with ridiculously low action and they sound great!  But as soon as I start playing rock music, I know I put way more energy into what I do, so I can't have as low action, but I still have really low action on my rock guitars, mostly thanks to something known as fret level, crown and polish.  But that's a whole other tone topic within this thread! 

Anyway, I do prefer the tone and dynamics that the Adamas 2.0mm pick allows me to have when playing rock music, so I sacrifice a little bit of action height for my tone.  My guitar tech is the one that made me realize it! And as I type this, I do remember an old Guitar Player magazine interview with Trey talking about his Languedoc, and how sometimes he asks Paul to lower his action, but he never does, and I gotta believe that it's because Paul does not want to sacrifice tone so Trey can play some licks easier.  Hahaha...

[manicstarseed]

OK so I went ahead and got some 2mm picks...

These are the ones I got and do I love them. I am not sure  what they are "called" They sound great and I think they suit my playing.  I am going to need to get some Adams to check out what all the fuss is about, but so far my entry into 2mm land is a good one.

[Happyorange27]

Cool dude. Oh and it's Adamas, not Adams. I had to learn that too:). Love them.  Get some. Happy picking.

[fulltone1989]

OK so I went ahead and got some 2mm picks...

These are the ones I got and do I love them. I am not sure  what they are "called" They sound great and I think they suit my playing.  I am going to need to get some Adams to check out what all the fuss is about, but so far my entry into 2mm land is a good one.

I have two of those and I love them, gotta get some of those jim dunlop ones too.

[manicstarseed]

I have two of those and I love them, gotta get some of those jim dunlop ones too.

How long does that sharp tip last?

[Happyorange27]

I have two of those and I love them, gotta get some of those jim dunlop ones too.

How long does that sharp tip last?

I can't speak for the sharp tip; I play on the round part.  But I've been playing the same pick for 1.5 years and there is no visible wear.  These things are indestructible. Also the price Dunlop is asking for is super.  I'm going to get me a sack ASAP. Sorry I didn't answer the tip question.

[webephishin]

I figured my question would fall under this thread as opposed to starting a new one....SO, can someone shed some light on me about tone knobs? When to use it? Why use it? Whats the whole scoop on em?  I play a guitar with humbuckers and whenever I want that thinner/sharper tone I just play on the bridge pickup whereas if I want more of that softer/hollow tone I'll play on my neck pickup.  If the bridge pickup is too bright, i simply turn the volume knob down a little bit....I feel like whenever I use my tone knobs, the tone suffers.  Is it because my pickups aren't the greatest (duncan designed)?  Is it because my guitar isn't a 900$ guitar?  Could it be because my tone knobs are sketchy?  For what it's worth, my tone knobs are very "loose" and don't have much resistance when turning them.  The threshold on them is very pronounced, meaning there is not much of a difference until the knob is turned to a certain point, in which case the tone suffers a lot (IMO) and it becomes sort of muddy and too "hollow/bassy".  For these reasons I never use my tone knobs.  But if there's something I'm missing out on by not using them, I wanna know how I can fix it.  I constantly see guitarist mess around with their tone knobs when i'm watching them perform, and I just can't figure it out. With that said, i know there are inadvertant times where after i strum a string or chord, my hand will automatically go to the knobs just in case i need to turn up or turn down...but never do I use those tone knobs....

[Happyorange27]

There is nothing wrong with your tone knobs. The only thing you might explore is a different taper pot to get a more gradual slope. I rarely use my tone knob. Since I always dial in my rig with my tone knob at 10, that's where everything sounds the best. Now if you want to take some harsh highs off of your sound for some reason on stage and you are already on the neck pickup, roll that tone knob down. Or if you want to sound more like a jazzy guy, roll it down. Or say you are starting a very dramatic solo and you want to build it real good. Roll that knob down in the beginning so that you sound like you are in the woodwork. Then gradually rollout back up as you build the solo. Then it makes you sound more present. Hope that helps.

[fulltone1989]

I EQ my rig using my neck pickup, and I normally keep my bridge tone around 8 and it evens out excellently.