Gear Talk

I know most guitarists are picky about their sound and most are interested in gear in general.  So, I figured I’d take the time to talk a bit about my gear that I’m planning on using (or at least bringing in) for the recording and the thinking behind my gear in general.  Will anyone ever read this?  Maybe, maybe not… but it’s here in case you’re wondering.

• Gibson SG Standard
• Fender Big Apple Strat
• Marshall JCM 800 2203 Reissue modded for Tung-Sol 6550 power tubes, JJs in the preamp
• Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100, Tung-Sol EL34B power tubes, Marshall branded preamp tubes with a Tung-Sol 12AX7 in V1
• Mesa 4×12 cab with Celestion Vintage 30s
• Marshall 1960A 4×12 cab with Celestion G12T-75s
• Fulltone OCD
• Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer
• MXR Wylde Overdrive (if I can get it to work)
• Electro Harmonix Nano Metal Muff (probably won’t use it but I’ll bring it in anyway)

Guitars:

The SG currently has a Gibson Dirty Fingers bridge pickup and a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P-90 in the neck for cleans but I might put in a Duncan Blackouts Metal in the bridge and move the Dirty Fingers to the Strat (the Big Apple Strat uses two humbuckers currently is has a Duncan Pearly Gates and a ‘59).

Amps:

I’d love to use the JCM 800 but it’s been buzzing with what sounds like a ground hum.  It could be the lights in the room or something.  The Tung-Sol 6550s sound great that I just had put in the 800.  I’m a fan of the Zakk Wylde “No More Tears” tone which is why I had it modded for 6550s.  At the same time I’m a huge Metallica fan and I really like their Ride The Lightning tone for which they use 100 watt Marshalls with a tube screamer overdriving the amp (in addition to the amp being modded).  I’m guessing their Marshalls used 6550s too because in the early ’80s EL34s (the “standard” Marshall tube) was in low supply and of poor quality so the American distributors of Marshall outfitted the amps with 6550s which produce a bigger bottom end and less compression.  Personally, I think the 6550s balance the brightness of the JCM 800.  My JCM 2000 is as great amp but the 800 just sounds better but if I need to use the 2000 then I’ll still be happy.

Pedals:

I don’t use many effects, I just like to overdrive the amp with pedals.  I just got a Fulltone OCD and it sounds really good.  It is very transparent and makes the amp feel like there is another gain stage in there.  I think I’ll use that for rhythm tones.  One piece of advise that I really liked from James Hetfield of Metallica is that he likes the sound of the guitar going straight into the amp.  He in fact never liked driving the Marshalls with the tube screamer.  So with the OCD I found a balance between the Zakk Wylde tone (Zakk uses overdrives in front of his 800) and the Metallica tone.  The Seymour Duncan Blackouts Metal that I might put in my SG might help me achieve more distortion out of the 800 without a pedal which would be nice because it would be great to have the option of having a cleaner distortion that isn’t colored by an overdrive pedal.  Also, the heavy midrange and bass of the Blackout Metals will hopefully further balance the brightness of the 800.  I have a Crybaby wah (the really basic one) but I never use it because it thins out the tone too much when it is off.  I’m going to try modding it for true bypass and maybe put a Fasel inductor in it but not before the recording.  I’m also going to try modding my tube screamer for more head room by swapping the diodes for light emitting diodes (LEDs) and I’ll also try getting some more bass response out of it.  I took an electronics course when I was still a physics major at UChicago so I have some basic knowledge of this stuff.

Goal:

The last influence on my tone that I need to mention is Slash.  I love the midrange squawk his sound has.  Part of this is that he uses pickups with alnico magnets (Duncan Alnico II Pro) which is why I might put in the Duncan Blackout Metals which use a more aggressive sounding alnico magnet (an alnico V instead of an alnico II).  Yeah I know this is the opposite of the Metallica tone but I’m always trying to find a compromise.  I guess if I could combine the crunchiness of Zakk Wylde, the heaviness of James Hetfield and the midrange bite of Slash then I’d be happy.  In summary, I love the SG because it has the warmth of Explorers and Les Pauls (due to its mahogany body) but has more upper midrange attack which helps it cut through a band.  I prefer Marshalls, especially the JCM 800, because they are easier to tailor with overdrive pedals and they tend to accentuate the guitar you use rather than impart their own sound (like Mesas and Peaveys tend to do).  Regarding settings, I like to boost the bass to compensate for the SGs lack of low end, I keep the presence pretty low, treble about noon and midrange pulled back.  Most people would cringe at scooping the mids but in my case, I use an SG with a JCM 800 even if I zero out the mids, it still has more midrange than most Boogies.

So, my settings are:

• Preamp: 8-10
• Master: 2 for practice
• Treble: 5-6
• Midrange: 2-3
• Bass: 8-10
• Presence: 2-3

Last word:

The ultimate goal of my rig is to have everything from heavy metal tones to sparkly cleans at the tips of my fingers.  I don’t change channels and a lot of our songs have a range of dynamics going from Metallica-heavy to (almost) jazz-clean in an instant.  How do I do it?  I use the volume knob on my guitar.  The Fulltone OCD is great because I can even clean up the tone while leaving it on by rolling back my volume knob.  If I turn it off, I can leave my volume on full and pick a bit lighter and get a clean tone from the 800.  So why not get a channel changing amp?  Essentially, I do have one but instead of hitting a switch, I use my picking attack, my guitar’s volume and tone knobs on the fly and an overdrive pedal.  This way, I get an infinite number of “channels” that I can change from where ever I need to on stage.  So, with my set up as it is, I have ultimate versatility and simplicity in one.

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