Someone asked me about getting "that County sound".
TONE! That's always the thing, right!

I just put together a new 'grab n go' board for some smaller gigs.
Been working on it a couple weeks. Getting it all dialed in to
work together. 17 pedals. (Big board has 30.) And it's been "almost
there" for about a WEEK! I was missing just one tone that was
alluding me.

I had a great Surf/Spaghetti Western/Rock-a-Billy tone. Running
into an Egnater 1x12 20wt tube amp with a 1x12 extension cab. So,
2x12. Set for my Strat. (Gretsch, slightly different settings)

I also use a real Fender Deluxe Reverb a lot! But I have an advantage
using the Egnater. The extension cab! I loaded it with a 12" Eminence
Patriot Cannabis Rex. It has a slightly darker, and a bit grittier
sound. Blended with the other speaker, it sounds great. And grit tones
for Blues, etc. are exceptional!

But here's the thing. The Shadows, and The Ventures weren't Surf
bands! They were Guitar Instrumental Rock bands! Both had a similar
sound, but not the same! And, neither was generally as drippy as Surf.
Albeit, some of their tunes were pretty drippy!

What I was missing was Hank Marvin's sound. I was close! But not
quite there. I was listening to some Shadows tunes last night,
and it hit me! DOH!!!! PICK UPS!

I turned everything on. Fired up some Shadows tracks. Went to my
main Surf pedals. Started a track. And then . . .

On the big board, I had 4 reverb and 3 delay pedals, so I could set
the tone different on the reverb pedals. Some brighter than others.
On the new, smaller board, just 2 reverbs, 1 delay. Plus a Walrus
Ambient pedal.

I remembered that Hank used his bridge pick up a LOT! Not as mellow
as the middle! Played for a bit on the bridge pick up. But as everything
was set, without changing EQ or Comp settings (which are set globally,
always on, before any other pedals) . . .

. . . it was a bit shrill. Too much treble. So I changed to selector
switch position 2. Bridge and middle pick up. BINGO!

Note, I very well might have just used the tone knob on the guitar to
remove some of the treble. But for live performances, I like to keep
things easy, and thoughtless. It's a lot easier to just move the pick up
selector a click than it is to fiddle with the tone knob, and hope I
turned it just the right amount! At least, it is for me.

Sometimes it's as simple as pick up selection! So step 1, in your usual set up,
try using the bridge or position 2. The genres we're discussing are generally
going to be somewhere comfortably between trebly and trebl'ish mellow.

Some amps with presets have some "Vince Gill'ish" presets. What I suspect
you'll find is that it uses some reverb, probably a little delay slap back.
And if it's a 2x10 or 2x12, the delay is probably set to stereo. And Comp.

If you want to go the pedal route, (not using the amp presets/foot
controller) I'd suggest . . .

First, learn all you can about compressor pedals and compression. For Country,
especially chicken pickin' and pedal steel sounds, you need compression! Set
up to "compress", not as a gain or boost!

Once dialed in, you should be able to strum a chord, play single notes, double
and triple stops, and it should all be the same volume. I generally gig without a
rhythm player. So, I'm going back and forth between rhythm strumming, adding
fills, and jumping into solos. I do use a volume pedal. But very little! I also
roll my volume and tone knobs occasionally. But I don't usually need to, much!
Maybe just for dynamics!

Think about a surf tune. Live gigging using backing tracks. I play a lot of
this style. So, I'm constantly going from single note leads to double/triple
stops. Hardly ever touch the vol pedal! Same thing with Blues and Rock! I can
play rhythm and solos without changing anything! (I might use a different tone
for solos. If I don't, I don't need to change anything!)

Comp evens it all out!

Also, guitar setup is important. You need to balance out your pick ups! You
play each string open. Listen to the volume. Is each string about the same?
Or are the bass strings a lot louder than the treble strings? Adjust the pick
up height! Slightly! If the treble strings are lower volume, raise the treble
side a bit. Or lower the bass side! Balance them out. Do that for each pick up.

TRICK: You could set the middle pick up so each string is the same, but a little
louder than the other 2 pups! Or so the treble strings are louder! For solos
that mainly use the treble strings. Or do this on the bridge pick up!

Pick up position 1 or 2. Comp pedal, Reverb pedal, ideally one with a tone
control. Set to just a moderate amount. Not too "echoy". Just to warm it up.
And then add just a little delay, probably set to slap back. If it's a stereo
delay, cool!

Without knowing your entire set up, I'll say this. If you're using pedals for
your tones, get your amp setting "clean sound" first. Pristine! Probably a
LITTLE reverb. I'd use the amp reverb for this because it will ALWAYS be
a part of your main tone. The reverb pedal will be for adding a bit more.

Then, with your main tone established, start dialing in your pedals!

Twang, by definition, by the one who invented the term, is using the
whammy bar! Not spiking the treble.

OK, I probably confused you enough for now! LOL Work on it a bit. And ask me
questions any time! Email link below!

Wayne

~*~ Back to the Tutorials & Workshops Directory Page ~*~

---

---

Check out the new "Short Read" tutorial, "Series vs. Parallel Signal Chain"!
Make your board sound more responsive, more dynamic, go parallel!

The difference is AMAZING!

---

---

---

Hope you found this interesting. If you did, please feel welcome
to drop me a line. Email me, or drop me a PM on Facebook!

Email me any time! ~/~ Wayne on Facebook

My Band Website

Check out my Support Group
I Just Wanna Play The Darned Thing!


MidKar! Tracks Sharing Group!
My main Backing Tracks Support Website with 43,813 free bacing tracks!
SoundFont, MIDI editors and players and more! All distributed for free!

Visit my MIDI~KAR~BIAB website!

Please help keep us online with a small donation!

This site is free for all. The tutorials, workshops. 43,813 MIDI, KAR &
BIAB backing tracks files, 23 BIAB User Styles. A FREE SoundFont,
Timbres of Heaven. Free MIDI players and editor!

The fees for a site this large (Nearly 200 pages with over 50K files)
is pretty high, as you can imagine.

Please consider making a small donation to help keep us online. It
would help so much! Thanks! Wayne

PS: I pay for the site and all hosting, security and domain related
expenses out of pocket. Donations appreciated. Please click the link below.