Building Tone - Getting The Guitar Sound That is Right For You

Acoustic Vs. Electric - Tone Considerations

Acoustic Guitars, when it comes to tone, are much more organically arrived at, and it all starts with the sound of the guitar itself, and then playing that guitar through the cleanest PA or amplifier system you can afford - no great mysteries there.

But electric guitars are different; there are too many factors involved in getting a great tone from an electric guitar, and they can be endlessly tweaked and added to. This can be aggravating, but it can also be rewarding, when you have sifted through a myriad of factors and finally achieved the perfect tone for you.

Knowing Your Tone

The first part of getting your perfect tone is having some idea of what that tone is, and this is where the type of guitar you will want to get really comes into play. If you want wide open, airy sounding chords and clean tones it is hard to beat a single coil or strat/tele style guitar. Single coil pickups excel at this type of sound. 

This Washburn Sonamaster is an excellent example of a Strat style single coil guitar!

However, if you want your clean sounds a bit darker and denser, Les Pauls or hollow-body guitars do really well, and they are great when it comes time to pour some distortion on mix!

My personal favorite pickup configuration is a combination of the two; a strat style guitar with a Double Humbucker in the bridge position. This allows me to get the clean, airy sound that I want for chords, and the dirty growl that humbuckers excel at!

A perfect mix of single coil clean clarity and the fat distortion tones possible with a
double humbucker make the double single single configuration of this guitar my favorite!

After The Guitar

Once you have chosen the guitar you want there will be two different things that will allow you to zero in on the exact tone that will make you happy. 

Remember, when it comes to tone, there is no right or wrong answer. Study other people's sounds to see how they do it, but keep in mind that your tone is your own. Try weird things, and don't be afraid to ignore the advice of others - don't be afraid to take it either, sometimes it can save you a lot of time on your journey!

The Amp

The second leg of your tone will be your guitar amp. I personally look for an amp that has a certain clean sound that I am looking for; I can get the distortion I want through a variety of different means.

But some people want a particular amp just because it has a certain sound in the distortion mode. Mesa Bogies spring to mind for this, as well as Marshalls and Orange - note that amps chosen for this reason are usually tube amps. For this reason, this can also be one of the more expensive parts of your tone chain! 

Take your time, and play a lot of different amps, then choose the best one you can afford.

Traynors have a very distinct distortion sound but also possess crystal clear clean tones!

Fenders are workhorses, and while I do not like most of the distortion sounds on Fender Amps
the clean sound is worth it!

A Matter Of Effects

Effects, whether they come in individual effect pedals or in a multi-effect unit are the last leg of your tone, but they can be just as important as the amp and the guitar.

As with everything, getting the really good stuff costs money but keep your mind open when it comes to effects. Some cheap effect pedals are wonderful, but when it comes to music gear including effects you generally get what you pay for.

Multi-Effects and Stomp Boxes

For most of my playing career I have used multi-effect units, like the Boss GT Series or what I am currently using, a Vox Tonelab unit.

You can get some great tones out of multi-effects units, and I love them for their versatility and the fact that one button push can trigger a whole new sound set. The built in expression pedal is great too, for adjusting modulation speeds, acting as a volume or wah pedal, or adjusting many other parameters.

The down side to multi effects units is that they can be a pain in the butt to program, and if you do not have a lot of time they can be very aggravating to work with. There are some amps too that just do not like being hooked up to these units. Usually, the better the clean sound on an amp is, the better it will sound with a multi-effects unit.

Single stomp box effects, on the other hand, generally sound good through just about any amp, and it is very hard to beat the quality levels of individual stomp boxes. 

They are also much easier to adjust to get just the sound you want, but there is some degree of experimentation that you will want to do.

The Robert Keeley pedals are very hard to beat, and while they are a bit more expensive than the average Boss or DOD pedal they are a boutique pedal made in the USA, and they have unrivaled tone and adaptability!

The Vibe-O-Verb is one of my favorites, and is just $149!

Changing the order of the stompboxes can make a big difference in how the sound gets to the amp, so when you are playing with individual effects get deep into the pedal and make big adjustments to see what the pedal can really do. 

Once you are happy with that, try changing the order that the pedals are plugged into each other, and see how much of a difference putting your distortion or reverb in front of or in back of the other pedals. 

The other cool thing about using effect pedals is that it is fun to search for new little gems to fill out your sound - in fact, I am toying with the idea of re-doing my guitar rig one more time, I have found myself inspired by some of the effect pedals I have been trying out to write this piece!

To try out the Robert Keeley pedals, come to the newest music store in Lincolnton James House of Deals!We have got a wide range of guitar effects in Lincolnton and also carry many new and used instruments, strings, accessories and more!