How do I adjust my lead channel for blues

Bangbang · September 24th, 2008, 11:55 AM

Well? Thanks in advance.

johnreardon · September 24th, 2008, 01:35 PM

I play blues and always set my controls by ear. The acoustics of any place will affect the sound you get. How big the room is, how many people, does it have curtains, where you put your amp etc. Places are different, so for me, it seems wrong to set the amp up by numbers for every occasion

What I do sounds a bit long winded but actually takes about 1 minute.

I set all amp controls to zero, then I turn the volume/master settings high enough to hear them. You will need to turn one of the tone controls up a bit as well. Once you have a sound then turn all the tone (Bass, Middle, Treble) controls back to zero.

whilst hitting the bottom E, adjust the Bass control until the sounds hits a 'sweet' spot. This is when the bass really starts kicking in. You will recognise this sweet spot. The sound appears to go from weak to strong.

Then, whilst hitting the D string, turn the Middle up to the sweet spot.

Then whilst hitting top E, turn the treble to the sweet spot.

Then adjust any ancillary controls such as gain or reverb to your own preference.

Finally set volume/master volumes to taste.

I find the tone controls will vary a bit depending on location, but usually fall in the 5-8 range. I also do a bit of fine tuning as the night goes on and acoustics change.

BTW the sweet spot will also vary according to whether you are playing a single coil or humbucker. But I find differences are not that great. I should also say I play straight into the amp and use no pedals.

Try it and see

tylerangle1990 · September 24th, 2008, 02:51 PM

I just play through a DigiTech "Bad Monkey" pedal on about half or maybe 1/4 gain and the Vol. up a bit for a boost and then put on a bit of reverb on the amp (nothin like real springs IMO). Then I give it a little bit of grit and I usually crank the bass up quite a bit and you can either push mids or cut the mids in blues it seems like, I usually like to cut mids but both tones are equally good just a little different character. Then I usually put the treble at about half because I like that really nice warm sound, these setting will vary either a little or a lot depending on the amp and your personal preference but that's my basic setup. I REALLY love the neck pickup on the strat for those really good blues riffs, the middle is always good for that SRV kinda punchy low end and the bridge I don't use very often but is always good for those riffs when you need something bright to really cut through the mix.

ToneMonkey · September 24th, 2008, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnreardon

I play blues ...blah blah blah in a nice way.......
What I do sounds a bit long winded but actually takes about 1 minute.

I set all amp controls to zero, then ........blah blah....Try it and see

Oooooh........now I want to try it; but the kids are in bed.....suddenly my plans for tomorrow have changed......

This is one of those tips that you do....and find that you did anyway......but in another way...still.....I'm hooked..........gotta try it and see if I missed something and my tone was actually crap before!

The search for good tone is a long and lonely one..

The road is lo,o,ong....

kidmo · September 24th, 2008, 05:43 PM

Turn the knobs until it sounds good.
Then stop.
Play.

softmonkey · September 24th, 2008, 06:16 PM

Different amps produce different sounds. The Blues Jr. is a great amp, for instance, but very bright and glassy. I turn the bass all the way up and the treble to 1, Master all the way up and Volume to taste (louder the better). That's the fattest blues tone for that amp, for an example of one particular amp.

gpower · October 13th, 2008, 10:10 AM

I follow a similar setup pattern to johnreardon's except I start with all tone controls in the middle position. I adjust the volume to where I want it (with the guitar turned full up), bring the gain up to a nice crunch (that way I can back of the guitars volume when I want clean. You'll do a similar thing for lead in dialing in the most gain you'd use and being able to adjust it with the guitars volume control). Then I adjust the tone controls to the sweet spot for me, at that time. And, IMHO, that will vary almost every time you play.

Shades of Blue · October 13th, 2008, 12:06 PM

Ok, this is going to sound very sappy but....get a Boss bluesdriver!

I hated the bluesdriver at first because it was REALLY harsh sounding, but I just didn't know how to use it. What you do is turn the tone way down to about 10 oclock and the drive to about 11 or 10 also. What you get is a little overdrive that only kicks in at high level notes.

Also, make sure you have a good amp. The key to blues is to have a very Clean sound with just a touch of bite on the louder notes.

thaus · October 28th, 2008, 10:36 PM

well, this will sound even sappier than the last response.......get a Fulltone OCD!!

synchro · October 30th, 2008, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by softmonkey

Different amps produce different sounds. The Blues Jr. is a great amp, for instance, but very bright and glassy. I turn the bass all the way up and the treble to 1, Master all the way up and Volume to taste (louder the better). That's the fattest blues tone for that amp, for an example of one particular amp.

When I play a Strat through my BJr I usually end up cranking the mids and setting the treble and bass to taste. Amazingly, with many amps the bass sounds stronger with the bass control turned below the halfway mark. I didn't believe it until I tried it mysalf but it seems to work.

One other thing I've done for a fat Blues tone is to turn the amp up all the way (both master and channel volume) and control the volume level at the guitar.