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Bonamassa lession in tone...


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I really don't know if I like JB or not (the hype around him sucks for sure), but this little video leaves me thinking about my pedals. Or am I missing something? I mean, I know, for special high gain stuff Bonamassas way won't work but for the daily stuff?

Discuss.

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Totally agree.

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Monte, I think it works with high gain, too. Rolling off the volume, bringing in the neck pickup, adjusting tone knob, etc. and you can still achieve clean sounds. I'm just now starting to learn the power of the volume knob after years of playing.

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Well, it would help to be Joe Bonamassa, but mere mortals can do it, too. Newports with Phatcats do it really well.

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So off with all the pedals?

Guess we'll be seeing each other in the "Wanted to buy/to sell"-section... :-)

Maybe not.

Ya gotta do what works for you and your sound.

Personally, I never got along with pedals. Tried, it just didn't work for me. For others, it's a big part of how they sound.

So, ya gotta do what works for you and your sound.

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Back in the day I owned three Pedals -- BOSS digital delay and stereo Chorus, & a Crybaby Wah -- and I hardly ever used them. (still only own those three).

I am really lucky to be an original Mesa Boogie MK2C+ owner -- and my main guitar of the day was a Fender Lead III. Between guitar and amp I had/have every tone imaginable -- I wanted for nothing. It was all at my immediate finger tips. My baby finger worked the volume knob and tone knobs --- and the Lead III had just an amazing versatility - Humbuckers, Single coil ... all kinds of sounds - and the boogie was my ace in the hole. Needed nothing else.

A good guitar and amp are a sweet combo --- love to be able to plug in and blast off.

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Luckily, for a long time I couldn't afford a lot of different gear. I had a Lester that went through a 60 watt TSL JCM2000 that ran into a 4x12. I was gifted a G&L Legacy for graduation in high school, and my Dad passed me his Tele about 6 years ago after he had an unfortunate experience with a table saw. For years though, 99 - 2008, it was mostly just that LP and the Marshall. I could afford pickups and to try different tubes occasionally. Looking back, I'm glad that I had very good but limited gear. I really think it made me a better player than I would have been otherwise... and solderer.

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... and then there is gain on the amp.

In the video, Bonamassa had quite a lot of gain in the amp. An open gain setting gives you quite a range on the volume and tone knobs.

On the tube amps I hardly use any pedal except for a trebble booster that's on occasionally.

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Ok, folks, looks like I learned my lesson.

I played around with my amp last night, switching off any disstortion/boost/whatever pedal, and tried to find a setting with a good portion of gain that can be controlled with the guitar better than I could so far.

It worked out quite well with the Mon III, but probably I will have to change my amp. The Carvin V3M is nice and versatile, but maybe to "modern" for that purpose: The clean channel hasn't enough gain, and the two boost channels break up to early. Any recomendations (valves, with fx loop, living room friendly volume, not to heavy, maybe just a head).

Anyway, the quest continues, and I will indeed get rid of some of my pedals. :-)

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Hunt for a Valvetec or Vox Heritage with a Blue. The Vox should have the '58 EM86 circuit available. That's the one everybody used at the EU meeting.

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... and then there is gain on the amp.

In the video, Bonamassa had quite a lot of gain in the amp. An open gain setting gives you quite a range on the volume and tone knobs.

On the tube amps I hardly use any pedal except for a trebble booster that's on occasionally.

This. Of course what Joe B. does works. But, it work best on a smaller amp turned up so as you give it more volume input (guitar) it breaks up rather than get louder. If you did this with a Fender Twin it would be very loud. And, the approach leaves no clean headroom or actual volume dynamics. And, I actually like the tone I get from some distortion pedals...

And, if I could play like Joe B. I wouldn't need any pedals either. I’m compensating.

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Isn't this lesson just the basic essentials of guitar tone? I thought everyone who's played for more than a year knew this stuff...

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I'll second, or is it third, what gorch and bcsride said. That amp Joe is using is cranked.

If most of us tried to play out with that level of volume we'd get told to turn it it down pretty quickly.

That's precisely the reason most players use pedals, to try to get that cranked amp sound at a reasonable volume.

Joe also plays with baffles in front of his amps because of the volume.

Having said all that, he does sound great in that video.

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I'll second, or is it third, what gorch and bcsride said. That amp Joe is using is cranked.

If most of us tried to play out with that level of volume we'd get told to turn it it down pretty quickly.

That's precisely the reason most players use pedals, to try to get that cranked amp sound at a reasonable volume.

Joe also plays with baffles in front of his amps because of the volume.

Important points to consider.

I wouldn't go scrambling to redo my whole set-up just because of this video.

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^^^^^ both times Ive seen bonnamassa he had a pedal board as big as the top of my desk

But that is so he could sound like Eric Johnson.

I think what hes talking about is basic stuff but wont work real well at all volumes for all styles of music. when you run a big amp loud it doesnt take much up front to drive the amp/guitar. I think that a loud amp sings easier because of the outputs breaking up a little but also because of the interaction of the guitar with the high volume. I think using ods / distortions is a pretty good compromise at lower volumes . anyone whos played 1 or 2 large stacks at woodstock type volumes soon finds this out , its hard to even get close to the amp with a drive engaged and the guitar volume up

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Isn't this lesson just the basic essentials of guitar tone? I thought everyone who's played for more than a year knew this stuff...

Ouch. That hurts. :-))

No, seriously. You are right. That is indeed essential. But I was simply baffled HOW many different sounds the man produces. And the differences are huge.

Than again the hint with the volume was helpful. Didn't notice that...

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