Trying to get a really clean, almost crystalline sound

[moon]

As mentioned, more gain starts to make the sound crunchy and overdriven so keep it low.

There's a lot of reverb on the guitar in the video you posted. It reminds me a bit of a Jaguar tone (although I've only ever seen her play a Les Paul). They're great instruments for indy guitar stuff.

The notes also sound like they're palm muted if you know how to do that: touch the heel of your hand on the ends of the strings at the bridge just enough to damp the string a little bit but not enough to make it go completely dead.

If it still sounds "edgy" (ie too bright?) turn down a treble control somewhere and/or use the neck pickup.

[jcarlos]

this has a "chunky" sound to me, i'm gonna play with my multifx pedals to see if I can get this tone, i'll report back if I can get a similar tone. that song instantly gave me nostalgia lol.

[pitner]

Recently I have started using IEM's. My rig is a pedalboard through a Fender Blues Jr through a SM57 to the pa and IEM's. I have the amp set for clean clean clean with the pre amp way down and power up. But a trick I found works really well is to just crack the volume on the amp. I don't need to hear it as I am using the IEM's and the Avion system gives me all the volume I need in the ear pieces. Just great for both acoustic and electric but bear in mind I am using the IEM's. To the naked ear it sounds really bad and lifeless but to the close place SM57 very pristine indeed.

[ombudsman]

If you really want squeaky clean sounds - and when you hear them, you may find that they aren't really what you wanted - you can get that by simply running direct into your DAW or PA system with no amp model at all. You'll almost certainly need some sort of clean EQ, since we're used to amps and speakers that have built in EQ curves as well as controls, and to roll off excess highs (above approximately 6K).

Short of that rather extreme approach, you can use a clean amp (possibly solid state) and clean, high headroom speakers with much more power handling than the amp output so that you are getting minimal harmonics from the speaker cone(s). If I was picking out components in a modeler for this, I would probably start with a Showman head, or a Hiwatt with the master all the way up and the channel volume low, and a cabinet with multiple JBL 12" or 15" speakers.

[johnd]

Originally Posted by clintj

Tried adjusting your pickup heights? A little change, maybe lower, can thin out the signal and give you a touch more glassiness.

Just quoting this because "glassiness" is probably a great way of describing the tone.

[DESERTRAT1]

Originally Posted by johnd

What do you mean by Headroom?

Head room describes the relationship between volume and tonal break up. The higher the head room the more volume required to cause the amp to distort. The amount of headroom is highly depended on an amps wattage rating. For instance an 85 watt Twin Reverb will resist going into over drive even at volume levels of 7 or 8 on the dial whereas a 22 watt Deluxe Reverb will begin to overdrive at 4 or 5. If you're playing through a small watt tube amp at low volumes it's not an issue. However, if you are looking for crystal cleans at higher volumes then you either need to mic the low watt amp or use an amp with more wattage.