Electric Novice looking for advice

[moon]

Originally Posted by mandobaron

I want to make sounds like these ... Warm, a little crunchy but mostly clean. It sounds very "organic" to my ears, but thats a word I just made up, maybe there is a real word in the electric world.

The guitar tone control, or maybe the amp tone control (if it has one..) is dialled back a bit. This, combined with the neck pickup, gives you that jazzy sound.

Just about every guitar can do a variation of this. Single coils will tend to be a tad more dynamic and more focussed but a 335 with low-wind humbuckers could impress too.



That's a Gibson Goldtone GA-15 (aka Trace Elliot Velocette) he's playing through.

Back to your Julian Lage clip.. the amp is set so there's no audible distortion (tube clipping) until he strums a chord with moderate force. Single notes will sound clean (although there is still some pre-distortion clipping going on which adds a little something to the sound).

Any tube amp can be set up like that, ie with the gain a little under the break-up point. The bigger the wattage, and the more sensitive the speaker(s), the louder it will be.

Here's another nice clean sound - but he's playing through a solid state amp so it won't break up when you lean into it, the way a tube amp would with the gain set close to the break-up point.



Ultimately, it's all a balancing act: pickups, amp, speaker/cab - and maybe a pedal or two - all have to work together to give you the sound in your head. There's probably more than one combination which would give you a really nice, responsive, touch-sensitive "jazzy" type of sound to play with.

Incidentally, many classic tube amps are surprisingly simple circuits. The Tweed Champ is very a popular DIY project.

[mandobaron]

Mulling things over still, and doing a bunch of research. Musician's Friend is running a 15% off, and that could get me a Bugera V5 and a American Special Tele for $1020 total, which seems like a decent deal. I'd happily buy used, but don't seem to see much in the way of savings over that on places like Reverb, and I'm in a fairly remote area when it comes to scouring Reverb.

Thoughts on this price for the amp and guitar?

Thanks,
Baron

[mandobaron]

I also just found a 2015 MIM tele with Texas Special pickups and 3 saddle barrel bridge setup local on craigslist, they are asking $450, but I could try to negotiate.

Thanks,
Baron

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by mandobaron

I also just found a 2015 MIM tele with Texas Special pickups and 3 saddle barrel bridge setup local on craigslist, they are asking $450, but I could try to negotiate.

Thanks,
Baron

The Classic Vibe Tele gets a LOT of love here and everywhere. $399 without discount. Many say they are as good or better than the MIM stuff. Worth a look IMO, as are my favorites - G&L

[mandobaron]

Originally Posted by roylor4

The Classic Vibe Tele gets a LOT of love here and everywhere. $399 without discount. Many say they are as good or better than the MIM stuff. Worth a look IMO, as are my favorites - G&L

Thanks Roy, I'll keep my eyes out. Also been intrigued by the Baja. I'm going to go to a store that apparently has a bunch of various teles and see what I can learn.

Thanks,
Baron

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by moon

The guitar tone control, or maybe the amp tone control (if it has one..) is dialled back a bit. This, combined with the neck pickup, gives you that jazzy sound.

Just about every guitar can do a variation of this. Single coils will tend to be a tad more dynamic and more focussed but a 335 with low-wind humbuckers could impress too.



That's a Gibson Goldtone GA-15 (aka Trace Elliot Velocette) he's playing through.

Back to your Julian Lage clip.. the amp is set so there's no audible distortion (tube clipping) until he strums a chord with moderate force. Single notes will sound clean (although there is still some pre-distortion clipping going on which adds a little something to the sound).

Any tube amp can be set up like that, ie with the gain a little under the break-up point. The bigger the wattage, and the more sensitive the speaker(s), the louder it will be.

Here's another nice clean sound - but he's playing through a solid state amp so it won't break up when you lean into it, the way a tube amp would with the gain set close to the break-up point.



Ultimately, it's all a balancing act: pickups, amp, speaker/cab - and maybe a pedal or two - all have to work together to give you the sound in your head. There's probably more than one combination which would give you a really nice, responsive, touch-sensitive "jazzy" type of sound to play with.

Incidentally, many classic tube amps are surprisingly simple circuits. The Tweed Champ is very a popular DIY project.

Hey great post. thanks. Being that I just got back into electric after 40 +years so am basically a newbie. I find a lot of useful knowledge on this forum
things as simple as "the guitar or amp tone control dilled back" is great info for us old beginners.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by mandobaron

...Musician's Friend is running a 15% off, and that could get me a Bugera V5...

Just picked one up myself - here's the link:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=460805