Chet

[skinnerb]

What sort of electric guitar and amp will give me the Chet Atkins sound? I'm a pretty fair fingerpicker and grew up listening to him. I play a Bourgeois OM with light strings but would like a different sound and feel just for fun. Thanks. Budget of 1500 thereabouts.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by skinnerb

What sort of electric guitar and amp will give me the Chet Atkins sound...Budget of $1500 thereabouts.

• Guitar: Gretsch Electromatic 5420/5422 hollowbody or 5622 semi-hollow (Made in Korea versions only)
  AND
• Tube Amp: Bugera V22/V55 Infinium 1x12" (clean channel, pentode mode)
  OR
• Solid-State Amp (used): Fender Frontman 212R (final version with "blackface Twin" cosmetics); '80s Peavey Bandit 65/Special 130; pre-1985 Randall RG-120 "orange-stripe" or "grey-stripe" 2x12"/1x15"

If you can scrape up a few more bucks a used Fender '65 blackface reissue (Deluxe/Twin), Vox AC30S1 (dialed in for clean tones), Music Man 212-65/212HD-130, or Ampeg Gemini I might also be a good choice; BTW don't worry about the high power on some of these amps - it's all about pristine cleans, headroom, dynamic range, and tone rather than raw volume...

[DukeX]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

[LIST]
...If you can scrape up a few more bucks a used Fender '65 blackface reissue (Deluxe/Twin)...

There just happens to be a Mint PR in the classifieds for only $600. I'm surprised no one's snagged it up yet.

[Steel and wood]

Like the other Steve said, Gretsch Electromatic semi or any number of budget semi's out there using a clean amp channel. (Turn the gain down on the amp and the volume and tone knobs on your guitar and perhaps avoid the bridge pick up if you can't back the treble off). Amp doesn't need to be a tube amp, particularly given Chet's style of playing. (A really affordable Roland Cube/Micro Cube perhaps using JC Clean or Black Panel settings with a touch of reverb or even delay from the amp).

Chet used a thumb pick and fingernails to take Travis picking to a whole other level, but there's nothing stopping you from using a flat pick and nails/finger picks/bare fingers. (He also applied palm muting to most things he did on electric guitar also).

Big fan like you!

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Steel and wood

...Amp doesn't need to be a tube amp, particularly given Chet's style of playing...

From the misterguitar.us site:

For most of [Chet's] recording he used his 1954 Standel miked with an RCA 44 ribbon mic. It had a JBL D-130. It was only 25 watts but Paul said it was a loud 25 watts...

During Paul’s [Yandell] tenure they both used Fender Deluxe and Fender Princetons modified by Paul Rivera. Rivera also provided modified 50 watt Pignose amps and Peavey amps were occasionally used.

Finally Chet and Paul settled on MusicMan RD-50's which he really liked. It miked his classics well. He preferred the stock speaker. Chet used that model until he retired from the road.

[skinnerb]

Thanks everybody. Much appreciated.

[gmr]

In Mr. Atkins’ later years he switched over to nylon and in my opinion, those are some of his better recordings.

[Steve DeRosa]

According to Paul Yandell he used to run his nylon-string through a Music Man RD-50 tube-powered (hybrid) electric-guitar amp (see above) - something I've always advocated when using a piezo UST to get rid of the "quack" and nails-on-a-blackboard highs, and I'd tend to think both Chet and Mr. Yandell knew a little something about tone...

[Pnewsom]

Here's a really nice documentary about the career of Chet Atkins, his style and sound.

Warning, there's a lot of outstanding playing in this video, so don't blame me if you become afflicted with the desire of owning a Gretsch guitar.

https://youtu.be/6jC1xrYF0MM

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Pnewsom

...don't blame me if you become afflicted with the desire of owning a Gretsch guitar...

In case you haven't noticed there's a whole lot of GAS (Gretsch Acquisition Syndrome) around here - and if you're a serious electric player and don't already have one in your arsenal you need one of the Korean-made 5400/5600-Series Electromatics: real Gretsch tone thanks to the Filter'tron/Super Hi-lo'Tron pickups (unlike the Chinese E-Matics with Broad'tron full-size humbuckers ), build quality/playability on a par with many big-name instruments 3-4 times the price and, at under (sometimes well under) $1K, easy on the wallet...

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

I...build quality/playability on a par with many big-name instruments 3-4 times the price and, at under (sometimes well under) $1K, easy on the wallet...

I have a 2018 G5420TG, and the fit and finish, and the playability, are excellent. TheG5420Ts now retail for about $850-950 and the G5420TG about $1,000. The difference between the two is that the TG has gold-colored metal parts. If you buy used, my understanding is that some significant changes were made starting with the 2016 model year (including removing "ELECTROMATIC" from the headstock), so I would suggest a 2016 or later model.

BTW, at Steve DeRosa's suggestion, I bought a Bugera V22 Infinium amp, and for me it's perfect.