Jazz settings

[Dannyboy92]

okay so I have:

Amp: Peavey Vypyr 15
Guitar: Gibson special worn out faded SG

I was wondering if you guys can help me get a pretty good jazz tone. can you guys help me out on how high or low my mids, lows, and highs should be.

[Dannyboy92]

anybody???

[fep]

What kind of tone are you looking for? Scofield, Pass, Hall, Metheny... they all have different tones.

So... get in your mind what you are going after; or better yet get a recording from your favorite guitarist of the tone you're after... you could use youtube to find a recording.

Then do A/B comparisons to that recording to your guitar sound. What I'd do is start with the tone controls on your amp at their middle position. Then with the front pickup on your SG selected roll the volume to about half way and the tone to about half way. Do your A/B comparison and start tweaking from there. Experiment a lot, have patience, find your sound.

[Dannyboy92]

cool thanks man.

[Dannyboy92]

let me make this a bit easier my amp has different amp models which are are:

Twin
Dlx
Brit
B-Kat
Classic
XXX

these are the clean amp models. which model would be best for a jazz tone.

[Bunyip]

Oh Danny Boy, the pots the pots are calling
For you to tweak
Until your dying day
And Danny Boy, you'll never ever get there
For tone is gold, but we have feet of clay ...

Good luck with finding a good jazz tone. I think Fep had some good advice - just try different settings, write them down with your interpretation of the tone to your ears ( which quite likely may be different o someone else's ears) so that you can return to the various settings to see whether tone is constant or not. Sometimes my tone with the same guitar, amp, settings, room etc sounds different at different times, which makes me think that the state of my body and mind at a given time has an effect on tone - or maybe its just wax in my ears that needs cleaning out.

[JohnW400]

[quote=Bunyip;34574]Oh Danny Boy, the pots the pots are calling
For you to tweak
Until your dying day
And Danny Boy, you'll never ever get there
For tone is gold, but we have feet of clay ...



I dig it . Just wait till next St Patricks day

[fep]

Danny,

If you're going for a clean tone like Joe Pass, I'd start with the twin using the clean channel, amp treble middle and bass at 50%, and like I said front pickup roll off the volume on the guitar to 50 - 75%, tone at 50%. Tweek from there, don't be afraid to take that tone pot all the way down to 3 or 2 or 1 or even 0, some people do. Then tweek the bass control on the amp next, I'm usually trying to eliminate boominess on my lower notes at this step and this is pretty much completely dependent on the room you're playing in; in a small bedroom you might need to lower the bass quite a bit as small bedrooms tend to emphasize/resonate around 120hz (around a B note on your lowest string 7th fret).

If you're looking for a Carlton or Scofield type tone, I'd start with the deluxe using the lead channel, amp treble middle and bass at 50%. Front pickup with volume and tone at 10. Adjust the gain on the amp to a level where if you pick softly it's clean and if you pick louder it's got a little bit of overdrive growl (there is a spot where a tube amp will do this so hopefully your amp simulator will do this also). Then tweek your tone control on your guitar to taste. Bass control on amp next as described above.

Edit: The reason I'm suggesting you knock off the volume and tone so much on the guitar is you're playing an SG; I'm assuming an SG has pretty hot pickups as it's designed as a blues/rock guitar. But perfectly suitable for a Pass like jazz tone if you tone down those pickups a bit.

[Dannyboy92]

Thanks a bunch guys, I really appreciate this help. I have only been playing for two years and only been playing Indie Rock.
And just recently I have been listening to jazz a lot and really liked the way the guitar sounds when playing Jazz. I am learning a lot from you guys and the site. Here is a Jazz song I learned how to play

YouTube - Nujabes - Aruarian Dance

It took me awhile to learn it but i got it down.

This is the kind of tone I am looking for.