Modern jazz guitar sound

[Franz 1997]

Late to the thread, and it may have already been said...but a 22 fret guitar, with pickup slightly closer to the bridge, gets a tighter sound, with more cut and thickness. Many modern players use these. An ES 175 also gets close to that thicker, more cutting sound.

[add4]

Never thought of using the bright setting on my Polytone. I have an 80s Minibrute and I tried your settings and it's great – totally changes the midrange of the amp, my Line 6 M9 Tape Delay and occasionally a RAT and you've nailed that tone stone cold. Thanks for the suggestion. Tony.

Glad to hear that you found what you were looking for.
It's a great tone and in my opinion, the polytone really shines when the bright switch is on and the mids/highs are cranked up.
it's a really modern and tight sound and it cuts through a whole band without effort.

[Melodic Dreamer]

Many cheap pedals out there will do the trick. If you were able to get a Strymon El Capistan it is a delay that has reverb as a secondary function. So if you looking for a all in one set and forget it's great. Lage and Moreno use the El Capistan. Another modern guy with a really wet sound is Gilad Hekselman.

[Greentone]

Jason,

Nice tone. +1

I use the "Brite" switch setting on my Polytone about half of the time. I just get tired of the "playing through a pillow" sound sometimes. Treble at 12 o'clock, Bass at 10 o'clock, switch on brite, Reverb at 9 o'clock (to keep it from sounding either too dry or boinky) and I'm good to go.

_Occasionally,_ a delay pedal (MXR Carbon Copy)--but only once in a blue moon.

Except for Pat Martino, I never found that most jazz guys played all that darkly. Live, Wes Montgomery was pretty bright sounding, to me.

Anyway, I like to hear guitar when I'm playing guitar. If I want something more muffled, I go over to the B3 and play that.

[jbucklin]

Jason,

Nice tone. +1

Live, Wes Montgomery was pretty bright sounding, to me.

Thanks man! I had forgotten about that.

I always had the impression that Wes kept the tone knob on his L5 at 10 and the "warmth" he got from the guitar was more from that incredible thumb.