Country Rock

J

Jipps0525

Power User
Curious how you all would approach “harder” country rock tones? Like these two?





Im used to marshalls so it is always kind of difficult for me to take a Vox or Fender like amp and get it to hard rock mode. The videos just sound different than a cranked marshall. Maybe the Bad Cat?
 
sprint said:
Telecaster specs could be playing a role also
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True. I can do various forms of a telecaster through my line 6 variax i just dont know what im listening for with a tele since i never really played one. I understand how a strat or les paul generally sounds but not really a tele
 
Casual home player here - usually play heavier gain tones with humbucker guitars (sg), but, when I'm not digging into some black sabbath, I dig classic country so got my first telecaster last year - no souped up pups, just the vintagyest, brightest, twangyest I could find for low $ (squier cv) - definitely a very different beast. I guess it can do different things but for me so far its a one trick pony to start learning country style stuff. Instant classic country tone plugging into any fender model at stock settings and compressor / reverb. Tried one day to get gainer tones I liked with it but no go.
 
sprint said:
Casual home player here - usually play heavier gain tones with humbucker guitars (sg), but, when I'm not digging into some black sabbath, I dig classic country so got my first telecaster last year - no souped up pups, just the vintagyest, brightest, twangyest I could find for low $ (squier cv) - definitely a very different beast. I guess it can do different things but for me so far its a one trick pony to start learning country style stuff. Instant classic country tone plugging into any fender model at stock settings and compressor / reverb. Tried one day to get gainer tones I liked with it but no go.
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Yes i find the tele stuff too nasally for higher gain stuff, but theres still a way to get a hard rock sound out of it as evidenced by the videos above. Its just different than the marshall tone i normally hear and idk how or why lol
 
Check out Andy Wood - he has a number of patches on his site that would address this kind of sound. Basically it similar to classic blues/rock but a lot of Nashville guys use a bunch of boutique gear. Andy is a Suhr endorser so possible something like a Badger 30 would get you there. Hot Rodded and Refined Marshall tones - Tele, Strat, LP (or custom versions) of those.
 
Oh man, I’m in the middle of this right now. I’m mostly crafting tones on my AX8 for it right now because I’m at the ass end of the waitlist. I’ve been using the doubleverb amp and experimenting with various drive blocks in front, as well as the Dr Z amps too. They can get pretty gnarly on their own. I’m mostly playing my Knaggs Choptank which is a traditional single/lipstick combo with Duncans in it. They’re not too hot. Really play with the gate to get the noise down for the dirtier tones. There is a particular sweet spot where you aren’t killing your notes but keeping things nice and quiet. I’m not sure how much “country” is in your set, as this modern stuff is mostly dressed down rock playing but if you’re coming anywhere near Brad Paisley kinda leads (hats off to you if you are), the compressor block with a well driven clean amp (with the amps gain, just a little breakup. The doubleverb works for this for me) should get you where you need to be.
 
Jipps0525 said:
True. I can do various forms of a telecaster through my line 6 variax i just dont know what im listening for with a tele since i never really played one. I understand how a strat or les paul generally sounds but not really a tele
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Tele=twang, period. Not the best choice for the harder stuff. We probably have similar set lists and it can definitely be challenging to get these heavier tones from a Tele. I’ve also found a preset dialed in to do just this will NOT work if you switch to a different kind of guitar. You can’t plug a Les Paul into that preset and expect it to just sound like “more gain” from where you just were. Make different presets for your Tele. Approach it from the ground up and it’ll work way better for you. For the heavier stuff I like to use my Knaggs Kenai Jr with one p90 in it. Think Les Paul Jr. It gets real swampy but keeps that open air around the sound while still getting plenty gainy. Some of this stuff is tuned down (beer never broke my heart, for example) and you really need to get dirty for that and the Tele can do it, just not quite as well.
 
Brucegregori said:
Check out Andy Wood - he has a number of patches on his site that would address this kind of sound. Basically it similar to classic blues/rock but a lot of Nashville guys use a bunch of boutique gear. Andy is a Suhr endorser so possible something like a Badger 30 would get you there. Hot Rodded and Refined Marshall tones - Tele, Strat, LP (or custom versions) of those.
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I bought a few of Awoods Presets and I bought the MF Country preset. Going to play around with them more today. AWoods is more for that Brent Mason Tele shred chicken pickin thing though. I love that, but the links above are more just country hard rock lol
 
Jipps0525 said:
Yes i find the tele stuff too nasally for higher gain stuff, but theres still a way to get a hard rock sound out of it as evidenced by the videos above. Its just different than the marshall tone i normally hear and idk how or why lol
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You might want to check out John 5.




Or Brad Paisley…



He plays old-style country, all the way to the new stuff which he's helping push along. His signature distortion pedal is on my pedal board.

Jimmy Page wouldn't have been who he was without a Tele too. So, the sounds are there.

It took me years to learn that a Les Paul was Gibson's response to the Broadcaster/Telecaster. The two guitars share many similarities, especially in the early years. Gibson switched to humbuckers, but even the early PAF is a very bright, almost single-coil-sounding pickup. Gibson continued to move the Les Paul to a thicker sound, whereas Fender kept it simple, which is one of the biggest attractions to the Tele players I know.

G&L makes the Bluesboy which is a pretty gutsy sound Tele* kind of guitar.
 
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I wouldn't call either of those "harder" Country.

We do some Jason Aldean and other Bro Country tunes and I just rock
with a Marshall (800 or 100 Plexi). Some of it is in C# so I find the proper
tuning to be the biggest part of getting that growl. Also lots of overdubbed
Baritone guitar in Country that many people aren't aware of.

Downtuned PRS guitars into Marshall and Mesa these days in the Country realm
is pretty standard fare. Often more guitar in some Country music than in Rock music.

You can make it work. :)
 
I would say DRZ or Bad Cat are pretty popular and with a drive pedal like a Klon or or Crunch Box , the Nobels is the Most popular box in Nashville but the Klone would do fine ,

The Rascal Flats guy. was a Bogner XTC blue channel
 
Also lots of vintage looking teles out there that have been modded to an extra switch position that combines pickups in a quazi humbucker config.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
You might want to check out John 5.




Or Brad Paisley…



He plays old-style country, all the way to the new stuff which he's helping push along. His signature distortion pedal is on my pedal board.

Jimmy Page wouldn't have been who he was without a Tele too. So, the sounds are there.

It took me years to learn that a Les Paul was Gibson's response to the Broadcaster/Telecaster. The two guitars share many similarities, especially in the early years. Gibson switched to humbuckers, but even the early PAF is a very bright, almost single-coil-sounding pickup. Gibson continued to move the Les Paul to a thicker sound, whereas Fender kept it simple, which is one of the biggest attractions to the Tele players I know.

G&L makes the Bluesboy which is a pretty gutsy sound Tele* kind of guitar.
Click to expand...

Leo Fender tried to whoo Les but instead Gibson did what they do best copied....the Tele! They are so similar and yet so different. And yes the G&L guitars are killer esp those Circa early 90s...
 
Greg Ferguson said:
You might want to check out John 5.




Or Brad Paisley…



He plays old-style country, all the way to the new stuff which he's helping push along. His signature distortion pedal is on my pedal board.

Jimmy Page wouldn't have been who he was without a Tele too. So, the sounds are there.

It took me years to learn that a Les Paul was Gibson's response to the Broadcaster/Telecaster. The two guitars share many similarities, especially in the early years. Gibson switched to humbuckers, but even the early PAF is a very bright, almost single-coil-sounding pickup. Gibson continued to move the Les Paul to a thicker sound, whereas Fender kept it simple, which is one of the biggest attractions to the Tele players I know.

G&L makes the Bluesboy which is a pretty gutsy sound Tele* kind of guitar.
Click to expand...

That paisley video is awesome, great tune. Very much what I’m talking about. Is he a marshall guy? His tone sounds a little different than a Marshall IMO. it’s a little less ballsy, bit more bright but still very full sounding. I like it
 
la szum said:
I wouldn't call either of those "harder" Country.

We do some Jason Aldean and other Bro Country tunes and I just rock
with a Marshall (800 or 100 Plexi). Some of it is in C# so I find the proper
tuning to be the biggest part of getting that growl. Also lots of overdubbed
Baritone guitar in Country that many people aren't aware of.

Downtuned PRS guitars into Marshall and Mesa these days in the Country realm
is pretty standard fare. Often more guitar in some Country music than in Rock music.

You can make it work. :)
Click to expand...
Agreed. They’re very easily coverable by a cranked Marshall and Im not one of those guys who needs exact tones, but my ears like to explore. They still sound a bit different to me than a distorted Marshall
 
la szum said:
I wouldn't call either of those "harder" Country.

We do some Jason Aldean and other Bro Country tunes and I just rock
with a Marshall (800 or 100 Plexi). Some of it is in C# so I find the proper
tuning to be the biggest part of getting that growl. Also lots of overdubbed
Baritone guitar in Country that many people aren't aware of.

Downtuned PRS guitars into Marshall and Mesa these days in the Country realm
is pretty standard fare. Often more guitar in some Country music than in Rock music.

You can make it work. :)
Click to expand...
When I saw Jason Aldean live here in New Orleans several years ago, they were rocking 6505s. I couldn't believe what I was hearing coming from a country band, not your standard overdriven Fender amp. New Country is almost like glam rock back in the 80s, but a little lighter and with different lyrics. Most of these guys can shred which you don't usually find on the albums, but is apparent live.
 
Brad has been a DR Z guy for decades. I'd try the Trainwreck Express in the Fractal to get you in that territory.
Pretty sure DR Z did a version of the Trainwreck for Brad's signature amp.

Brad's playing is amazing because there is not much compression or saturation going on. All that heavy lifting
is pure fingers. :)
 
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Randalljax said:
I would say DRZ or Bad Cat are pretty popular and with a drive pedal like a Klon or or Crunch Box , the Nobels is the Most popular box in Nashville but the Klone would do fine ,

The Rascal Flats guy. was a Bogner XTC blue channel
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Which guy? Bogner Blue is a great channel? I’ve had some success this afternoon with two bad cats; one clean one dirty and a blues od in front
 
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