A wish: Paul Gilbert tones

I think 90 percent of Paul's sound is in his hands. The rest is the Ibanezes, Marshall's and Dimarzios(?).
 
I made it pretty close even with with my Granger modded Fender HRD, JJ tubes & vintage 30. Unfortunately, it kinda blew up after some gigs, and I decided to buy Axe-Fx II & QSC K12s. I do not regret that! However, I'm still really lost when I try to find appropriate sounds. Maybe its with QSCs as I've found their low-end a nightmare (not a FM issue, can't explain more...). Anyway, I need to play, no time for 24/7 tweaking! I know it all could be done with AFX but I dunno how :(
 
I was just listening to some of Paul's latest album, Vibrato, while running this morning (made the run a lot more tolerable). He does a cover of Roundabout by Yes, and his tone just kills!!!

Paul Gilbert-Roundabout Live

He's also playing some of Rick Wakeman's keyboard parts on the guitar!
 
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I was just listening to some of Paul's latest album, Vibrato, while running this morning (made the run a lot more tolerable) He does a cover of Roundabout by Yes, and his tone just kills!!!

Paul Gilbert-Roundabout Live

He's also playing some of Rick Wakeman's keyboard parts on the guitar!


That was brilliant!..... Always loved Paul's playing style and note execution. He is an unbelievable player and I love how he drives the young players with his band camps etc. Great stuff.

I have to agree with the above comments on his tone. He is pretty straight forward with his rig rundowns and a lot of tone comes from his hands and playing.....his his fingers are incredible with perfect execution all the time....unreal. ;)

He could make a kids 'First Act' guitar sound amazing haha :)
 
Paul also does a mean "point of not return" lick from the Kansas Song. Does the keyboard parts on the guitar with a nice string skipping arpeggio sequence....Artisworks won't let me post it on this site though.
 
Fingers, overall style, licks, speed, exceptional accuracy etc... Oh yes, Paul have it all! Anyways, what is the closest Amp in AFX to Vintage Modern 2466? Silver?

BTW... It's kinda strange.., I'm unable to confirm it just now but a couple of factory presets reminds me about the similar sound (225 Rock Concert and 329 Petrucci Rhythm ... checked from wiki) that I would like to have with a Marshall flavor! They both are really good factory presets for having fun at home but I couldn't make them work louder. IMHO, Marshall and HBE amps have worked best in live & QSCs.
 
He's known for using any type of marshall available.. there is a rig rundown and he's using rented backline. So i'm guessing his pedals are most of it, besides his technique.
 
My band used to open for Racer x in 86-87 and he used to use Ampeg amps modified by Lee Jackson. But it doesn't matter what he used, he's technique it's so flawless !

The was he picks is part of his sound, he's able to get and incredible attack by the way he picks. If you here him without and amp it sounds like he's hitting the strings with a tremendous amount of force and that's part of his sound! I could here his leads very clearly. I met him during sound check and his a very down to earth guy with a good sense of humor!
 
I just came home from our band's rehearsals. Well, that's not interesting. What I did before and found out is! I added a multiband compressor block as a very last block in the chain. I set FREQ1 to about 118 Hz and FREQ2 to about 4,000 Hz, and then adjusted THRSH value... :eek: YES YES!!! :D I could shape the tone, gain, "picking attack", distortion and lows&highs really nicely. The whole thing was like reborn! My bandmate (with JVM410 for life & blood) entered in the room and the first thing he did was silently go to watch what the heck had I done :) ... Kdog and others, there's your new "Majik Box" by AFX!
 
How could I forget about Paul Gilbert for a moment there! His technique is flawless. It's so impressive the way he's aiming for the heavy attack kind of sound. It's so naked and raw. Flawless playing sounds so many times more flawless when it's not blanketed by delay, reverb, mush, gain etc. I know I do that alot lol. But I like the sound of it and could play anything Paul Gilbert does with just my pinky.. :roll

I like Paul Gilbert (come and get me clarky)
 
Gotta love his tone on Streetlights from King Of Clubs record......that tone is to die for.

There's a great live version on youtube as well from early 90's with his Laneys and the beautiful blue Ibanez with the f-holes and binding.

Ian
 
Try the Shred pedal with some clean amps. USA clean, buttery, lots of amps with gain down, boosted, bright on.
Almost all of PG's Utoob vids are dirt pedals and a marshall. I think thats how he gets that tight, dry, percussive attack. Oh and he's got WORLD CLASS chops. Most of us would play his rig and run away crying because it would sound so small and and shitty.
 
I think a lot of Paul Gilbert sound is his picking. You can hear that he's hitting the stings hard with barely any motion on his right hand.
 
I was lucky enough to jam with Paul for 90 minutes, a few years ago before one of his concerts in Oslo. I was one of 6 "VIP" ticket holders who were to get a 1h class with him before the show. Just my wife and I showed up, the other 4 never came (lucky for us). Paul was such a nice guy, really humble, and gave me some great advice, the most memorable one was "kick every note's ass". I got to really observe his astonishing technique for a long time and am still amazed at how hard he attacks the strings, with such little movement and with such a flimsy pick. When the hour was up he still gave me another 30 minutes, he really loves jamming with other players. Truly one of the best experiences I ever had.
 
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