Building Mayer tones?

[Ian Mathews]

so I know that this has been talked about before in many other threads so I don’t want to be repetitive. But considering recent videos of John Mayer using an Axe FX III I thought we could get this thread going again.

I’m not so much interested in patches themselves since everyone’s gear is a little different but more so how you would go about building the tones on the Axe; compression, amps, cabs, parameters, effects and such.

Particularly the legendary bold clean sounds from the Continuum album. Any thoughts would be awesome

Cheers!

 

[iaresee]

The guitar plays an incredibly important part here. You just can't get there without a Strat setup with similar sounding pickups to what Mayer uses. Having chased the tones with and without a guitar that matches what he uses, I can say the guitar put me closer than any IR or amp block tweaking ever put me.

Silver Sky > ODS-100 Ford PAB > Any 2 IRs that mix up AlNiCo golds and G12H30s and you're so close it's like being there.

 

[bradlake]

The guitar plays an incredibly important part here. You just can't get there without a Strat setup with similar sounding pickups to what Mayer uses. Having chased the tones with and without a guitar that matches what he uses, I can say the guitar put me closer than any IR or amp block tweaking ever put me.

Silver Sky > ODS-100 Ford PAB > Any 2 IRs that mix up AlNiCo golds and G12H30s and you're so close it's like being there.

That silver sky just gets better, don’t it?...

 

[bradlake]

 

[iaresee]

That silver sky just gets better, don’t it?...

This has quickly become a from-my-cold-dead-hands guitar.

Try it paired with @austinbuddy's Dumbles - Ford preset from the Naked Amp pack -- easy Mayer tones all day long.

Also, re:Instagram pic -- that was not the Dumble he had on stage this weekend at Shoreline. It was a black tolex ODS and an oversized 1x12. His tones were delicious all weekend long. And methinks that has more to do with the player than anything else.

 

[yek]

Didn't know you had a Silver Sky, Ian. Cool!

 

[iaresee]

Didn't know you had a Silver Sky, Ian. Cool!

Traded my Suhr Classic Pro straight up for it a few weeks ago. Seriously the best trade of my lifetime. This is the Strat sound I've chased my entire life.

 

[iaresee]

Naming your attempts at John Mayer tone presets is half the fun amiright?

 

[Diego]

Ian, your Silver Sky is a beauty, congrats! Looking forward to try one and then ... GAS

 

[Ian Mathews]

Thanks for the IR tip. That Silver Sky is beautiful! I don’t have that guitar but I do have a Strat setup with some 58’ era pickups. I’ll definitely try out some things and let you know!