Calling all Funksters ! !

so.... when I used to be a full-on funkster... I used to play my Strat... <-- no sht Sherlock

when I recorded this album though I tried somethnig a little different...
and loved it hoooooogely..

I still have my Strat and RGs etc etc... but these days I play Morgan Guitar Works V6 guitars..
imagine something that looks like a flying V but the similarity ends there...
they have:
alder body
24 fret, Fender scale, flame maple neck with ebony board and stainless jumbo frets,
Floyd Rose bridge
a pair of Bulldog humbuckers with a three way pup selector switch and no tone control
the V6 can only make 3 tones
but these 3 tones are all I need.. and are all utterly superb...
essentially, they're V shaped super-Strats

when I went to record this album, my first port of call was my Strat... cos that's what I used when I was playing live with the band way band when...
then I thought.. "hmmm... I'm sponsored by Morgan.. so I really should give the V6's a go first, and only use the Strat if the V6's can't do the job"
and Morgan are cool about this too.. so I can use my other guitars without treading on toes.. cos they understand that the V6 may not always be the best fit for the job at hand..
anyways... I tried the V6, neck pup.. sounded nice to funk with [surprisingly so] but was a bit heavy handed tone wise...
then I tried the centre selection.. both pups...
my god it was awsome... it's a bit like a Strat neck pup but with bigger gonads..
my single minded, bright metallic tangerine V was out Strating my Strat.. it was nuts...
 
clarky said:
and right now I've just dug out the original dry tracks and I'm ready to start tone searching
I need:
- a nice clean tone for funky grooving
- some moderately crunchy tones for the odd power chord / funky blue riff
- something with slightly bigger spuds to deal with the rockier side of things [but much less heavy than the tones I've created so far]
- and I can use my beautiful 5153Red

so I gots to go make me some tones...

I am soooooo looking forward to this...
Click to expand...

i reckon the plexi normal with bright switch on is gonna cover a lot of this ground

if you want really spanky clean, then i guess the fenders are your go to amps (or maybe something like the shiva clean), but the plexi is so versatile - clean on single coils, but then crunchy on the bridge humbucker without changing anything. slap a drive in front for beefy chords and another drive with more guts for the lead stuff. i use a tiny bit of compression just to tame the dynamics slightly...even with the master quite high, it's still quite loose with the gain low. alternatively, just up the preamp comp to about 30%
 
thanks dude....
I'll give the plexi a go... what cab would you suggest...
I was thinking trying some 2x12's..

wow... a drive in front of the amp..
this is ground I've not trod for a long long time...
gonna give it a go though..
 
as for cabs...s'up to you. i quite like the 30w ultra, as it has a nice midrange push, but mix it with another for top and bottom. all depends on the vibe you're going for. if you're using humbuckers though, it might not be "bitey" enough...

would love to hear what you come up with!
 
Thanks for the kind words both simeon & clarky! I wish I had some recordings of my old horn funk bands but that was back in the 70's & about all we could afford would have been a cassette recorder put it in the middle of the room & hope for the best LOL! Since I have been in So. Cal. it's hard enough to keep a trio together, let alone a 7 to 10 piece band. I love that style of guitar playing. I guess being mainly a bass player I gravitated to learning how to groove & be a good rhythm player & not just focus on soloing although I love to do that too!
 
just found a great funk tone
not overly bright, but quite full bodied

Hiwatt Normal through the 4x12 20W cab

it just needs a little more cutting edge so I may use the amp graphic rather than the tonestack to push the hi's a little so they don't distort...
 
Sim, that was cool ! Back in the the early 70's we had some cool radio stations in Philly that played so much good funk , that tune would fit right in !!!

I have been playing to some funk backing tracks and just putting the Octive divider ( pitch block ) before my drive block gives me great funkadelic leads .. I have a lot of fun with that. Depending on thepatch, I turn the drive off and on for some variation .
 
simeon said:
i reckon the plexi normal with bright switch on is gonna cover a lot of this ground.

.... but the plexi is so versatile - clean on single coils, but then crunchy on the bridge humbucker without changing anything. slap a drive in front for beefy chords and another drive with more guts for the lead stuff. i use a tiny bit of compression just to tame the dynamics slightly...
Click to expand...

+1
 
tried the Plexi, the MkIV and the Twin Reverb with a variety of cabs...
all very nice.. and all very pretty..

for me, the winner by a country mile was the Hiwatt Normal through the 4x12 25W

EDIT: just reamped the clean funky guitar part with it...
sounds really sweet...
in the mix it's still a little glassy, but has more body than the others..

here's a thing though...
I used no effects in the preset...
just amp and cab.. not even any 'room' from that cab [cos I'll add that in Logic]... right now it's bone dry...
and even that in the mix sounds great....
 
Try the Brit JM45. It gives a nice, big, clean & punchy Fender sound. I don't use cab sims so I cant' help there. Will have to try the Hiwatt again. Never had much luck with that amp in the past.
 
notalemming said:
Try the Brit JM45. It gives a nice, big, clean & punchy Fender sound. I don't use cab sims so I cant' help there. Will have to try the Hiwatt again. Never had much luck with that amp in the past.
Click to expand...

I'll try the JM45.. that one didn't occur to me... thanks dude...

try the Hiwatt Normal with the drive at 3 and the MV at 4
bass and mid at 5
treble and presence at 7
depth at 2 for a bit of oomph

if you need a little more bottom you can push the low end in the EQ page
I did
63 = 1
125 = 3
250 = 1

the 4x12 25W is not a bottom heavy cab so I thought the tone benefited from this lil' nudge down there..
 
just had an idea.... I have absolutely no idea if this'll work...

sometimes, when mixing down really clean tones like acoustic guitars and vocals they can react really well to a tiny hint of parallel distortion

purely in the interests of stupidity, I'm going to try another reamped track with the JCM800 through the 1960A
set it to not quite crunch when the treble boost is on
and then add it in parallel with the Hiwatt at around 1/3 to 1/2 of the Hiwatt's level

I have absolutely no idea how this is gonna sound...
but for some reason I really feel the need to try it
 
Sim... do you remember a band called the Passadenas???
London based souly / funky band from the mid 80's
 
wow..... how cool's that....
they used to rehearse at the studio I worked at

I know most folk think of only the singers, but the rest of the band were superb...
actually... their guitarist was awesome.. very "Benson-ish".. really nice fella too..
 
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