Choosing a "Fender-ish" clean tone

Very interesting thread! I used to own a beautiful Lonestar, and that seems to be my baseline for clean tone. That said, I also love the Shiva clean stacked with the Maz 38. I'm a strat player, and prefer a warmer / fatter tone than what is likely to be considered the "classic" Fender sound. Single coil pickups are especially good at providing the snap of a narrow magnetic field, plus they really fatten up when you run the preamp relatively hot, and back down the volume on the guitar a bit. It also gives you somewhere to go if you want to open up the volume for a big soaring solo.
 
I've had good luck with the Band Master, Concert 6G and the Vibrato Lux. I can get the Band Master a little cleaner and with more chime, the Concert 6G is cleaner with a little less chime, and the Vibrato Lux is right in the middle with a nice little hint of breakup to it.
 
My two favorite "Fender-ish" models are the Divided by 13 CJ-11 and the Vibrato Lux. I'm using the CJ-11 for this tour, and it's sounding fantastic at FOH. Good luck on your tone hunt!
 
I've been incapable of staying away from the "double verb" lately .. :) it has always sounded good but now it's amazing IMHO
there's just something about it, some kind of "bell" quality to it that I find amazing .. but having said that, there's a whole lot of
amps that I have not explored ... it's so easy to get great sound now that I more often than not get stuck with the first one I try

:)


btw*: nice and educational thread :

it's nice to learn what other more experienced users use and how they go about shaping their tone

have a good one
y'all
 
I have to say try the DoubleVerb also. When I need to stray from the "squeaky clean" side of things, I try the drive block set to tape. It compresses well and stays bouncy while taming some of the "poking" jangle you don't want when you're goin for full armed strumming and fat chords. It never grinds so much that it hides the "fender" tone either.

If it doesn't HAVE to be fender, then the advice of Badger 30 or the Dirty Shirley can be absolutely amazing too... They don't have the bottom end wallop of fender, and the mids and top are "slinkier" in that marshall way, but boy are they a blast and rewarding to play. I pretty much just +1'd everything said before I got here, so I'm sorry I can't offer new info but I had to give my vote of confidence in the advice already given :D
 
Nice to get this all this feedback. Thanks!
I owe it to you to give something back.

On hindsight I should have put “less Voxy” in the titel instead of “Fender-ish”. Because inside my head there is Vox, and there are others. ☺

To recap, I’m researching non-Vox clean tones, which should sound great through a G12H cab. The amp model itself should also be able to produce a great breakup tone tone, without a dirt box in front of it.

“Clean” has a broad meaning to me. It includes strumming, funky riffs, single note runs, Hendrix style etc. My preferred clean tone is very dynamic: clean when pushed lightly, and gritty and slightly overdriven when pushed hard.

I was already familiar with most of the suggestions in this thread but not all.
I tried many of them. And I put them against my original choice: Dr Z Maz 38.

So … Will I stick to my choice, or has one of the suggested models taken its place. Keep reading. ☺

I was using my Haar telecaster and my newly acquired Haar Strat, with Suhr ML pickups.

---

Badger 30: already discussed in the OP. Great, great tone, and breakup too. Just like the Maz a little more.

Double Verb: certainly improved as G3 model, but not my thing. I don’t like it overdriven.

Rambler: THE surprise of this exercise. Even though it’s not yet G3-ified. Hadn’t touched the model since its introduction because of its bass overload and I didn’t think it was that special at the time. But it’s an excellent Fender clone. And it sounds much better to me when pushed than the Fenders models I tried. It’s another kind of breakup which I seem to prefer. And as its manual states: the Mid control has such an impact and versatility.

Lonestar and US Clean: Mesa is not my thing. 100% subjective, I know. Very dark at default. Don’t like the way they break up.

DC-30: the star of firmware 18.10 in beta testing. May even replace my favorite Morgan (AC-20) for Vox tones. But it’s so typical Vox that it’s not a contender here.

Princeton: not that fond of its pure clean tones.

Vibroverb: I prefer other Fenders.

Concert: excellent model. One of my top favorites among the Fenders as a clean amp. But I just can’t get it into that area of breakup which I like, using single coils. I have to turn its Drive way up. I prefer a few others in that area.

Div13 CJ-11: can’t get to grips with this model. I already preferred the FTR, and this was confirmed again when revisiting the CJ-11. Strange model, to my ears at least. Even with the stock Div13 cab. Maybe I’m not dialing it in right.

JTM 45: not suggested but also great as a clean or dirty amp. It’s just that it gets a little fuzzy when it gets into breakup territoty, but otherwise … Of course, this is not a “Fender-ish” amp at all.

So what’s the verdict?

Well, I stick to the Maz 38 for now. ☺
But I’ll keep an eye on that Rambler. Especially when it gets its G3 make-over.

Now, let's see the protests. ;-)
 
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Nice thread yek, and I like the info you shared above w/ the update. I've only used the Axe FX into studio monitors and my pair of CLRs so I don't have any experience running it into real guitar cabs. I use the DC30 and the JTM 45 a lot lately and I've been meaning to work w/ the Rambler model.. interesting to read your related findings. Tried the Maz 38 a while back and liked it OK- will ahve to try it again as well.

I have a Senn tele I've been using along w/ my Les Paul for rehearsal/jams. I find the JTM does really well for clean/mild break up from the guitar volume alone. I use a FET drive or external drives into it to push things further. I'll have to try the Rambler for a similar approach.
 
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barhrecords said:
Did you give the Bandmaster a go?
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Check the OP. :)

It's a personal thing. The sound that I have in my head and want when playing the neck pickup into a pushed amp.
Can't get it from the Fenders. I know that tens of thousands of players do. :)
 
yek said:
Check the OP. :)

It's a personal thing. The sound that I have in my head and want when playing the neck pickup into a pushed amp.
Can't get it from the Fenders. I know that tens of thousands of players do. :)
Click to expand...

Wasn't there a poster that used to put up some Ventures / Dick Dale / Shadows type of stuff? I remember they were huge headroom cleans but can't recall his name.
 
Gamedojo said:
Without more detail on the specific clean style you want;

my personal "fenderish clean" is found in the Vibroverb Ab. It seems to have the best balance of all the fender amps and responds with light or heavy attack. Then, sticking a BB pre drive pedal in front gives you the drive sound that is the same character, but pushed into a midrangy bite.


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Hey Tyler, these sound great. I have a question for you. I have a Tele (Yamaha MS311) with humbucker in parallel (sounds a lot like a single coil - ish) and some version of fairly hot output hotrails. And whatever I do, every single time on almost any amp and any setting in the AXE, the vast majority of drive pedals give me a real nasty flub in the low end. Now - I know we have a ton of amps and we do not need pedals, but I like to have a simple main patch with clean (no breakup) on x setting, dirty on y setting and I would like to use a drive pedal to push the clean into breakup and the dirty to singing lead. And I am having a hard time to dial out that flub. No matter what I do. Also almost every drive pedal based on tube screamer has like way too much gain even with drive being 0. I tried to tweak everything in the pedal, but can´t really help it.

for the record - I never used the real pedals, I always used modellers and the last one before AXE was Boss GT10 and its TS always gave me a nice breakup, just a little push. Maybe I am just trying to replicate something that is not possible, because it si a different beast, but it simply leaves me wondering, what I am doing wrong especially when I hear your recordings.
and I am FRFR, no guitar cabs, just a monitor, but I get the flub even in headphones.

sorry to yek for hijacking (is that the right expression) the thread with my question, but I had to ask :)
 
Too much Drive block flub? Raise the Low Cut to taste.

Drive block pushing the amp too hard? Lower the level.
 
What IR captures are you using?

Gytaxor said:
Hey Tyler, these sound great. I have a question for you. I have a Tele (Yamaha MS311) with humbucker in parallel (sounds a lot like a single coil - ish) and some version of fairly hot output hotrails. And whatever I do, every single time on almost any amp and any setting in the AXE, the vast majority of drive pedals give me a real nasty flub in the low end. Now - I know we have a ton of amps and we do not need pedals, but I like to have a simple main patch with clean (no breakup) on x setting, dirty on y setting and I would like to use a drive pedal to push the clean into breakup and the dirty to singing lead. And I am having a hard time to dial out that flub. No matter what I do. Also almost every drive pedal based on tube screamer has like way too much gain even with drive being 0. I tried to tweak everything in the pedal, but can´t really help it.

for the record - I never used the real pedals, I always used modellers and the last one before AXE was Boss GT10 and its TS always gave me a nice breakup, just a little push. Maybe I am just trying to replicate something that is not possible, because it si a different beast, but it simply leaves me wondering, what I am doing wrong especially when I hear your recordings.
and I am FRFR, no guitar cabs, just a monitor, but I get the flub even in headphones.

sorry to yek for hijacking (is that the right expression) the thread with my question, but I had to ask :)
Click to expand...
 
Gamedojo said:
What IR captures are you using?
Click to expand...

Thanks Tyler for the reply. I am using stock IRs, but mainly 4x12 V30 or the basketweave and TV mix.

The way I would also describe it - it sounds like the sound is kind of choking especially in the bass, when I engage the drive, like it is too saturated. So naturally I lower the drive level, but it doesnt help much. If I lower the level, then it is actually too quite after engaging the drive and I want it to be either same level or a bit more. I also tried the mix parameter, which helped but still not what I am after.

I will post a recording later in a separate thread, again sorry to yek for interrupting this topic - great tips here btw, I am definitely going to go check out Rambler :)
 
I use the Fender Super Reverb myself, but my cabs are a pair of 4X12 Recto V30's (and RH and an OH), each mic'd with a u86. Should not give me my ideal 'Fender' sound with those cabs, but it does! Certainly the Super Reverb (Superb for short) is this shite, IMHO, for Fender.
 
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