Clean? Or really clean?

andyp13

andyp13

Power User
when playing with clean sound do you guys have it totally clean or still have a touch of ‘hair’
I was listening to a recording of a gig I did last night, we were playing a lot of Soul, Motown etc my guitar (strat) was very clean to the point where I felt it was a little too clean, sounded more like I was playing through a transistor amp…. Any hints/tips?
 
I find that adding a "touch of hair" (assuming you mean adding more channel volume(not master)) can produce a thicker, warmer sound. Perhaps that's obvious to most. But not to the point where distortion is obvious.
 
I have found that totally clean sounds too much like a DI signal and not like an amp. My favorite clean right now is the 6CA7 plexi with my guitar volume at about 6. It has compression and chime. Plus, roll up to 10 and you’ve got that classic Marshall rock tone.
 
I like the description Tim Pierce uses; a tone that "reads as clean". I typically use a tone slightly past the edge of breakup to crunchy, then use the volume control on the guitar with a compressor to dial in varying degrees of clean. The compressor is set just to retain a consistent overall level as the volume control is rolled off.

I also use a treble bleed capacitor so rolling off the volume control results in a little brighter tone than without. The values are guitar specific and usually half to 1/4th the value most I've seen recommended. I've found taking the time to find the 'right' value for the guitar/pickups yields a much more pleasing and natural roll off to my ears.
 
JoKeR III said:
I like the description Tim Pierce uses; a tone that "reads as clean". I typically use a tone slightly past the edge of breakup to crunchy, then use the volume control on the guitar with a compressor to dial in varying degrees of clean. The compressor is set just to retain a consistent overall level as the volume control is rolled off.

I also use a treble bleed capacitor so rolling off the volume control results in a little brighter tone than without. The values are guitar specific and usually half to 1/4th the value most I've seen recommended. I've found taking the time to find the 'right' value for the guitar/pickups yields a much more pleasing and natural roll off to my ears.
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I'm a big fan of the treble bleed. It's a must for me.
 
edge of break up...if you want real clean, play softer or roll down the volume knob. You get more expression just with 1 setting. (actually slightly over edge of break up is even better, almost crunch)
 
JTM45 and similar amps start to compress before they distort and you can control the sweet spot with the volume pot on the guitar. Crank the pot all the way up to have some hair or turn it back some to have cleans again. The compression helps that the volume isn't changing too much when using the pot. That's how it like my cleans.
 
Depends on what I'm playing, but typically a touch of hair. My main funk preset in my last band was one that Leon posted a couple years ago using the IIC+... go figure, I never would've done that on my own. Has just a little bite to it, and sounds fantastic. But sometimes I want totally super really clean, like for some 80's type chorus tones, or some other kinds of funk like Nile Rodgers' straight-into-the-board style.
 
Every time I hear a guitar player live with a clean-clean tone I want to take a
compressor out of my backpocket and put it in his chain. ;)

The cool thing about a little break up on clean tones (which you can often make
cleaner by rolling back the guitar volume more or less), is that you get the natural
compression of the amp breaking up a bit and dancing on the edge of available
headroom.

Nothing worse live than a clean-clean channel/preset switched to a NOT clean. Blech!!! ;)
 
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