Funky guitar

don_joe

don_joe

Experienced
Hello everyone!

I've tried to make a fully clean funky guitar preset a few times and it just doesn't work. With clean amps it sounds always a little bit harsh to me instead of smooth like I would like it to be. Do you have any tips? How would you or how do you set up your presets for playing funk? As a reference I would like to have a clean guitar sound like Jamiroquai or Nile Rodgers or something similar but most important - funky.

I suppose a standard is a single coil and maybe sometimes turning the volume on the guitar a bit down. My playing technique is also not that bad since it's working with other equipment. And it was for sure already covered in this forum before but a few FWs ago and maybe someone has in the meantime some new ideas how to achieve it.

Which amp, IR (can't find the right one), blocks and parameters would you use? Input trim, HP filter in front, compressor, cab settings, etc.?

Many thanks in advance.
 
here's a clip from a funky album I did last year..



and here's the Funkster thread with more clips
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-preset-exchange/56837-calling-all-funksters.html

Simeon put in a lovely clip on page 1
I added a few more on pages 4 and 5

my funk tone on that stuff is reamped
Hiwatt Normal to the left, JCM800 to the right, both amps using a TV Mix 4x12 cab [I think - if not it'll be the 1960a 4x12]
to most folk's surprise... the JCM800 set almost clean thru a 4x12 is just the funkiest thing ever...
and is my go to Amp de Funkaciones

the guitar is a Morgan V6 with twin HB pups [no coil taps] and a 3-way switch
the pup selector is centre so both pups are active.. gives a sort of Stratty tone but thicker and more robust

for a good funk tone, make sure you set the amp's gain to the point where it just starts to break up when you play strongly..
believe it or not.. that tiny hint of dirt will make you sound cleaner and brighter in the mix [without having to pile on the treble]
it'll also give the tone more body..

the biggest mistake folk make with funk is making the tone too clean and too bright..
do this and it'll either vanish in the mix.. or be thin and shrill..

you have to remember... what you hear in the mix is the result of the source tone interacting with everything else..
if you heard that tone exposed and naked I bet you'd be quite surprised..
 
right now i'm using the deluxe through the deluxe mix. gain on 5, mv on 10, or slightly less. pull back the bass a little bit and tweak mid and treb to taste. that's it. maybe a tiny bit of room reverb from the cab.

btw, for nile rogers stuff, use a neck single coil.
 
simeon said:
right now i'm using the deluxe through the deluxe mix. gain on 5, mv on 10, or slightly less. pull back the bass a little bit and tweak mid and treb to taste. that's it. maybe a tiny bit of room reverb from the cab.

btw, for nile rogers stuff, use a neck single coil.
Click to expand...

I thought it was neck and middle for the "quack"?
 
Fabio KTG said:
I thought it was neck and middle for the "quack"?
Click to expand...

I agree with Sim on this...
you'll find that in isolation the Strat neck out-of-phase will sound prettier, but it'll not have the spudz in the mix.. it's just too brttle and fragile..

although I'm a total Strat / super-Strat head myself.. I've found that twin HB's [mid selector] works well studio, and the neck humbucker works better live cos it's more robust.. and I compared this with my Strat [H-S-S fitted] too before I recorded that album..
a point worthy of note is that I saw Boon Gould [Level 42 guitarist] playing a Les Paul and he sounded great..
and it was this that made me think that funk isn't the exclusive domain of SC pups and Strats / Teles..
so just for laughs I tried funking on my V6 [which although a V guitar is essentially a a twin HB fitted super-Strat that just happens to have a V shaped body]..
and to my surprise it out-funked my Strat.. by a lot..
 
Leo Nocentelli of the Meters is known for playing a Fender Starcaster with 2 humbuckers or an ES335 and it hardly gets funkier than Leo. +1 for humbuckers and a little bit of grit on your funk. OTOH, Big D, Derwin Perkins, of Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, who are one of the funkiest groups on earth from New Orleans, plays a strat through a Twin Reverb, period, and he's a total funk and R & B monster. There are many ways to skin some funk and many different funk flavors.

For amps, I know Leo loves his Marshalls, Big D his Twin, June Yamagishi (formerly Papa Grows Funk, a great New Orleans funk band....they love their funk in New Orleans) his Mesa (Lone Star I think).
 
clarky said:
here's a clip from a funky album I did last year..



and here's the Funkster thread with more clips
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-preset-exchange/56837-calling-all-funksters.html

Simeon put in a lovely clip on page 1
I added a few more on pages 4 and 5

my funk tone on that stuff is reamped
Hiwatt Normal to the left, JCM800 to the right, both amps using a TV Mix 4x12 cab [I think - if not it'll be the 1960a 4x12]
to most folk's surprise... the JCM800 set almost clean thru a 4x12 is just the funkiest thing ever...
and is my go to Amp de Funkaciones

the guitar is a Morgan V6 with twin HB pups [no coil taps] and a 3-way switch
the pup selector is centre so both pups are active.. gives a sort of Stratty tone but thicker and more robust

for a good funk tone, make sure you set the amp's gain to the point where it just starts to break up when you play strongly..
believe it or not.. that tiny hint of dirt will make you sound cleaner and brighter in the mix [without having to pile on the treble]
it'll also give the tone more body..

the biggest mistake folk make with funk is making the tone too clean and too bright..
do this and it'll either vanish in the mix.. or be thin and shrill..

you have to remember... what you hear in the mix is the result of the source tone interacting with everything else..
if you heard that tone exposed and naked I bet you'd be quite surprised..
Click to expand...


You gave me a lot of info here, thanks a lot. I'll check it out this weekend, as soon as I find some time.
 
one thing I forgot to mention is live...

my live funk amp is just the JCM800 set 'not quite clean' through a 4x12 [a pair of real 1960b cabs in this case] with a very gentle compressor before the amp block..
be careful with the compressor.. another huge mistake is compressing way too hard.. too much compresion will make the tone 'feel' nice to play..
but it'll kill the sparkle and edge in your hi-mids and hi's
 
clarky said:
one thing I forgot to mention is live...

my live funk amp is just the JCM800 set 'not quite clean' through a 4x12 [a pair of real 1960b cabs in this case] with a very gentle compressor before the amp block..
be careful with the compressor.. another huge mistake is compressing way too hard.. too much compresion will make the tone 'feel' nice to play..
but it'll kill the sparkle and edge in your hi-mids and hi's
Click to expand...

Awesome! Looking forward also to hear the clip...but it won't be today...have an open end in the office...:)
 
clarky said:
here's a clip from a funky album I did last year..



and here's the Funkster thread with more clips
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-preset-exchange/56837-calling-all-funksters.html

Simeon put in a lovely clip on page 1
I added a few more on pages 4 and 5

my funk tone on that stuff is reamped
Hiwatt Normal to the left, JCM800 to the right, both amps using a TV Mix 4x12 cab [I think - if not it'll be the 1960a 4x12]
to most folk's surprise... the JCM800 set almost clean thru a 4x12 is just the funkiest thing ever...
and is my go to Amp de Funkaciones

the guitar is a Morgan V6 with twin HB pups [no coil taps] and a 3-way switch
the pup selector is centre so both pups are active.. gives a sort of Stratty tone but thicker and more robust

for a good funk tone, make sure you set the amp's gain to the point where it just starts to break up when you play strongly..
believe it or not.. that tiny hint of dirt will make you sound cleaner and brighter in the mix [without having to pile on the treble]
it'll also give the tone more body..

the biggest mistake folk make with funk is making the tone too clean and too bright..
do this and it'll either vanish in the mix.. or be thin and shrill..

you have to remember... what you hear in the mix is the result of the source tone interacting with everything else..
if you heard that tone exposed and naked I bet you'd be quite surprised..
Click to expand...


Wow, the clip sounds great! I like the bass too but the dums seem to me kind of back, maybe a bit darker than it should. Nice ideas and very well played. Classy...

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
don_joe said:
Wow, the clip sounds great! I like the bass too but the dums seem to me kind of back, maybe a bit darker than it should. Nice ideas and very well played. Classy...

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

thanks matey… glad you like it..
anyways.. I guess the moral of the story is.. don't be afraid to experiment with the amps or go for unusual choices..
some amps that you wouldn't expect to make cool funk tones can surprise you
 
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