FM3 Here’s how you get the John Mayer Qtron tone!

I never thought I'd be a John Mayer fan. After some health issues and a bit of an existential crisis, I love John Mayer. Thanks for posting this. I'll be jamming on this later today for sure!
 
So many people think it’s an auto wah, but it’s more of an envelope filter.
An "envelope filter" refers to a filter controlled by an envelope controller. A wah with an envelope controller on it is an envelope filter, it just happens to be controlling a notch filter and not a low pass filter like you've started with here.

I like what you did here.

I'd put some envelope on the Q though. Not leave it static. So it gets bigger as you play harder. It'll give you that nasally thing he gets when he hits the hard F chord coming out of the bridge as the filter will let through a lot of mid-high end content and nothing else.

And to note: once you add in the low cut, you've made a notch filter -- just custom tuned the filter shape like you can't quite do using a wah block. The filter block lets you get much more creative with how the envelope controller impacts the overall filter being applied to the signal.
 
Last edited:
I'd put some envelope on the Q though. Not leave it static. So it gets bigger as you play harder. It'll give you that nasally thing he gets when he hits the hard F chord coming out of the bridge as the filter will let through a lot of mid-high end content and nothing else.

The demo sounds great. I won’t be able to try it until later this week. Has anyone tried this above? Make the effect touch sensitive? Because the Q Tron does that it seems, the harder Mayer picks the greater the effect. You can assign multiple parameters to one envelope controller? Or would they each use an instance of envelope controller?
 
To close the loop on this. Here's my slightly modified take on @jkaneshiro23's excellent filter block settings. All I did was add some "motion" to the Q parameter by attaching the envelope filter to it as well. Settings I used were:

Screen Shot 2022-04-26 at 6.26.38 PM.png

And, like, this sounds dead to nuts to me when I use my Silver Sky on the middle pickup:

 
To close the loop on this. Here's my slightly modified take on @jkaneshiro23's excellent filter block settings. All I did was add some "motion" to the Q parameter by attaching the envelope filter to it as well. Settings I used were:

View attachment 100763

And, like, this sounds dead to nuts to me when I use my Silver Sky on the middle pickup:



That sounds great man! Looking forward to Thursday so I can try this.
 
. All I did was add some "motion" to the Q parameter by attaching the envelope filter to it as well.
Can you elaborate on that? I just last programmed this Filter from his video. What do you mean by attaching the filter to it? Sorry…I’m still green with this stuff…I’d love to get that sound.
 
Can you elaborate on that? I just last programmed this Filter from his video. What do you mean by attaching the filter to it? Sorry…I’m still green with this stuff…I’d love to get that sound.
In the filter block, right click on the Q parameter to bring up the controller assignment dialog in the editor. Then enter my settings you see in the screen shot. Try it after that? The Q collapses to nothing as the envelope closes so the filter comes on very dark. And then the Q expands wider as the envelope opens. Hit a hard chord on the guitar and it'll let a lot more high end through. Play softly and it stays muffled, synth-like.
 
In the filter block, right click on the Q parameter to bring up the controller assignment dialog in the editor. Then enter my settings you see in the screen shot. Try it after that? The Q collapses to nothing as the envelope closes so the filter comes on very dark. And then the Q expands wider as the envelope opens. Hit a hard chord on the guitar and it'll let a lot more high end through. Play softly and it stays muffled, synth-like.
NAILED it. Thanks, man.
 
This works pretty good! I haven’t listened to much Mayer other than his work with Dead and Company. Seen the band many times. I love his Q-Tron effect on Estimated Prophet and Shakedown. When he’s covering the Jerry stuff it sounds more wah like, more pronounced and it’s dynamic, dependent on his attack. This filter setup is close to that but not as pronounced. I tried to nail it before with the wah block but it never sounded right. This one is not far off and I like it. Any ideas on how to make it more dynamic and more pronounced?
 
This works pretty good! I haven’t listened to much Mayer other than his work with Dead and Company. Seen the band many times. I love his Q-Tron effect on Estimated Prophet and Shakedown. When he’s covering the Jerry stuff it sounds more wah like, more pronounced and it’s dynamic, dependent on his attack. This filter setup is close to that but not as pronounced. I tried to nail it before with the wah block but it never sounded right. This one is not far off and I like it. Any ideas on how to make it more dynamic and more pronounced?
For QTron sounds just use a wah block.
 
Back
Top Bottom