Neal Schon GoT

Goonie said:
I typically use Frequency 1 to cut more lows. Frequency 2 is usually set at around 400hz. Lowering that about 2 to 3 dB help me clean up some muddiness and makes my tones clearer. At low volumes it's not noticeable, but louder rehearsal or gig volume, it cleans up the tone. I've attached pics of my global performance page and my per preset performance.
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I'm not seeing any pics.
 
Dave Merrill said:
I'm not seeing any pics.
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@PSea
My pics were too large to send at first and didn't know it.
I typically use Frequency 1 to cut more lows. Frequency 2 is usually set at around 400hz. Lowering that about 2 to 3 dB help me clean up some muddiness and makes my tones clearer. At low volumes it's not noticeable, but louder rehearsal or gig volume, it cleans up the tone. I've attached pics of my global performance page and my per preset performance.
20231227_184813.jpg
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Goonie said:
Frequency 2 is usually set at around 400hz. Lowering that about 2 to 3 dB help me clean up some muddiness and makes my tones clearer. At low volumes it's not noticeable, but louder rehearsal or gig volume, it cleans up the tone. I've attached pics of my global performance page and my per preset performance.
Click to expand...

Q low-ish, medium, or high?
 
Cooper Carter said:
Don't overthink it -- it's far less Fletcher-Munson or venue size considerations than it is simply this:

These artist presets are dialed in at razor precision to fit one specific artist who makes their living showcasing as best as possible their unique talent.

Compare that to factory or purchased presets, which are designed to showcase the strength of a unit, amp model, or recreation of a famous sound as powerfully as possible through as many different players and setups as possible.

There is a fundamentally different design intent behind these GoT offerings than in the presets most players are used to loading into their unit.
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People are pissed Neal can sound like that with such a simple preset...I'm pissed because this Carter kid gets to run around the world with Neal (and a few others) helping him figure out how to get his sound! I've been into Neal's tone since before Coop was born...all the way back to the Oscar Gamble afro and Fu mancho 'tash...why him and not me? Oh wait, never mind, just re-watched the videos, I think I know why:mad:
At least there is one person in America that doesn't wake up saying, "Damn, I don't want to go to work today!"
 
stephenclark1 said:
People are pissed Neal can sound like that with such a simple preset...I'm pissed because this Carter kid gets to run around the world with Neal (and a few others) helping him figure out how to get his sound! I've been into Neal's tone since before Coop was born...all the way back to the Oscar Gamble afro and Fu mancho
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LOL fell of my chair reading this. So true.
Ive seen some really beaten up old Amp rigs sound amazing with the right guitar player plugged in.
 
No amount of gear will make you sound great, the tone is with you or it isn't. There is a local Montreal player Dimitrios Bakolias otherwise known as Jimmy James. He's a screaming guitarist with tons of talent and an amazing tone. I am a local sound tech and one night I went to see him play at a venue that disappeared quite a while ago. As I walked in I heard a glorious tone coming from the stage. He was playing a plastic Casio guitar into a Behringer V-Amp guitar modeler through a solid-state Behringer amp. I wonder where the tone came from? Oh, I know a great musician.
 
It's not about being jeolous, pissed, envious or anything like that. NS is a virtuoso musician. No one on the planet plays like NS. There's no doubt that tone is as much in the hands as anything, but a 2x4 with strings, pickups, and knobs is still gonna sound like sh!t - don't care who you are!

I'm thankful to get a look at the preset. The trick with the Input Gains on the Delay and Reverb is a real gem.
 
stephenclark1 said:
People are pissed Neal can sound like that with such a simple preset...I'm pissed because this Carter kid gets to run around the world with Neal (and a few others) helping him figure out how to get his sound! I've been into Neal's tone since before Coop was born...all the way back to the Oscar Gamble afro and Fu mancho 'tash...why him and not me? Oh wait, never mind, just re-watched the videos, I think I know why:mad:
At least there is one person in America that doesn't wake up saying, "Damn, I don't want to go to work today!"
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👍
 
Goonie said:
In my opinion, a lot of "live" or "GoT" presets are NOT going to sound good to us common folk playing bars/clubs/smaller venues.
I have played covers in the best entertainment venue in my city and some of my hand made presets still sound muddy, dull, and bassy to my ears. I'm not complaining because I can mitigate this by creating presets with more high end, simply not high cutting the cab blocks, or using the P.A. mixer.
Some need to realize that most, if not all of these GoT presets are made for sheer volume that would simply kill us if played in a smaller venue. A lot of us simply cannot get our volume up loud enough to overcome the FM effect so our presets still sound dull and lifeless. A lot of these live and GoT presets are created with MF in mind so they will be dull and lifeless at volumes us minions would play at.
Personally, over the last couple years I have started creating or revising my presets to have more highs than necessary or just leaving the cuts on the cab block wide open then taming them at a gig. I now have them set pretty good and they work from venue to venue.
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But how would that explain what Neal is hearing in his IEMs? I highly doubt he has them so raging that it overcomes this Fletcher-Munson conundrum you present. Maybe it just really is his tone.

And it sounds killing.
 
Random Hero said:
But how would that explain what Neal is hearing in his IEMs? I highly doubt he has them so raging that it overcomes this Fletcher-Munson conundrum you present. Maybe it just really is his tone.

And it sounds killing.
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From my understanding the IEM's get some of the stage amps.

Cooper Carter said:
(p.s. Those amps/cabs are for onstage reinforcement only and sometimes to mix in some stage sound in the ears to his taste. That board compressor may get turned on once a show. Like all the pedals, Fractal and physical, it's for fun and variety, not integral to any sound.)
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I for one am loving the preset. I never play with the delays and verb that wet anymore, but it is super fun and I totally get the vibe! We tend to forget that these pros have top notch FOH guys and primo sound systems amplifying these sounds. In the right environment, its gonna sound amazing. But I think this one sounds great and is a lot of fun through studio monitors and FR cabs.
 
AngusV said:
Not according to this Guy..👇🤔



Les Paul himself was telling people decades ago that tone wood in electric guitars was a myth. Les Paul also made a 2x4 electric guitar and demonstrated it.
But we are way off topic now - Sorry
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To be fair, I'm pretty sure it was a 4x4 ;)
 
Cooper Carter said:
Thx👍


No smoke and mirrors here, folks.

I do I understand the tempting impulse to believe these Gifts of Tone are hiding something, since they don't instantly make anyone sound like Neal or whomever (spoiler alert, no preset will do that), but sonically this is literally the unchanged live preset.

The routing was cleaned up -- I leave lots of space for any on the fly additions.

(p.s. Those amps/cabs are for onstage reinforcement only and sometimes to mix in some stage sound in the ears to his taste. That board compressor may get turned on once a show. Like all the pedals, Fractal and physical, it's for fun and variety, not integral to any sound.)
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Hey @Cooper, if you don’t mind; on the topic of IEMs… I’ve seen you mention somewhere that Neal is on JHs.. I’m currently on Sensaphonics and thinking about switching to JHs, just not sure which way to go. Any chance you could share what model he is using? Much appreciated!
 
AngusV said:
Not according to this Guy..👇🤔



Les Paul himself was telling people decades ago that tone wood in electric guitars was a myth. Les Paul also made a 2x4 electric guitar and demonstrated it.
But we are way off topic now - Sorry
Click to expand...

My favorite expression when seeing a really good guitar player on so-so gear was: Give em a hockey stick with a string on 2 nails and a pickup and hell make it sound good
 
Random Hero said:
But how would that explain what Neal is hearing in his IEMs? I highly doubt he has them so raging that it overcomes this Fletcher-Munson conundrum you present. Maybe it just really is his tone.

And it sounds killing.
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Mids are the main part of what people in the audience hear of the guitar in a mix. It's the "soloed vs. in-the-mix" conundrum. Also shows some influence of the days with Santana. Listen to Santana's tone on Abraxas. Not a lot of low-end weight if you listen to it closely. The guitar tone leaves room for the bass and drums in the mix and OWNS the mids when there's no vocal happening....
 
Techboy57 said:
My favorite expression when seeing a really good guitar player on so-so gear was: Give em a hockey stick with a string on 2 nails and a pickup and hell make it sound good
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I heard Luke say something similar too. It was like - Hey that guitar sounds really amazing! The player then puts the guitar on the stand and replies "yeah? How's it sound now?"
 
I loved listening to Journey’s Kohoutek when I was in university. Neal had crazy chops. Reminded me of Tommy Bolin on Spectrum.

I think when something is called a “gift”, it should simply be graciously received. One of my best friends just gave me a bottle of tequila for Christmas and it tastes odd. So I’ve decided it’s also an entertaining game, where I had to figure out how to drink it.

That’s what other are saying, about taking the presets and making adjustments to suit.

Btw, the solution was a touch of Oaxacan cocoa fines and cinchona bark, and a drop of Solerno blood orange. Yeah, I know. I normally drink straight and I don’t use a flanger, but never say never. Come to think of it, drinking is in the hands.
 
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