what to adjust for sustain

mgavin

mgavin

Experienced
how do I adjust compression for MAXIMUM sustain? anything else I can adjust to achieve this with out upping my string gauge? I'm using patch 300 Juicy Lead and practicing slide guitar and it sounds real nice, but I want to adjust this patch for optimum sustain.

thanks
 
Volume! The higher the better for sustain, at least according to Eddie Van Halen. He was a cranker...
Well yeah you could add more compression... But at some point it sounds dead and flat but if you want to sustain alot of noise weheey, go for it!
I think maybe delay and reverb helps for sustain but i'm not sure. Feedback. Feedback gives sustain, that's why jimi hendrix humped his amplifier
you know. so that the sound loops into his guitar creating.. feedback, sustain. Well, I have this theory about using speakers in the room contra headset.
From my experience the sound in the room helps the string to vibrate longer, say you sit with your amp and play. The sound of the string comes out of the
amp and rings in the room, that should help the string vibrating because of the ressonance in the strings pitch and the sound in the room (from the amp)
with the same pitch. Lots of ways to increase sustain. I try to use a tad of compression with a balanced amount of gain (pre&post-gain) with thin strings (yeah we know the fat ones give more sustain (SRV) I get sustain for miles. I try to keep the gain down and too much post-gain tends to get fizzy or something. Oh, I also go for the mids! Treble like low-something or even nothing (depends on the amp) and often no bass, or just a tad (depends on the amp) and I crank the mids (depends on the amp) and adjust presence to taste (my taste does not depend on the amp, well if the amp is old then it tastes more like dust to me).
I go for the Shawn Lane/Allan Holdsworth/Fredrik Thordendal/Brett Garsed/Marshall Harrison/frank gambale/scott henderson ect. ect. - kinda sound :D
 
Find the right setting for the mids.... Often it helps when you add a drive in front. Not only for more gain. Tubescreamers, Boss SD/OD etc add´s something in the mids that helps a lot.
 
i like a lot of mids too, and yeah i did notice it started to last longer when i turned up the volume... :D too bad i have to play quietly at night


so should i throw the mids up to 10 or just up to like 80 % ?

can you have too much mids? i really like them :D
 
start at the source: string vibration.
Adding controlled vibrato can prolong the decay of a note.
no noise gate, high Master and maybe turn up the Sag control.

compression: (from the WIKI)

Ringy

  • THRSH: -17.8dB
  • RATIO: 10:1
  • ATT: 150ms
  • REL: 987ms
This setting is heavily compressed, making chords and single notes thick and even, and sustain like, forever. The medium attack allows the guitar strings to ring, and the long release holds on to produce a massive, Neil Young-like sustain.
 
thanks for the reply don, i hear you're the man to go to for some awesome ambient presets.:D i tried to input those exact settings on the compressor, no go, you can't even input some of those exact numbers or that ratio on the compressor, perhaps i was adjusting the wrong compressor but i think you can only use pedal or stereo? are you using an axe II? where am i going wrong... thanks in advance
 
mgavin said:
thanks for the reply don, i hear you're the man to go to for some awesome ambient presets.:D i tried to input those exact settings on the compressor, no go, you can't even input some of those exact numbers or that ratio on the compressor, perhaps i was adjusting the wrong compressor but i think you can only use pedal or stereo? are you using an axe II? where am i going wrong... thanks in advance
Click to expand...

use the studio compressor and look up the value (1-10) to ms conversion table in the compressor page of the Wiki. set mode to peak.
http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/index.php?title=Compressor



p.s.
ambient patches, eh?
I guess I didn't upload enough fuzz presets recently and my reputation suffered :D
 
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And dont forget your source of input... Your guitar... perfect in tune and intonation. If change string thickness from 009 to 010 or 011, please re intonate your guitar.
If you have an old used guitar, check frets condition as well. I refretted one of my guitar and it was a nice update i can tell.
 
i knew i would get some source responses. i have arguably one of the greatest guitars ever made, a suhr custom modern w/ jumbo stainless steel frets and elixir 10s which i change about once a month. i would play 11s but i'm not trying to get tendonitis. I feel that 10s are the greatest compromise between string thickness vs playability.... i love the playability of 9s but they certainly lack tone and sustain....

anyways i recommend you all pick yourself up a suhr, and NOT a gibson or a fender. my next gat will be a 22fret model however :D


*i only say not a fender or gibson because the frets aren't stock stainless steel which to me is a huge issue. don't care about brands... carvins are just as nice as my suhr and way cheaper...
 
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@ don yes your reputation perhaps "suffered" after that strymon time-line thread :D haha

thanks for the response i will check out the conversion charts in the wiki and get back to you eventually.
 
+1 on volume, mids and the right compression setting. For live players infinite sustain = feedback which is the sound of the amp vibrating the strings of the guitar. Hard to do without volume. Another idea is 2 compressors. You don't have to set either one to compress as strong.

I once saw Bonnie Raitt use a Fender Pro Jr (15 watt amp with 1-10...killer little amp, particularly for slide) on a riser to about guitar level, just to the side of her vocal mic. It was on a huge stage and I'm not even sure what other amp(s) she was using, but by having the Pro Jr right next to her pointing at her guitar, she could coax feedback and sustain at will.

There are some aspects of electric guitar sound that are really hard to achieve without some volume.

You might also search out for a Ry Cooder article from Guitar Player around the time he was touring with Little Village. He detailed his whole signal chain which you could probably replicate more or less in the Axe. He certainly knows how to get great slide tone.
 
MikeyB59 said:
You might also search out for a Ry Cooder article from Guitar Player around the time he was touring with Little Village. He detailed his whole signal chain which you could probably replicate more or less in the Axe. He certainly knows how to get great slide tone.
Click to expand...

One of my bibles--November 1992
 
You could also try lowering the damp parameter a bit in the advanced amp settings. Increase the amp level to compensate.
 
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