Who can help me out with a thick Clean tone?

#1: Are you using a Piezo? BIGGEST one.
#2: You disclaim your cab, but isn't that a significant part of the equation?
#3: Isn't there a factory preset for this? And have you just tweaked it?
#4: Um, isn't mids the key to getting the girth in tone? It might not sound great by itself, but in the mix? Bump them up and give it a run.

Maybe post a clip so we can check it out?
 
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Sounds like a clean Petrucci sound of that era to me... Pull Me Under would therefore give you it in isolation
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Not sure he was using piezo back then either... might have been, but it was pre-MusicMan days
 
Like jlynnb1 has said, Petrucci's clean is not "Fat" but instead is "Rich" and "Full-Sounding". I remember seeing a video which he explains his clean tone, and if i remember well he scoops all the mids so it doesn't sound "In the face", so try to disengage the Fat switch. Also i think he Splits his humbucker coils for this kind of tone, so try that, or try a Strat in the second switch position. I don't think he uses flanger. I Think he uses a very deep and slow chorus helped with a slight compression. Try the Japan CE-2 with a Studio Reverb with moderate Mix, and a simple Mono Delay with time set something around 360ms.

I've put an example here, see if it's what you're looking for:



I'll also post my Patch, together with the ECHOPLEX Tape IR i've got somewhere around the forum. Bear in mind they're both for the AxeFX II XL.
Hope i've been of some help!
 

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One very important thing you should know about the Mark IIc+, Mark IV and similar amps (if you don't already know): The tonestack (= the bass/mid/treble-knob-controls) is located before the preamp. In other words, they act more like a gain knob for a certain spectrum of frequencies than an EQ. Therefore, use the BMT-knobs for feel and the EQ (f.ex. the EQ of the AMP-block or a dedicated PEQ/GEQ-block) for tone.
 
Try the Lonestar clean. Petrucci used them for a minute in his career. Roll off the master and the input gain. Gets pretty thick and fat.
 
Are you using AxeEdit and do you have the V15 factory banks loaded?

If so, click on Presets... and type "clean" into the search box in the upper right of the preset picker.

This will filter all the presets and show the ones with "clean" in the title.

There are some good starting points / ideas in the factory clean presets. One (or more?) don't use an amp at all. But all of them are worth an audition if not to just get ideas.

cleanv15presets_zpsc548bfeb.jpg
 
If you havent tried the fet boost in the drive block, it might change things for you. I use it on a lot of my clean presets. It adds and fills without the crunch.
 
Use the JC 120 model. That's what he used for cleans on this album. That as well as I read he also used a ZOOM 9002

This is from his wiki:

Studio albums
With Dream Theater
1989 Majesty/When Dream And Day Unite Randall RG100ES, Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+
1992 Images and Words Marshall JMP1 (for Metropolis Pt.1), Roland JC120, Zoom 9002 (for Clean Sound), Mesa Boogie Quad Preamp
1994 Awake Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ (Only album to be quadruple layered. 2 takes using Dual Rectifier, 2 takes using Mark IIC+)
1995 A Change Of Seasons Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+, Mesa Boogie Mark IV, Mesa Boogie TriAxis
1997 Falling Into Infinity Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+, Mesa Boogie Mark IIB, Mesa Boogie Mark IV, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Mesa Boogie TriAxis
1999 Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From A Memory Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+, Mesa Boogie Mark IV, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Mesa Boogie TriAxis, Mesa Boogie Formula
2002 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier (for The Glass Prison and The Great Debate)
2003 Train Of Thought Mesa Boogie Road King Series I
2005 Octavarium Mesa Boogie Lone Star (for Clean Sound only), Mesa Boogie Road King Series I, Mesa Boogie Mark IV
2007 Systematic Chaos Mesa Boogie Lone Star (for Clean Sound only), Mesa Boogie Mark IV, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier (for Forsaken)
2009 Black Clouds & Silver Linings Mesa Boogie Lone Star (for Clean Sound only), Mesa Boogie Mark IV, Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+, Mesa Boogie Mark V (for The Count of Tuscany only)
2011 A Dramatic Turn Of Events Mesa Boogie Mark V
2013 Dream Theater Mesa Boogie Mark V, Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+, Mesa Boogie TriAxis (for Clean Sound and some solo sounds), Mesa Boogie 2:90, Mesa Boogie Royal Atlantic RA-100 (for The Looking Glass)
Solo Album
2005 Suspended Animation Mesa Boogie Roadking Series 1, Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+
With Liquid Tension Experiment
1998 Liquid Tension Experiment Mesa Boogie TriAxis, Mesa Boogie 2:90 power amp
1999 Liquid Tension Experiment 2 Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+, Mesa Boogie Mark IV
With Jordan Rudess
2000 An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess Mesa Boogie Mark IV

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I'll also post my Patch, together with the ECHOPLEX Tape IR i've got somewhere around the forum. Bear in mind they're both for the AxeFX II XL.
Hope i've been of some help!


That sounds really nice. Would you mind to convert the patch and the IR for the Axe-FX II?

Thanks.
 
use the middle position with coil-tap on your JP guitar.

depending on the year of your guitar, you may have to pull out the tone knob to split the coils - i don't know why he changed the wiring so that's not default.

what year is your JP guitar? what model?

use any clean amp sound with a touch of chorus or detune (pitch block) and you'll have that tone.

also that recording has an acoustic guitar playing at the same time for that high end "ping" - it's not just electric alone, though with a bunch of compression and boosted highs, you can get close to that sound.
 
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