Guitar gear and a short rant.

[Danny Gochnour]

Yea. I'm a tone geek. Ever since I was a kid I was always after that "sound" I heard in my head. One day I heard Robben Ford...way back in the late 70's with the Yellowjackets when he was using a 335 and a Boogie...he had that "voice". There was something in the dynamics of his tone along with the articulation and that "stringyness" to his sound that I was looking for in my own playing.
After trying out Fenders and Marshalls and then settling on Boogies for years, I came across Fuchs Audio and their so-called Dumble clone the Overdrive Supreme.
That was it. The sound in my head. Then I got anal and pursued the perfect guitar cable-cuz we all know that they sound different right? Please tell me I'm right. This is the most often over looked part of a guitar sound. Guys spend thousands on a boutique amp and vintage Strat and then plug them in with a $20 rapco cable. I can't figure it out. But then , we know that Duracell's sound way better than Everyreadys, too. Right?

What are you guys using to get that "sound"?

[Mike M.]

What do ya mean? A guitar cable helps your sound? I realize a cable that isn't working good will deaden your sound, but how much of a difference can different cables make?

Please elaborate!

Also, I've got a Laney 50watt AOR series head, with 4x12 cabinet. I use the normal delay, reverb, wah, chorus and volume pedals, but my sound kicks ass, especially after I just put some different EL-34s in it. Can't remember the name, but I used to have Groove Tubes, and these new tubes blow them away! I'm having a little bit of a dilemna, however. Should I get a Tube Screamer, or something along those lines?

[Danny Gochnour]

Mike...at first glance I thought you were kidding but then i realized you weren't. Cables make a HUGH difference in your tone. Just like you noticed how tubes sound different...which they do...drastically different.

I first noticed it when my Monster cable broke one night. All I had for a spare was a cheapo Rapco or something. My amp sounded dead. The next day I went to the music store and all they had was a Planet Wave. wow. The difference between the planet wave and Monster was amazing. It sounded like I ltook a blanket off of my amp. The highs were cleaner, the mids were more articulate and the lows were tighter.
So..I thought, if there was that much difference between two similarly priced cables then how much difference would there be if I jumped up to a Mogami or something.

After weeks of research on the internet Premiere Guitar did a cable shoot out where they compared a couple dozen cables in each price range and noted their sonic differences.

Right before I decided to go with the Mogami with Neutric ends a guy named Steve who owns Accusound Cables contacted me through Joe Bonamassa's website and offered to let me try one of his Silver Pro's. He sent me one and now my complete rig from input, through the pedals and into amp is all Accusound. The clarity and note definition is amazing. There is almost 99.98% resistance free signal flowing.

About Tube Screamers. Stock ones suck unless you can find a mid to late 70's one. the modded ones by Keeley or Analoge Man are really good. It all depends on the sound you're after. If you let me know I can help guide you in the right direction. The OceanEFX Pearl Drive is fantastic as well as the Hermida Zen Drive. Both pedals are very "Dumble" like in their tone quality.

Thanks for posting!

[Mike M.]

Well, I spent alot of years focusing on some other things, so I am a little behind in the guitar knowledge category. Yes, my cables are all very old, so that might be deadening my sound, so I will take your advice - THANKS!

I am mostly after a guitar sound from the 80s - the hard rock sound...Brad Gillis, George Lynch, etc. Of course, I still need to have a good clean sound too...my amp is great - 50 watt Laney AOR series, and I use regular effects - reverb, delay, chorus, wah, etc. That's about it...what do ya think?

[Danny Gochnour]

Mike.
At one point I think around 90-93 I used a fifty watt Laney combo...I forget the model number. I ran it into a Laney 4 x 12 cabinet. I remember the amp sounded good. I was able to get the sound I was looking for at the time which is what you're after. I was into Brad Gillis, Satriani and all the shredders at the time. I always used Boogies (from 78-90 and then from 93 until 06) Brad Gillis used a Boogie MkIII Simulclass. I know I didn't like that Boogie very much because of the loose low end. The Laney had a tighter bottom. In spite of running EL34's it still sounded pretty warm.

Effectwise, all I use now is some verb and delay. I have a Cry Baby and for that special effect depending on the Houserocker song I have a Rocktron Xpression in my rack with a 12 string patch programmed (Coming Home), a rotovibe (Have a Good Time) and some tremelo (Lucky Man) and one song I have a HUGH verb surf sound (solo in Hideaway) The Boss OD is for a clean patch that I might want some OD on but every thing else is straight guitar/amp. The Fuchs amp is amazing in how well it cleans up by simply turning the guitar down.

I should post my rig on here. I'll take some pictures this weekend in Jersey at the Light of Day show.

I think with the Laney and a Boss OD you should be able to get that nice Rock tone.

[Mike M.]

I'm still not up to date on some of the verbage...what's "OD?"

[Danny Gochnour]

OD=Overdrive. OD pedal.

[Mike M.]

Boy, that was a dumb question! However, there are so many choices of different effects these days, and I haven't caught on to all of them yet.

You know, I just got some better tubes in my amp, and the thing sounds awesome! I thought I was using some of the best, but guess I was wrong.

Thanks for the advice...maybe now I'll know more about what the hell I'm doing! I could always play a guitar decently, just didn't know alot of the equipment stuff. Like I said, I was away from it all for a while, and now I'm back full force to play and promote some damn music!

[Danny Gochnour]

Mike
I love talking gear. I'm also really into the little nuances and little pieces that come together to make a whole.
Some of those pieces are intangible. You don't know why things sound different-you can feel it. The response, the harmonics or the overtones...something is either there or not. It all comes together in a magical sort of way.

What kind of tubes did you get? I always swore by stock Boogie tubes. I think because one time I tried Groove Tubes in my Boogie and HATED them. Recently I put a pair of JJ 6L6's in there and it made a great sounding amp even better. Again, I don't know how or why exactly but it just "feels" better.

I'm going to replace the 12AX7's with Tung Sol Reissues soon. They come highly recommended for the Boogie so we'll see. I don't use it much..just fun to experiment with.

I'm gonna hate replacing the tubes in the Fuchs. I think that will put me over the edge. The biasing....I'm getting nervous thinking about it.

[Joshua Taulbee]

Overdrive

[Danny Gochnour]

Oh yea. For some reason that combination is amazing. Those two were made for each other. I love that sound but it's never been a quest of mine to capture that. I just don't play that way. But yea, Amazing tone. I immediately think of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or early Beatles.
Thanks for posting!!

Theres' alot of nice Vox clone amps out there. Joe uses a Matchless which was once owned by Bruce Springsteen and it always sounds great with Joe's tele. The Bad Cats and the Top Hats are always great sounding. I wonder what it is besides EL34's that make them sound like that. Anyone know?

[Danny Gochnour]

Two classic and great players. Thanks for the clip. Les Paul is still playing every Monday nigh at some little Jazz club in NYC I think.

I always liked the classic tones. BB King, Buddy Guy, (early) Eric Clapton his Cream era tone crushed. Jimmy Page, Jimmy McCarty, Hendrix. When Larry Carlton hit the scene with his Steely Dan solos using a 335 and a fender princton reverb...his tone caught my ear. Then SRV of course. These guys shaped guitar tone for what it is today.

There are many more but as far as plug in and play tone these were the guys. Out of these guys only Hendrix used a bunch of pedals.

[Kich]

I confess, I also am a tone geek. It's the never ending lust for the perfect guitar tone.
As for the cables.... their is no doubt they make a HUGE difference. I bought some
crappy patch cables a while back, pluged them in and, unpluged them and took them back for a refund
the next day. Good equipment leads to good tone, but great tone is in the heart and fingers!