Guitar Tone Secrets: Achieving Great Rock Tones with Minimal Gear

This episode explores how to achieve diverse guitar tones using a single amplifier channel, emphasizing the significant role of the volume knob in shaping sound. We discuss dynamics, comfort with gear, and the importance of using effects like reverb and delay to enhance performance while maintaining a rich tonal atmosphere.

• Discussion on the importance of dynamics in tone 
• Exploring personal experiences with a single amplifier channel 
• Setting up the amplifier for optimal sound quality 
• The role of the volume knob in controlling distortion 
• Techniques to manipulate tone through playing style 
• Comfort in guitar setup and easily accessible controls 
• Utilizing reverb and delay for enhanced sound depth 
• The tube screamer as a tool for additional gain clarity

Links:

Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/

• Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
• GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
• Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .

Chapters

• 0:00 Mastering Guitar Tones With One Channel
• 4:10 Adjusting volume controls distortion intensity flexibly.
• 10:06 Comfort in guitar setup enhances playing confidence
• 12:41 Enhancing Guitar Tones With Effects
• 14:52 Tube screamer enhances guitar dynamics effectively

Transcript

Steve Stine [00:00:00]:
Hey, Steve Stine from guitarizoom here. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we're going to be talking about how to get a bunch of really great guitar tones from one channel of an amplifier. Now, this conversation came up. I was working with a song called Wild Dogs by Tommy Bolan, if you've ever heard that song before, off the album teaser. And we got to talking about tone and how to approach this song from a musical perspective. Not just learning the chords and the notes and things like that, but really how to make it sound and feel more like the song. And then that led to a conversation that I'm going to have with you right now.

Steve Stine [00:00:39]:
So when I was growing up, I grew up in a trailer court, didn't have a lot of money. I had a guitar and an amp. And so, you know, you learn to play with the things that you own, right? So because of that, I developed a simple idea of how guitar tone worked and the dynamics that happen with volume and, you know, toggle switch changes and that sort of thing, as a lot of players do, for sure. But as a result of that, I don't. I've never been the kind of player that has, like, a lot of different, you know, 15 different presets that I use for different things or something like that. And not that there's anything wrong with that. It's perfectly fine. It's just not the way that.

Steve Stine [00:01:21]:
That I tend to do things. And so what I want to show you today is how this works and how I was using this when I was talking about Wild Dogs by Tommy Bo. So basically what I have here is I'm playing through my Synergy amplifier, which is what I use for, you know, any of the studio stuff that I'm using, any of the streaming stuff I do, and certainly when I play live. And this is the Soldano module that I'm using right now. It's actually the Saldano two that they just came out with not very long ago. And this is just a stock channel that I've got just Saldano straight in right now with a teeny little bit of reverb on it. So let's start by talking about those things. First of all, what I like to do is set up a channel that isn't really, really, really distorted.

Steve Stine [00:02:13]:
It's got distortion, no doubt about it, but it's a rock and roll tolerable distortion. And what I do is I tend to try and set that as high as I can without it being way too much gain. And then what I can do Is I can use my volume knob to control the amount of distortion that I'm going to be using when I'm playing. Because here's one of the things to understand is that the volume knob on a guitar, if you don't know this isn't like a volume knob on a car stereo where you turn it to one and you turn it to six and it still sounds the same, you know, nothing's changing about the sound. Obviously if you turn it too loud then your speakers might start distorting or something like that. So when I take this volume and I turn it all the way up, that's the maximum amount of distortion that I've got going from my setting of my amplifier. But as I drop that volume back, not only is the volume going down a little bit, but it's filtering out some of the gain, some of the distortion that's happening. So that's what's really unique about the, the volume knob of a guitar is that it's not just lowering the volume like a car stereo, it's actually filtering it in some degree in different ways.

Steve Stine [00:03:35]:
And that's beneficial because what I can do is when I've got it all the way up, the volume all the way up, that's the maximum amount of distortion that I'm getting from this channel. And what I tend to do is when I'm playing, again, it depends on the style of music I'm playing or the song that I'm playing. But I might run that volume knob back a little bit all the time. And then when I just need a little bit more distortion, maybe for a solo or something like that, I can turn it all the way up. And when I'm done, I'll just back it off a little bit. So this is more realistically where I would probably run that distortion or that volume knob. Now there's no exact science to this. I'm not looking at my volume knob and saying, oh, it's on seven and I want it on eight or something like that.

Steve Stine [00:04:20]:
I just kind of feel it, the volume knob rollback and sense about where I want it to be in terms of the sound that I'm hearing. So that's where I'm at right now. You know, it's probably back somewhere around seven or so. Just takes the edge off a little bit. Now I could keep going and it's going to back it off even more. But here's where your built in dynamics with the way that you play becomes really, really important. If I turn that volume all the way back Up. But now I pick.

Steve Stine [00:05:04]:
It's going to sound a little different. But watch this. If I lower that volume down and lower it down even more. See, now if I strum harder, I'm going to get a little bit more edge out of that. So I can move back and forth between this sound and that sounds by picking really soft. So utilizing the dynamics that you have in your skill set attributes to the way that the guitar sounds, you see. So it's really important that you understand that you've got all of these different availabilities here off of one channel. So I'm not saying that you can't switch to a cleaner channel or a clean channel.

Steve Stine [00:06:12]:
You can do whatever you want. And it's not that I don't have any other channels available, it's just this is the way that I've learned how to play, as I tend to move things. Like if I was playing on this channel and I was playing a song by King's X, so I lower my volume down a little bit, maybe I even go to the middle position with my toggle switch, maybe bring that volume up a little bit more. Even when I want more, you see, I can bring that distort or that volume up and it's going to add more gain back in there again. So. And then I get done with that part. We're back here now. So I drop that volume back.

Steve Stine [00:07:24]:
And what I really like about that is I could adjust how that feels by just adjusting the volume knob. I'm not switching back and forth between channels all the time. And like I said before, there's nothing wrong with that. If that's what works for you, that's great. I just find the freedom of this is, if I'm on stage, I don't have to be in front of my, you know, pedals all the time, having to switch back and forth. I can just adjust all of this as needed. Now, again, there are times where you might need to be on an actual cleaner channel, but you can cover a lot of ground by simply being on a channel like this that's pretty straightforward. You've got your rock all the way up, but then you can drop that back, pick lighter and get all of this happening and then bring it back up when you need to.

Steve Stine [00:08:11]:
So that's step number one. And I should even preface this by saying that it goes even further. Make sure that you've got a guitar that feels good. You know, the string gauge feels good to you. That's all very motivating to you. The volume knob and the toggle switch. And all these things are in a good place for you to be able to reach and manipulate whenever you need. That's one of the biggest things about me with guitars is like.

Steve Stine [00:08:38]:
Like a Les Paul, for instance. Great guitar, wonderful guitar. I own none of them. Having a toggle switch up on the top of the guitar up here to where you switch from. You know, your bridge position and your neck position. And that sort of thing makes no sense to me. Because I have to leave where I'm at to go do that. And then come back where on a guitar that's more Strat style.

Steve Stine [00:09:00]:
I can stay here and then just simply adjust as needed. And on my Ibanez's, this is even closer to the pickups. So I literally can keep playing. And I can adjust that toggle switch without having to leave. So it feels awkward to me to play a Les Paul with the toggle switch all the way up on the top like that. Now, again, everybody's different. But that's a defining feature for me when I'm going to purchase a guitar. Because I know if I don't have the toggle switch and the volume knob and everything right here, real close to those pickups, I'm going to have to work a little harder.

Steve Stine [00:09:31]:
Because of the way I've developed my playing over the last 40 years is having those real close. Because I'm constantly adjusting them. I'm constantly adjusting my pickup selector or my volume knob when I'm playing. So I find the right sound. When I play something, I can just adjust it a little bit and then I'm in. And I might adjust that volume multiple times through one song. So the guitar, the setup of the guitar, of course the pickups, the strings, all of these things make a big difference, you know, because what you're trying to develop here is comfort, right? That's what the guitar and the strings and the pickups and all these things are doing is offering you this opportunity for comfort, which leads to confidence, right? And motivation and all these other things. So now I plug into the amplifier and I dial in this sound from the amplifier that sounds good to my ear, feels good to my fingers, and then has this nice broad range of dynamic capability depending on how I adjust my guitar.

Steve Stine [00:10:36]:
Now, the last thing I want to talk about are just a couple of comfort things, comfort foods, if you will, which would be things like delay and reverb. Now, I don't run a bunch of pedals. I run an HX effects by line six. And I've got a delay and reverb setup. So here's my delay and reverb off, and then here's my reverb off, okay? Now, I tend to run my reverb way in the background, so it's not as loud as my guitar signal or anything like that. You got to figure out what works for you. But what I like about a reverb is that it just adds a little bit of space. And sometimes psychologically, that can be really beneficial.

Steve Stine [00:11:15]:
Because when you're playing, when you stop playing, you hear that sound. If I turn it off, what often happens is it sounds like I'm playing in a vacuum or I'm playing, you know, next to a black hole, and my guitar sound is just being sucked out. And if you're doing certain things, you know, you want a funk sound or maybe a jazz sound or something, that's great. And that's. That's a wonderful thing. But if you are playing and you need a little bit of that cushion around you, or a blanket, I call it. So if I turn on that reverb and I play something that's existing around me when I. When I stop playing.

Steve Stine [00:11:53]:
So you're not really hearing it while I'm playing, but you certainly hear it when I'm not playing. And it almost enables me to not have to play so much. Because when I'm not playing, there's still something happening. Right? Now, if I turn on the delay, it's going to add even more inside there. So again, not overly noticeable when I'm not playing or when I am playing, but when I'm not playing, that's when we hear it. Right. Right there. So the delay I don't have to use all the time.

Steve Stine [00:12:40]:
The reverb's kind of nice to have on. You see, it's there. And the louder I put my volume, the more you're going to hear it. Right. But it's not interfering. It's just in the background. Now, again, there are times that it might be nice to have maybe even more reverb or something for a particular solo. I've always just used that as just a little cushion around what I'm already doing so it doesn't get in the way.

Steve Stine [00:13:10]:
But when I'm not playing, you can notice it. And even if I turn the delay on you, do you do hear it a little bit, but it's not getting in the way as I'm playing. It's just back. So with all of those things, it gives me everything that I need to go from gain to very little gain. In one channel. The last thing I'm going to talk about is the tube screamer, which I use a tube screamer. Now, let's say I have this all set up, but I have a particular solo coming up that I need to play a little more articulate, or I need a little more gain from a comfort perspective or something like that than what I have right now. I can turn on that tube screamer, which now I'm going to turn it on, and it adds a significant amount of gain, more clarity, a little bit brighter.

Steve Stine [00:14:17]:
So I can hear and feel that when that's on. So that's the next level where I don't have to switch the channel. I could still stay here and go from here to there. So now, if I needed to play something that was a little more kind of sounding, I could use that tube screamer to get me into that zone. So hopefully that helps you a little bit to understand how powerful your guitar and your dynamics with your fingers in your picking attack can really be. As opposed to thinking about that you need all of these different channels and stuff like that.