Guitar and Amp Tone
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Jim Gleason’s GUITAR ENCYCLOPEDIA Guitar And Amp Tone By Jim Gleason Version 1. 0 © 1994-2006 Rock Performance Music. All Rights Reserved www.guitarencyclopedia.com PAGE 2 ALIGNING REFERENCES IN THIS MANUAL TO THE VIDEO CASSETTE On your video recorder (or with the remote), set the counter to zero (0:00:00) exactly at the beginning of the video, exactly where the title screen shown below first appears. It must be a REAL TIME COUNTER. GUITAR and AMP TONE By Jim Gleason ©1994 RPM All Rights Reserved You can then cue sections of the video by refering to the column on the far right of the Contents pages. CONTENTS PAGE 3 All entries in italics below are guitar and amp tone setups. Page Videotape Preview Of Sounds................................................................................................ on videotape only 0:00:04 Alligning Real Time Contents References To The Video Cassette Tape ................................ 2 Contents ................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction A. The Proceedure Suggested By This Video and Book................................................... 5 B. Volume Control ............................................................................................................ 5 C. Distortion ...................................................................................................................... 6 D. Tone Control ................................................................................................................. 7 E. Reverb, Echo, Digital Delay and Modulation .............................................................. 8 Chapter 1: The Growth and Decay Envelope A. Envelope Defined. ........................................................................................................ 9 0:07:20 B. Illustrations of 10 Basic Envelopes by Amplifier (see Chapter 2B for videotape times) ........................................................................... 9 0:07:45 C. Getting the Envelope You Want................................................................................. 11 0:09:20 Chapter 2: Guitar and Pickups A. Gibson and Fender Electric Guitars............................................................................ 12 B. Single Coil Pickups .................................................................................................... 12 0:11:00 C. Humbucking Pickups.................................................................................................. 13 0:18:30 D. Pickup Adjustments .................................................................................................... 13 0:20:15 E. Active Pickups ............................................................................................................ 13 F. Pickup Wiring and Polarity ........................................................................................ 14 0:27:00 G. Shielding and Potting ................................................................................................. 16 Preview of Amps & Speakers Used in Chapters 3 and 4 (video only) .................................................................................................................................. 0:31:30 Chapter 3: Amp and Speakers A. Fender, Marshall and Vox Tube Amplifiers............................................................... 17 B. Speaker Components and Wattage ............................................................................. 18 C. Open-Back versus Closed-Back Speaker Cabinets .................................................... 21 0:34:30 Comparisons of Marshall & Fender amps through various speaker cabinets (videotape only) . 0:35:35 D. Guitar, Amp and Speaker Setup ................................................................................. 21 0:40:40 E. Distorting the Power Amp .......................................................................................... 22 0:43:00 F. Using Power Amp Distortion ..................................................................................... 22 0:45:20 Chapter 4: Refining Tone with the Pre-Amp A. Preamp Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence ...................................................... 23 B. Basic Guitar and Amp Tones ...................................................................................... 23 0:52:30 C. Increased Distortion for Hard Rock and Metal.......................................................... 31 1:00:30 PAGE 4 Page Videotape Chapter 5: Equalization: Shaping the Tonal Character A. The Harmonic Content of a Note ............................................................................... 33 1:02:25 B. Equalization and Frequency Bands ............................................................................ 34 1:04:15 C. Equalization Devices .................................................................................................. 35 1:07:20 D. Guitar& Amp Tones With EQ..................................................................................... 36 1:21:40 Chapter 6: Miking and Noise Reduction A. Microphone Placement ............................................................................................... 43 B. The Microphone Preamp ............................................................................................ 43 C. Noise Reduction, Expansion and Compression.......................................................... 43 Chapter 7: New Technology A. Rack-mount Guitar Preamps ...................................................................................... 45 1:24:05 B. Speaker Emulators ...................................................................................................... 53 C. The ADA Ampulator: Accurately Simulating Power Amp and Speakers ................ 53 Audio/Video Library of Vintage Amps and Speakers (Videotape only) A. Fender amps.................................................................................................................... 1:30:00 1. 1953 Tweed Deluxe .................................................................................................. 1:31:15 2. 1963 Deluxe.............................................................................................................. 1:34:05 3. 1961 4x10” Bassman ................................................................................................ 1:37:00 4. 1961 Bassman (1x12” cab) ....................................................................................... 1:39:40 5. 1963 Pro (15”, tube rectifier).................................................................................... 1:42:30 6. 1968 Super Reverb (1x12” cabinet) ......................................................................... 1:45:25 7. Circa 1970 Fender Twin Reverb .............................................................................. 1:48:00 B. Vox Amp 1. Circa 1964 AC30 ...................................................................................................... 1:50:35 C. Marshall 1. 1959 4x10” Bassman thru 2x12” open back Marshall/Celestion Greenback speakers................................................................... 1:54:55 2. 1969 Model 1987 50 watt Marshall thru 2x12” open back Marshall/Celestion Greenback speakers................................................................... 1:56:05 PAGE 5 INTRODUCTION A. THE PROCEDURE SUGGESTED BY THIS VIDEO AND BOOK The signal chain (or signal path) includes every wire, cable, plug, switch, and other device that passes the signal from your guitar pickup to the speaker (or microphone). As an electric guitarist, it is your job to be aware of the effect of every component in your signal chain. Concentrate on basics first. Get a good sound with just a guitar and amp, before adding effects and other devices. Here is a general order of procedures: • check your microphone placement, if recording or sending to a PA or monitor (Chapter 6) • choose a guitar, pickup, amp and speaker combination (Chapters 2 and 3) • find the power amp distortion reference setting (Chapter 3) and listen to the envelope (Chapter 1) • adjust the input gain and tone on the amp (Chapter 4) • if desired, add an equalization device to the signal chain and adjust it (Chapter 5) • recheck your microphone placement and setup the mike preamp and noise reduction (Chap. 6) • play through the system, make necessary adjustments to components or to your technique B. VOLUME CONTROL Passive and Active Volume Controls. A passive volume control does not increase amplification of the signal when it is turned up. Instead, it allows all of the signal to pass through when it is turned all the way up. It grounds out increasingly more of the signal as you turn it down. When a signal is connected to ground, it loses power. An active volume control employs a transistor pre-amplifying circuit so that when you turn the knob to increase the volume, it is amplified. With the passive volume control, turning the volume knob to increase the volume doesn’t amplify the signal, but makes it louder by reducing the amount of the signal that is connected to ground. Volume Control On the Guitar. It is preferable to turn passive volume controls fully clockwise so the full volume of the pickup is allowed to pass through to the amplifier. The more a passive volume control on a guitar is turned counterclockwise, the more of the harmonic content of the guitar is not heard. Some of my electric guitars have no volume controls.