Can't quite nail a tone in live performance.

I play in a modern country cover band here in San Diego... I play in about 4 other bands too, but this is a question about my country cover band.

Gear:

I'm using an American Nashville Tele w/B-bender, stock pups through my peddal board, you can find at the bottom of my post in to a 1969 Super Reverb.

We start covering music from around 1990 when country really started it's evolution to what we used to know as southern rock and we go all the way up to the present with a focus on the last 10 years or so. I have to obv cover a diverse spectrum of tones and I really do like things sounding as close to the record as I can without getting too carried away.

The song I'm interestingly having a hard time nailing the tone is Gone Country by Alan Jackson.

It's sounds to me like Brent is playing his Tele with a comp, but I just can't seem to figure out if he's running bridge and middle out of phaise, which it kinda sounds like to me, but when I go to that position on my selector switch, it doesn't sound quite right. It's for sure not just the bridge pickup and I've tried the middle and neck out of phaise, still not quite it and have also tried just the middle.

Also, not sure, but it sounds like he might have just a touch of chorus on the record. I know he's got different pups than me and probably tracked this with his 67 deluxe, but with my gear, what do y'all think will sound the closest. So far I'm thinking bridge and middle with just a lil chorus, but wanted to see if anybody could get me closer. Thanks.

I think one can drive themselves crazy trying to exactly nail recorded tones.

(sorry I can't be more help...)

Aha! Bridge Pickup: American Tele® Single-Coil Pickup (Bridge)
http://www.fender.com/en-GB/products/search.php/?partno=0118342706

This may be the culprit. This is the same as the American Series/Standard. It has no base plate, therefore has a "modern" all-purpose voicing. Jack of all trades ... Couple other current threads re this one. Suggest Broadcaster (because I matched the "American Tele®" neck pickup with one and it works very well).
The neck pickup is a beauty though.

Too many pedals ?
Live playing always seems to need less FX than a recording e.g. turn the reverb off and let the room do it (maybe use a slight subtle tremolo instead to add a little sparkle, the Marshall VT-1 in particular is good at this)

Mason is well known for using very little more than a compressor pedal in the studio. He has a huge effects board but his best tones come from just a compressor with a bit of DD added in the control room. He also uses SD Five-Two pickups in his tele and an old vintage Fender amp. (I forget the model) The rest of his sound comes from his hands.

Yeah, I can get reasonably close on songs like Chatahoochee and tons of other tunes he's played on, but there's some something in this particular song I'm not catching. It doesn't sound as sharp and crisp as just the bridge pup, perhaps he's rolled the tone off a bit or something.

I'll have to record some samples for y'all.

First a little chorus. Remember he has a 3rd knob that BLENDS in the middle pickup. That's why it sounds like a mix between bridge and the out of phase type bridge and middle. It's a touch of middle with bridge, a little chorus, and compression.

That's it! Good call. I don't have that extra nob, so I'll just run birdge and middle together as I think that sounds more like the song than just the bridge. At least now I know why I wasn't getting it... Thanks.

As been said earlier, the secret to Brent Mason tone is the blend control.

I (meaning: a tech) put a concentric volume pot on my Nashville B-bender with a separate volume knob for the middle pickup giving me the blend function. Works like a charm to get closer to the Brent Mason sound. I´ve also replaced the bridge pickup with a SD Vintage Stack, same as on Brents 68 Tele.
Big improvement in my opinion.

The Brent M DVD has a great part in it where he goes over the pickups and electronics and his recording rig which has a few amps. Fascinating. I've never heard anybody that sounds like him. The Herco? Thumbpick is some of the sound too, I reckon. My Little Ballerina is one of my favorite songs ever. Just got into his stuff not long ago. A real genius on guitar, no doubt.