Need Sustain ... Fender Tweed

[Moonie]

I had a customer Tweed clone made for me. Kinda a tweed Deluxe.. beefed up with 6L6's and two 10s. The amp is just amazing.

However.. I have an issue with sustain. . It seems the notes will decay too quickly.. I only really notice this more when I move from my Tele to my SG ..

Any thoughts on stomp boxes.. Im going straight amp.. I've really cut down on the pedals.. I do not want Distortion.. or a high gainy overdrive.

I'm currently trying a Barber Tone Press Compressor pedal.. and its actually doing a pretty dang good job what what im trying to get. but Im open for other suggestions of what to try.. i like the TP pedal cuz you can back the blend down and turn up the sustain. <- this might be exactly what I need. I just curious to some other thoughts.

Again I dont want to change the tone I already have with my amp. I dont want to over drive or distort it. it already breaks up perfectly ..


I have a Fuzz, Overdrive, booster, distortion and tube driver pedals already.

I have..
VS Garage Tone - Drivetrain pedal.. -- love this pedal.. cheap but works better with my black faced amps
Fulltone Ulitmate Octave -- Very cool but I dont want fuzz
Semour Duncan Booster -- This is great.. but its a toss up between this and the Barber
Tech 21 XXL pedal - great distortion.. but I dont want this..
TS9 - have yet to try this one.. still sits in closet


Long winded.. sorry.. but any other suggestions? Again I have an SG with P-90s.. sounds awesome.. but when I want that Gibson warm sustain tone.. im lossing it with straight amp. My tele through this amp is a dream come true

[schenkadere]

T-Rex Tonebug Sustainer

[fezz parka]

Originally Posted by Moonie

Im going straight amp.. I've really cut down on the pedals.. I do not want Distortion.. or a high gainy overdrive.

IMO, you've got the wrong amp. To get 'em to sing you gotta crank 'em and work the volume control on the guitar. The Tone Press is a good start.

[artdecade]

Fezz is right. Tweeds need volume to sing out (and that comes with a bit of grit). A compressor will help, but a lot of the tweed fun comes from the natural compression you get when it gets cranked up!

[Moonie]

Let me rephrase ..

The amps cranked.. its a low watt amp and Its dimed. Sounds amazing. just lacks a bit of sustain, but only with the Gibson..

Just looking for a pedal to add a bit more.. but keep the natural amp sound

[artdecade]

A dimed tweed should have grit and compression - even more so with humbuggies.
That's strange. I dunno what to tell you. 11G?

[fezz parka]

My 5e3 and 5d4 sing just fine with my Gibson's.

[McGlamRock]

...

[cousinpaul]

Maybe something's a little bit off on the SG; pickups too high, spotty intonation, something like that. Could also be the hotter pickups are causing the amp to sag a little too much. What rectifier tube are you using? A dimed Deluxe should sustain.

[Del Pickup]

As others have said, any tweed amp that's dimed - especially a Deluxe clone - should have more than enough sustain for most requirements. If you're getting the sustain with your tele then it has to be something needing adjusted on the SG, is my guess.

But if it still doesn't give you what you want try adjusting the internal trim pot on the Tone Press to give the more 'vintage authentic' compressor sustain than what it come set as from the factory. That should help as well.

Any tweed amp I've ever played has had more than enough sustain for my needs. I can strum a chord on any guitar and the notes will take around 15-16 seconds to decay coming from my 57 Twin. And it was the same with my old Bassman RI and also with a friend's Victoria Deluxe clone.

[fezz parka]

The Barber is a really good box. The best stomp parallel compressor out there, IMO.

[Rod Parsons]

Are your pickups too close to your strings. Too much pull from the magnets can dampen sustain. Or maybe they are too low and aren't picking up the vibrations as the strings decay on their own... Adusting the pickups is free...

[SarahThustra]

Or the strings too low on the SG? Maybe you're getting a bunch of buzz where the strings are just lightly rattling against the frets. Hummers should give you plenty of sustain compared to singles.

[schenkadere]

Seriously...no offense intended...maybe it's just you and your technique and ability on the different guitars. Some guitars just don't suit me...I know it right away.

[cousinpaul]

It could be just a matter of getting used to the amp. Tweeds are "punchy" to say the least. I remember I had to do some work on my right hand technique when I first got the 5E3. I guess a compressor could help but you'd be missing out on a lot of the dynamics you can get out of a good tweed, which is kind of the point of playing one.

[bossking7]

Originally Posted by cousinpaul

It could be just a matter of getting used to the amp. Tweeds are "punchy" to say the least. I remember I had to do some work on my right hand technique when I first got the 5E3. I guess a compressor could help but you'd be missing out on a lot of the dynamics you can get out of a good tweed, which is kind of the point of playing one.

+1. SG's arent the best for Tweed amps either.

[Paul in Colorado]

Somethin' ain't right if you're getting more sustain with a Tele then an SG. How does the SG do with other amps? If it sustains better in a different amp, the problem is the Tweed Amp, not the guitar.

[Moonie]

I'm a complete moron...
I've been playing doing this way too long to not know better..


http://bothners.co.za/articles/guita...ickup-heights/

On a side note The Barber Tone Press is amazing..........

[Televised]

This is one of the best articles I have seen on Pup height adjustment

I have been going with Bill Lawrence's, (1 nickel/2 nickel, (treb./bass), to get you in the neighborhood of where you'd like to be with his "Keystone" single colis, but this article covers all bases and them some.

"We're all Bozos on this Bus"

[blueshawk100]

I have plenty of sustain using my tele with a 5E3. I have a vocalist3 pedal that has several different reverbs for guitar built into it. Perhaps it is the dry sound you don't like. You could add some reverb, which adds the appearance of sustain. Especially if you are in a dead room (carpeted, with furniture, etc).

But I did see in the DIY shock brothers threads that there is a resistor that you can change on the input that people sometimes change for use with humbuckers. That is a cheap fix.

Also I bought an attenuator from boothillamps.com . It allows me to put the volume at 7 and then turn it down at the speaker, so you do get most of the benefits of the amplifier clipping without annoying the neighbors and family.