How do you get the 'crunch' sound from your Tele??

[el_extranjero]

How do you get the 'crunch' sound from your Tele??

You know the ones that Seymour Duncan has on their website of the 'dirty' settings? And if you pick the sound samples on fenders website they'll do a bit of that.

I'm primarily a 'clean' player and have never been able to get a distorted sound that I like. But I'd like to have one in my toolbox and I hear that type of sound from Teles on occasion.

I run a Peavey Classic 50 212 with JJs tubes and 2 alnico Weber VST's so I should have the capability to get it I think. I use a Boss ME-50 so I could just press one of the 'Give me canned distortion now' buttons, but that just isn't the same sound! I'm looking for the 'natural' 'dirty' Tele sound.

 

[lenny]

you might be thinking of an overdriven tube amp type of distortion.
most people get this sound by using a fender tube amp and cranking it up loud. it will really warm up and distort some. it's not a heavy metal distortion by any means, but it is probably the crunch you are thinking of.

 

[Colo Springs E]

If you're truly talking CRUNCH.....

.....Get a Marshall, or maybe a Mesa or even a Peavey 5150.

-Eric

 

[Laroosco!]

I use a Top Hat Club Royale or a King Royale.

I set the amp to inbetween clean/overdriven, and then goose it with a Bronto Boost. Instant crunch.

 

[tucker gypsy]

Add an Ibanez Tube Screamer to your tool box.....(get a vintage green one, if you can - if not, the RI's are great, too)......

This has for years been my fav little stomp box... here's a link to info on this little jewel's history.

Keep your whole amp rig the same, and add a Tube Screamer. IMO, this will get you those warm over-driven tube amp sounds you're looking for!

 

[sears]

Roll off the tone of the bridge pickup at least quarter of the way when going for the crunch. Depending on the amp, you might take the tone down all the way.

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

With your Classic 50, turn the pre gain down to about 3-4, and the master to 10-12. This makes the power tubes work and avoids the bumble bee sound of preamp distortion.

Now goose it with a good OD pedal, like the Tube Screamer or a Full Drive 2.

Thank me later.

 

[lenny]

i agree on the tube screamer. i just got one and it sounds nice.
ts-9 model

 

[buglecorps]

Watch your EQ

Esp.. your mids...I like to take mine down a bit (say @3) you rig may need to have tham bumped a bit..in general avoid setting anything TOO extreme too much treble and you get fizzy, too much bass and you are farty..My amp has shared EQ and it can be a bit tricky to get what you need for both, but it can be done..try different PU settings (you may also need to adjust PU height to optimize your rig) and use you tone knob..it's in there trust me! After you are getting some nice sounds from what you have THEN look to pedals to give you a little boost, or a "bit more" or perhaps a 3rd color.. have fun!

 

[TG]

I use a Blues Junior and it gets dirty if I crank it. Pick attack makes a big difference too when you have a tele plugged into a tube amp. With the amp on the edge of clean you can get a good raunchy tone just by digging in more.
But I also have a new Maxon od808 reissue (a reissue of the original tube screamer) set on low gain as a solo boost. That works well too.

 

[Tim Armstrong]

I either use a small amp, or I use a Boss Turbo Distortion p

My usual amp is a 20-ish watt Traynor Guitarmate Ygm-3, and at gig volumes it's fairly easy to dial in some grit, and then back off the guitar volume knob to clean it up. I've also gotten great distorted sounds from a Champ cranked.

When using a higher headroom amp (I've used 50 watt Fender Bassman and Traynor Bassmaster heads, and a 120-watt Music Man amp), I really like the relatively inexpensive Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion pedal. The regular setting has a fairly good, uncolored grind (the "turbo" setting has boosted mids and doesn't appeal to me).

Cheers, Tim

 

[e-merlin]

On Peavey Classic series amps, you'll want the Master wide open for best tone. Dial in the distortion by balancing the Pre and Post. It's been a while since I played through one so I can't give you specifics, but it will do that tone.

 

[SYRCHLIGHT]

buglecorps is right. ya gotta watch the eq and the mids in particular. i use a fender hot rod deville. this has 6l6's in the power stage. as was stated, the settings are mild, bass and treb at 4 or 5 and mids at 3 or less. a tele is a midrange guitar, so it will stand up to saturation like a deville can deliver. crunch to me is distortion, alot of it. not mild distortion or classic tele grit. a tele is the only axe i have found that will do this the way i like it. it will clean up amazingly fast depending on how much you dig in. i think this is so because of the way the tone control, the bridge pickup, and the right amp work together. i like to switch channels a lot-going from distortion, to absolutely no distortion. being a fender, the deville, i think was made to work especially well with fender guitars. duh. but this is important. i have a bunch of guitars and not all sound good through this amp. interestingly, i have found the more modern guitars do not sound so great through it. i also use an ibanez digital delay pedal. just my .02. peace, jeff

 

[Jack E Martling]

Add an Ibanez Tube Screamer to your tool box.....(get a vintage green one, if you can - if not, the RI's are great, too)......

What he said. Tubescreamer plus Tele bridge equals instant crunch tone.

 

[BADFISH]

(link removed) With one of these ... You can have your amp "Wide open" and get some speakers that "crunch" fast, if they dont already.

 

[jjmantele]

With a low power (tube) amp

...you can just turn it up.

COPY AND PASTE into an open browser address line:

http://www.geocities.com/jjsant/champo_sm58.mp3

Actually this is the Strat but same deal.

 

[stantheman]

Any of the aforementioned stomp boxes...

or there's a couple of ways they used to do it old school;
A. lose the pick, the cheapest, volume on 6.
B. cut the speakers (I myself wouldn't).
C. power tubes that are weak dimed.

I'm a HUGE advocate of Voodoo Labs' Sparkle Drive same build as a TS-808 with a "clean boost" my own
all time fave, though I usually go clean - clean is real,
Sparkle Drive will let me stay clean unless I wanna really
lean into it. I'm really sold on the SD for all amps that
have 4 power tubes (Twins,Showmans,Quads).

Another easy way with no pedals is a Silverface Deluxe Reverb and a '72 Tele Thinline. Volume on 4-6.

 

[Mike Rice]

Using a Bad Bob boost pedal in front of my Vibrolux Reverb slaps the front end of the amp enough to give me subtle grind at reasonble volumes. When I want more I use a second Bad Bob. I prefer this to any OD I've tried (and I've tried dozens) as it sounds more natural and far less compressed.

 

[Reno Sepulveda]

When I think crunch...

I think of something a bit more hairy than a Tube Screamer and step on a Rat.

Reno

 

[el_extranjero]

I'm getting there!

Thanks for the helpfull comments guys! I followed some of the recommendations on settings on my Peavey and pick attack and was amazed at the difference! At rehearsal last night I actually forgot my effects unit and was able to successfully get the crunch I needed on Jennifer Hanson "Beautiful Goodbye" and the 'searing lead' I needed on Bonnie Raitt "Something To Talk About".

The search for the Holy Grail of Tone continues... but at least I know how much load a swallow can carry... (Monte Python reference for the unlearned amonst you )