Playing Clean

[OlRedNeckHippy]

So much discussion revolving around dirt pedals, fuzz, distortion and such....
I was listening to the Outlaw's album Hurry Sundown this morning and once again realized how Clean they played. Very little dirt.
I like that.
The longer I play, years, the better I get, the more comfortable I have become in my playing, the more I find myself dialing in my clean tone and staying away from the dirt.

This song really brings my point home. From the first note to the last, all 3 guitars, clean, clean, clean. This is who I want to emulate. These are the tones I'm chasing.

 

[Jakedog]

I use some dirt. But it’s not the center of my sound. My foundation has to be a solid, full spectrum clean tone. It’s why I don’t like small amps generally. I don’t enjoy the sound of a small amp cranked up and screaming. It always sounds strained. Sometimes even broken, or like it’s about to die. It’s not a pleasant sound to me.

I like a little breakup for character. My board carries a comp, an OD, and a clean boost for various gain levels. But none of them are particularly dirty. And I can’t function without a clean tone that will run with a full band. Low wattage is not typically my friend. I can get away with it, by using more/more efficient speakers. But you will never hear me say 100 watt amp is overkill.

 

[SRHmusic]

Agree, less distortion and more solid and dynamic tone would be good, at least in a lot of the live music I hear. I think the trend toward thin (as in hard to hear in the mix), over distorted guitar sound is result of misuse or overuse of modeling amps that actually sound more like playing a recording of a guitar through a real amp than a real amp in the room. They're getting better though.

(Would love to hear more examples of clean tones you all dig. My references tend to be more late 70s/early 80s Clapton and SRV edgy strat tones, and Mark Knopfler.)

 

[Colo Springs E]

I pretty much always play with a little dirt.

 

[Tuneup]

There's some kind of OD or gain on those guitars, they don't sound "clean" to me.

I could be wrong, they seem too "snappy" to be clean.

 

[Boreas]

So much discussion revolving around dirt pedals, fuzz, distortion and such....
I was listening to the Outlaw's album Hurry Sundown this morning and once again realized how Clean they played. Very little dirt.
I like that.
The longer I play, years, the better I get, the more comfortable I have become in my playing, the more I find myself dialing in my clean tone and staying away from the dirt.

This song really brings my point home. From the first note to the last, all 3 guitars, clean, clean, clean. This is who I want to emulate. These are the tones I'm chasing.

Green Grass and High Tides Forever!

Technique, skill and talent trump effects any day. Ever hear a good guitarist play their electric songs on an acoustic (a'la Neil Young or Clapton)? It typically sounds as good if not better. You don't need blazing speed, high volume, or electricity to make a guitar sound good. You need skill.

My pedals just gather dust. Hearing every mistake I make hopefully makes me a better guitarist...

 

[mfguitar]

Love that song!
I don't know as I consider the sound "clean" certainly not distorted though. When I think of "clean" I think more Don Rich. I try to achieve a warm singing tone a little OD I guess but not "dirty".

 

[dougstrum]

Clean is good~but it's fun to get dirty once in a while

 

[elihu]

edit

 

[Chiogtr4x]

There's some kind of OD or gain on those guitars, they don't sound "clean" to me.

I could be wrong, they seem too "snappy" to be clean.

I think of this sound the same way I think of much of Dickey Bett's tone- there is Gain and overdrive there to create a clean sustain ( a lot of amp volume?).

But because it is not crunchy or fuzzy, you just don't hear it as distortion
Just my take.

I guess I have always equated this sound with running non MV, high power amps ( no pedals), really loudly! ( and something I've never done as just a lounge/bar guy).

 

[blowtorch]

To me, the ideal situation is a fantastic deep rich clean tone set up with some good amount of "THWACK" to it, and then a great sounding OD pedal for when you need that

 

[uriah1]

Hughie used a Alembic Stratoblaster pre-amp.
Bunch of amps from the twins to the music mans and some marshalls.
imho
That is a clean OD with all their stuff

 

[Jimmy Dean]

I have gone almost a whole year with no OD, distortion or fuzz. I made a commitment to focus on jazz & pop standards using, "The Real Book". I am using an Ibanez AF85, Quilter Rt101, Strymon Flint & Baggs Para DI. Dirt free electrics can sound so beautiful.

 

[studio1087]

50/50 here. I play clean as much as I play dirty.

 

[lmjmitchell]

I play clean probably 80% of the time.

Most of the stuff I'm interested in learning is clean, so that's what I'm used to.

 

[SRHmusic]

There's some kind of OD or gain on those guitars, they don't sound "clean" to me. I could be wrong, they seem too "snappy" to be clean.

A good tube amp driven just right can give a fuller, snappier tone with sustain. (Relates to power supply sag, transformer saturation, etc... things the modelers try to capture these days.) Perfectly sterile clean doesn't sound like that.

 

[naveed211]

That is a great tone. I love both clean and dirty. I go through phases where I only play clean for quite some time, and phases where I just want to rip with some high gain. Love both equally. Both have their place for me.

 

[charlie chitlin]

A 4x10 amp gives a fat 3D sound that reduces my desire for OD. A bit of delay reduces it further.
I'm finding I like OD more for rhythm than lead.
I also like OD for doubling lines with my sax player...
Makes the guitar sound more like a horn.

 

[loopfinding]

I find myself playing experimental stuff (like Derek Bailey type of stuff) with the grey zone “dirty clean,” from the amp. So I built a 5E3 to rock it in that area. Especially since I mostly live on the neck and the distortion gets too farty at extremes, that grey zone got translated to everything else I play (rock stuff, rockabilly-ish stuff, jazz). Just enough compression to make the guitar and the speaker sing.

It seems like when I play more traditional rock stuff now I use middle position and not a ton of distortion. As much as it makes pretty stuff more clear, there’s paradoxically a lot more room to get angular sounding or abrasive with the details with less distortion. Just listen to a band like Colossamite or a lot of stuff by this heat - clean with just a little grit. Sometimes distortion is like putting too much artificial sweetener in everything if you’re not going to hardcore punk extremes.

 

[thunderbyrd]

my not-too-educated ears hear a bunch of compression on the lead guitars on "hurry sundown".