Suggested amp eq settings form Twang?

For me - the guitar has to make the twang and the amp (and speaker) have to be able to reproduce it.

I would be wary - tone wise - of trying to add a lot of treble and/or mids to the amp eq trying to get twang. If your guitar aint making any twang, making the amp brite aint gonna fix it.

I eq my amps at a general setting where it will make twang or mellow sounds (and sound good at both) by adjusting the settings on the guitar.

That said - my settings on a modded Princeton are Treble 6-7 and Bass 2. It is known as a bassy amp. On a 3 knob Fender eq - My settings have always been 5-3-2 for a well balanced sound. Especially when it is turned up.

 

@TeleAndSG - if your username is accurate, you have twang. Almost any guitar will twang IME. But the Tele and SG are particularly twang-tastic. Just pick over the treble pickup. And use a thicker/stiffer pick or a nice snap with your fingers.

Amp settings are too tricky and misleading. Where to set things depends on:
1. Your touch and technique.
2. The taper of the pots on your amp (I have a DR with an efficient speaker that is quieter on "4" than my PR with an inefficient speaker on 3, but then the DR really wakes up around 4.2 and quickly becomes noticeably louder than the PR on comparable settings).
3. The amp.
4. The volume that amp is played at. On Fender BF circuits the more volume, the more bass is in the signal, so bass must be reduced to compensate.
5. The speaker - some speakers have little bass, or too much mushy bass. Or breakup too quickly.

So like @mgreene I think the guitar is the primary issue. Though technique (close to the bridge) is the real key.

 

What tone do you define as Twang?
Don Rich? Roy Nichols? Albert Lee? Ray Flacke? Brent Mason? Redd Volkaert? Brad Paisley? Somebody else?

All of those players have twang... but they don't sound the same, or achieve it with the same gear or settings.

IME... Twang starts with technique... then a tele with a nice bridge pickup is likely the most common, but that doesn't mean other guitars don't/can't twang. The amp itself is almost irrelevant. Of the players mentioned above the amps range from BF Fenders, Vox and Dr. Z through hybrids (Musicman) and even solid state (Lab Series and Peavey).

 

Pick dynamics and proximity to bridge pu area too

 

I was recently checking out a YouTube video of an alt-country band I like. I was fully expecting to see the lead guitarist playing a Tele. I was quite surprised to see that all that tasty twang was coming straight out of an SG!

 

a couple ingredients:

steel strings
pick close to the bridge
hybrid picking gives you string snap
this often involves bending a minor third a half-step up to a major third, or vice versa
play like you're cracking wiseacre jokes out the side of your mouth

Brent Mason's classic twang:



Duane Eddy is an important source:

 

Depends on the amp.

 

Yep. Son Volt is a great example. Their twangy lead guy mostly played an LP.

 

As I clicked on this thread and began to read, before I got to ndcaster's post, I was thinking "Chattahoochee" and Duane Eddy ("Rebel Rouser" & "Cannonball" immediately came to mind). If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.

I'm of the mindset that twang depends more on the guitar pickups and playing technique than it does the amp/amp settings. In the course of a set, I rarely fiddle with amp settings. The amp is behind me, and it's pretty much a set it/forget it proposition. So I very much agree with mgreene's approach of EQing the amp to "a general setting where it will make twang or mellow sounds (and sound good at both) by adjusting the settings on the guitar."

So for twang I play through the bridge pickup (or sometimes, both), and my picking of the strings is done far back toward the bridge, right over the bridge pup. And speaking of the bridge pickup, a single coil helps. A Tele pup, obviously, but also Duane Eddy's Gretsch had DynaSonic pups, single coils. For a nice snap to the strings, I also think 25.5" scale helps (although Duane Eddy could justifiably argue the point), and the gauge of the strings (I use 10s on my teles, 12s on my acoustics).

I also use a stiff pick. It's hard to say what gauge/thickness I like, because I make my own. I've used old credit cards, store gifts cards, etc. But my current favorite material is high pressure laminate (countertop) material. The sheets of this material doesn't make for an overly thick guitar pick, but it sure is stiff. If I use "store bought" picks, I choose D'Addario's Planet Waves DuraGrip picks, either 1mm or 1.2mm.

 

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There's a sweetwater youtube video about increasing your twang. That plus a thread I asked the same questions and summarized:

-amp with reverb
-delay pedal
-compressor pedal
-pick near the bridge (I have an esquire with a split humbucker+4way, and I get a good clean neck tone by playing near the neck)
-lift your pick out from the string not just across the strings. Get that 'snap'.

A Strat with Tele pickups can twang too.

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Picking position makes a huge difference.

Pickup height can also make significant changes. If it's a new Tele (or new to you) and has never been set up by a tech, its highly recommended. New ones in particular are rarely set up very well (or even correctly) - things like nut action, matching saddle height to fret radius, and very often minor truss rod adjustments can really help them both play and sound best.

Also - if you ahem been stringing your 24.75" guitar(s) with 10's you might want to try .009 sets on the Tele - if heavier, try going one gage lighter. It should improve the feel.