desol89

i hope there werent too many topics on this, i googled it and found one decent thread but here goes.

so in that topic someone asked how frusciante gets his clean tone from just picking but then a dirtier one when hitting the strings harder, which is what i was wondering about. someone replied by saying that its "natural clean tube breakup" or something of the sort. cud anybody tell me if thats achievable with any tube amp, like the fender deluxe tube amp i own? it has a drive knob but no gain knob (i hope im not ******ed for thinking their different when theyre really the same thing...)

if it helps, my setup is: american strat with a humbucker, fender deluxe tube amp, boss ds-1 distortion, boss super chorus, and boss sd-1 super overdrive (i know maybe i went overboard on boss), and a original dunlop crybaby.

i listed all the pedals because i was wondering if its worth my investment to get the big muff pi to sort of get that grimy sound that he uses in his music. i was using the overdrive to try and emulate it but its too heavy to do it.

thanks for all your guys help.

Robert353

Ok you failed when you got the Fender amp, John uses Marshals! I thought everyone knew that.....

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spiff389

drive = gain. set the drive relatively low, 3-4 maybe, and turn down your guitar's volume slightly for the cleans, then turn up your guitar's volume and pick harder for that slightly overdriven tone

desol89

i know that now, but unfortunately i was...ok i AM a ****** and didnt bother to research equipment when i first decided to learn the guitar. i actually thot back then that u cud get any tone u wanted purely thru effects, which was really really stupid on my part and i just went with a tube amp cuz the salesguy said they give a good clean tone.

so im guessin that means u HAVE to have the marshall to get that sound eh?

lithium26

Well, he uses a Fender amp with his White Falcon...

Not necessarily you must geta Marshall to get his tone. I got quite close to his tone with my Jaguar and my Laney amp.

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JLT73

his tone isn't that great, I really don't see what all the fuss is about

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desol89

ah. well then ill have to keep messing with the amp. wud u say a big muff pi is a good investment?

whoismilan

No, your Fender will do fine.

You need to play with the drive knob to find the sweet spot. Hit the strings hard, as hard as you would when you'd want it to break up a little. When you've found the sweet spot where it just started to break up enough, simply pick lighter. If you can't get it to feel right (ie you'd have to play too soft to get the clean tone), then you might have to get the clean tone by turning down the volume on your guitar instead. That way it's sure to clean up nicely.

The Big Muff you asked about will get you the Stadium Arcadium solo sound, in fact I believe that's exactly what John used also. I believe that John uses something else for the rhythm, but the Big Muff will definitely get you close to that tone also.

mattreid222

He uses a boss ds-2 for rhythm playing, like on the chorus of dani california, then he mostly uses the ds-2 and a usa big muff together for his solo tone, like in the solo of dani cali, he uses other distortion pedals as well, such as a mosrite fuzzrite, an EHX English Muff'n and in the past he has used stuff like the boss overdrive pedals, a boss ds-1, Fuzz Factorys, if you are looking for his sound Ds-2 and Big Muff are wear you should start though

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tremaine2007

ok ok ok. If you're referring to the sort of dirty tone he gets for Can't Stop when it's played live, I know how to get that. Firstly, use a tube amp and turn the gain right up on full. John probably uses his MXR Micro Amp pedal though, which does the same thing except even more I think. Basically though, just use a very subtle overdrive and hit all the strings, muting out the ones you don't want to play.

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CorduroyEW

A huge part of his tone is down to his 8 million FX pedals. Another huge part of his tone is down to his hand wound formvar pickups. formvar pickups give you a different type of overdrive sound than normal pickups because the formvar give a much stronger high end and loose bass with scooped mids. Standard strat pickups give you tight bass, strong mids, and a weaker high end. Standard strat pickups are more defined and edgy while formvar pickups are smooth and chime.

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myearshurt

was i the threadstarter? haha

@robert353: didnt john have a fender head before?

and i agree with everything cord just said. im assuming you'll have to have you overdrive pretty low and pick softly and when you pick hard - theres your dirty sound. i got a similar sound on my line 6 on the crunch channel

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mattreid222

john used a fender head during californication era, this was just for the gretch white falcon though

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desol89

alrite thanks for all ur help guys.

ill def have to try all those setting change-ups till i hit the sweet spot.

just one thing: obviously to keep spending at a low, i was thinking of just buying the big muff and not bothering about the DS-2, cuz i know he uses it but i figured i have the DS-1 to get close enough for that tone. but the big muff will give me that fuzz that i need. does that seem like a reasonable conclusion?

mattreid222

perfectly reasonable

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rhcp_freak

You need a clean tube amp one the verge of breaking up, a DS-2 pedal for his rhythm, a Big Muff/Muff'n for his solo tone, and a nice wah of some sort, nothing can really do the WH-10 tone, but a nice Vox or Fulltone will do you well. He uses Strats 90% of the time, so you can't go wrong with one.


When I play Fru rhythm, I use Turbo II on my DS-2, which is different to the DS-1, but if your DS-1 does what you want, keep it.

The Muff should do it, but look into other fuzzes too, for other stuff you might play. I bought a Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz for the odd Hendrix stuff, and it's pretty good for Fru too.

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FoolOnThePlanet

+1

Your not a ******. You don't need a Marshall. I mean, if you were going to try and nail it exactly you would, but that'll never happen so don't even try.

First, you have to get your tone the way you want it EQ wise. Then set the drive knob dynamically. Start it out low and work around until you have it so when you pick softly you get clean tones, but pick harder and you get break up.

That's how I have my BD-2 set. I get a pretty nice John Tone out of my Strat and Fender Twin with various pedals.

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CephalidHunter

I think he also uses a EHX graphic fuzz. One of the knobs is picking sensitivity and that could get you the correct breakup you need.

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rhcp_freak

That was only on the EHX website, and so it was probably used on his solo career, because I've never heard it on any Chili's tracks.

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