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Garage rock sound?


revoloution9

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Hey, i don't know a hell of a lot about guitars so i was wondering what you guys had any suggestions as to how to gain that garage rock-esc sound. I really like the sound of The Libertines records, but also The Stone Roses and British blues type stuff. After having to return my father's borrowed equipment i was forced into getting my own stuff, luckily i got really i got some good deals. I payed a total of $600 for a 70's 100 wt Fender Frontman AND a 70's Ovation Viper III (100 for amp 500 for guitar). Is that the right type of stuff for that sound? What kind of pedals should i get? I might be able to post pics if you want.

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I think our definitions of Garage are very different. I think of Garage and I think of bands like The Sonics, The Trashmen, Treblemakers, The Mummies etc... It's probably not much help, but maybe it will bump this thread enough for someone with an idea of what in the hell you're talking about chime in. Welcome to HCEG.

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Ya actually your right, the stuff i mentioned wasn't garage rock at all lol, besides myabe the Libertines but they're more revival garage anyway. I'm clearly having trouble expressing what i want, but ya it is a stupid post because the Stone Roses are clearly not garage, more britpop i geuss. I almost wish you hadn't bumped it i'm kind of ashamed now lol, but thanks for the sentiment. I guess a sort of chimey, bright, unpolished sound? I was looking at some Danelectro pedals since i only have about $40, specifically this one:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Danelectro-DJ2-TBone-Distortion-Pedal?sku=151861

Sounds like a good start, anybody have experience with it? This whole things just a shot in the dark for me, again, im really not experienced with electric guitar stuff.

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buy a no-name guitar & amp from a pawn shop, the older the better - go into your garage, turn it up really loud, and record it with a cassette player.

You realize, I hope, that this is not really jokey advice? It's close to the truth. (I am speaking to the OP, not to BOL)

 

To me, there are five elements to decent garage sound:

1) A smaller amp, rather than larger

2) A PA barely up to the task. Enough, but just.

3) cheaper equipment, rather than more expensive

4) decent musicianship

5) An uncomplicated, unproduced approach. Think "just do it," instead of "take five." Everything is "take one."

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Check out The Inmates... my new fav band from the past.


41SFG2dU7XL._SS400_.jpg

 

Wow, just checked them out on youtube, I genuinely enjoyed it, thanks man! Never would have found them otherwise.

 

Ya i definintly know what your saying about the cheap equipment, but i don't really want to blow my cash on that right now. I'm pretty sure my ovation can get that kind of sound if i just experiment with it a little. I also need to get my amps' pots cleaned because a lot of the controls don't work from sitting in a garage for 20 years. But the next time i'm at the pawn shop i'll defintly see what they have. I'm guessing something like those weird guitars they'd sell in department store catalogs in the 60's would be ideal. Like a Tiesco.

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A Les Paul Junior or Special with P-90's or a tele, plugged straight into an amp turned up loud. If the amp has a midrange control turn that up a bit. Play kind of sloppy with a good rhythm hand.

 

Definitely a guitar with single coils. Either P-90's, lipsticks, Fender-type, or something more exotic. As an example of the latter, I have an import Gretsch Electromatic that has DeArmond singlecoil pickups I found on ebay for $235 USD:

 

94152145_373b9f3161.jpg

 

Or here's something more obscure, a Brownsville with 3 alnico single-coil toastertops:

 

419396776_8ba65ee8cc.jpg

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Single coils for sure, and a smaller low-gain amp that sounds raunchy cranked. Could even be solid state. Reverb and Tremolo maybe.

I am a BIG fan of the Mosrite Fuzzrite fuzz for American garage rock sounds, but if you can't build one or find a clone, look for the DOD Flashback or maybe an EH Double Muff--just use the single muff setting.

Think buzzy and spattery, not thick and creamy, ie Big Muff territory.

 

PS the Stone Roses guitarist (John Squier) used a Gretsch Tenesseean and a Fender Twin with some chorus and flange, I think. Not really garage but ass-kicking good.

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Single coils for sure, and a smaller low-gain amp that sounds raunchy cranked. Could even be solid state. Reverb and Tremolo maybe.

I am a BIG fan of the Mosrite Fuzzrite fuzz for American garage rock sounds, but if you can't build one or find a clone, look for the DOD Flashback or maybe an EH Double Muff--just use the single muff setting.

Think buzzy and spattery, not thick and creamy, ie Big Muff territory.

 

PS the Stone Roses guitarist (John Squier) used a Gretsch Tenesseean and a Fender Twin with some chorus and flange, I think. Not really garage but ass-kicking good.

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P90s would give it that dirty sound Garage rock is known for...as for amps...take your pick of low end fun...I think an Epi VJ cranked ALL THE WAY should give you some nice tone, or if you'd like, one of those cheap Marshall solid state boxes should give you some nice distorted tone.

 

I was under the impression that the garage rock sound was supposed to be...unpredictable, though...not something you strive to reproduce, but something you build upon and make your own. In my opinion, going into a pawn shop and picking up the cheapest amp in there with a low end strat-o-clone would give you just as good a "garage rock" tone as a MIM Fender Strat and a Fender Super Champ XD

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I guess a sort of chimey, bright, unpolished sound?

 

I'm not sure whether you're talking about a Britpop sound or a garage sound, but if you're after a britpop sound, that sound comes mainly from the amp IMO, Marshall reissues like Graham Coxon from Blur uses will definitely do the job, but they're kind of pricey.

 

amps.jpg

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The archetypal 60s garage rock sound:

 

It's 1966. You are 15. You live in Long Island or its equivalent elsewhere in the USA. You love The Yardbirds, The Who, the Stones, the odd electric Dylan single and a random selection of Stax and Motown hits. You have a cheap guitar (if you're lucky, an SG Jr or Esquire; if not a Silvertone), a cheap amp (if you're lucky, a Champ which has to be cranked to the max because your drummer may not be good but he's loud; if not a Silvertone) and a VERY cheap fuzzbox.

 

Go!

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The archetypal 60s garage rock sound:


It's 1966. You are 15. You live in Long Island or its equivalent elsewhere in the USA. You love The Yardbirds, The Who, the Stones, the odd electric Dylan single and a random selection of Stax and Motown hits. You have a cheap guitar (if you're lucky, an SG Jr or Esquire; if not a Silvertone), a cheap amp (if you're lucky, a Champ which has to be cranked to the max because your drummer may not be good but he's loud; if not a Silvertone) and a VERY cheap fuzzbox.


Go!

 

 

This man knows.

 

Only thing I'd add is you can't go to town on garage rock without hearing the first 2 Sonics albums at least. School thyself, young paduan (meaning the OP.)

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For that vintage garage sound, THEE DIRTYBEATS use mostly period instruments from the mid-60's, including KAPA, Mosrite, Rickenbacker and Fender guitars, Fender and Ampeg amps, Big Muff fuzzes, and Morley wahs -- even coiled guitar cords.

 

E.g., my '67 KAPA Minstrel teardrop (pictured below) was a pretty cheap guitar back in the day; nowadays, the pickups are even more touchy... but the sound, unpredictable as it is, is so wonderfully gritty, it's just glorious -- especially if you are into that vintage garage thing. I ended up using it on all the solos I played on our debut ep.

 

Andras

THEE DIRTYBEATS 100% pure maximum vintage garage

FREE DOWNLOAD http://theedirtybeats.bandcamp.com

 

l.jpg

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Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys (they were garagey) has an Ovation Viper, so you don't need more than that.

 

Get a different amp though. Silvertone, perhaps. Play it really loud. You don't need pedals. Well, maybe a micro amp or an LBP1 (for solos). That's it though.

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Old thread is old.

 

Asking how to get 'that garage rock' sound is kind of silly in my opinion. A big part of it is not so much crafting it but just using what you have.

 

Stay away from super hi-fi amps with lots of headroom... stay away from boutique pedals that try to emulate a specific tone. Pretty much any not very clean 12-30 watt amp will get you close and a cheap fuzz pedal will get you a bit closer.

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You realize, I hope, that this is not really jokey advice? It's close to the truth. (I am speaking to the OP, not to BOL)


To me, there are five elements to decent garage sound:

1) A smaller amp, rather than larger

2) A PA barely up to the task. Enough, but just.

3) cheaper equipment, rather than more expensive

4) decent musicianship

5) An uncomplicated, unproduced approach. Think "just do it," instead of "take five." Everything is "take one."

 

 

Yes. Garage is what they called punk rock before somebody invented the latter label. Of course, before that punk rock was called folk music.....

 

All. About. The. Attitude.

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