One of many ways to get a nice old school punk rock and roll sound...

[voneville]

I know alnico's are the way to go for a true fender tone, but I'll be damned if I'm not falling in love with my affinity squiers pickups. I just wished I liked the neck better, it's a little thin at the nut, makes some of the stuff I play a little tough for my fat fingers (mainly, arpegiated jazz chords near the nut, which I use for some of my rockabilly/pyscho/surf crap I record at home).

 

Right now I'm playing a Valve Jr head set at high noon through my Peavey Classic's 2-12 speakers (old school early 80's). I'm running through a Boss DS-1. I've got the volume cranked and the distortion rolled off with the tone at about 1:30/2 o'clock. It's getting a raunchy rock and roll sound that's amazing. Very reminiscent of Early Stooges/NY Dolls, early Ramones. Very good early punk rock sound, just raw and hellacious. I also use a heavy pick and heavy string attack.

 

Anyway, I just thought I'd share. I've always stayed away from Strats because I didn't like they way they sound when distorted unless it's in a blues/classic rock context. I wish I had the ability to make sound clips. Punk guitarists sort of seem to be anti-strats (single coil atleast, I know there's some fat strats out there), and I guess that's influenced my taste in guitars through the years.

[jjpistols]

the ceramic pups in my peavey predator get a great maiden/priest type sound, and even a decent sabbath sound - not spot on maybe, but close enough for me to have fun with - that was a surprise for me (it was the first strat I've ever owned, after years of ignoring them, maybe cuz they weren't "punk" enough)

[String Fever]

I learned the ramones 53rd n 3rd on a strat...

[jjpistols]

Originally posted by String Fever I learned the ramones 53rd n 3rd on a strat...

wasn't Johnny's bridge pickup pretty strat like? it was some kind of single coil, maybe a Duncan?

[String Fever]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiE0xm1zX8k&search=ramones%20

 

 

I cant tell, but looks like it might be a single coil

 

 

I love this song:love:

[No Soul]

in my punk rock years I was all about telecasters.

frankly, does it matter?
One of things I miss about not playing in punk bands anymore is the feeling of just not giving a {censored} about my gear, because nobody else did either!

[No Soul]

p.s.

I have this old and for the most part broken Squier amp that I keep arround for one reason, you can plug any guitar into it (provided its out of tune a tiny bit) and it sounds just like the Misfits during the static age recording

[voneville]

Originally posted by No Soul in my punk rock years I was all about telecasters. frankly, does it matter? One of things I miss about not playing in punk bands anymore is the feeling of just not giving a {censored} about my gear, because nobody else did either!

 

 

I hear a lot of people say that, but every serious punk musician I know (by serious I mean recording, putting out stuff on indie labels with national/international distro, touring) is a gear head. They may not care if there gear is "top of the line" but they are all going for a particular sound. When I was playing at Gilman and Epicenter in SF it seemed like everyone had Gibsons. Customs, SG's, and Epiphone LP's were all pretty popular and most guys played through JCM 800's and 900's. There were the oddball emo guys with vintage japanese guitars and Kustom amps.

 

But everyone reconizes that there really is no requirement to have a certain set up to play punk.

 

I'm always going after the sound in my head for the ultimate tone. I don't think I found it yet, but I'm pretty happy anyway.

 

I know what you mean about the squier amp. I keep a turbo-rat around because i love playing bass through it to get that misfits sound.

[No Soul]

Originally posted by voneville I hear a lot of people say that, but every serious punk musician I know (by serious I mean recording, putting out stuff on indie labels with national/international distro, touring) is a gear head. They may not care if there gear is "top of the line" but they are all going for a particular sound. When I was playing at Gilman and Epicenter in SF it seemed like everyone had Gibsons. Customs, SG's, and Epiphone LP's were all pretty popular and most guys played through JCM 800's and 900's. There were the oddball emo guys with vintage japanese guitars and Kustom amps. But everyone reconizes that there really is no requirement to have a certain set up to play punk. I'm always going after the sound in my head for the ultimate tone. I don't think I found it yet, but I'm pretty happy anyway. I know what you mean about the squier amp. I keep a turbo-rat around because i love playing bass through it to get that misfits sound.

 

 

heh, Epicenter I remember that place.

old JCM and Gibson family is still the mainstay for punk rock in the bay (and for most rock anyway right?) but most of my friends and people Ive talked to in punk bands seemed to have the biggest concern about durabillity for touring. Dont get me wrong, I know a good deal of street punk types that are total gear heads

[angus_old]

Strats can be punk, just not FENDER strats. Strat copies are cheap, available anywhere, easily moddable and replacable

[Gochaz]

I'm a punk guitarist, and until recently I played a strat. My number one guitar currently is actually a Gretsch with Dearmond 2000 Singlecoils (Dyansonics). It gets bloody great punk tone. I've never really liked humbuckers. I prefer my tone to be fairly low gain, but crunchy and messy. Humbuckers can be too tight.

The best tone I got recently was actually with a 30 watt solid state amp, called a Torque 30. Had a 12 or 10 inch subwoofer, I think. I cranked it to the max, and maxed out bass and treble as well. The tone was godly. So {censored}ing messy, awful, loose but it was so damn good.

Thing was, it was a multi-amp. It had inputs for guitar, vocals, and keyboard. Ordinarily, the last thing I'd choose for amping anything. Oddly, it had great dynamics as well. If I rolled back the volume on my guitar, it cleaned up beautifuly.