Jump to content

How do you get that unlimited sustain like santana?


escapethefate

Recommended Posts

  • Members

So i'm gonna be amp shopping soon...

 

Was wondering how you get sustain for days...where you hit a note and it'll keep ringing for a super long time, I guess like Santana if i had to give an example.

 

I played a random Crate amp which i think crates are shit, at GC a couple years ago, and i rmeember i hit a note and it sustained for days...

 

I have a fender hot rod deveille 212 that i'm trying to sell right now because it doesn't sustainf or days...

 

Is it within the amp? Is it the guitar? Or is it some type of effect..compression?

 

someone enlighten me on this :confused:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

If you are close enough to the amp, and its turned up a bit, ANY medium to high gain tube amp will sustain for as long as you want. You dont need anything else !!

 

 

hmmm...when i turn up my deville so that it starts to hurt my ears, and im close to it it still doesn't really sustain super long like i'm imagineing.

 

Plus i remember when i played that crate half stake it was pretty low volume...

 

I'm lookin to get a Mesa for the tone, but will it sustain like i want it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

hmm...maybe this amp doesnt have enough gain?? it does have some bluesy cleans but even then there lacks that sustain like santana has...he has a relatively clean tone but still sustains really long. I'm not really looking to sound like santana, just using him as an example as his songs often have parts where he just hits a single note and rings it for like 10 seconds, i wanna be able to do that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Hey escapethefate,

 

You'll need a '74 Mesa Boogie Mark I amp head w/ a single closed back 1x12 & JBL speaker, 2 Dumble Overdrive Reverb amp heads, 2 A Broun Sound 4x12 speaker cab equipped w/Tone Tubby hempcone speakers and 2 Marshall 4x12 cabs. The A Broun Sound & Marshall 4x12 cabs are hooked to the Dumble amps. You'll want the Paul Reed Smith Santana model guitar, a Mutron wah pedal, an Ibanez Tube Screamer, an Ibanez modulation digital delay and a Dunlop amp switcher to switch between the Mark I amp and the 2 Dumble amps.

 

Guitar George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The formula for the Santana sound would be a fairly heavy, humbucker-equipped guitar, like an SG or Les Paul into an amp with cascading gain stages, like his Mesa Boogies. So if you're playing a strat its going to be hard to get that sound.

 

With the Deville, IMO, you could go with some kind of distortion or overdrive into the drive channel to get the cascading gain. Better yet, a couple of nice overdrives into the clean channel as the drive channel is kinda funky with that amp. I have a Deville among other amps; my best attempt at getting that sound was a Tube Screamer into a Boss DS-1(both mine are Keeley modded) into the clean channel turned up loud enough for the amp to feed back.

 

Of course now if I was trying to get that sound I'd use my Mesa Studio or my JSX as those amps are better for that. The Deville is best for clean or warm bluesy tones - the Santana sound is taking it a bit beyond what it is best at, but it can do it with the right guitar and a couple of pedals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

nice technical skills btw mr dumble...how long did it take for you to learn arpeggios? im still workin on it but it's not clicking...

 

 

Hey escapethefate,

 

I was just telling you what Santana uses onstage. Now I noticed that you have a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12 combo amp. If you want to get that Dumble amp sound without the $30,000 price tag, check this guy out:

 

http://www.omegaamps.com/mods2.html

 

He can do the Omega Amps Hot Rod Deluxe/Deville mod on your amp $250.00 plus shipping both ways. After your amp is modded, you'll have blackface cleans and the drive/more drive will be brown & fat with sustain that blooms into feedback.

 

I have this installed my Hot Rod Deluxe and it made that amp totally bad ass.

 

BTW: Santana's sound is mainly in his hands and how he hits the notes. You'll need an amp with good smooth overdrive & punch and a great sounding 2 humbucker guitar.

 

Guitar George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I get a real similar tone from a fender twin amp, with a ehx wghite finger compressor in front of a RAT pedal out the front of the amp.

What I do is set the compressors output gain high enough to clip the front end of my amp slightly.....and then I keep my PRS volume back at about 7 to clean it up........

 

..I have the Rat pedal set so the volume/level is on full but the gain/distortion is almost off, and the "tone" control set to quite a dark tone.

When I want crunch I roll up the vloume on my guitar and the compressor clips the amp....if I want singing sustain and that dark santana type sound I kick the Rat on on top of this.

Even at house volumes it sings forever and is really smooth!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

hmmm...when i turn up my deville so that it starts to hurt my ears, and im close to it it still doesn't really sustain super long like i'm imagineing.


Plus i remember when i played that crate half stake it was pretty low volume...


I'm lookin to get a Mesa for the tone, but will it sustain like i want it?

 

 

Santana sustain comes from

 

1) A good sounding guitar (not all guitars have great sustain, I've picked up 3500 dollar PRSs that had awful sustain, shop around and find a guitar that works)

 

2) A lo-fi tube amp with very basic controls. (like a class A amp) HI-fi modern amps don't fit the vibe of santana. Multi-channel heads like Mesa etc with lots of eq shaping and efx loops destroy the dynamic response that is required for the santana sustain. Simple amps with basic features work well. Example: I've gotten excellent santana sustain from a Rocker 30 before because it only has a small eq section and no fancy modern features like efx loops.

 

3)Plug straight into the amp...no pedals and BS in the way.

 

4) very high quality instrument cable

 

5)good set of strings

 

6) Hands

 

There is no other way to really get the Santana sound. If one element is off the whole thing is ruined. Pedals don't work...The Santana sound is a result of great hands + great guitar + great amp. Everything has to be connected in a spiritual way. Your hands have to really vibe with your rig.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Santana sustain comes from


1) A good sounding guitar (not all guitars have great sustain, I've picked up 3500 dollar PRSs that had awful sustain, shop around and find a guitar that works)


2) A lo-fi tube amp with very basic controls. (like a class A amp) HI-fi modern amps don't fit the vibe of santana. Multi-channel heads like Mesa etc with lots of eq shaping and efx loops destroy the dynamic response that is required for the santana sustain. Simple amps with basic features work well. Example: I've gotten excellent santana sustain from a Rocker 30 before because it only has a small eq section and no fancy modern features like efx loops.


3)Plug straight into the amp...no pedals and BS in the way.


4) very high quality instrument cable


5)good set of strings


6) Hands


There is no other way to really get the Santana sound. If one element is off the whole thing is ruined. Pedals don't work...The Santana sound is a result of great hands + great guitar + great amp. Everything has to be connected in a spiritual way. Your hands have to really vibe with your rig.

 

 

 

 

Carlos uses Pedals. He uses a Wah and a Delay, plus he used to run a Tubescreamer too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I get a real similar tone from a fender twin amp, with a ehx wghite finger compressor in front of a RAT pedal out the front of the amp.

What I do is set the compressors output gain high enough to clip the front end of my amp slightly.....and then I keep my PRS volume back at about 7 to clean it up........


..I have the Rat pedal set so the volume/level is on full but the gain/distortion is almost off, and the "tone" control set to quite a dark tone.

When I want crunch I roll up the vloume on my guitar and the compressor clips the amp....if I want singing sustain and that dark santana type sound I kick the Rat on on top of this.

Even at house volumes it sings forever and is really smooth!

 

 

Santana did use a twin early on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Use the bridge pickup (humbucker) and shut the tone control right off, that's the first step, then play with the pre-amp gain, lots of bass, lots of mid and very little treble on the amp. Then learn to hold the pick with not much of the useable end showing. If it's a good guitar the sweet spot for picking should be up close to the end of the fingerboard. Try that !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...