Jump to content

keef exile guitar tone - how to get close


kct666

Recommended Posts

  • Members

ok guys, so i've got a bacchus tele (lipstick not HB at the neck though) and I can plug it into a 35 SS amp with bass, mid and treble control, reverb and OD available too

 

i am having trouble hearing the guitar part - it seems clean, trebly, slight OD perhaps?

 

what settings on the guitar vol and tone knob, and the amp eq do you recommend to get something close to 'all down the line', 'rocks off'...thanks in advance!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Keith played a number of guitars through a number of amps on that album. I think it bears mentioning that for the standard-tuned guitar parts (like "Rocks Off"), he was playing some kind of humbucker-equipped Gibson, like a Les Paul or an ES-335. On open-G songs, like "All Down the Line," he was playing the Telecaster. Are you familiar with open-G tuning?

 

You can see both Ampegs and Fenders in this photo from the recording session.

 

DT_GuitarsAmps_09.jpg

 

Here you can see a Fender Champ and some other heads I can't identify.

 

DT_MickKeithJimmy_87.jpg

 

So I guess the answer is they used Ampegs and a bunch of Silverface Fenders. Those aren't high-gain amps, and Keith always got his signature tone by just cranking the living daylights out of whatever he was playing through for a healthy dose of power tube distortion.

 

I don't know what kind of solid state amp you have, but if you have a "gain" knob, I'd set it so there's just a little bit of dirt in your signal. To my ears, Keith's tone on "Rocks Off" sounds cleaner and more trebly than "All Down the Line." That should be no problem at all with a Telecaster bridge pickup (and that's DEFINITELY a bridge-pickup song).

 

"All Down the Line" sounds to me like there's more mids and more dirt. Of course, it's also played with a lot more abandon than "Rocks Off," which features some very specific two-string picking from Keith.

 

Honestly, I think it's far less about EQ settings and far more about copping Keith's feel, which is slinky, choppy and frequently ecstatic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members


DT_MickKeithJimmy_87.jpg

Honestly, I think it's far less about EQ settings and far more about copping Keith's feel, which is slinky, choppy and frequently ecstatic.

 

Maybe it has something to do with whatever is on the top of that big cabinet in the foreground.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Considering the debauched and generally {censored}e conditions under which that record was recorded, it's quite hard to get the studio tone. That being said, bridge pickup, and, most importantly, more volume than gain, adjust treble to taste and have the bass somewhere in between the mids and the treble to get that dark feel. Roll of the volume on the guitar for the darker tracks, or lower the volume and raise the gain. But as was already said, a lot of that 'tone' is really the vibe that his playing on that album gives off, dark and rough, which is also reflected in how it was recorded.

 

Also, take everything you read in this thread as a rough guide, a lot of the sound comes from you/the way you play, so you may need to alter things to accommodate that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

hi felix 959, thanks for the tips, yes the tele is in open G...my SS is a 30 watt laney lg35r...will tweak again later...maybe i need to get some fender tube amps :) btw great photos!

 

stratocaster202, will try those things thanks man...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

comparing the rhythm between exile and sticky fingers - sticky fingers songs like bitch / sway / brown sugar, i can somehow cop, some crunch - exile guitar sounds less overdriven, though overall mood is dark (the songs, not the guitar parts)...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

×
×
  • Create New...