The Settings Remain The Same:

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

Ambassador of Tone
Fallen Star
Country flag
I've long described my somewhat controversial use of the same amp settings, regardless of where we play. I found that it enables me to concentrate more on my playing and showmanship and not bother with chasing some phantom nuances that vanish the instant the band kicks in.

Not being a Tom Morello fan, I did find an interesting quote by him from a recent interview that I was able to totally identify with:

"
"No, not at all. And this is controversial in the world of guitar players - I don't believe it matters at all, and none of the gear matters whatsoever. Like, with me, this was probably 1988, I went in, I spent a few hours twiddling some knobs, and I just said, 'I'm done, I don't like this sound particularly, it's not what I'm imagining in my head.'

"But I'm sort of obsessing and being anxious about it. I'm gonna never think about these knobs again, I'm never going to think about this guitar again. These are the settings, I'm now just going to worry about being creative with the sound that I have.

"And - it's right over there [JCM 800 Lead Series], it's a 50-watt Marshall head, which is what I bought at the time, and the settings I marked on that day in 1988, the amp is still set to those settings, the guitar is the one I that I've played on every record and every show, every tour, and I just said I'm no longer going to burden myself with this, 'I have to have the right gear and I have to have the right guitar.'

"It's like I got the guitar I got, and now I'm going to put all of my energy into imagination, creativity, same with a guitar effects pedal, I have three, there are three pedals for 35 years that are the same ones that I've just applied myself to by embracing those limitations, helped me tremendously creatively, because I'm never going to worry about that stuff.

"The beginning of Rage Against the Machine really for me was the turn where it went from being a technically skilled musician to becoming an artist, and I found my own voice on the instrument when I began self-identifying as the DJ in the band.

"And I stopped practicing scales eight hours a day, and I started practicing mistakes eight hours a day, and all of a sudden, I was just hearing the instrument in a different way, and it was creating a vocabulary of sounds that were not from the Chuck Berry book or the Eddie Van Halen book or whatever, and then the blinders were off."
 
Robert Herndon said:
I've long described my somewhat controversial use of the same amp settings, regardless of where we play. I found that it enables me to concentrate more on my playing and showmanship and not bother with chasing some phantom nuances that vanish the instant the band kicks in.

Not being a Tom Morello fan, I did find an interesting quote by him from a recent interview that I was able to totally identify with:

"
"No, not at all. And this is controversial in the world of guitar players - I don't believe it matters at all, and none of the gear matters whatsoever. Like, with me, this was probably 1988, I went in, I spent a few hours twiddling some knobs, and I just said, 'I'm done, I don't like this sound particularly, it's not what I'm imagining in my head.'

"But I'm sort of obsessing and being anxious about it. I'm gonna never think about these knobs again, I'm never going to think about this guitar again. These are the settings, I'm now just going to worry about being creative with the sound that I have.

"And - it's right over there [JCM 800 Lead Series], it's a 50-watt Marshall head, which is what I bought at the time, and the settings I marked on that day in 1988, the amp is still set to those settings, the guitar is the one I that I've played on every record and every show, every tour, and I just said I'm no longer going to burden myself with this, 'I have to have the right gear and I have to have the right guitar.'

"It's like I got the guitar I got, and now I'm going to put all of my energy into imagination, creativity, same with a guitar effects pedal, I have three, there are three pedals for 35 years that are the same ones that I've just applied myself to by embracing those limitations, helped me tremendously creatively, because I'm never going to worry about that stuff.

"The beginning of Rage Against the Machine really for me was the turn where it went from being a technically skilled musician to becoming an artist, and I found my own voice on the instrument when I began self-identifying as the DJ in the band.

"And I stopped practicing scales eight hours a day, and I started practicing mistakes eight hours a day, and all of a sudden, I was just hearing the instrument in a different way, and it was creating a vocabulary of sounds that were not from the Chuck Berry book or the Eddie Van Halen book or whatever, and then the blinders were off."
Click to expand...

I came to the conclusion that settings were a waste of numbers; so I took the controls out.
Now it's freeeeeeeeeeeee! Never felt better with 11 as a concept. And, it's one more isn't it?
 
Playing for myself I am always changing settings. Playing live I set it to my standard settings and leave it. Once in a while after the first song I'll make a few small tweaks. If the bar fills up and the band gets louder I may turn it up a bit.

For the last year before COVID I was mostly playing an acoustic so the sound guy set my sound :) Depending on which guitar I had that night I would set the EQ on my DI and let the sound guy do the rest.
 
I love Morello. His style, his sound, his approach to things.

Tone chasing for me has changed a lot over the years. I used to chase tones I heard on records and spent years trying to emulate. Then I realized that without the same gear, same settings, and the same talent, I would never sound like that person, or that person. So, I use the gear I have, and find the best tone from the equipment I have, that works for me.
 
OK I figured wave form might be same. but does it sound any closer to your Schecter or Whichever other LP copy or whatever "control" guitars are that you prefer? Or still eh?
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
OK I figured wave form might be same. but does it sound any closer to your Schecter or Whichever other LP copy or whatever "control" guitars are that you prefer? Or still eh?
Click to expand...

@chilipeppermaniac - It sounds great. The neck and gold (hard) Jescar frets are fantastic, but I really hate the Graph Tech Tusq XL nut. No matter how I polish and profile the nut, the low 'E' goes sharp.

With the short, Gotoh SD-91 Vintage Tuners, the angle is pretty steep, but even with a "fall away" cut into the back of the nut slots, it's still going sharp.

If I push down on the low 'E' behind the nut, it will return to pitch.

I am so pissed off at it, I have decided to take it to a colleague who retired from Fender after 30 years. He says brass is the way to go, but with an 1-3/4" nut, he will need to make one from scratch.

I am getting frustrated with it and feel like a second set of eyes would help.

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@chilipeppermaniac - Keep in mind that I often use a gentle vibrato to make chords "shimmer," but I also routinely drop my low 'E' down 11 semitones to D#, and I do this on several songs that we play.

My bridge is 3/32" from the body (Factory Fender spec) and I can pull the open 'G' string up to b flat.

I experimented with more and fewer winds on the string posts, different brand and gauge of strings, polished nut slots, fall-aways, polished brass saddles, 5 springs and decking the trem, but nothing helps...Low E is still hanging 5 cents sharp.
 
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