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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Help with tone?

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Hey all, I love playing surfy-gothy-spaghettiwesterny stuff and I love the tone that I get from combining Telecaster with overdrive (Mosky Golden Horse), reverb (Catalinbread Topanga Burnside) and tape echo (Catalinbread Belle Epoch). I keep most of the knobs around noon on each pedal.

I get great rhythm sound when I stay below the 5th fret but if I try to solo above the 5th my sound gets quite muddy, I assume it’s the amount of echo combined with the reverb. I feel like I should add a second overdrive or a boost (or a fuzz) to be able solo and I’ve tried a couple but they really didn’t help with the muddyness of the overall sound. Any ideas?

I use a solid state amp that doesn't break up like a tube amp and I've had similar issues. What worked for me was using a germanium overdrive, specifically the Germanium EHX Big Muff Pi (Don't let that name fool you, it's really not similar to what you'd think of as a Big Muff). I only use the OD and and not the fuzz side and it seems to crisp everything back up. Plus, I feel like it adds some of the dynamic feel of a tube amp.

Though I'm playing on Strats and a Jazzmaster, it's been awhile since I've been familiar with a Telecaster.

Last edited: Jul 11, 2024 17:06:49

If you use significant level of echo/delay with a good bit of reverb at the same time, it can easily make the sound muddy. Try dialing back on one or the other.

More pedals will make it only more muddy, with second overdrive you may just overdrive your mud.
I would try to clean the sound a bit with what you have got.
A little less overdrive
Less reverb in a mix
Longer delay time and less repeats on delay not to go on the way of reverb
All on noon is not always working, try to move knobs and experiment

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Kill the overdrive completely, no more mud. Solved.

You need more definition on your sound, not less. Overdrive/distortion/fuzz will soften the sound. It makes it feel fatter and louder, but it tends to cut less. Use the bridge pickup and either get rid of the overdrive, tweak the gain down, or find a pedal that will allow you to blend the signal so more of the dry guitar can poke through.

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I’ll chime in, also, that overdrive is not going to help you find what you’re looking for. The Topanga is a great pedals, and has a nice adjustable boost, in case you need to boost your level a bit.

As you can see in the picture below, I have some settings marked on my Topanga, the lesser ones being for more general use and the higher pair of settings for Surf sounds. I also have the volume marked for the approximate point of unity gain. Don t be afraid to twist some knobs, because there are a lot of sounds hanging out in these pedals.

Likewise, the Dispatch Master Reverb/Delay pedal has some markings on it. This is used for more of a Nashville sound, and the delay time and repeats are both below 12 o’clock.

The Blue Nebula pedal has Plate Reverb and a number of tape and magnetic drum delay emulations in it, and most of my delay presets on that pedal tend to go easy on the repeats, to keep the mud at bay.

image

I love delay, but I little goes a very long way, especially if you have strong reverb in the mix, already. If the decay on your reverb is long enough, you’ll have inevitable dissonance from notes tnst haven't yet died out, and that can get muddy.

You’ll also not that there is a Surfy Industries Blossom Point on this board, and that it’s on. This is important, because that adds a lot of definition to be had from this pedal. I have three pedalboards, and all three have Blossom Points.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Synchro - I see the Blue Nebula displays says "Folsom P" - I assume that's for some good old Johnny Cash slapback delay?

Great replies, guys, thank you so much!

edwardsand wrote:

Synchro - I see the Blue Nebula displays says "Folsom P" - I assume that's for some good old Johnny Cash slapback delay?

Indeed. It has 128 programmable presets, which I save by song name and assemble a set list that way, which I can go through with the foot switches. That is one awesome pedal. It was conceived as a way to emulate the various delays used by Hank Marvin. There are presets for quite a number of The Shadows tunes. There are also a number of tape and drum delay emulations, and a model of Abby Road’s plate reverb units, which you can tweak for any number of songs. There a Reverb + Trem’ and if you are comfortable with some minor league programming you can add in some other emulations, such as a dual chorus and phase shifting.

Beyond that, there’s a JFET preamp that enhances overtones and sweetens the sound. It’s not meant to overdrive, and there’s actually an LED that flashes on if you push the preamp too hard. All in all, it’s a pretty amazing unit.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Last edited: Jul 12, 2024 22:35:55

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