Tone like Paul Gilbert, can I get from a pedal?

[Josh_P]

Originally Posted by wilch

Put a BBE Sonic Maximiser in the FX loop.

The JCM will sound like a brand new amp.

For the love of God DO NOT use a BBE SM.......... BBE's are the devil when it comes to tone sucking beasts

For Gilbert style stuff try tilting your pick like a knife edge against your strings and play really hard. I'm still a firm believer that 90% of someones tone comes from thier fingers.

[shogun]

if your looking for a solid dirt box to run on your marshall, try using a marshall jackhammer on your clean channel.. I am not saying it will get you there, but it will sound damn good if you tweak it.

[Carlo]

Everyone knows that his magic stems from the painted f-holes ;-)

[ken_r152]

You may want to play with your EQ a bit, if you do not already have PAF Pro's and a Tone Zone.

[Wild_Child]

You can get Paul's SOUND with gear, but you'll never get his TONE.

But perhaps you could make a start by buying these:



Most important of those are the Fulltone OCD and Keeley modded Tubescreamer. Run those into an already dirty amp (as Paul does) and you'll be getting there.

He also uses a BOSS eq pedal, this will shape your sound quite a bit.

[finstah]

If you are looking for early Racer X tone, Paul used a MP-1

[jemplayer55]

^^^^ Hey.... I have all of those just like that too! Including the hair cut, goatee, shirt, shoes, and bluejeans. Sit just like that too...... but I don't own a double neck PGM. Is that why I can't quite get his tone?

[funkdubious]

Originally Posted by jemplayer55

^^^^ Hey.... I have all of those just like that too! Including the hair cut, goatee, shirt, shoes, and bluejeans. Sit just like that too...... but I don't own a double neck PGM. Is that why I can't quite get his tone?

I'm surprised,I'd have thought with the goatee you'd have had it nailed!

[wilch]

Originally Posted by Josh_P

For the love of God DO NOT use a BBE SM.......... BBE's are the devil when it comes to tone sucking beasts

I strongly disagree...

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showth...onic+maximiser

Download the tiny mp3 and have a listen to see if the BBE sucks tone...

[rgr]

Originally Posted by wilch

Put a BBE Sonic Maximiser in the FX loop.

The JCM will sound like a brand new amp.

To do that, first you would have to have the amp modded to have a loop, old Marshalls don't have fx loops.

I used a BBE in a rack setup that I had, to me it made it sound kinda artificial, but YMMV. I also don't like Rectos FWIW.

[David McCarroll]

Originally Posted by rgr

To do that, first you would have to have the amp modded to have a loop, old Marshalls don't have fx loops.

Which is not difficult. DON'T get rid of the JCM 800 - they are probably the best sounding amp Marshall have produced since the original JTM45 Plexis - I have a JCM 800 2X12 combo, and for years I tried to convince myself that it just wasn't flexible enough for me, but oh goodness, the tone that comes out of that amp is just unbelievable. For what it's worth, I believe that the Vintage Modern that Gilbert now uses was designed to be an updated version of the JCM 800.

The Tube Amp book also has a few very simple mods listed which both tame the sometimes rather vicious top end, and add a touch more gain to JCM 800s - if I ever find my copy, I'll quote the mods......

[waylay00]

Originally Posted by pushpin&poetry

I have recently been getting into Shred type stuff and my favorite tone is similar to Paul Gilberts.

I currently have a Marshall JCM800 2204 50watt 1982 and an Avatar closed back cab w/ 2 vintage 30's. I use a Carl Martin Plexitone pedal.

While I cannot currently afford a new amp, Is there any pedals that could get me somewhere close?

You definitely have the right gear to start. The JCM800 is very close to the Laney and the Marshall Vintage Modern that he's using now. Also, you'll notice that Paul has a very dynamic tone, and this is comes from the fact that he doesn't use as much gain as you'd expect. He always hits the strings fairly hard to give it that very hard pick attack sound.

I would recommend you get the Keely-modded Tubescreamer TS9DX (actually pictured on Paul's pedalboard in that photo). I set mine to a pretty clean boost (volume all the way up and minimal gain), and combined with a good Marshall-voiced gain channel, I can get really close to Paul's sound.

Originally Posted by Martyr Machine

Articulation may be in the fingers, but tone is all gear. He's not asking how to play like Gilbert, he;s asking how to get Gilbert's tone.

Tone is definitely not all gear. I guarantee if you let Alan Holdsworth play Paul Gilbert's setup, it would sound just like Allan Holdsworth. There's quite a few stories of how Nugent plugged into EVH's Marshalls, and it sounded just like Nugent. There's another similar story with Clapton. I hate to sound cliche, but you can't get someone's tone through purchasing his gear. You can get in the general area (obviously, a dual rec has a different voicing than a JCM), but overall "tone" is with a player.

Originally Posted by wallie!

mm, you might need a head with a bit more gain then a JCM800
how keen are you on getting a tone in his zone?lol

The JCM800 has more than enough gain for Paul's sound...Whatever you do, don't get rid of that JCM 2204. Those are steadily on the rise. Is it a vertical or horizontal input jack config?

[varador]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YvsOKTPaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YvsOKTPaks

I've tried to incorporate his picking technique into my playing, and it works

I think that a lot of Paul's sound can be attributed to his picking technique, however, I think there is one other very important element that may be overlooked... Paul uses thinner picks, 0.73mm I think? At those thicknesses, they make a pleasant "snap" every time you pick a string especially if you use his picking technique. It really makes a notes ring out loud and clear.

The downside of lighter picks is that they don't give the best sound when playing metal rhythm... but then again Paul never really played some chugga chugga downpicking metal...

[F.P.R.O.]

Originally Posted by funkdubious

I'm surprised,I'd have thought with the goatee you'd have had it nailed!

If only he had those abnormally large fingers...

[wilch]

He uses 0.73mm picks?

Now that I didn't know. Wow, I'm amazed now (not that I wasn't before). But I know that for me a thinner pick makes it harder to pick fast.....