Vai's sound with an EQ

[Mister CCJ]

Has anyone gotten a similar sound with an EQ to Vai's overall sound? I boosted 125hz and 2khz on my pedal and it seems to cut like crazy and almost there.

[albee1952]

EQ is only part of the equation. There is also the drive level, distortion "flavor"( different stomp boxes, amp choice, speaker choice, open or closed cab, etc....). Anything that gets you close is good but remember, even using the same setup may still NOT sound the same as the best players seem to have a certain amount of tone in their hands. That may sound crazy but for those of us that have been playing for 30+ years, it is true. Hand Eddie van Halen a cheap guitar and a boring amp, and it will STILL sound like EVH.

[Mister CCJ]

Well I understand all of that and I'm not looking to duplicate one's sound I just want to know how to get a good cutting sound especially if I end up getting a Mesa or etc. I want a good lead sound along with a rhythm sound so I see myself going with boosting EQ for solos instead of volume/gain. Vai's tone always stood out to me due to the complex mids in it. I know where I need to be gain wise etc. I'm just curious to see how people set their EQs mainly their mids to get a cutting sound somewhat similar to Vai.

[albee1952]

I love Vai's tones as well. I never really though much about it from this angle as I just twist the knobs till I like it. You get props for going at this in a more scientific way. You also could import some of his stuff into a DAW program (protools, cubase....) and use a plugin analyzer to further investigate. When dialing tones, I try to do one of two things. I have an extension cab in the basement and I will mic it up and listen thru the studio monitors in my recording room. If I can't do that, I try to listen to the amp from straight on (tilt the amp back) so I can hear the sound in a more direct fashion (as opposed to having the sound blow past my knees) so I hear more of what a microphone will hear.

[Mister CCJ]

Interesting perspective. Definitely interesting that you can do that through a recording program.