After years of playing in a Heavy Rock covers band, I am now about to start working with a functions/ weddings band.

This means moving away from my usual Blues-y overdriven tone into much cleaner territory.

So, my question is this - I don't have a great amp, but it's a good enough combo for my needs, I have a good workhorse guitar (Fender Tele) and a good selection of usable FX:

Delay, Overdrive/ Distortion, Chorus, EQ..

BUT

I find my clean tones are harsh and thin, where I need them to be thick, creamy and sweet.

I have to take some time to play with the tone controls and get some new sounds but I think a compressor pedal might help to improve my overall tone.

Do any of you guys have experience of compression pedals/ FX?

I am a big fan of the Boss range, for various reasons (build quality, ease of use, compatability with my existing rig etc ) and am looking at the Boss CS3 Compressor/ Sustainer, amongst others.



SO, anyone out there used this? Any thoughts, feedback, suggestions....?


Also, any hints as to what settings on a compressor pedal to use for different results? Here are a couple of tones I will need:

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd = That dry, clean, springy tone in the intro.

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison = I need a nice, warm tone - again for the intro. Can't be too thin sounding as it needs to ring out and fill the sound out before the band as a whole kick in. Doesn't need to be identical to the record, just needs to sound sweet!

I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown = a nice, tight but sweet sounding funky tone.


Any ideas for what these will need - e.g. attack settings, sustain timings etc etc. I am new to compression, not sure exactly how it works!

Many thanks fellow magicians.

x

Fender Tele is gonna give you a thin tone - you'll need to use the bridge pickup on its own for the thickest tone.

You could always try a guitar with a humbucker pickup if you want thicker tone.

Well, yes, I see what you mean.

I have a Les Paul too, but figured it was a bit too aggressive for this kind of stuff...or maybe that's just the way I play it....?!

Plus it's too darn heavy to play for two hours - I'll end up with a stoop like Quasimodo!



Anyway, the latest is that I found a cheap 2nd hand Boss CS-3 on eBay, so I am going to experiment with both the Tele and the Les Paul..that tone I am after MUST be in there somewhere...!

I have a Boss Compression-Sustainer in my set-up & it will greatly improve your clean.

thecloud said:

I am pleased to report that I also now have a Boss Compression-Sustainer in my set-up and damn right it has improved my clean tone.

In fact it has cleaned up my whole understanding of tone and why certain things that looked great on paper didn't work when I tried them out. Oh and now I get a great sound out of my Boss Overdrive/ Distortion that I never managed before, so it's a clean/ dirty win/ win situation

The next test is how it sounds used in "anger" so to speak - high volume in the rehearsal room with the band. I think that is where its real value will become apparent.

Thanks for the feedback and advice, by the way.