#157393  by Grapher400
 
Hello,
this is my second post on this forum so please forgive any ignorance... Anyways, I have recently picked up this very nice Fender Champion 100w and was wondering how to get the best Jerry tone I can. I'm Specifically looking for his earlier tones (like '65-'70) More or less what I would call his "Blues" tone? Also a later tone as well like around the 80s. I currently play an epiphone LP straight into the amp. My currently amp settings are Gain: 1 Treble: 8 Bass: 2 Mid: 9, The Voice setting is a twin and I have reverb on the amp. Any insight would be Great,
Thanks
Graham
 #157398  by MattMan
 
Grapher400 wrote:Hello,
this is my second post on this forum so please forgive any ignorance... Anyways, I have recently picked up this very nice Fender Champion 100w and was wondering how to get the best Jerry tone I can. I'm Specifically looking for his earlier tones (like '65-'70) More or less what I would call his "Blues" tone? Also a later tone as well like around the 80s. I currently play an epiphone LP straight into the amp. My currently amp settings are Gain: 1 Treble: 8 Bass: 2 Mid: 9, The Voice setting is a twin and I have reverb on the amp. Any insight would be Great,
Thanks
Graham
Hey welcome to the fabulous world of Jerry Tone Graham. Jerry's tone is certainly unique, and a few basics will get you on your way. First, you need to understand the essence of Jerry's tone for the earlier years can be achieved with your LP and the Twin mode on your amp--just give it more gain, around 5 and get some reverb going. Listen to Live Dead and play along--try the neck + bridge, neck more bluesy, bridge more bright. Second, you need to understand the essence of Jerry's tone for essentially 1971 and on is based on the Fender 25 1/2' scale with 3 single coil pups and 5-way selector, with the middle pup as the basic tone. So an 80's tone is grounded on the Fender physics, albeit he's playing Tiger in the 80's, which is Hum/Hum/Single, except that the middle hum is really single coil tap most of the time. That Fender middle pup tone is super hard to get without a middle pup. So when you're ready to get a good Jerry tone for the 80's you'll need either a Fender strat or some other guitar with a middle pup that can be single coil or hum with a single coil tap. Keep up with the Jerry tone. Check out Wald's historical overview and keep on reviewing this forum. There's a lot of details: http://www.wald-electronics.com/gear_di ... index.html
 #157416  by Grapher400
 
hey,
thanks for the advice, I will try out those settings soon, anyways, I was actually looking at building my own custom strat body as I am pretty good with wood working and buying a neck separate, then adding my own pickups and maybe putting the OBEL system in there. It would most likely to me at least be the cheapest option and the most fun! Anyways, thanks for the advice! If I could ask, what pedals would you recommend for Jerry? I currently am looking at a Clean Boost - a Overdrive - Q-tron - Tube Screamer- analog delay, and keeping my reverb on at all times
 #157417  by LongStrangeJam
 
Hey,

That champion amp can get some great tone for its price, for that earlier gain sound I would maybe try the gain channel (on the left). But mostly use the right channel. For 80's tone I would dial more treble in, maybe reduce the mids on that amp. MXR dist + works great for that gain OD sound, a lot of guys here use some of Brad Sarno's stuff. He's got some great pedals at the link. A Q tron mini or the plus works fine really. Enjoy

http://www.sarnomusicsolutions.com/index.html
 #157419  by PurpleTrails
 
Mattman had some really good advice, but on the amp settings I'd likely go to something around 5 on the middle; the treble and bass settings you're using should be in the ballpark.

On the pedals, the distortion+ is one of the ones that Jerry used initially, but the vintage ones sound somewhat different than the ones out now. In the 80s Jerry was using a boss OD-2, and later 80s also a HM-2 on things like hell in a bucket. Sarno's pedals have a great rep, but they're definitely not as affordable as a dist+ or used boss. A fulltone OCD also works pretty well.

I don't know that a clean boost is really needed, and I think a tubescreamer is going to add too much mid hump. The Qtrons are the most affordable autowahs that get you into the mutron neighborhood, and is absolutely necessary for much of the canon. I'd recommend getting an MXR carbon copy for an analog delay, though this isn't as necessary as an autowah or OD.
 #157427  by Grapher400
 
hi,

Thanks for the advice, I was watching some youtube videos on jerry tone and found this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILnQlDBfhEo I found this interesting and the tone to be relatively good and the pedals aren't crazy expensive (except for the Klon) but I was looking for the OD pedal to try the EHX Soul food as its a cheap "clone" of the klon. Let me know what your ideas are on this, thanks.
 #157432  by MattMan
 
Not sure what you are asking. Jerry used MXR and Boss pedals for his override and distortion. You can find an MXR+ distortion on Ebay for about the price of a EHX soul food. Those other pedals are fine and fun and they make cool tones, but if you want advice on Jerry tones everything is fairly well documented. I'm sure others will attest that when you're interesting in chasing the Jerry tone, there's a pathway that's historically "correct", and there's a pathway that your own. Ultimately its you who are playing and nobody can tell you that you are wrong, but for those of us who have and are following the historically "correct" pathway, there's just a few well defined paths to get there. Keep on playing!
 #157436  by PurpleTrails
 
I have a soul food pedal, it probably gets you 75-85% of the way there to the klon. I don't really use it when I'm going after Jerry tone, and it's never made my board full time. FWIW, there's a new OCD v2 that's just came out that sounds fabulous that you should seriously consider as an OD, though it's a little more pricey than something like a soul food or dist+. I also have a FET preamp pedal on my board that is a BYOC kit version that is the single best pedal I have. It's most useful driving the signal into modulation type effects to kick them into a really saturated, over-modulated mode, and can take my twin to the point where it is distorting a bit.

FWIW, here is my current chain for reference:

tuner>mini POG octave>Qtron+ (with dano TOD in its effect loop)>OCD>dist+>FET preamp>script phase 90>carbon copy>silverface twin

The ones I use least for Jerry tone are the POG, phase 90 and dist+. The ones I use most are the OCD (set to be a mild boost/OD), the Qtron+ and the carbon copy. The dist+ only gets triggered when I want some hair, the preamp when I want massive sound, the CC on things where it is needed. The octave and phaser pretty much only get used on space.
 #157790  by harada57
 
“Jerry was a traditionalist and a pioneer, embracing America’s musical past while forging into the future. He understood how music can be a way to experience the unknown. This quest became a fountain of positive energy. How often does a lead guitarist play so selflessly with the idea of overshadowing the existence of ego? Every speck of me wishes he was still alive.”


เล่นบาคาร่า