Keith richards guitar rig how to#

While too little will make it clean and thin. Too much gain will make your sound muddy.

Start with the gain at around 5 or 6 and adjust from there.

Mids are a key ingredient to a great rock tone and an important setting. This will give you a good balance of crunch and fullness. Then, adjust to taste and experiment with sounds.

Start tweaking your amp with all controls on 5.

The wrong one and you may not find your rock tone.

Make sure to put a lot of research into your amplifier choice.

Anything brighter and twangy will require single coils. If you want a big, bold sound, use humbuckers.

Your choice of guitar and pickups is a big part of a good rock tone.

If you do not have an amp like the ones mentioned or are going for a different sound, here are a few things to keep in mind. The sound was achieved by using a Gibson SG through a Laney amp and a treble booster.Ī good setting to get this rock tone on a Marshall amp would be: This is another song that popularized the use of distortion in rock music. Now that we know how the amp controls work, let’s take a look at some popular rock songs and the settings used to obtain their sounds. Examples of Popular Rock Songs and Their Settings Your gain control will also affect your bass content, so this is often best to set last.įor a more in depth look, check out our guide on settings and controls.

For rock, you will usually want the bass lower, as it can muddy up the sound when set too high. The bass controls the low-end in your tone. This is a setting of 5 or higher in most cases.

Generally, the perfect amount will add character to the crunchiness of the sound. A higher mids setting will fill out the tone, while a lower one will give you a scooped sound.įor rock, you will want to experiment with different mid-range settings to find what works best for you. This control determines the amount of mid-range frequencies which are present in your sound. Some players even prefer a darker sound, so experiment to find your favorite setting. For rock, you will usually want the treble set fairly high as well, just not piercing. Conversely, setting it low will make it darker. Turning the treble up will make your sound brighter. The treble control determines how bright or dark your sound is. For most rock tones, you don’t want the gain up too high. Lowering it will give you a cleaner sound. Turning the gain up will give you a more distorted tone. The gain control on your amp determines how much distortion you get. Let’s take a more in-depth look at how each of these settings affects your tone.

Keith richards guitar rig how to#

How to Use Amp Settings to Get a Rock ToneĪs we mentioned before, gain, treble, mids, and bass all play a role in shaping your sound. Experimentation is key in finding the right sound for you. Of course, these are just general guidelines and there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to setting your amp. Bass is typically set lower, as it can often muddy up the sound when too high. Mids are also an important part of the rock sound, as they help to add definition and clarity to the guitar’s tone.

This is why gain and treble are usually set fairly high on most rock amps. In general, rock tone is defined by its aggressive sound and heavy distortion. It can mean different things to many people. We will also explore some popular rock songs and the settings used to obtain their sounds. In this guide, we will look at what the amp settings do and how to use them to get a great rock tone. Generally, good rock guitar amp settings are: That’s why it’s important to experiment with your sound and try different settings until you find something that works for you. This is a difficult question to answer, as most amps sound completely different when set the same. But how do you make it sound like rock, and what amp settings work best? The one instrument that defines it more than any others is the guitar. Rock has been around for many decades and is loved by people from around the world. How do I get a crunchy rock sound on my amp?.“Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses.Examples of Popular Rock Songs and Their Settings.How to Use Amp Settings to Get a Rock Tone.