Any tips for some good tone?

[W.A. Marcum]

Alright so here's my gear:

Epiphone SG G-400
CRATE G600 XL
DODTech 8 Grunge multieffects processor
Digitech Screamin' Blues Overdrive

I'm looking for a decent tone out of this. Any suggestions?
Also, I'm thinking about switching out the pickups in my SG for either the '57 Classic and Classic plus pups, or the "57 Classic neck pup and the Angus Young signature bridge pickup.



Any tips, tricks, advice, etc is appreciated!

 

[River]

What kind of tone are you looking for?

 

[Sirzach]

What kind of tone are you looking for?

....Don't say slash tone.

 

[W.A. Marcum]

I'm looking for a kinda 80's hard rock crunch tone. Young, Iommi, Rhoads, etc. Not really even a heavily distorted sound, but an overdriven ripping sound. If that makes sense? lol. But I don't want an exact copy of a great artist, I want something that's a bit of an all around mix of holy shit. You know?

 

[acstorfer]

Dimarzio Super Distortion (bridge) + Dimarzio PAF (neck) = 80's rock tone. While you're at it, might as well upgrade pots and caps. I've never done, but I believe the people who have and their claims of improved tone.

That and practice, practice and practice some more. Lots of tone comes from the fingers

 

[Daniel]

Dimarzio Super Distortion (bridge) + Dimarzio PAF (neck) = 80's rock tone. While you're at it, might as well upgrade pots and caps. I've never done, but I believe the people who have and their claims of improved tone.

That and practice, practice and practice some more. Lots of tone comes from the fingers

I've been playing with caps for a while... I'm an '80s guy and I've settled on these: Review: Champtone Les Paul Upgrade | Jensen PIO Capacitors | Not Right In The Head

I would also echo on the Dimarzio Super Distortion and a PAF... But if you can put your hands on some old Carvins...

 

[pickerrr]

You can get a <Highway to Hell> crunch tone from the amp dist. Gain set to high, and lower your vol knob down to 3.

 

[Rich]

You can get a <Highway to Hell> crunch tone from the amp dist. Gain set to high, and lower your vol knob down to 3.

What pickerrr said. Try messing with the controls on your amp before you go swapping pickups/caps/whatever that is going to cost you time and money.

If you're not getting enough overdrive out of the amp, you might also try using your overdrive pedal as a clean/moderately overdriven boost by increasing the pedal's output and lowering it's gain; try it with the pedal set to be as clean as you can get it and then add a more gain to taste. Conversely, if you don't like the amp's overdrive sound, set it clean and then try using the overdrive or multieffects processor (if it has overdrive/distortion settings) to create your dirty tone.

 

[sshirley]

That and practice, practice and practice some more. Lots of tone comes from the fingers

I agree all the way with this statement. Plus, I'm finding a lot of great tones by turning my amp up and the volume knob on my guitar down. There is so much truth to the "tone is in your fingers" statement. The way you touch the guitar will make a huge difference.

 

[Penny Dreadful]

....Don't say slash tone.

Oh please God no!

 

[mrrazorblade227]

The most essential component to tone is patience, no matter your gear.

 

[rockinlespaul]

Good tone requires getting rid of the digital modeling junk...

IMHO, YMMV, etc.....

 

[RichBrew]

Cheapest way to improve your tone by far: raise the action.

RichBrew

 

[lunchbox]

There's a lot of things that you could do. Everyone else seems to have already suggested most of them. One that I haven't seen though, and it can make a hell of a lot of difference, is changing out your speakers. IMO, Crate sucks, and their speakers are shite. Take a listen to some of these. A good, used Weber or Celestion can be had for under $100 and make your whole set-up sound better.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWK0sa7tlfI"]15 Speakers compared Celestion vs E.V. vs Eminence vs JBL vs Jensen vs Tone Tubby - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUvqSRXWRvc"]Speaker Shootout Eminence, Jensen, WGS, Celestion, Weber - YouTube[/ame]

 

[marvar]

Alright so here's my gear:

Epiphone SG G-400
CRATE G600 XL
DODTech 8 Grunge multieffects processor
Digitech Screamin' Blues Overdrive

I'm looking for a decent tone out of this. Any suggestions?
Also, I'm thinking about switching out the pickups in my SG for either the '57 Classic and Classic plus pups, or the "57 Classic neck pup and the Angus Young signature bridge pickup.



Any tips, tricks, advice, etc is appreciated!

The only thing I see there that could contribute to good tone is the guitar with 57's installed in it. . The rest is SS into SS into SS
Sorry, just my opinion

 

[Dilver]

If you can afford it, get yourself a better amp. It will make a huge difference. Amplifiers are like instruments, you get what you pay for.

 

[W.A. Marcum]

I can't afford a better amp, lol. I have what I have. Note that I did say "out of this". I'm not looking for a rock god tone, just something that doesn't sound like I'm in the bathroom taking a dump .

 

[switchback]

Not trying to be cliche' here but as it has been suggested becoming a better player (not that your not good already) your question suggests that you are looking in the wrong area for great permanent tone and experimenting with different finger and pick techniques and different scales will provide the ability to get tone just about out of anything.....some will disagree with me..... thats OK

 

[acstorfer]

Not trying to be cliche' here but as it has been suggested becoming a better player (not that your not good already) your question suggests that you are looking in the wrong area for great permanent tone and experimenting with different finger and pick techniques and different scales will provide the ability to get tone just about out of anything.....some will disagree with me..... thats OK

Who would disagree?

 

[5F6-A]

this is the best "tip" for improving your tone