Ok, so I bought a USA tele and Fender Reissue Bassman when I was playing in a funk/hip-hop band, however, it dissolved and now I'm playing rhythm in a band with a more heavy rock sound. Obviously, the tele and the bassman are awesome, but don't really produce a heavy, thick sound. I am borrowing a Marshall Super Lead half stack, which helps, but, still, my sound is a little thin and twangy.

Any suggestions on beefing up my sound? Pedals? EQ? etc.

I don't really have the $$ to buy a new guitar, so I'm trying to work with what I have.

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Are you looking for a distortion box or something for your clean tone too? To be honest, it seems the real heart of the problem is the tele, but I know you don't want to replace it. How about one of the Marshall pedals, like the Shredmaster or Guvnor?

I really want a thicker distortion sound, I just haven't had luck with any of the ODs or distortions I've tried. I tried the Fulltone Fulldrive II, and it helped, but still didn't achieve the sound I was looking for.

I know the best solution is probably to not use the tele, but I'm hoping for a decent temporary solution until I can afford a new guitar 'cause there's no way I'm selling the tele.

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i suggest a EQ pedal, but really spend time with your amp and guitar just get a chair and spend time with the eq trying to dail in a big sound, remember less is more when it comes to highs, mids are good, and to me....you can never have enough bass. My friends is using a Tele through orange rocker 100 half stack and its a pretty thick sound, granted it wasnt as big as my SG but he's spent time trying to find that tone. Also always roll off on your tone knob to hear how that helps, sometimes the solution isnt always another piece of hardware just time well spent with your equipment.

if you want a pedal try a good overdrive or lower gain pedal.

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Thanks for the advice, you're probably right. I haven't really had a chance to sit down with it yet. Would you put the EQ before or after the OD?

One other question, I always find up-ing the bass and rolling off the tone that my sound is thicker, but loses clarity. It becomes muddy. Is there a way to avoid that?

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adding a few highs should help there. the problem with a tele is that it's naturally very bright, so whatever you do, you'll still have lots of high, 'twangy' sounds going into the amp and as these get distorted they can become scratchy etc. However in my opinion, it's a ****ing awesome sound - just try to use less distortion than you'd think, and maybe a few more mids to compensate.

also, the middle pickup position (bridge/neck) combo gives a good meaty distortion sound.

play to your gear's strength!
john

a catalinbread super chile picoso, or maybe even the sagrado poblano picoso for your tele, will fatten your sound right up.
www.catalinbread.com

As for a cheap but good sounding distortion, I'd get a boss DS-1 off ebay (~$30) and get it modded by indyguitarist (~$50).

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Well, since everyone else here is doing it, and I'm one to jump off a cliff when all my friends do, here's my rig:

For guitar:
Tonebone boneyard pedalboard

Diamond Compressor
5 Loooper
Strobostomp
Vox V847 Wah
Boss PS-5 (Coming soon)
T.C. Jauernig Diabolical Gristle Tone Manipulator OD pedal
Tonebone Hot British
Boss EQ-20
ISP Noise Decimator
Boss DD-20
Catalinbread Sagrado Poblano Picoso

Backup Rig:
Boss OD-20
Catalinbread Super Chile Picoso

Off my board:
Boss RC-20XL (used for practising)
Dunlop Original Crybaby
Monte Allums Modded SD-1 (SD-808 mod)


I use lava cables

why dont you put a single coil sized humbucker in the bridge with a coil split?

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Gibson 1973 SG Special with mini-buckers and bigsby
Fender Tele Plus
68' Gibson LG-0 Acoustic
Early 90's Guild Jumbo Acoustic
Custom Strat (floyd rose, evo, virtual paf, coil splitters, on off switch)


Mesa Boogie DC-5 ---> Avatar Vintage 1x12
fender '72 champ
Fender Blues Jr.

Morley Bad Horsie
mxr phase90(r28mod)
MXR wylde overdrive
Vox Bulldog
ehx small clone
Ibanez AD-9
Boss Ns-2
Boss Oc-3
Digitech Flanger



http://guitargeek.com/chat/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73339

yeah, maybe try out a tele hotrails in the bridge. an eq pedal in your chain can work wonders, as well. a boost could help - the digitech bad monkey is actually a killer pedal for the money.

The Hotrail should probably work.

If your still playing around with the Eq Idea try it before and after the OD. Most people put it after the OD, but the Tele is probably the main problem so you might be able to get some good results putting it before the OD.

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Don't eat the yellow snow.

Maybe I'll try the Hotrail...

That would probably be a good option because I loove the clean sound of the tele neck pickup so I could switch between the two for clean and distorted sounds.

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I've been looking at teles lately and have been researching p/ups for them...

If you're looking for a bluesy, hard rock sound then you could try a P90-ish tele bridge p/up like a Fralin SP43 or Harmonic Design Super 90.

Also, DiMarzio makes a variant of their Super Distortion for a tele, the DP318.

I've only listened to the available sound clips, though. I'm sure others can weigh in from personal experience.

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Double Helix

I was going to recommend a new pickup too. It would probably thicken things up. Another possibility that may end up being cheaper than getting a new pickup: Get a 4-way switch for your tele, so you can run the bridge and neck pups in series. That'll run both pickups at full output together. The way I understand it, it gives an almost humbuckerish tone. Look it up in the guitar forum, you'll probably find some more info there.

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The Idiot's Rig

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The Sound Thoughts Myspace

I actually have a tele with the S1 switch which will put the pickups in series. It does help, but not enough. I would say it's closer to a humbucker tone, but not that close.

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After reading reviews, I'm pretty sold on the idea of the Seymour Duncan Tele Hot Rails. Anyone suggest a good place to pick them up online? They're only $75 on MF, but I thought maybe I could save a couple of bucks...

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My Rig