Navy Vet. Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 Many years ago I was turned on to using heaver gauge strings and tuning 5-10 cents down to get a fatter tone. For the past 40 years this has been my practice. Anybody have secrets to get that fat sound other than changing pups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 on my Gibson's if I'm tuning down a 1/2 step I use 11's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 I have 2 of these GE7s, both modded to be noise-free.....extremely useful pedals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 4 hours ago, jdgm said: I have 2 of these GE7s, both modded to be noise-free.....extremely useful pedals. I must admit I am jealous to see this other pedal with handwritten labels on your board. Who is this imposter and how long has this been going on? I thought we had something special 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 17 hours ago, Navy Vet. said: Many years ago I was turned on to using heaver gauge strings and tuning 5-10 cents down to get a fatter tone. For the past 40 years this has been my practice. Anybody have secrets to get that fat sound other than changing pups. How much is this? a semi-whole tone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 12 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said: I must admit I am jealous to see this other pedal with handwritten labels on your board. Who is this imposter and how long has this been going on? I thought we had something special You mean the one on the right of the pic? It's an Xotic AC+. Don't worry the Dark CLoud is still there too!! 🎛️🎸🔊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Vet. Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 1 hour ago, merciful-evans said: How much is this? a semi-whole tone? 100 cents is a semi tone. I’m tuning down 5-10 cents, with the exception of the 1st string, I tune the high e down 12 cents. Flatting the strings fattens the tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dog Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 I thought this was about the McDonalds $1 menu. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Black Dog said: I thought this was about the McDonalds $1 menu. POST OF THE DAY Edited August 16, 2019 by Big Bill 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filbert Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 This forum is bad for my wallet! Ended up buying a Boss EQ pedal today, inspired by this thread and a Fender Blues Junior inspired by another 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dog Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 46 minutes ago, Filbert said: ...Ended up buying a Boss EQ pedal today... Yeah, that caught my interest too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filbert Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Just now, Black Dog said: Yeah, that caught my interest too. I ended up going down the rabbit hole by Googling it and then watching a bunch of Youtube demo/review videos before deciding maybe, just maybe this could be the missing part of the tone jigsaw (honestly!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 I used one back in the early 90s as a boost pedql Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 So Vet if you're 5-10 cents flat on the lower 5 strings, and 12 cents flat on the high E you're not even in tune with yourself, leave alone the rest of the band? How does that work out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Twang Gang said: So Vet if you're 5-10 cents flat on the lower 5 strings, and 12 cents flat on the high E you're not even in tune with yourself, leave alone the rest of the band? How does that work out? E=6(12x5) Edited August 16, 2019 by Big Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Vet. Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 35 minutes ago, Big Bill said: E=6(12x5) I don’t have perfect pitch, and I will argue neither does the majority of the earths population. So at 5 cents down the folks in the audience will never know you are not tuned to 440 hz. Also when tuned at 440 as you play up the neck the more out of tune you become. Aslo a plus is vocal range, I can’t hit a high note, and neither can most folks my age or older. I noticed Pete Townshend was tuned a half step down on almost every song at this years concert in Nashville. Why? I can only guess, Roger Daltrey at age 75 cant hit notes like he did at age 35. Now those who aced aural harmonics , and I didn’t, can claim I’m full of crap. But I know what works best for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dog Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 23 hours ago, jdgm said: I have 2 of these GE7s, both modded to be noise-free.....extremely useful pedals. I just read the reviews for this pedal on Sweetwater. I have one on the way. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, Filbert said: This forum is bad for my wallet! Ended up buying a Boss EQ pedal today, inspired by this thread and a Fender Blues Junior inspired by another 🙂 6 hours ago, Black Dog said: I just read the reviews for this pedal on Sweetwater. I have one on the way. Thanks. Very glad I posted then. I used it at the gig tonight. There are fairly simple kits you can buy with replacement/upgraded parts to stop noise and hiss. https://fromelelectronics.com/products/ge7-mods https://www.monteallums.com/pedal_mods_GE7.html Both mine have had this mod done (though not by me!) and it really improves the pedal. It certainly beefs up a Tele or Strat clean sound. 👍 Edited August 17, 2019 by jdgm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 18 hours ago, Navy Vet. said: 100 cents is a semi tone. I’m tuning down 5-10 cents, with the exception of the 1st string, I tune the high e down 12 cents. Flatting the strings fattens the tone. Really?! Your ears must be as sharp as a bats. I could never hear that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dog Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 I had to look this up because i'd never heard of cents before. It is interesting. 5-10 cents is not very much though. According to Wikipedia, the Just Noticeable Difference (JND, it's a technical term) is 12 cents for most people. If you scroll down the page they have some sound samples where they play two notes separated by 1, 6 and 10 cents played separately then together. I can't tell the difference at all when played separately, but when played together it's easily heard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(music) Apparently context is very important. it says, "While intervals of less than a few cents are imperceptible to the human ear in a melodic context, in harmony very small changes can cause large changes in beats and roughness of chords." Coincidentally this happened to me the other day. I had just tuned up (I thought) but I had my D string just a hair flat and my G just a hair sharp. probably just a couple cents each. Sounded fine played separate but when playing a cord or double stop it was really obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinch Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 GE-7 here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 If both guitar players tune down and use bridge cables for strings your band sounds like mush. Play away from the other guitar player. If he or she is singing and cowboy chording it, play up the neck further, get distance between the two of you and you will both sound gigantic. If you know the bass line, and you should, always capitalize on the roots, let the bass player carry the bottom, you keep the fifths going for hard rock and the majors going for the other stuff. Use that bass line to help you sound huge, not to stomp all over if you can avoid it. Distance creates width and depth. Not tuning to standard tuning limits all the other instruments and will cause you your very own set-up problems if you don't set your guitars up tuned down. It limits what you can do with others, if you get an offer to go and play with my band and we inform you immediately that sadly, for you, we do not tune down. If the singer can't sing it, play it in a funny key that they can sing. Someone in the band should know how to do that and quickly show the rest. Tuning down took on a life of it's own at some point in the 80's. Most don't know that nobody tuned down on purpose back then, it was the result of the master being laid down too slow. They were also put down to fast, but nobody ever tunes up do they? lolz rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, rct said: They were also put down to fast, but nobody ever tunes up do they? lolz rct I tune up my guitar every time I pick it up for the day or when it goes out of tune... Edited August 20, 2019 by Big Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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