w6fdo Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 Hello! I'm having a tough time getting this sound: https://youtu.be/pl7U2jy1wMQ?t=15 out of my Les Paul. I own a Helix LT. My Les Paul has the 57 classic pickups. Any suggestions or advice on patch settings would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 I've never seen the words "twang" and "Les Paul" in the same sentence...;) 2 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w6fdo Posted November 4, 2019 Author Share Posted November 4, 2019 Yeah, really. I don't really have a word for that sound so that's why I added the Bread sample. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBD_123 Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 Boutique low wind PAF-clone pickups, eg OX4s. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaschaFranck Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 Are you sure it's a Les Paul? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaschaFranck Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 Also, are we talking about the right or left channel guitars? Or both? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w6fdo Posted November 4, 2019 Author Share Posted November 4, 2019 Oh, definitely not sure, although I think it sounds like one. Right channel. The closest I've been able to get to that tone so far is through a Fender Twin Reverb amp/cabinet in Amplitube using the bridge pickup. Wasn't able to replicate as well using the US Double (Nrm & Vib), but I'm a newbie at tone finding. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w6fdo Posted November 4, 2019 Author Share Posted November 4, 2019 Maybe the better term is "throaty"? ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilrahi Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 23 minutes ago, w6fdo said: Maybe the better term is "throaty"? ;) Throaty as in deep throat? Or just surface throat? (Kidding - slow day at work) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w6fdo Posted November 4, 2019 Author Share Posted November 4, 2019 LOL! Yeah, I'm horrible at describing tones. "It sounds pungent" Hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w6fdo Posted November 4, 2019 Author Share Posted November 4, 2019 4 hours ago, BBD_123 said: Boutique low wind PAF-clone pickups, eg OX4s. Thank you!! I've been considering trying some different pickups anyways. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBD_123 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 57 Classics are optimistically named. I'd advise researching low-wind replacements, as suggested. Meanwhile, keep distortion / drive firmly under control, shape the midrange to taste depending on rig / ears and cut the bass to keep it tight and flub-free. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w6fdo Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 2 hours ago, BBD_123 said: 57 Classics are optimistically named. I'd advise researching low-wind replacements, as suggested. Meanwhile, keep distortion / drive firmly under control, shape the midrange to taste depending on rig / ears and cut the bass to keep it tight and flub-free. Thanks for the great advice! I'm looking into low wind pickups now and in the meantime have been playing around more with the Twin Reverb tones. Still don't know what to call that sound, but Greg Lake's electric solo on "From the Beginning" has that tone too... =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brue58ski Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 I think it sounds more like a Gibson 335 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caledoneus Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Twangy Les Paul???? Did you mean to say Tele? yeah, you meant Tele 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBD_123 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Vintage PAF tone often described as 'Tele on steroids' so maybe that's what's causing confusion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaschaFranck Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 I would at least sort of agree with brue58ski, there's a certain resonant character in the sound. Didn't manage to get there with my pretty ancient (early 70s) Ibanez 335 clone, though - but that's likely because the bridge PU is really sharp sounding (should exchange that - just not much fun with a semi acoustic). Could as well be a Rickenbaker. Anyhow, what I'm a bit wondering about would be, why one would want to recreate this sound (or, in fact, any famous sound...). I just never do that and I could only imagine doing so on well paid jobs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w6fdo Posted November 7, 2019 Author Share Posted November 7, 2019 7 hours ago, SaschaFranck said: I would at least sort of agree with brue58ski, there's a certain resonant character in the sound. Didn't manage to get there with my pretty ancient (early 70s) Ibanez 335 clone, though - but that's likely because the bridge PU is really sharp sounding (should exchange that - just not much fun with a semi acoustic). Could as well be a Rickenbaker. Anyhow, what I'm a bit wondering about would be, why one would want to recreate this sound (or, in fact, any famous sound...). I just never do that and I could only imagine doing so on well paid jobs. Yeah, I not a good communicator when it comes to tone. What I've meant to convey is that I've heard a certain character of tone from some Les Pauls that I haven't been able to match with my own. But with the help of those here on this site I decided to change my pickups from the 57's to some small wind PAF clones, and now I'm very glad I did (a bit of a challenge with Gibson's plug-in pickups using the new molex connector and a circuit board). That character is there now, so I get to play around with it. =) Now I look forward to playing with the Helix amps with these new pickups, as they are so much better. THANK YOU to everyone who replied!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestOpinion Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 On 11/4/2019 at 12:00 PM, w6fdo said: Hello! I'm having a tough time getting this sound: https://youtu.be/pl7U2jy1wMQ?t=15 out of my Les Paul. I own a Helix LT. My Les Paul has the 57 classic pickups. Any suggestions or advice on patch settings would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks! The video below shows the guitar. It does look like a Gibson ES-335 but half of those semi-hollow electrics look the same to me from afar anyway. So a semi-hollow with humbuckers on what sounds maybe like the middle(neck and bridge pickup) setting, that kinda looks like where it is in the video, and pretty much agree with the settings BBD_123 recommended. Have to say this might be lip synched. At the very least it has additional parts dubbed in. I don't see any strings or faux-strings keyboard player onstage. Btw, sorry to sound critical but IMHO smarmy string parts. Should have asked George Martin to arrange them instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBD_123 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 10 hours ago, w6fdo said: I decided to change my pickups from the 57's to some small wind PAF clones, and now I'm very glad I did Good move, imho. Low-wind PAF-alikes are the key to the clarity, articulation and string separation that all vanish with hotter HBs. You can add dirt via HX with pedal blocks and pre / power stage amp crank as needed and it should get you good, classic rock tonez... Enjoy :-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaschaFranck Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 19 minutes ago, BBD_123 said: Good move, imho. Low-wind PAF-alikes are the key to the clarity, articulation and string separation that all vanish with hotter HBs. You can add dirt via HX with pedal blocks and pre / power stage amp crank as needed and it should get you good, classic rock tonez... Enjoy :-) Not a fan of high output PUs at all, too. For a while they seemed to be necessary here and there in case you wanted plenty of drive while keeping the noise acceptable (in my experience any kind of external analog boost always raised the S/N ratio at least to a certain amount), but especially when using digital devices and no further external stuff, IMO they're not really required anymore. My No.1 axe, a modified Tom Anderson (custommade mini HB at the neck, Duncan-designed Framus PAF-alike at the bridge) has comparatively low output (not all that much more than most modern strats) and yet, I have the Helix' Guitar Input Pad switched to "on". Still getting more gain than I'd ever need without any noise issues. I mean, we're talking humbuckers here anyway. I also have an Epiphone LP with some rather hot stock PUs (no idea what they are), and while I sometimes use it for recordings, the neck PU is the master of "un-clarity". I even use it occassionally for some way over the top muddy-fuzzy-mayhem things, but for anything "normal" I vastly prefer lower output PUs, so apart from that Epiphone, all of my axes are pretty "un-hot". It also always seemed to me that it's easier to add some gain to lower output PUs than doing it the other way around, hotter PUs would always come through a little less clear (with some PUs it might of course have to do with string pull as well). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBD_123 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 31 minutes ago, SaschaFranck said: (custommade mini HB at the neck, Duncan-designed Framus PAF-alike at the bridge) has comparatively low output (not all that much more than most modern strats) and yet, I have the Helix' Guitar Input Pad switched to "on". Still getting more gain than I'd ever need without any noise issues. And yet some people run pickups with enough output to power a lightbulb into a high gain amp model - all dimed - then complain that it sounds hideous... and blame Helix... :-) 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaschaFranck Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 24 minutes ago, BBD_123 said: And yet some people run pickups with enough output to power a lightbulb into a high gain amp model - all dimed - then complain that it sounds hideous... and blame Helix... :-) Yeah well - if anything, I think there's generally too much gain to be found in the Helix' models, at least when using their default settings (which, well, reminds me that I'd really love being able to set the defaults myself....). There's hardly any completely clean amps and those that originally would be more akin towards a kinda mellow breakup are almost "riff-y" already. Out of fun, I just went through all of the Amp+Cab settings with the mentioned Epiphone LP and Guitar Input Pad switched off (which is the default...). No kidding, but if what I heard would've been my first expression of the Helix (it fortunately wasn't...) I wouldn't be here because I'd never bought it in the first place. Just as one example, the Fullerton Jump sounded more like a hot candidate for a most serious amp repair rather than anything I'd ever consider using (apart from some electro-thrash maybe). Had to activate the Input Pad and turn down most everything on the amp to get a useful (and still "grumpy") sound out of it. Now, I am perfectly aware that the Fullertons aren't exactly the role models for chorused 80s cleans, but I do defenitely think that Line 6 has meant it a bit too well with their default settings. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBD_123 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 6 hours ago, SaschaFranck said: Just as one example, the Fullerton Jump sounded more like a hot candidate for a most serious amp repair rather than anything I'd ever consider using :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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