Anybody know how to recreate this amazing guitar tone on a Variax?

[patricknathan]

 Hello Everyone,

 

I have a JTV 69 and would love to play with or at least approach this amazing guitar tone (see video below). 

Does anyone know how to get this sound?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[silverhead]

I haven’t viewed the video but I can say that a Variax guitar can only produce raw guitar signals. It does not do any signal processing beyond that point. Comparing to the real world a Variax guitar provides the signal that comes out of the guitar’s 1/4” jack. Any other signal processing is done by external equipment such as a guitar amplifier and various FX. It is highly unlikely that the guitar tone itself can recreate anything like the (probably highly processed) tone in your video. 
 

From the video you can probably tell what kind of guitar he is using. Choose the Variax model that comes closest to that. The rest is all non-Variax signal processing.

[soundog]

Looks like he's playing his Collings 470JL in that vid ....closest Variax model would be the Les Paul. Not sure what amp or amp modeling you're using, but as silverhead sez, you'll have to take it a step at a time (guitar, strings, amp, etc). Beautiful tone, though. Good luck in your pursuit of it...

 

This article has good info on his gear https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/julian-lage-interview

 

[brue58ski]

Fire up Workbench HD call up a Les Paul body and replace the pickups with the ones in the video. He's using the neck pickup in the video. I cannot recall what they are but there are pickups that at least look like the ones he's using.

[MGW-Alberta]

I believe those could possibly be FrankenTone Mod AlNiCo pickups.
Difficult to find in the real world and obviously not available in Workbench.
If you were looking for actual pickups that sound close I would suggest the TV Jones T-90 but since that is not the case then I suggest trying the Gretsch Duo-Jet model.

With a clean tone like this one you probably won't hear the difference between humbucker and single coil in terms of the doubling thing that fattens up humbucker tones but you will get the warmer tone that comes from a humbucker.

 

You will, of course, want to use a Fender Blackface amp, probably a Deluxe (the non-reverb version if possible).

That should get you in the ballpark.

On the amp issue, do not be fooled.  Just because an amp says Fender on it does not mean you'll get "traditional Fender" cleans out of it.

When guitarists say Fender clean they mean Blackface clean.

A Hot-Rod Deluxe is not a substitute for a Blackface Deluxe.

There are other brands of amp that can get you there but they cost more.

 

To get even closer, try using the Xotic Effects EP-Booster between the guitar and amp.

That pedal does an amazing job of adding girth and grunt and breath to any guitar tone.

On my (conventional) pedal board I use it to compensate when I switch between single coil guitars and humbucker guitars.

The EP-Booster adds thickness, depth and increased output to a single coil guitar so I don't have to bend over and tweak my board every time I change guitars.

It should give you the added low end response heard in the video.

 

Hope this helps.