Question:
I'm not sure if this should be placed in effects, amps, or "general" so move it if you need to.
As I've probably mentioned in previous posts, I am primarily a clean/rhythm player, when I do use distortion it is for lead lines and color. I've never been too specific about the particular 'dirty' sound I like, some distortions I like and some I dont, and I'll use any of those I like. On the other hand I am very picky about my clean sound.
However, on rare occasions I hear a distorted tone that I absolutely love, and have to wonder "what are they using to get that sound?". I'm going to bring up two examples today.
The first is Prince on SNL a view months back. If anyone here missed that, I'll post a clip of it. It should be pretty well known that Prince is a sick guitarist in every sense, including his tone and use of effects.
The second example I am posting. It is a clip from a gospel song, I believe that Jonathan DuBose is the guitar player. I particularly like the part at the end, where he goes up an octave and then goes off the lick. It sounds like he's using a wah pedal as a tone control, any other ideas about the sound? The guitar is clean through the rest of the song.
Here's the clip:
http://www.bandwidthcrazy.com/mr_spiffy/distguitar.mp3
Answer:
i'm going to slide this over to effects...but i'll leave a tracer.
Answer:
find out what amp he's using. Your answer probably won't be too far from that.
Answer:
I didnt get a change to listen to the clip yet. But he could be using an overdrive if your wanting that clean sound but not distorted thats useally an od.
Answer:
I can tell you that lead sound is most likely a Strat (single coil guitar of some sort) playing through a distorted amp or possibly pedal, sounds Marshall-esque to me, but I can't come to a really definitive conclusion. It's not quite a high-gain tone, but in the moderate ranges between slight overdrive and moderate overdrive.
It's no wah pedal, that's just the guitarist's technique. You can change the "vowel" orientation of a tone by changing where and how you attack the string with the pick.