Getting that old country twang

[Doug_H]

GFS Retroton "Nashville" pickups. Won't work in a strat though.

[markm]

or try a Fender Pro Reverb, half the power so you can turn it up a bit and get some output grind out of it at a lower vol...

The "Poor Man's Twin"!
If you turn a Twin up to about 7 and back the volume off on the guitar.....it will make a Twin growl a little bit from the power section.
At least to my ears it sounds different than having the guitar wide open and a Twin at say 4!
That's the nice thing about a TR....there's LOTS to work with and then some.

I would have to agree on the Fender Twin being 90% of the tone forumla.

The twin is the one amp that can not be made to sound better by adding pedals in front of it.
If anything pedals make the Twin sound worse in my experience.

I find the Twin works real well with compression and just about any OD.
Alot of how it will respond really depends on how you use it and what you expect from it.
Some players expect that it's just a Louder and Bigger Deluxe......It Ain't! 

[JonFrum]

I have recently been getting into old country (50's) and would like to get some of the sounds they produce. I have a nice strat that would be good for this. My amp is  carvin legacy which has a great clean channel with plenty of headroom. What effects can I use to get that nice smooth twang? Im willing to either build or buy doesnt matter.

For 50s country, throw away those pedals - there were none back then. Tele, Gretsch, hollow-body Gibson w/P-90s. They may have added some reverb in the board, but that's it.

[markm]

I have recently been getting into old country (50's) and would like to get some of the sounds they produce. I have a nice strat that would be good for this. My amp is  carvin legacy which has a great clean channel with plenty of headroom. What effects can I use to get that nice smooth twang? Im willing to either build or buy doesnt matter.

For 50s country, throw away those pedals - there were none back then. Tele, Gretsch, hollow-body Gibson w/P-90s. They may have added some reverb in the board, but that's it.

Plus Tape Delay and Sag from amp rectifiers and don't forget the "warmth" added to the recording by the all-tube console and tape decks etc......What exactly did '50s country sound like without these other factors thrown into the mix?
Not alot of LIVE stuff was recorded. 
You may actually need some pedals to bring the '50s country vibe into what you're trying to sound like.
I mean after all.....'50s electricity was so much different than the crap we have today! 
Also, I'd be interested in what artists the original poster is referring to as '50s country just so I can have an idea of the sound?

[Dragonfly]

I have recently been getting into old country (50's) and would like to get some of the sounds they produce. I have a nice strat that would be good for this. My amp is  carvin legacy which has a great clean channel with plenty of headroom. What effects can I use to get that nice smooth twang? Im willing to either build or buy doesnt matter.

For 50s country, throw away those pedals - there were none back then. Tele, Gretsch, hollow-body Gibson w/P-90s. They may have added some reverb in the board, but that's it.

I'll respectfully disagree...while its true that they didnt have "pedals", they most certainly had natural tape compression and slapback tape echo. Unless you plan on buying an old ampex 350 or two, pedals will be the only reasonable way to emulate this.

AC

[John Lyons]

Things to consider: We're not talking about what the old guys used so much as what to use to get a similar sound. Unless i'm mistaken were trying to get an old country twang sound from somewhat modern gear.

Without a few different tweed era amps and a few gretch, fender etc. guitars, a 50's, 60's era studio with the mentioned Ampex tape machines and the odd tube limiter and console strips, not to mention the able hands of some of the greats...(hows that for a run on sentence?) we are going to have to rely on pedals for delay, compression and even distortion/EQ curves. Mark has a good point about the string gauge. There are a few nashville tricks like that with high stung guitars or capos etc etc.

John

[JonFrum]

John


On the other hand - I doubt the oldtime pickers had any trouble getting "their sound" playing live - no limiters, no consoles, no nuttin'.  They used "Tweed" amps, but they played clean, so most of the difference between those amps and modern models goes away.  The modern country sound is another matter - high output pickups, pedals, the whole shebang.

[petemoore]

 'A' shaped ceiling, something in a corner or two, live floors and walls 1w/ some glass], semi live ceiling. Room must be at least 20'w x 30'L x 20'H.
 Start live, then listen for where to lightly dampen, maybe 1 couch and some wood chairs, about 1/2 of the 'stuff' in the room should produce sound, don't kill the room tone.
 Place mics and have fun.
 
 

[John Lyons]

I getcha...

There is a live sound and a recorded sound, but even live you had an under powered amp operating at near capacity with tube rectifier sag and an Alnico speaker really movin'. That's compression..Then you had the room sound (thanks Petemoore) and some short echo going on, possibly a longerslapback in larger halls. Of course the players were just dead on and all had theire signature sounds...

But for a Country Twang in a can you can use some comression, a delay, a strat and a clean tube amp and get something reasonably twangy given your chops. The player is the main thinkg though. A good picker can make anything work.
Different genre but my dad always said "Jimmy Hendrix could play a 2x4 and make it sounds good."

John

       

[zjokka]

I was going to write a long mail on guitar setup, but mark m said it all:
(only i play clawfinger without pick)

The most important thing I have found for Country twang is a light set of guitar strings. (hear me out here!)
These days most everybody is into the "bigger is better" philosophy and for country twang, the opposite is true. The hardest thing to do is get any spank out of a guitar with anything bigger than 10's on it.
Personally, I use .08-.38 lite gauge strings on my Tele with a Med-Low action.
The low action will help quite a bit with spank as alot of twang comes from the way the strings are attacked. I use a hybrid pick and fingers technique, sometimes referred to as "the claw" by some players that involves using a flatpick between the thumb and first finger and the other three remaining fingers to pluck and yank strings with. The low action provides an increased ability to yank the strings up with the picking fingers and letting them slap against the frets which provides much of the spank alot of you are speaking of. High action won't do this well.
Light strings are going to sound very rubbery and twangy no matter what you do with them.
No, they aren't loud and powerful but, that's what the Volume on the amp is for.
Light strings with a fairly straight neck won't buzz if it's set up properly.

[blanik]

not really country but a good idea of gear knowledge at the time...

http://www.scottymoore.net/echosonic.html

he got this "boutique amp" with a built-in tape echo to reproduce the slap-back of Sun Studios...

cool site anyway!! 

[markm]

(only i play clawfinger without pick)

I'm very jealous....Never have I been able to make that work for me, Congratulations!! 
What about fast walking bass licks?

[petemoore]

  Clawfinger...lol.
  I keep my claws 'sharpened' for just such occasions.
  My fingernails when they get long kind of curve down like the shape of the fingertip, I find cutting an angle...deep to near the hangnail, so that I have a sort of point to the fingernail, 2/3rds of the way across towards the thumb...this makes it easy to strike a string without the nail getting caught on the string...

[BDuguay]

Let's not forget p/u's
I had a seymour duncan 54 tele pick up  once and it had that low output snappy Don Rich sound to it.
Markm, I'm a twanger too! 11-49's. To each his own
B.

[zjokka]

(only i play clawfinger without pick)

I'm very jealous....Never have I been able to make that work for me, Congratulations!! 
What about fast walking bass licks?

Can't help it, just came natural to me. Just stand in awe for people using hybrid (pick + fingers) technique, and you'll have to engage the index finger for bass playing (holding the pick). Probably makes for better definition in the bass lines! I just use the upper joint of the thumb.

  Clawfinger...lol.
  I keep my claws 'sharpened' for just such occasions.

Right    it's CLAW HAMMER technique

I getcha...
Different genre but my dad always said "Jimmy Hendrix could play a 2x4 and make it sounds good."

John

and 8/12. A great rhythm player, he worked the circuit -- not like bb king who still cannot play one chord.

[markm]

Let's not forget p/u's
I had a seymour duncan 54 tele pick up  once and it had that low output snappy Don Rich sound to it.
Markm, I'm a twanger too! 11-49's. To each his own
B.

I'll admit that there is something to pickups but I personally don't think it's as crucial.
I'd compare pickup choices on a Tele to capacitor choices in effects.....there is a bit of truth and a bit of mojo as well.
Pickup height plays a perty major role though....I adjust them kinda medium/low to what alot of fellas have them.
.011's.....my God! 
Do ya do any pedal steel bends with those?

[BDuguay]

Yes I do.
However, I'm a lefty who plays right handed so all them pedal steel type bends are not a problem. It would be easier forme if I used 10's but anything lighter and I tend to pull them sharp just by fingering.
I rely heavily on the claw technigue to make up for an otherwise feeble right hand.
B.

[markm]

Okay then, since your left handed then it would still be safe for a right-hander like me to shake your hand!!
I have alot of respect for P/St bends on .011's.
The claw does RULE though! 

[Mark Hammer]

NEW strings, preferably 10-46 or thicker.  An amp that stays clean even under heavy assault (which is why folks keep saying Twin).  A light body, with wood that breathes.  Some might say skinny frets, though I think the jury is still out on that.  Under some circumstances, an underwound pickup might be optimal (which is why some folks say Gretsch Filtertrons).  The Dynacomp thing helps to keep the amp in the clean zone, though the dynamic compression is not essential.  Sure lets you hit those hard notes on the bridge PU without breaking up, though.  That may also be why some folks here have emphasized thinner strings while others say the opposite.  The thinner strings help to keep signal level lower, hence keep things cleaner when feeding an amp that can't always stay clean.

Fundamentally, "twang" is about being able to really force hard transients out of the string without things breaking up anywhere along the signal path.  Thin strings can help, heavy strings can help, compressors can help, and clean amps always help.

[Doug_H]

Let's not forget p/u's

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=53692.msg408879#msg408879

This is now a circular self-referencing thread.