How to Dial in John Mayer Guitar Tones with Tim Marco
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
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The Rig Doctor himself, Mason Marangella, stopped by Sweetwater with Bay Area musician Tim Marco for an in-depth look at John Mayer‘s guitar tone throughout the years and the different ways to achieve his coveted sound. Check it out!
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What's your favorite tone tip for that JM sound? 🎸
Since The Search For Everything tour and now Sob Rock, his lead tone has been getting cleaner. By cleaner, meaning less gain, more note definition, and to me less compressed. Huge difference between his Continuum tone and present day tones. Lastly, riding the tone knob is important. He gravitates towards a darker tone.
Every bit of Mayer's setup appears to provide a very open palette that expresses his own unique muscularity and feel - it's in the hands. Ironically, attempting to match every single element of his gain staging might put players further away from his tones; as the resultant rig will demand more of his touch. Stuff like the klon, the TS, some kind of foundation overdrive/preamp to create the dumble-esque canvas are all good ideas. But I'd say, work with the light-medium overdrives that you personally like, that work with your hands. They might get you closer even if they aren't the 'right' pedals. For other effects - choruses, delays, even the envelope filters - by all means go seek out the CE2s, the Providence Chronos, the Q-tron, etc, though I'd wager that you can get pretty close with an old M9.
How to get the John Mayer tone: Out of production expensive Two Rock amps mixed with hand built amps built by someone that is no longer with us and ... a strat. That's probably as close as you're going to get to nailing it. Mayer is using a few hundred thousand dollars of gear for a reason (although I think you could get close enough for $3,000+). Or you could just take Mayer's own advice on how to get the John Mayer tone "Buy a Fender amp and guitar". I've heard some of the best examples of people getting the core of his tone with a strat and the RIGHT Fender amp, no pedals at all. So, 90% of the sound isn't coming from the pedals. Not sure if you just don't have the Hot Rod Deluxe setup right or if it just isn't capable of getting the sound, but it certainly lacks the warmth in this video.
And there are at least a few sources out there that show you either which pedals he's actually using (often with some cheaper substitutions) or actually show you pictures or video of his pedal board so you can see for yourself.
As odd as it may seem, Mayer puts the TS after the klon(Archer) or bluesbreaker(or King of Tone), and seems to use the TS always on. He doesn't use the SSS pedal, but he's usually playing into a dumble or 2rock. he also pushes the klon(Archer) and bluesbreaker with a katana clean boost. Personally, I get mayer tones by running Keeley Katana>Archer(klon clone)>King of tone> JHS Bonsai(TS10)>delay>VHT D50(Dumble clone). I stack various pedals in the chain depending on which tone and how heavy I want it. That way, it gets the same sound of being varying degrees of gain on the same overall flavor of tone. Works incredibly well for me. The VHT D50 being a hand-wired dumble clone makes all of the difference- its essential for the dumbley clean sustain he gets
I think a huge part of John’s tone is how he attacks the strings. He has a pretty heavy attack on songs like Who Did You Think I Was, it sounds absolutely massive!
Yep this kid is just not into the demo to its detrement.
Everybody been hating on the chorus pedal until JM brings back the 80s. That was the 80s “thing”. He had to use it on this album.
Soo true!
Woohoo! Tim Marco is my hero 🦸
Great tones! My only critique is that most of it appears to have been played on the bridge pickup of the silver sky which isn’t usually John’s go to pickup choice for soloing, so it had a bit more treble/top end than I’d usually equate to his lead sound
On some sections, yes Tim used the bridge pickup, when perhaps on the record it was a middle pickup for Helpless, or a 2/4 position for I Don't Trust Myself. I think the other songs are all correct however in terms of pickup usage. I also think some of this is taste on Tim's part...sometimes you get in the moment and you take liberties with some of the voicings, solos, etc. which we did - Tim didn't play every part note for note, but sorta improvised over it.
As a Mayer fan I can’t get over the wrong pickup uses of the song demos otherwise tone and playing is on point
On some sections, yes Tim used the bridge pickup, when perhaps on the record it was a middle pickup for Helpless, or a 2/4 position for I Don't Trust Myself. I think the other songs are all correct however in terms of pickup usage. I also think some of this is taste on Tim's part...sometimes you get in the moment and you take liberties with some of the voicings, solos, etc. which we did - Tim didn't play every part note for note, but sorta improvised over it. Also, I notice that live, sometimes John won't even use the same pickup selections on the records.
There is no 'wrong' pickup choice. It's up to the artist to use the instrument how they choose to get the tones they want. I thought the tones and pedals used and discussed were great starting point suggestions.
@@tomt55 it was more of a lighthearted OCD type gripe. I could care less about what pickup a guitar player uses but the concept of this video was to nail John Mayer’s tones and some of the songs he plays are very pickup specific
Just what I needed!
Thanks for having us Sweetwater! This was a blast doing this John Mayer retrospective and chasing some of those classic tones!
All the licks where my favorite! Amazing upload, thank you!
All credit goes to Tim!
Which pedal did Mason rip off for his SSS? I wanna buy the original for a fraction of the price.
Some great tones and pedal suggestions. If pedal board space is not an issue the EQD Palisades is easily the best Tube screamer style circuit out there with loads of EQ and Clipping options. Another couple great Klon style circuits with more EQ and gain on tap are the Wampler Tumnus Deluxe and the Mojo Hand FX Sericon. The Vertex Steel String Clean Drive and Ultra Phonix MkII are both super pedal board friendly and offer great Dumble style tones.
All good choices there, no doubt!
Awesome great music song playing guitar. Great lnterview great show.
Is that Mason's Silver Sky? I can't get past the Kluson style tuners....😬
K-Ray, that was actually an employee's guitar that works at Sweetwater that they generously let us borrow for the video. Sweetwater was sold out of Silver Skys when we shot this, so this was our only option :)
As you have done in other videos indicate the setup of the String little knobs? It is not obvious when they are higher or lower... Thanks
Trio tone was a gainy amp sound, he didn't use a klon till the battle studies era
Not too gainy, still a lot of pedal distortion there. The Centaur has been on the rig as a mainstay for at least a decade, choosing an abbreviated "core" of JM pedals, the Centaur style has to be on the Mayer Mount Rushmore without question.
Oh no.... I'm "that guy" now 😐
@@jayborghini4399 what guy? I think it was a totally legit comment.
Is Mason ever not dropping JM’s name?
He’s just waiting to be the bro to make JM’s first signature pedal.. 🤷🏻♂️
Hes all about slapping someone else name on something
If you were looking for an amp to use at home to try and capture the JM sound would you recommend a Princeton stacked with a DB clone pedal? Or are there better(other) options? TIA!
Hi, Andrew. Those would be great options. A small tube amp with great cleans would be the way to go. Pairing that with something like Vertex SSS would be the way to go. The Princeton would a solid choice. You could also do a Deluxe Reverb for a bit fuller of a sound. The bigger cabinet and power increase will help with the bottom end but not drastically increase the volume of the amp.
Thanks for your interest!
Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com
Hey great Job !!! But the first thing is what’s the amp setting ?! Thanks🙏🏻
This could have been a 10 min video if the main guy hadn't repeated himself so much.
I like the earlier tone
Don’t forget to roll down the tone on the guitar. Also, the rhythm in “who did you think I was” sounds totally like a tube screamer is on the whole time. I think for the solo he hits a clean boost.
Strat+ Fender Amp + 25,000 Hours of Practice should get you in the ballpark...
You'd still need a chorus and delay and overdrive to get there even with all that :)
What about the Keeley Katana?
Does he use it as an always on part of his tone (seen in pics at the front of his rig)?
Or only as a lead tone boost?
Which Tube Screamer is that
Tube Screamer Mini...great deal! Sounds great, small, true bypass, etc. All the things you'd want.
Double denim Brave guy
Double denim, as God intended :)
Canadian Tuxedo
"The amp on the edge of breakup" is the new guitar world cliché.
It's been the cliche since 2005 at least ;)
@@VertexEffectsInc OK, so it isn't new apparently. My amp has only broken up since 2014.
@@philf4086 hahahahaha
You’re just missing the Bluesbreaker transparent OD for the rhythm. The Klon is more for chunking up everything.
There hasn't been a Bluesbreaker on that rig for a decade, I don't find it to be a "core" element.
@@VertexEffectsInc
Oh, definitely and I do agree. But when people go for “John’s tone” they often are referencing those old songs which were recorded with his old boards. Like a modded Boss Blues Driver nails that Who Did You Think I was rhythm tone.
I’ll also say that trying to capture John’s tone at home is quite difficult when you’re not able to push your amps to stadium volumes. That’s why something like a Bluesbreaker-style circuit works so well. It adds a nice amount of natural sounding breakup and compression that sounds great for light-dirt verses and choruses. It blends nicely with your Klon circuits too.
Also stacks very well with your D-style pedals. I love boosting the front end of my Morning Glory with your Vertex Steel String Clean!
@@brandonkruse6412 I think these are good points. For the purposes of this video, we wanted to keep the pedal selection more "core" as to the recurring cast of characters seen on the Mayer rigs historically as mainstays. This was way we elected for Centaur and Tube Screamer style pedals, and then something to bring the "D-Style" platform for those to run into along with the processing effects. Surely any number of other pedals could work in place of these, as said here, and other drive pedals to augment some of the choices made here like the Blues Driver you mentioned or the Blues Breaker to get some more break up.
💪🎵💙❤️🙏
what if I don't have a tube amp, I have a boss katana instead
What archer version is this one?
I think it's just the standard silver version, sounds great :)
Hey, which amp are you using?
Double Denim..Canadian tuxedo!
Just a question does vertex pay the Vaughn family for slapping his name on pedals
where it say his name??? S lightt R eturn V ersion...you cant own letters bro!!!
Vertex effects is a master pedal builder for sure, but I stopped listening to his signal chain and tons advice when he said put delay after reverb
This is pretty common in most of the 1980's / 1990's racks - certainly not unique to me. Mix #1 was Pitch and Reverb, feeding Mix #2 with Stereo Delay after the Preamp. The thinking is that you'd have reverb printed on every delay trail. A lot of this was attempting to emulate what was happening in the studio and re-creating that signal path, but specific to the guitar players. Most Bradshaw rigs, in particular the wet/dry/wet versions, are all like this typically, he's also the same guy (Robert Bradshaw) that builds most of the John Mayer touring rigs.
@@VertexEffectsInc tone is subjective by all means do what you think sounds good, but I will not be doing it because it doesn’t fit for me
@@jayyoungmusic919 and that is totally validated in pretty much any "advice" videos we do, it's not a dogma, just a consideration, ultimately your ears should always be your guide.
What if you switched the Klon and TubeScreamer? Didn't Mayer use his low gain dirt into his TubeScreamer to control saturation?
He's gone back and forth over the years, the current rig is TS-10, Klon, then Vemuram Special Edition Tube Screamer, so he has one pre and post Klon.
Who do you think I was, is on the neck pickup. What a weird video...
the fact that the industry still accepts Masaon Scamarargella is quite disgusting
I don’t know, I love sweetwater but this doesn’t really sound as close as it should.
Edit: I take that back. After rewatching a few times, this was REALLY bad.
While Mayer's tone is nice there's nothing unique or even distinctive about it. He's very middle of the road (many say boring) and anyone can get very close with a Strat and Fender tube amp, any delay pedal that does analog and a tube screamer with gain set very low.
You really should listen to the Trio section of his Where The Light Is. Nothing "middle of the road" about it. Wait Until Tomorrow is pretty much a perfect solo.
a half-hour commercial, very few tones for the amount of time they spend talking
Another Mayer Pedalboard video 🤦🏼♂️way more guitarist out there with interesting use of effects
Everyone has a favorite. It is important to understand that for some, Mayer is that favorite. There are a ton of videos highlighting other guitarists rigs out there as well.
Man I’m soo tired of seeing videos on “how to sound like John Mayer”
You have the option to not watch them. UA-cam is a big place and there is bound to be content you would rather watch.
@@startrekmike thank you for in obvious. But original content would be more entertaining. Simpsons did it!
@@loganknapp7694 There is no obligation to always produce "original content" just so you don't individually get bored. As I said. UA-cam is a big place so if you want something original, it falls ENTIRELY on you to go out and find it.
I totally don't want John Mayer anything he butchers the Jerry tunes . It's awful
Yeah, the only thing that offends my ears is the title "sales engineer".
If you're an engineer you can build me something. If you're in sales you're just pushing something.
I get how you can be an engineer selling what you understand is a good tool for my needs.
But how likely is it that an engineer, someone who's capable of designing tools is going to dedicate their time to selling the designs of others?
You will get over it
I'm a socialist and a guitar pedal fetishist (absolutely oxymoron for sure), with that said, if you're able to buy a guitar pedal, who cares if Sweetwater uses the term sales engineer. It's all about consumption anyway.
I wonder if Mayer brings his pedalboard on his hump yacht??
But seriously.. what I am really hoping for is Boss to come out with a Mayer themed Katana, maybe call it "The Badass". Possibly bundled with an overseas made, all new guitar brand that exactly copies his pickups and his Not-Strat. They could call that guitar the "John Reed Fender" and then we can all finally stop looking to find our own original sound, eschewing any individuality, and we will all be happier because we don't have to do anything original. That would be so refreshing.
I just couldn't stand it anymore so I had to stop watching this video, but John Mayer's full name is said 12 times in the first 12 minutes ..W..T..F?
Talk is cheap...
Horrible 👎👎👎