Tonefiend Forum

I heard "Kid" from the first Pretenders album again the other day and thought to look into how James Honeyman-Scott got that sound. The gear he is supposed to have been using was mostly Gibson guitars and Marshall amps. 😮 Talk about playing against type.

So do you go for "Fender clean" or do you do things differently?

I generally don't chase the classic blackface or silverface Fender clean sound these days. The mid scoop bugs me, which is odd since I used to zero out the mids on a Bandmaster Reverb head. And while the Fender sound isn't a totally clean sound, I like adding some subtle (or more than subtle) harmonic content. I'm not sure everyone would even agree that I use a clean sound. I like it to sound a little tougher when I dig in, not dirty, but just a bit more ring and chime.

Here's a clip someone put on YouTube comparing cleans of a Fender, Tech21, and Peavey. Owning a Tech21 Trademark 60 I was interested.

And the first note that comes out of the Fender just seals it for me. I don't know exactly what aspect of the sound makes it so appealing. I'm going to try to find out and am probably going to attempt building a "California Dreamer" amp.

https://www.ax84.com/index.php/oldprojects.html?project_id=california

Of course, your preferred tone is a personal thing.

I rather like the Fender sound. I think there is a reason that it is such a famous sound. It is good. Some people have a rather silly perception of it, though. They seem to regard the Fender clean sound as some type of base zero. As if all sounds are on some linear scale and Fender is on one end with Mesa Boogie metal heads on the other. These people are silly. I love the warm clean tone of my little Gibson for my rhythm work. Amps do not sit somewhere in a line. They float somewhere in a huge, nebulous cloud of space dust. 'Cause everything is better in space.

Quote from bear on September 4, 2012, 18:26
It is a good sound, but I guess it's just not my sound. At least not at this point in my life. Really weird given my past of zeroing out the mids on the Bandmaster. I came around to guitar living in the mids.

I have a Boogie Quad preamp that I got decades ago and the Rhythm 1 is the sound closest to the blackface Fender sound, but true to the Mark era Boogies, with more mids. I hated it back then. It generally works for me now. With the mids up.

Do the Fender clean fans have a lot of competition in the mids? I don't (= got no band situation), which could be a factor.

I play with another fella' (often in a duo in loud bars) who plays a Gibson ES 125 into a Deluxe Reverb reish along with my 335 into Deluxe. Trim a little low end, emphasize a different spot in the highs, and that preset mids setting on the Deluxe's is the least of our worries. I've honestly never had a problem mixing with another guitarist simply because they were using a Fender amp; never even considered the problem. The other guy's guitar is more likely to need tweaking around, in my experience. And again, no mids control. Your guitar and how you set it up are the biggest mid-control you can get...

Quote from Schrodingersgoldfish on September 5, 2012, 12:42
I could be wrong, but maybe he means to ask if people like the Fender sound because it helps them avoid competing in the mids?

Exactly. If you back multiple vocalists, plays with keys, horns, more guitars or other strings in a similar range, I could see the mid scoop being really useful for getting out of the way a bit as your self-mixing strategy.