Best pedal for telecaster TWANG?

Brandon Roper · From: Carrollton, TX, USA

Just lookin for any suggestions from any of you Tele. players for an effects pedal. I'm lookin for an effects pedal that can give me the Greazyest, nastiest Honkey-tonk twang that I can get out of a Telecaster. (I mean one that would make even Jerry Reed cringe)
Winking

Is there anything like that on the market?

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

You shouldn't need a pedal to do that, Brandon. A good Tele through a Fender tube amp should be all you need. If you need a pedal to get that sound, you may want to look more closely at your guitar and/or amp. You probably already know that, just like for steel, a lot of 'that sound' is in your hands.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro

Steve Stallings · From: Houston/Cypress, Texas

yep...Larry is dead on. My tele has emgs in it

and will twang till the cows meow

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas
Carter/Emmons/Zum
Evans
Martin D35
Forum Host: The Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum
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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

These guys are right! Twang? You'll never get it from a pedal. Pedals are for the other sounds...phase, distortion, flange, 'verb, echo, etc..

The "twang" is mostly in the axe, and to a smaller extent, in the amp.

Jason Stillwell · From: Caddo, OK, USA

It don't mean a thang if it ain't got that twang!!

Terry Downs · From: Wylie, TX US

Larry is dead on with every word. The only thing I will add is fresh strings and "Ya gotta pick it hard...real hard". Tele twang is all about the lack of modern effects and the need of vintage essentials put in place 50 years ago. A Tele, a cord, a Twin Reverb, Bass Treble and Loud!! It is also better to play the tube amps loud to get good twang too.

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Terry Downs
http://nightshift.net
terry@nightshift.net

Tim Rowley · From: Pinconning, MI, USA

Hi Brandon,

Long-time Tele player here. Larry Bell is telling you right, listen to what he is saying. The Telecaster is the world's best twang machine. Now, assuming you have a stock standard Tele, here are a few tried and true twang tips.

First of all, you need to check your guitar's tone pot at full treble with your pickup switch in the bridge position to make sure you aren't losing highs through your tone capacitor. Simple to check, just pull the control plate and bypass the tone control with a jumper wire straight to the output. If no noticeable tone change your axe is mechanically OK. If you find that you are losing highs, you can replace the tone pot or even change your wiring to bypass the tone control in the bridge-only position. Remember that the early Esquires (and an occasional old Tele) bypassed the tone pot completely with the pickup switch in the bridge position and most of them were real screamers.

Second, make sure your pickups are not adjusted overly close to your strings! Too close and the magnet polepieces will actually dampen the string vibrations. 3/16" gap is probably a decent starting place, then fine-tune from there.

Thirdly, remember that maximum twang on most Teles is achieved with the guitar's volume pot not quite full open. That's just their nature. Turn that guitar volume down about 1/8th of a turn and let your big loud amplifier do the volume work for you while you generate the twangy tone.

Fourthly, your right hand position has an awful lot to do with your tone. For twang, pick back fairly close to the bridge and mute with the heel and side of your right hand right on the very apex of the bridge pieces.

Open-back combo amps such as the Fender Twin, Pro, or Super Reverb seem to work best with a standard Tele. If you have a Fender amp, start by setting all your tone controls "flat" (i.e. halfway open), turn your amp volume up to a respectable level, and work little-by-little from there to find your tone. You may need to back the midrange down a notch. If you have a Peavey amp, the treble control can usually be set between 9:00 and 12:00 and still provide all the treble you will ever need. Presence control can be set up to about 6 or 7 for a hot attack. If you have a Mesa Boogie, any clean setting works pretty well! If you have a Marshall, Laney, or (God forbid) a Crate, trade it for one of the above the first chance you get. Oh by the way, contrary to what some of these younger cats think, you'll get a MUCH better authentic twang sound if you will avoid overdriving or "clipping" your amplifier. A loud clean setting with a touch of reverb will give you great twang. A dirty, overdriven, or distorted setting will prevent good twangability because the preamp section is working too hard.

On all my Teles, I have replaced the pickup mounting springs with short pieces of common 1/8" automotive vacuum hose which helps hold the pickups a little more securely in position and reduces any microphonic tendencies. This makes a Tele a bit more "controllable" and helps it sound a little better I think.

Some players insist that they get a better Tele "twang" by using string gauges similar to the old F150's where the wound string gauges are lighter, such as .024w, .030w, and .038w. I have NOT found that to be the case. My string guages have been .010p, .013p, .017p, .026w, .036w, and .046w for many years and they work fine for twang as far as I'm concerned. Your mileage may vary of course. I use Jagwire nickel strings, by the way. They are great strings, stay in tune, and hold their brightness a long time.

Another tip: Remember that the output of your Tele is strictly hi-Z. So for the sake of tone, purchase the best low-capacitance guitar cable you can afford to buy (George L's cable works well and there are also other top-quality cables available) and don't buy any more length than you absolutely need. 12 foot is plenty. Then you can be assured that your amplifier is getting the best possible signal from your guitar.

One final thing, don't degrade the tone of your Tele by running it through a whole string of "stomp boxes". The fewer war toys the better your Tele will sound.

Hope this is helpful. Now go and get some good old Telecaster twang.

Tim R.

Shaan Shirazi · From: Austin, TX, USA

Of course, if you simply HAD to have a stomp box you could get a graphic equalizer and boost some highs but that's pretty much overkill when it comes to Telecasters.

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The Pickin' Paniolo

Brandon Roper · From: Carrollton, TX, USA

Thanks!!!

ajm · From: Los Angeles

There isn't much to add outside of what Tim Rowley and Larry Bell said. However, I thought of a couple more things.

1) Be careful adding a graphic EQ. You may end up making your tone more shrill or annoying to the listeners, sort of like an ice pick in the ears. If I already have reverb, then the pedal I would think about adding would be a compressor/limiter. I have a Boss CS-3 and think it works great.

2) Maybe the sound you're looking for can be acquired by lowering the action until the strings buzz a little when you pick harder. Of course, if you play slide also you may have to give it up here. And new strings will help a lot.

Like one of the other guys said, if your guitar already has something then sometimes you can minimize it (high end, for example). But if the guitar ain't already got whatever it is you're looking for, then a lot of times it's impossible to add it in.

Ed Miller Jr · From: Coldwater,Mi USA

Just a couple other other notes on Tele tone IMHO, It must have a maple neck|fingerboard, I like to run the action just above the buzz point and three section bridges with brass saddles sound the best, you can get a decent tone out of the newer Am Std. bridges, but I still that the brass three barrels are the winners. I like to run a little tape delay on mine ,It leaves it twangy but takes a little bit of the ear bleed out of it,and makes a solid state amp a little more palatable to the ear,not much delay though.
But the real tone is in the hands, don't be afraid to get a little rough with the guitar, pluck the strings with your fingers and let them snap. play it hard! they're real war horses!
ED

Harry Hess · From: Blue Bell, PA., USA * R.I.P.

My '95 52 Re-Issue Tele sounds better that all of the 60's Teles and the '59 Tele I owned. I swapped out the stock treble pickup to a Seymour Duncan '54 Tele bridge pickup. I could hear the difference with the Duncan's raised D & G pole pieces. The original pickup was weaker on those two strings 'cause of the radious.

A pedal ???

Blasphemy !!!!

Shame on you !!!!!

Throw all of your pedals in the nearest body of water (except analog echo pedals.... they're OK) and recite your prayers.

All jest aside, the TWANG is best obtained from the ASH BODY Teles, the alder jobs just ain't got it.

Regards,
HH

Dougie Hodge · From: Grove City, PA / Hendersonville, TN USA

I myself play a '62 Telew/EMG Active Pickups. I have found that playing through an amp with alot of power for clean headroom, such as a Evans SE-200 or Peavey Nashvill 400 works the best. Also alot of people have come up to me during a gig and ask me, "How in the heck do you get that sound? I've been tryin' for a long time and can't get what you've got, even playing some of the same kind of licks." I look down at the floor and say, "See that red box right there, That's the only way you're gonna get that "Nashville Sound". Get a Compressor/Sustainer such as,if you can find one,Original MXR DynaComp,or the new DanElectro Surf&Turf Compressor. Those are the two Compressor Units I have found to work the best. The Boss Compressor is O.K., But it's a little muddy when you really want to squash it. If you use a good Compressor & a Clean, high power amp, or a Mesa-Boogie you can get that sound, as long as you have good technique, as the other's have stated. If you want that "Nashville Sound" like Brent Mason,Ricky Skaggs,Vince Gill,ect., Get a compressor. Thanks so much, Dougie

Ed Miller Jr · From: Coldwater,Mi USA

I agree Dougie, I amlost forgot about compression, When I switched to a wireless I dropped the compressor becuse the Samson seems to do that quite well. My old MXR became to had to control. Also 100% agree on the surf&turf, It's very closely pattered after the Dynacomp And so sar the two of them sound better than any other compressor I've found for the Tele.

ED

Michael Brebes · From: Northridge CA

I would like to add my "third" to the use of a Dyna Comp. That's been my pedal of choice, with nothing more than a little slap-back style delay. I also replaced pickups and got the Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele pickups, both front and back, and that pulled the tone over the top.

Ed Miller Jr · From: Coldwater,Mi USA

I picked up a screaming deal on a 52 tele reissue pickup from Fender Its the one used in the no caster RI made by the custom shop. I tried Gold Lace sensors they sounded pretty good... then I got this one. I forgot how good the regular pickups sound. I still have a lace sensor gold in the front. I can get a real fat sound out of it and still have the classic tele twang! I 'm still thinking of getting the matching neck pickup but all of the old teles I have played there seemed to be a huge output difference between the two pickups, or is it just me?

ED

Shaan Shirazi · From: Austin, TX, USA

About compressors, I have a Dyna Comp and a Boss CS-3 and like them both. When using compressors it's good to set your level at around 3:00 and sustain around 9:00 so it doesn't compress too much. (I learned this from Redd Volkaert) Speaking of, his pedal set up is usually a Boss CS-3, DM-3 Analog Delay, and BD-2 Blues Driver or Tube Screamer. Now everyone in town has a similar set up!

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The Pickin' Paniolo

Robert · From: Chicago

Brandon:
Since it's obvious that there are a lot of different sounds/styles that the Tele has been used for in it's 50(!)years - you should try to figure out the handful of players whose sounds you admire and simply emulate their set-up. Yeah - Redd uses compression, etc. and he's a great player. He's a guy that makes the GEAR musical, the gear isn't making HIM musical. At the other end of the spectrum, you could go for the sounds of somebody like Paul Burlison, who ran his Esquire through something like a tweed Deluxe, probably, and just turned it up until it puked - and THAT is a sound you should hear, if you haven't. Just check out Johnny Burnette's Rock and Roll Trio - CDNOW probably has sound samples. Have fun.

Rob

Rodney Shuffler · From: Montgomery, Texas USA (Home of the Bears)

A Boss TU-2.........that's the best pedal to have.

There are several different factors (most of which are mentioned here) to consider; and "Twang" is so subjective it's really hard to tell you how to get it. Some say Pete Anderson's tone is twangy......right on the verge of real break up yet retaining clarity and articulation. Don Rich's tone is the epitome of twang to me....I kind of have a tone that is a middle of the road between those two.

George L's cables will give you the best clarity from guitar to amp, they are remarkable to say the least. The pickup you choose is most important........I have to disagree with Steve.....I used EMG p/ups a few years back and they were the most sterile and lifeless things I ever heard.......but ultimately quiet. Okay for corn and cheese studio stuff I guess. I use Van Zandt p/ups and they are about as good as you can get........several mfgs. offer good p/ups, it's personal choice.

Compression is okay too, especially to help out a SS amp....if you're using a tube amp you're gonna get natural tube compression....I don't like using comps with tube amps as it gets a little muddy at times.......over compression is not good and will take away some of the subtleties of your playing.

String gauge is important too......I use 11's, heavier than most folks but excellent tone......if your hands aren't real strong, you better go with 10's.

The guitar is an important factor as well, Ash (to my ear) sounds better than Alder and I like the tone of Maple necks as opposed to Rosewood. You lose some sustain with the Ash/Maple combo that is there with other wood combinations......but that snappy bite you're looking for also lives in that lack of sustain.

There's been a lot of good advice here, playing back on the bridge etc... play it hard is good too......fret poppin' is part of it too. When you play like that, it becomes more important to keep fresh strings on......I change everytime I play; my stirngs are usually goin' dead by the second set and shot by the 4th. If it's bad enough, I'll change after the 2nd set. Strings are too cheap to not change every time you play.

I got real long-winded here....sorry. If I can help you in any way, email me.

Rod

[This message was edited by Rodney Shuffler on 23 September 2001 at 07:44 PM.]

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