How to Get a Good Solo Tone on an Electric Guitar

A combination of overdrive and equalization creates a suitable solo tone.

For a guitarist, the solo is a chance to shine. So the last thing you want is for your solo to be indistinguishable from the rest of the sounds due to poor tone. Good solo tone helps your guitar cut right through the sound of the other instruments without being piercing. It is powerful without being muddy and provides sufficient sustain for your notes to ring out. Once you’ve covered these three bases, you can tweak the tone to your personal taste.

Things You'll Need

• Guitar amp
• 1/4-inch jack cable
• Optional effects pedals
• Optional patch cables

Instructions

Setup

1. Turn your amplifier’s “Master” dial to zero. You should minimize the volume before turning on the amp, in case of damaged or faulty cables. These can create a buzzing sound which can be hazardous to your hearing if amplified.

2. Connect your guitar to the amp with a standard 1/4-inch jack cable. If using effects pedals, connect your cable to the first pedal, then connect each pedal to the next with 1/4-inch patch cables. Connect the final pedal in the sequence to the amp.

3. Turn on the amp.

Pure Amp Tone

1. Turn the “Master” dial up gradually to your preferred level.

2. 

   Angus Young from AC/DC uses no effects, just raw amp power.

   Turn the “Gain” dial to approximately 80 percent. This will create sufficient preamp overdrive to give your tone some crunch and sustain, but the sound won’t be too muddy. Sustain describes the length of time your notes ring out before they fade. The more gain you have, the more sustain you have. Too much gain will create unwanted fuzziness. Different amps have different residual tones and some are more prone to creating overdrive than others. To see if your notes have sufficient sustain, strike an open B string and let it ring. If it decays after fewer than three seconds, you need more overdrive.

3. Play your top E string and adjust the “Treble” dial on the amp so the tone is bright and clear, without being “tinny.” Since you typically play solos in the high registers, the top E string is the best choice of string to audition the tone.

4. Set the “Bass” dial on your amp to approximately 50 percent. Too much bass will muddy your sound and reduce its clarity, but you need some bass to give your sound punch. If your amp has reverb, set this to approximately 30 percent for a subtle, ambient effect.

With Effects Pedals

1. 

   Modulation effects are unsuitable for most solo tones.

   Turn down the “Gain” on your amp to approximately 30 percent. If using a distortion pedal, you should go for a clean amp tone. Otherwise you’ll have too much distortion and the notes will lack clarity.

2. Turn off any modulation effects such as chorus, flanger and phaser. These are suitable for creating shimmering sound scapes, but the frequency modulation these effects create prevents your high notes from ringing out cleanly.

3. Set the “Drive” dial on your distortion pedal to around 70 percent.

4. Set the “Level” dial on the pedal to approximately 60 percent. Play a note and turn the pedal off and on. If the volume is quieter with the pedal on, increase the “Level” some more. Aim for a setting where there is a discernible, but not over-powering increase in volume when the pedal is engaged. This enables you to achieve a little boost for your solo.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your guitar volume dial on full to sustain maximum output.

• Use the bridge pickup for a raspy solo tone. Use the neck pickup for a smooth solo tone.

• When not playing a solo, keep your guitar volume around 80 percent. This gives you 20 percent extra for your solo.

References

• Gibson; How To Get Clapton’s Classic ‘Woman Tone; Ted Drozdowski; September 2009
• Guitar Tone Overload; Boosting the Volume of your Solos in Live Situations; April 2010
• Cool Discount Instruments: How To Get A Good Distortion Sound On Your Guitar Amp

Resources

• My Guitar Solo: Tone