How to get the Jazz Tone From Your Amplifier

Video Transcript

"Hello! My name is Dustin, and I am going to talk about jazz amp settings. Most jazz guitar players use a clean or non-distorted amp tone. Sometimes you will hear a jazz player pushing amp to the point that it distorts, but most of the time you are hearing a clean amp sound. Here is a difference between a clean sound…and a distorted sound… We are striving for a sound close to that first sound you heard, and probably wondering okay, what settings do I use on my amp to achieve that jazz sound. And the truth is that each different guitar is going to require a slightly varied amp setting in order to get that jazz sound. So start with the tips I gave you earlier on getting a jazz tone out of your guitar, and then we will work our way to the amp. So once you have got your guitar setup, go ahead and set the EQ controls on your amp to the middle position, most amps have a 0-10 scales so we will set each of these EQ settings low, mid and treble to the 5 position. This is just a good starting point, and if you have a gain control on the channel that you are using, make sure you have that almost all the way down, so you do not get much of the crunch sound in there. So once you are set nice and flat, go ahead and play around with some jazz phrases, and try to adjust the setting as you go until you reach that point where it is nice and warm… I am cheating because I am using the jazzy guitar, so I already have some of that tone… I prefer a nice, dry jazz tone with no effects; some jazz players do like a little chorus or reverb, but it is just your personal preference for taste, so go ahead and experiment and find your own sound. Some amps to consider when shopping around, some of the most popular jazz amps are the Fender Twin, the Fender Delux Reverb, the Fender Vibrolux and the Roland Jazz Chorus, so you can make it easier on yourself, and maybe go in the direction of one of these amps and you will have an easier time. "