Key to Cantrell's tone? (Besides his amps & fingers)

  • Thread starter Thread starter D-Rock
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I met Jerry when AIC was just starting. I have been standing next to him well playing on several amps in the late eighties and around 95. Jerry sounds like Jerry no matter what amp he uses. In the mid 90's he was using Greenbacks and Vintage 30's. He had several stacks that were Vintage 30 cabs on the bottom and Greenback cabs on top. I have no idea what he is using now.
 
His new Motor City signature pickup in a maple bodied guitar is a good start. And a Bogner Fish.
 
greenbacks certainly help to get that thick single note thing

but the real key is MIDRANGE
tons of mids
middy guitars, middy pickups, middy amps, middy speakers, middy mic'ing
 
Honestly, his tone on the latest AIC album is one of the best recorded rock guitar tones I've heard in years.
I recently got a GB loaded 4x12 and I hear that similar midrange freq that blends so well with the lows and highs. The GB breakup is just so sweet and contributes so much to the gain. I also like that they allow you to not use that much gain, but still offer an aggressive and articulate sound.
Just a thought,
 
I have an old Dual Recto running into a pair of Orange 4x12s. G12Ms in the top cab and V30s in the bottom. Start grooving some AiC tunes and the basic tone is there.
 
I had always heard/read that his early tone was JCM800's, his bogner modded 2203's, tubescreamer OD pedal and a Seymour Duncan JB pickup.

His early tone was alot more crunchy than the tone he got with the Fish preamp IMO. Bogners are just smooth amps to my ears with alot of liqiud sustain which have their place too.

I remember seeing them on David Letterman in the early 90's and his tone was massive, you could tell the whole band was very loud in Lettermans studio but the guitar tone sounded great.
 
Jerry's tone:

Stuck to his basic roots. His style has remain unchanged - raw, Marshall mids/highs, Bogner bottom, he's not a fret-wanker, no frills, balanced rhythm, enough crunch, great fills. He has not been afraid to experiment, has always mixed and layered his amps. Not too much FX or whammy bar and plays with a heavy hand.

Punk Rock Dave......is a good one to have on the backline too.


Steve
 
His tone has a lot to do with layering, IMO. Using muliple amps to thicken his sound. Always using amps. I think he runs one amp for his lows (Fish?) and an Marshall style amp for his mids/highs. I do find that an abundance of mids is an important part to it tone, which is a common thing from the Marshalls. What kind of poweramp/tubes does hel run for the Fish back in the day? AFAIK it's not in his live rig anymore. Bogner Alchemist, his modded Friedmen Marshall. I think he got ri of the Alchemist in favoro of two Freidman
Marshalls IIRC. One with the HBE and one with the JBE. Dave Friedmen sent me a picture of his current rack, I can post it if people would like. He's been sharing it, so I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem with it. I
 
I apolsgize for the typos, Rig-Talk and iPhone 4 don't mix for some reason. Never had a problem with my 3 or 3G. Something to do with iOS 4 Firmware.

I'd love to have a mobile RT site. Maybe even an app. Perhaps I'll PM Brad.
 
Any real JC follower knows that the true key to his tone is all in those long blonde locks...
Amps, guitars, picks, pick-ups... Speakers!! Get real :lol: :LOL:
 
stephen sawall":89dzqzx9 said:
I met Jerry when AIC was just starting. I have been standing next to him well playing on several amps in the late eighties and around 95. Jerry sounds like Jerry no matter what amp he uses.
Click to expand...

Don't say that, there's a whole mini-industry that has sprung up around him catering to his tone chaser fans. :lol: :LOL:
 
I think one of the key factors that gets overlooked in a player's tone is how the player dials in the amps and blends them in a recording. Jerry can take a modded Marshall and a Dual Rectifier, dial them in and hit record and the results will sound like Jerry just as much as if he used his Uberschall and Bogner Fish.

Listen to these two clips. Obviously not Jerry, but same player using two totally different amps.



Small differences in tone, but the same identifiable sound in the mix.

Any player can dial in any amp to sound totally different, or if desired, almost the same as another amp. If Jerry C wanted to completely change his tone on the next album he easily could. It's just that he, like every other guitarist has a certain tone they gravitate toward when recording and playing live, and it's not difficult to achieve 95% of that sound with almost any high gain amp.

I still stand by the idea that tone is mostly in the gear, and technique/skill are in the hands. It's just that with a little tweaking, and eq'ing in a studio setting you can get most gainy amps to sound very similar in a mix.
 
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