heya guys, any tips on how to nail John Mayer's tone and Frusciante's tone, without getting a siggy guitar?

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If I Like It...
I Just Do It...

Mayer plays through a Two Rocks and a Dumble, two very expensive amps. As what he has on the floor I could not tell you as I am not a big fan but both guys play rather clean. If you do not get a quick response go to the Mike Eldred room and post this question on the Black One post and it will get answered right away.

Well, a lot of folks have said this in various parts of these forums but "gear" is never really the answer. If you go out and buy an Eric Clapton signature series you're -NOT- going to sound like Clapton if you can't play like Clapton. On the other hand, if you do play like Clapton, then you can get that sound out of most decent Strats so you still don't need a Clapton sig series. In fact someone recently commented on this in another thread where folks were going on about David Gilmour and his Strats and posted a link where Gilmour plays "Comfortably Numb" and does the lead on a Gretsch. Ya know what? He -still- sounded like David Gilmour.

Now I don't know what kind of gear Mayer uses...I'm not really that big a fan but very simply the key to sounding like "so and so", is to simply learn how to play like them. In the case of Mayer, even though as he uses those expensive amps as straycat mentioned, you really think he'd sound all that different if he were using a Twin or something else? No...of course not. He's still going to sound like John Mayer because he -is- John Mayer.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear but I hope it helps,
Jim

thanks for the advice... well I'm hoping to nail that Frusciante's sweet overdrive lead sound which I couldn't really figure out.. well most of Mayer's overdrive are with more bass and less mids...

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If I Like It...
I Just Do It...

Thanks for that BigJay.
I always roll my eyes when people jump in and answer that it's pointless to buy this or that gear because it's all in your fingers. That’s like telling a Nascar driver it's all in your foot.
There IS overlap between technique and tone, but at the same time they are different. My Les Paul has a different Tone than my Strat but the player stays the same. The tone of the guitar (and the feel) affects the technique as well. The same goes for other gear.
I have seen great players with crappy tone although it usually takes a half decent player to get good tone out of anything.

Hello eddie_bowers!

I believe Bareknuckles Mothers Milk pups were based on Frusciante's so you might want to take a peek at those.

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/ZS-mothersmilk.html

Hope this helps

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Here's my take:

A player's gear has impact on their tone. You need gear that can get you in the ballpark. Not gonna sound like Kerry King on a Ric 12 through straight to a Fender Champ.

But replicating gear really is only going to get you part way to where you want to go. Then you need to emulate technique. I both agree with Jay and Jim. It's not an absolute.

But in almost all of these threads, including this one (not trying to step on the OP's toes here, but...) The questions are too broad. John Mayer's tone? Well that's too big an order, he uses a lot of different gear, in a broad context Jim is the one that's right, you ain't gonna sound like him unless you play like him. But if the OP were to narrow it down, like "John gets this certain overdrive sound that he uses from time to time, especially in 'insert song here...' " Well then that is an aspect of his tone we may be able to nail down with gear, and then Jay is right (although you still need to emulate his technique to get the exact same sound,) but the gear will give you some or most of that flavor.

Going back to the SRV clones, I have never tried to get his exact sound, but I do like to incorporate certain sounds from time to time. I have a tubescreamer for when i want that aspect.(I was lucky, i got one way way back for nothing, before i knew SRV's stuff, and had i around.)

So really i think people asking the question kinda need to ask more specific questions.

Hehe and jay i think those clips actually illustrate both points.

Though the 2 gibson clips sound more alike than the Clapton Strat/Freddy
comparison. I see the same kind of symmetry between the 2 Clapton clips. Clapton still sounds overwhelmingly 'Clapton' in both clips. Clapton sounds a bit more 'Freddy' in the clip with the gibby. Does that make sense to anyone but me?

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Yeah jay, I think we're on the same page, and I would guess Jim is too, I think he=is main point is that chicken soup is made from chicken, it's by far the most important part of the soup. use the same vegetables and technique, but substitute earthworms, and you have a whole other mess.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Over the years I have learned that you can study a player's style and try to copy his gear to some point and you can get close...sometimes.
The biggest problem is guys hear a tone they love and it could be on a live performance,then unless your room accoustics are the same it will still be off...think Allman Bro. @ the Fillmore...you know vintage Les Pauls & Marshalls at high vol.
I've seen many try to duplicate that tone.It was a different time and space than most of us will ever play in.
or...I saw where a guy got on the Eric Johnson forum and said "on Cliffs of Dover at 2:10 you switch over to ?...I can't get that sound"
Mnay pros have expensive gear that the average working stiff can't pay for and lots of it.
The main thing is try to understand it's very hard to always buy a piece of gear to nail a tone you admire.The gear helps once you have the chops,but hopefully you will have your own tone.

We were recently referred to a link where Clapton was playing a '56 RI, passive pickups. I listened for 30 seconds and the first thing that came to mind was....it's gotta be the amp. We've never been privy to how Clapton's '57 Twins are EQ'd. Another factor which came to mind are the strings. New strings always sound better and, to my knowledge, Dickson changes the strings constantly. Though Clapton's attack, and vibrato style certainly are characteristically personal, how technology translates that to what our ears perceive is also part of the equation. That Fender amp and those new Signature Series guitarscannot be written off as inconsequential. His tone over the past forty years has evolved significantly and his gear changes cannot be ruled out. The old Blackie was a significantly different breed of cat in terms of the way it sounded. There are some, to this day, who prefer it.
Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

i think Doc is right. on this forum I have often asked people if they have looked at their amplification before swapping out pickups and such. Amplification is a HUGE part of the tone chain that people over look.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.