How do I get "THE" jazz sound ?

by Brian
(Wisconsin)

I just got a Ibanez AF75D hoping to finally find that jazz sound. I plugged the AF up to my Peavey Windsor Studio expecting a miracle I guess but all I got was a pretty standard guitar sound.

I am guessing that my settings need to be tweaked but have no idea where to start and am tired of chasing my tail. Please help!!!!!!

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Hello Brian,

I'm sorry to hear your deception with a newly acquired instrument... that happens sometimes. Here's food for thoughts.

Tone is in the Fingers

Most of the time, it's not the "guitar's fault". It's because you're not used to the instrument reacting in this fashion to the way you play. With patience and some work, I'm sure you can come to love your AF75D plugged in the Peavey tube amp.

Tone comes from the fingers : you play and therefore create the music that comes out. The guitar, amp and effects are merely "channeling" your musical ideas. Set the amp, stop worrying and see if you can make your musical voice shine through the rig. And eventually you'll realize that...

...the "jazz sound" comes from you!

Gear in History

There are great historical examples of famous musicians playing and recording on badly "out of shape" instruments... still sounding amazing like they always do.

There's Charlie Parker concert (recorded in Toronto) where he played a PLASTIC saxophone; no kidding. He sounded as good, if not better than when he was using a high grade European sax.

In short, if the music is great then the gear used doesn't really matter. Give Wes Montgomery a toothbrush and he'll make music out of it...

Try this...

That's how I proceed when playing with instruments I'm not 100% satisfied with :


1 - Set the guitar and amp to reasonable settings. Make it as "flat" as possible EQ wise with no or little effects.

2 - Play for a while. Try to forget about your newly acquired rig. Don't tweak, play. Play more; 5-10-15 minutes. Let go and let your ears bathe in the sound. Don't touch the knobs!

3 - When you've identified (by ear) what you'd like to change in the sound, tweak. Go for minimal adjustments on ONE setting at a time. Often too much bass is the problem.

Repeat step 2-3 and make sure you move the knobs "little by little" and that you play and listen a whole lot to what you're playing.

You may end up liking one setting more than you would have expected. Sometimes, one tweaking will even make you play differently. For example, if I put more gain, I tend to pick lighter. Also, if there's too much bass, I tend to pick near the bridge most of the time, it's "twangier". (and so on...)



Final note : it's not because a guitar "looks and smells" like that jazz that it will sound that way to you. I know a lot of great local jazz guitarists playing telecasters and others solid bodied guitars.

I hope this helps,
Marc-A Seguin


PS

I tried this Ibanez AF75D, it looks and sounds good. Not really my thing but still a good instrument.

The thing you have to remember here is : it's still a guitar that costs a lot less than 500$. With many "jazz guitars" models on the market ranging from a hundred the many thousands bucks, you get what you pay for.