Ventura Lead Tone

I’m halfway through recording lead guitars for Ventura, and hoping to finish, or get close, this long weekend.

VLUU L100, M100  / Samsung L100, M100

The tone is:

  • Epi ES 345 bridge pickup into
  • Fulltone GT 500 boost/OD channel, flat EQ, drive dimed, volume/boost at 2 o’clock into
  • The old Hot Rod Deluxe clean channel, set for the magic sixes, no reverb, into
  • Sennheiser e609, 45 degrees off-axis, pointed at the center of the speaker cone (marked on the grille in duct tape), probably 3-4 inches from the cone center

I’m using the distortion channel of the GT 500 for a bass boost in a couple spots, and I’m using the Apocalypse pictured for one riff in “…Flyover Country.”  The TimeFactor might find use as an auto-wah for bits of “Market Stress.”

Since the 345 runs in stereo, I’m taking the neck pickup’s output and recording it directly into ProTools via an ART preamp, and will re-amp it later through the same pedals and amp settings, except with the reverb up high.  I’ll mix that in, and am going to experiment with pre-delaying that wet signal a bit; might be kind of interesting with the tone of the amp’s own reverb, but the clarity of a little pre-delay.

I’m not sure if this tone will work for “E Harbor Blvd,” so I may try something different – a bit more distorted – there.