Help! How do I get this tone?

[menvafaan]

I've been listening to the new Joan Armatrading-album lately, and I just LOVE her guitar tone, and would kill for that tone myself!

Here's an example: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whis9a7OAig"]YouTube - Joan Armatrading - Woman In Love[/ame]

She uses a strat in the video, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a strat on the recording. What gear do you think she uses to get that tone? What type of guitar? What pickup? Rosewood or maple? Ash or Alder? What amp?

And what EBMM-guitar and kind of amp would you use to recreate that tone?

I have't played that many different kind of guitars to really tell the difference by ear. All I know is that my AL MM90 sound a bit too bright and poppy for that kind of bluesey sound.

 

[azazael]

What u do is...
clean thin sound using a single coil on neck with almost any amp.
Record it... then rape it with some really low bitrate mp3 compression to make it sound like it is underwater...

 

[GWDavis28]

I'd say go to her website Joan Armatrading - Contact Us
and contact her, just ask her man. Never know what you'll get and it can't hurt.

As far as EBMM's go, a AL (MM90's or SSS) or Silo special (SSS) would cover that song nicely.

Glenn |B)

 

[hbucker]

It almost sounds like there's some kind of gate on it too. The pick attack isn't there but there is a really fast swell immediately thereafter.

 

[ScoobySteve]

Now I have to get either a Silo Spec SSS hardtail or an AL.

I love single coil tones.

 

[ScoobySteve]

Pardon the noobish question, but how does the Silo Spec SSS differ from the AL SSS tonally?

 

[whitestrat]

She uses a strat in the video, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a strat on the recording. What gear do you think she uses to get that tone? What type of guitar? What pickup? Rosewood or maple? Ash or Alder? What amp?

And what EBMM-guitar and kind of amp would you use to recreate that tone?

This was before watching, and just listening:
This honestly sounds to me like a single coil, but possibly at position 5 (neck). OR, it could be a bridge pickup with the tone knob rolled off slightly. Sounds more like a 6L6, though I could be wrong. So a Twin Reverb would be fine.

So, I'd say a Silo Spec. Mostly maple. Also, it sounds like an amp with a gain knob on the clean channel, and the gain is at least at 12"o clock.

Then again, I get this kind of tone on my Silo Spec rosewood with a Laney VC15 on the neck pickup. Channel settings would be on drive channel with minimal gain, just enough to beef up the tone, but not enough to crunch.

edit: after watching the video, and listening more carefully, it looks and sounds like the neck position, but it's missing that hollowness. My guess is that it could be the mid boost circuit on the Clapton Strat. or the amp is really a 6L6...

 

[whitestrat]

Pardon the noobish question, but how does the Silo Spec SSS differ from the AL SSS tonally?

The AL, being Ash, has more higher mid freq to the tone. It's a bit more "in-your-face", and personally, a tad too agressive. It's also brighter than I'd like, and I personally like bright guitars...

The Silo Spec seems more tame, being Alder, and more malleable. It's got more low mid freq. My fav...

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

To get Joan's tone, you really need her hands. But what has been suggested may get you close...

 

[Volt]

Sounds to me like the neck pickup, and like there is a microphone being used - rather than direct input to the recorder. The placement of it sounds like it is either off to the side, or behind the speaker(s), but I am leaning towards off to the side of the speaker(s).
I do not think there are any effects being used. If there are, they are not obvious.