How to Build a Blues Tone
The Line 6 Helix is a great tool, providing access to sounds that would cost thousands of dollars to get the old fashioned way...
When I first started playing guitar in the early 1980’s, my passion was hard rock. Bands like The Scorpions, UFO, Black Sabbath and others were my go to, and I learned a lot of their riffs and songs.
Yet, as I became more embedded into playing, I gained a huge appreciation for the blues. Many great songs and bands trace their roots to the phenomenon of the Delta Blues, music that was born of the hardscrabble life in the deep south, former slaves and their descendants built a foundation of rhythms, styles, and sounds.
When electricity found its way to the delta, and moved to Chicago, the proliferation of absolutely fantastic music exploded. T-Bone, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and many many more became icons in their own rights.
Today, I am talking about how to get that sound. The equipment was primitive, valve amps, simple single coil pickups, and the players used whatever made the sounds they wanted. Some played with their fingers, some with plectums, regardless, some of the best music was made.
Sure, to get that sound, I could buy a 60’s vintage Fender amp, and spin the dials. In fact a decade or two ago, I would have saved my pennies (or maxed my credit card) to buy one of those iconic amps.
But today, I have a Line 6 Helix, and a palette of sounds and amp models.
That is the clay that I have to work with, but what is a good classic blues tone?
There are several attributes. First is that it is a warm tube sound. Sure, you can approximate it with a decent solid state amp, but that 50’s vintage Chicago blues is the realm of Fender amps. Typically a 2 x 12” Twin Reverb or Deluxe is a good starting point.
But how to get that magic? Sure, for metal, you look for an amp that handles high gain, and crank that up to the max, but for the blues, you need a lot more nuance and subtlety.
To get that, you set the drive up until it just begins to clip, barely going into overdrive. Frankly, that is not trivial. Sure, pedals like the Boss Blues Driver is a good stab. But the authentic way is to just get a warm amp to the point of breaking up. That sound is MAGIC.
I haven’t achieved it yet, but the game is on to get a killer tone. Do I go the Fender model? Or do I balls it up with a Marshal Plexi? The exploration continues.