Amp settings for Sunshine of your love

[rachelcoles]

Hi All,

Please bare with me.
I’ve only been playing guitar for a month on Grade 1 module 4, so early days…

I’ll like to learn to play Sunshine of my love - Eric Clapton (https://www.justinguitar.com/songs/eric-clapton-cream-sunshine-of-your-love-chords-tabs-guitar-lesson-sb-306)
I know it’s way hard for my level but I’d like to try…good way to progress.

I use a PRS McCarty 594 with a Mighty Plug MP2 amp and headphones.

I dont know anything about amp settings so can someone maybe give me an idea what sort of settings i need to get a relativity close sound to the original…

Thank you

PS: Going forward, how is the best way to learn about amp settings so I can look into this more

[sequences]

Hi @rachelcoles

First, the standard warning - it is really hard to offer settings because so many things are different between your setup and the original. You will generally find folks won’t even respond with useful info.

Ok, since i don’t like the above response, here’s something to get you started.

You are pretty early in your learning, so don’t get tied up in making yourself sound too close to the original. If you set a goal to make sure the song is clearly recognized, that should be a great starting point for you.

As I listen to Justin’s lesson there, it sounds like he has a bit of distortion, the bass is a little quiet and the mid and treble are about the same. I strongly recommend that you mostly balance out the bass, mid, and treble to get the general tone in the right place and consider that a success.

What I tried: high-gain plexi channel with gain about 4, bass about 2, mid about 4, and treble about 5. I tried some other amp models as well, and could dial in something pleasing. I am choosing plexi here since your amp probably has that model. Use the bridge pickup on the McCarty, guitar gain way up, and tone towards treble - maybe max, then adjust as you think it needs.

On the Cream original, I think I remember more distortion than Justin’s. You are likely to find that hard to control - the string noise will come right through with gain higher, so turn the distortion (gain) down so you can enjoy playing the song. Expect controlling noise to be difficult for you at this point!

I think Clapton was using an SG back then, and the SG will be very chimey sounding compared to your McCarty, so this is why I think the guitar tone will need to be far toward treble. Might just be my hearing is bad too, and I am going by memory.

Again, don’t try to get the sound exact - you probably won’t for a lot of reasons (recording is mixed, SG is lots different than McCarty, amp is different…). Timing of that riff will go a long way to making it sound right, even if the tone is not all that close.

[RobDickinson]

Yeah he used an SG ( humbucker) and marshal half stack (1966 Marshall JTM45/100 head and a single Marshall 1960B cab)

Neck pickup, bol 10, tone dialed down to 1
So you want a 60s marshal setup like this

[jkahn]

You need some overdrive, not distortion, neck pickup, and a smidge of delay to get a double tracked effect.

But the real sauce is in using staccato when you play it, otherwise it still won’t sound quite right.

[jjw]

@RobDickinson

Neck pickup, vol 10, tone dialed down to 1

I’m far from an expert on tone, but I have read some stuff about this song (and I fool around with it myself at times). I think what Rob said above is generally what you are going for. Not the amps, per se (you can use a modeling amp and (possibly) an overdrive pedal), but the high-ish overdrive and low tone settings on the neck (humbucker) pickup.

[RobDickinson]

Pretty sure the mp2 should have a plexi / marshal /‘British’ amp sim that should work OK

[rachelcoles]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for all the information, so much it take in and try and learn…

I’ve set my amp to what @sequences (Michael) suggested and saved it as a pre-set. I’m going to give it a go and play around with the bridge pickup and bass/treble controls on the PRS.

So much for just plugging in and playing - At this rate I’d need a degree just to learn all the settings of the amp and the guitar LOL
It does make you appreciate how much effort artists go to, to create that perfect sound.
Suppose it’s years of trial and error…

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

@rachelcoles

So much for just plugging in and playing

Plenty of tone to come my friend ! Enjoy.

[stitch]

@rachelcoles

It does make you appreciate how much effort artists go to, to create that perfect sound.

Most artist don’t give it a second thought, They know their equipment very well and it’s easy to come up with a sound you like. The hard thing is to replicate it on different equipment.

[sequences]

I have more of TheMadman’s rabbit holes than firm ground around my guitar chair. I love to fiddle, so I have selected gear to accommodate that.

If you fiddle around, you will get to know your amp, and eventually be able to dial in something close to what you hear. It does take time and training your ear. Don’t be too concerned that it feels like a lot now - it will get familiar to you as you spend time with your stuff. I had just simply holding my guitar feel awkward for a good half year!

I see your amp has Deluxe Reverb, Twin Reverb, and Brit 800. Those are good choices to start with.
Mighty Plug - NUX

have fun!

[rachelcoles]

I selected the Brit 800 as the amp and started messing around with the different settings and controls. It definitely is a maze but I think it will be fun to tinker and see what sounds come alive and as you say, what suits my ear. I know I’m still in the real beginner stages but I like to try everything so when I get better it, the all round basics will be there to help me progress quicker…hopefully

[RobDickinson]

brit 8000 is a jcm marshal or something should be right in the ballpark

[Matt125]

The amp models on the MP2 are:

Electric Clean
Jazz Clean__________Roland JC20
Deluxe Rvb_________Fender Deluxe Reverb
Twin Rvb___________Fender Twin Reverb

Electric Overdriven
Class A30___________Vox AC30
Brit 800_____________Marshall JCM 80
1987x50____________Marshall Plexi
Fireman HBE_______Friedman BE 50
Dual Rect___________Mesa Boogie
Die VH4_____________Diezel VH4

Electric Bass
AGL_________________Aguilar Tone Hammer 350
Starlift______________Starlifter Pre-Amp
MLD________________NUX Melvin Lee Davis

Acoustic
Stageman NUX Stageman Acoustic

Leave our tone control at 10. Your guitar tone control is basically a simple EQ. If you have it set 10 then it is not doing anything. It is allowing all the guitar frequencies through to the amp. Your guitar will sound “bright” because all the high frequencies can be heard. As you roll the tone knob down you start to cut out the high frequencies so your tone will sound “darker.” You can use the EQ on your amp instead and then fine tune with the guitar tone knob. I just leave my tone knobs at 10.

Set the level of overdrive/distortion. There are a few ways to do this.

1. Select clean amp and place an overdive/distrtion pedal in front of it.
2. Select an overdriven style amp and play with the gain knob. Increased gain will give you increase distortion and volume. Adjust the volume with the level/volume slider.
3. Select an overdriven amp and throw an overdrive distortion pedal in front for even more distortion and tone shaping.

Here is my version. Keep in mind that I am using the single coil bridge pickup on a strat and I am playing at home with a low volume. Your humbuckers will sound different. The will probably give more overdriven/distorted sound. You might have to reduce the gain on your amp or pedal until you find something you like.

1987x50 amp (Marshall Plexi)
EFX Block: Morning Drive (Marshall Bluesbreaker clone) for a little more overdrive/distortion. You could also use the T Screamer (Tube Screamer clone) or Red Dirt (Keeley Red Dirt Overdrive clone) as these are also overdrive/distortion pedals.
Delay Block: A smidgeof delay as per Jkahn’s advice. This made a real difference. Disable/enable it to hear the effect. It’s subtle but noticeable. You should be able to use this QR code. Download and install the Mightier Amp app as it allows you to store many more presets.

[Matt125]

Here is a youtube video to help you understand whats going on with distortion.

Fuzz vs Overdrive vs Distortion Explained

[rachelcoles]

Hi @Matt125

Thank you so much for the excellent explanation and the QR with the preset. I’ll give it a go over the next few days and see how it sounds. As I’m in the process of learning the riff, it might take me a while to get the full benefits in the beginning but hopefully as I progress I’ll hear it all come together.

The amp models is definitely a big plus, it helps me understand the different amp sounds per model and therefore gives me scope to play and mess around with them to achieve my unique sound or sounds similar to songs I’m learning.

Thank you again all, for all the help and advice.

[Peterctid]

Good luck ,Rachel,both with learning and tone quest. Im a fan of Clapton and Cream. All the above advice is excellent.

Claptons tone has been endlessly discussed on British guitar sites. I have a SG and turning the neck pickup tone down can get you into the ball park,but remember that his pickups were quite low output-about 8k. There is also huge argument about what effect both his extreme volume and the mixing desk engineers had.

So enjoy the journey but be aware there are plenty of unquantifiable variables.