Your mission, should you choose to accept: Help me to develop an individual sound that contains elements of Santana's, Mike Oldfield's, and/or David Gilmour's guitar sound--smooth, with lots of sustain, and free of the snarly bits and amp 'roar'. (I can get those fine when I want them.) I've done a certain amount of research, but apart from the fact that many players consider their configuration to be a trade secret, there is a lot of dated, conflicting, and just plain wrong information.

I know that Santana uses a dual-humbucker guitar and am pretty sure that MO does, too. Nevertheless, I'd like to base my sound around that of a Strat. I typically use the center and neck pickups with tone wide open for clean sounds, and highs rolled off considerably for distorted sounds. I am currently experimenting with a center single-coil and bridge HB sound. I really want some of the single-coil sound to come through.

What I have to work with: Don't bother suggesting additional gear; there is no budget for anything beyond what I have now:
  • an Ibanez Roadstar II Strat copy with three single-coil pickups and Roland GK-3 divided ("MIDI") pickup;
  • Roland VG-88 "V-Guitar" instrument/amp/effects emulator;
  • Behringer GX-112 "Blue Devil" amp with 24-bit FX (but only three amp models, uneffected except for reverb and distortion). This amp has an effects loop;
  • assorted outboard gear, including various stomp boxes, a two-channel compressor and 24-bit multieffects box.

I have set up the Ibanez myself. It plays well and yields a pretty good Strat sound. It has a five-way pickup selector and phase switch, which makes for a credible Tele sound as well.

Virtual capabilities: The VG-88 emulates major guitar types and popular pickup combinations, major amp makes and models, and has a built-in virtual stereo effects chain. I have access to any control that exists on the real-world amps, plus a preamp "low-normal-high" switch. There is no loop for external effects. I can put the virtual effects in any order, but only have one of each. I can assign speaker type and configuration, and mic placement (on/off center and distance, from 1 cm to several meters). I can process the emulated guitar and the Ibanez output separately.

Should you be caught or captured, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your existence. This message will self destruct in 10 seconds.

R.

Last edited by Ryszard; 05/14/09 09:35 AM.