WEEZER TONE! any suggestions for getting that classic rich full weezer tone?

I REALLY want to get a tone similar to the WEEZER tone. they have an amazingly lush full nice to the ear distortion (it's often used in the chorus too). i'm talking largely about their original breakout album, but a great distortion tone that's not 'metal' but just warm and sweet is a trademark of theirs! would love some hints if anyone has them!

to hear this tone go to youtube and look for these songs by WEEZER:
buddy holly
sweater song (during chorus)
perfect situation (during chorus)
Pork and Beans (during chorus)

 

I'd say single coils with the Plexi, and a screamer might get you close. There seem to be alot of guitars stacked on top of another on this album. (One of my top albums personally!)

I think the most important element are single coils however. Because while the rhythm guitar is really big, it's quite clear and defined.

 

huh... single coils? that's something i've never thought of actually. all my guitars have humbuckers... i need to look into getting a single coil guitar, distortion with clarity hmmmm. anyone else agree with twhat JayT said about that?

 

I guess it would depend on the guitar, but I don't think single coils are absolutely neccessary, my SG will get those types of tones fairly easy as I'm sure others would as well. It will take different settings than single coil but definitley doable IMO.

Dan

 

I've been playing an SG fairly exclusively these days. But I still reach for a Strat single coil sound when it's necessary. I don't think it's a must for the weezer tones, but it's certainly an idea?

 

cool! i'll check it out. ironically enough... i have an SG with a single coil tap switch for the pickup and it sounds really good! i'll try it out and side by side them. What you've said does give me the idea that i do need to look into having a single coil fender style guitar for recording though.

 

Agreed having more than one type of guitar is always good. I have a Variax now so that covers most of my needs including single coil. For recording I think the most important thing is to back off on the distortion to gain the clairty along with keeping some of the mid's in regardless of the guitar used.

 

ya know... i've been hearing that from a few people who seem to know their stuff. i've always been able to get a surprisingly good sound on most instruments but good home studio guitar tone has partly eluded me! i'm getting closer these days. i'm curious to see how Guitar Rig will play into it. i haven't recorded with it yet. i suspect i'll blend my real tube amps and it, like 50/50. but guitar rig allows me to sit up and just lay down guitar tracks all night! no bother to anyone! Hallelujah!

thanks for your input. i'm all ears!

 

dke,
How do you like the Variax? I've been putting off a purchase of one for way too long. I love the fact that there's no pickups. No buzzing, no hissing. etc.

 

Overall I like it quite a bit, very versatile guitar. It is a very quiet guitar as far as hum & hiss, though GR's high gain presets are still pretty noisey, noisier in fact than when played thru a real amp or my Boss GT6, but were talking very high gain. Most reasonable gain settings are really quiet though which is great when you're recording. I rarely touch my SG anymore. Just make sure you buy it from a store with a good return/exchange policy especially if you plan on buying a 600 as build quality vary's greatly.

Dan