I’m going to disagree with the OP.

I set my Guitars up with the lowest action I can, might include a bit of fret buz down near the nut.

That’s just how I like it.

I’ve an Alhambra Spanish guitar and a Steel strung Terry Peck, both set up as low as possible.

The best tuning for me though is a dropped E to D.

Inbred456 – Member
Slight thread hi-jack. For sustain has anybody tried the Ibanez Tube Screamer? I have acquired a 5w tube amp that has a great tone but is bloody loud when it’s over driven. Looking to get a decent over driven sound with a sensible volume level.

POSTED 9 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

What sort of amp do you have?

If the amp doesn’t have a decent volume circuit, but does have an eq loop, I’d put an eq pedal in the loop and use that to both eq the amp and reduce volume. That’d be my first purchase rather than an OD or compressor to do what I think you’re after.

Or I’d flog the amp and get one that sounds great at low volumes 🙂

Back on topic – action’s subjective, I like mine low. i also prefer compound radius fret boards as well 😉

bikebouy – Member
I’m going to disagree with the OP.

Life would be rubbish if we all agreed! 😉

But low action is a myth that’s propagated from the concept of telling beginners it’s easier to play, then people end up stuck with it. There’s a wealth of goodness in raising the strings as much as you can handle.

Guess my main point here is the goal shouldn’t be to get the action as low as you can, but when setting up, keep it as high as you can, while still retaining comfort!

Anyhow, like everyone knows, it’s all personal choice, and I’ve put my point across now, so my work here is done! 🙂

i also prefer compound radius fret boards as well

can’t say I’ve ever tried one, what’s the benefit?
fair comment on the amp btw. a host of pedals is unlikly to improve a poor amp (at low volumes.)

Higher action – generally more sustain, but poorer intonation if you too far

Lower action – better playability and intonation, but poorer sustain.

But as others have said, play what feels right to you. There is no right or wrong, just what feels right. Personally I prefer verging on low action, but not metal low, as I use a compressor for clean or am mainly on a bit of distortion so won’t chase sustain for something I don’t like playing.

As far as the second question on increasing sustain with a tubescreamer. Well you have to try things, and see what works with your amp and guitar is the most obvious answer.

Gary Moore got the sustain through driving at the front end of a tube amp hard with the tube screamer, but also the verb and delay was pretty essential to his sound.

If you want sustain on a clean tone, you need a compressor, if you want sustain with a dirty sound you need to be pushing either the tubes or pedal into overdrive, which itself is compression (noise floor raised, quite sounds brought up, high volumes notes brought down to a ceiling). Sustain is achieved through compression – overdrives and compressors both give you compression, it’s just the sound they deliver to achieve this.

To achieve this at a low volume you need either a master volume as already said; raise the gina stage in the preamp and control master volume to get your low volume. If you don’t have a master volume you either need to drive the front end with a boosted signal (something like EP booster), or move the compression down the line with a compressor (CS-3 etc) for clean or an overdrive (TS-808) to compress with clipping and pass that to the amp. You can use a compressor to raise the level and drive the front end, but it’s an unusual way to drive the front end.

Personally for home use I stack pedals and split into a different amps to get the mix I like, a change the order depending on the sound I want, gain stacking can be a beautiful thing if you have the patience, but you’ll end up harvesting pedals to try combos searching for the elusive tone, which if we are being honest most audiences won’t notice once the basic sound is right, but it matters to you when you’re playing 🙂

Specifically on the Tubescreamer, it again depends on the amp. The TS and it’s clones have a distinct mid hump (thats it’s sound signature), works great on a vintage Fender style amps, as they don’t have a mid hump. Put it on a marshall which has a mid hump, you get a very middly sound.

Personally I don’t like the mid hump of a TS most of the time, but I prefer less of a middly sound and less in your face. TS into something like a Blues Junior sounds great and pushes the mids where you don’t have it. So it all depends on your amp.

After all that I would say:

if you have a master vol amp – push the gain stage and control volume with the master

if you don’t and it has a mid hump (think marshall), for clean use a compressor (dyna comp or CS-3 etc), for driven use a klone clone for a transparent drive

If you don have master volume and you don’t have a middly amp (vintage Fender etc), then compressor for clean as above. Or for dirty a TS or clone.

Either way without master volume it’s an amp designed to be driven hard to get the tone, which requires volume. For home practice you do really need a master volume amp or a switchable master stage to run it at a lower volume.

The quest for tone is never ending…

Alternatively just use a modelling amp. With a bit of patience you can imitate a vast range of amps and pedals. We’ve had experienced blues players (with rigs costing several thousands) poking around junior’s Fender Mustang V head and cab loaded with Vintage 30s, and complimenting him on his sound.

seosamh77 – Member
i also prefer compound radius fret boards as well

can’t say I’ve ever tried one, what’s the benefit?
fair comment on the amp btw. a host of pedals is unlikly to improve a poor amp (at low volumes.)
POSTED 6 HOURS AGO #

There are a few but like most things its about what you prefer the feel of.

Being able to run a lower action without worrying (as much) about fretting out on bends.

I’m not going to write a lot on it. I like compound raise boards but then I play rock/metal and don’t really play my acoustic much at all. Here’s a decent looking write up – http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Neck_Building_and_Repair_and_Setup/Compound_Radius_Explained.html (if its crap, I haven’t read it)

I don’t like a high action and I don’t like scalloped frets either but that doesn’t make either of them any better or worse than a low action. It’s how it feels to you.

Have you considered getting a setup done by a good tech? A good tech won’t let you leave till you’re delighted with what they’ve done. It’d give you a good idea what to aim for next time.

CaptainSlow – Member
Have you considered getting a setup done by a good tech? A good tech won’t let you leave till you’re delighted with what they’ve done. It’d give you a good idea what to aim for next time.

Only thing I wouldn’t do(at this moment) are the fret leveling/adjusting the nut(mind you I’ve got an old battered 1992 korean squire strat I could practice on with that). The rest I can do and have experimented more than enough, that I know how it feels to me, so I don’t really need anyone else to set up.

The fret levelling only becomes crucial with low action, and I’ve raised the strings up far enough and have enough relief, by choice, that the fret levelling is fairly irrelevant.

The nut, I’d really only adjust that if I was having problems in the open position which i’m not.

Basically, nah, setting up a guitar isn’t difficult, I don’t really need someone to tell me things I can do myself, and I highly doubt I’d be happy, even with the greatest setup at low action. Plus i’m the same with fixing bikes, I’d much rather teach myself.

Whilst we’re on about guitars, I’m looking for a small pre loaded effects (rather sounds, like clean strat/tele and such) I used to admire Line6 Pods, are these still worth it or is there something else?
I’d only use it for home and headphones, nothing more..

My nut files cost 80e IIRC, use them twice and they pay for themselves. Not needed on my Mexican Strat though, the frets didn’t need touching either. IME it’s the pick ups and electrics that are poor on the MIMs. The bridge pick up is aggressive and the wiring bizarre – no tone control in the bridge only position. I’ll only do anything about it if I play it anywhere other than at home.

Aye I don’t see any major problems with the leveling or the nut anyhow, so i’m happy with them.

aye the pickups in the mim aren’t the best I don’t think, for clean tones they are fine, mild distortion/od they are ok, but there’s a certain level you go beyond and they just don’t play nice imo (though in saying that, I do find rolling the tone back solves the problems to a point). I think I will swap them out at some point in the future. I’m not too crazy about too much OD/distortion though, so they are fine for my purposes.

tbh I’m torn between swapping them out, or just buying a les paul style guitar with good humbuckers for overdriven stuff and keepind the mim as is for cleaner stuff..

furry muff seosamh, t’was just a thought.

Bikebouy – depends which pod you’re after. I’ve had both the HD300 and HD500. Both sound good if you’re willing to put the time into tweaking them and have a decent means of listening to it.

Line 6 released their next gen unit the Helix recently and it is a massive step up. If you’re after line 6 kit I’d look at that if budget allows or the fire hawk (I think thats what its called).

If you’ve got helix cash though there are other options… 😉