Went for lunch at a cafe where a jazz trio were playing. They were great: bass, baritone sax and guitar, the sax player in particular was fantastic.
The frustrating thing for me was the guitarist's tone. Why do all jazzers - that play standards at least - do so with that horrible, midrange, treble-free tone? With no keyboard, it would have been a great opportunity for a more piano-like tone with punchy bass and clear trebles, but it was not to be.
Boring jazz guitar tone is up there with folk vocalists' nasal whine for pet annoyances for me. Isn't it time for someone to reinvent jazz guitar tone?
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Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Football is rubbish.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Football is rubbish.
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I do sympathise with the op though - a lot of folk I've seen jazzing it up here have a sound that's super clean, but muffled bar midrange because they've turned the tone control right down on the guitar neck pickup. It's almost fatiguing to hear.
I frequently had my ES-175 set-up with rosewood bridge and flat wound strings. You could make it muddy but equally it could be smooth and nice and bright, just leave the tone controls on 10 and use the amp controls!
With some "jazzers" muddy tone may simply be a matter of dogma ...
I have found that playing electric guitar on its own or with a small number of acoustic instruments (and no drums, perhaps no bass either) I often roll back the tone pot slightly because the guitar sticks out too much for brightness), but in a full electric combo I turn it right up and probably turn the treble up on the amplifier as well.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Wes, Burrell, Farlow etc didn't have a muddy tone. Listen and you can hear the pick attack and a nice balanced tone. You can hear the chords and lower strings cleanly.
Most people think it should be dull. And they buy a Polytone. The amp single handedly responsibly for making everything sound dark (because they have a nasty harsh treble you have to turn down). Now they buy AERs which have a similar annoying treble.
The old guys were using big valve amps - Fender Twins, Deluxes, Super Reverbs. Modern jazz players insist on having the lightest tiniest amp, invariably solid state and invariably a bit crap.