Satch

[metallibeast]

Been listening to alot of Satriani stuff lately especially to his tone.
It has this horn like quality...feel to it, especially in Until We Say Goodbye in the Live in SF CD. I'm not sure if this is the right way to describe his tone but it is juz so unique.

I'm wondering how does he get that amazing tone? Is it mainly due to his equipment? Or will he still sound like himself even if he is using some other equipments other than his own?

-Metallibeast
NP:-Joe Satriani Live in SF

[EricV]

Hi there,

his tone sure comes from his hand, the way he picks and frets the strings.
But the gear is another component of that... it adds to the sound. My Laney Chrome-O-Zone combo has a voicing that often reminds me of Satch´s sound... mid-heavy, sometimes even voice-like. Andy Timmons sometimes uses a sound similar to that.
So its a result of the TONE ( from his hands ) and the SOUND ( from his gear )
Eric

[metaljustice83]

mmm yes, i agree, if you have spent as much time playing guitar as he has you would have a very distinct sounds also. Satch is the man

[EricV]

One more thing, Joe uses and endorses the DiMarzio FRED humbucker, which has a mid-heavy sound and is another factor that adds to that spezial Satch-tone.
A quote from the DiMarzio-site: "When we sent one of the the first ones to Joe Satriani, he discovered and exploited a unique tonal characteristic - the FRED®'s ability to emphasize upper midrange and treble harmonics through an overdriven and distorted amp. Many standard humbuckers have a tendency to fatten up with distortion. The FRED® does the opposite; it gets tighter and brighter, much like a single-coil."

Eric

[Bizarro]

Here's a couple of more things to think about with Satch tones...

He's probably using less distortion than you realize, and gets a lot of compression due to volume &/or pushing an amp hard. He uses light gauge strings with extremely low action and he has a very light touch (per his tech on the satch web site). He also will use a wah to color his tone, but the wah will be turned on and set to a fixed position (as opposed to being rocked back and forth in the traditional manner). This will really emphasize mid-range tones. He uses the wah in this manner for lead and rhythm work. I highly recommend experimenting with this technique!

Of course, he is an extraodinary player on top of all that. I'm sure he would sound great no matter what he used.

The last time I checked his website had a gear description.