clean or dirty ?

[richard parker]

How many of you like to play with a really clean sound ? How many like a little or a lot of dirt ? Personally I can't do what I like to do without a little dirt, say Keith Richards/Paul Kossoff sort of mildish overdrive. For solos I like a little more gain than that but I'm not into mega levels of gain. I love power amp overdrive but it's too dependent on the amp, the room etc. I really love a nice combination of pre-amp gain with the power stage starting to kick. What about you folks ?

[guitfiddle]

I like cleanish with a halo of OD around it for a clean tone. Squeaky cleans work for a couple of things, but not the majority of what I do.

[j9fd3s]

its pretty clean nowadays... not squeaky clean, its like ive worn this pair of pants for two days...

[PVFan]

most of the time, give me heaping gobs of distortion, thanks

[phil_104]

I like to get real dirty.

[That90'sGuy]

I usually prefer some mild overdrive myself, but I do enjoy clean cleans as well.

[these_go211]

need at least some mild overdrive.

[innerdreamrecords.co]

I like AC30 slightly dirty for picking and strumming and lay on the high gain for the power chords and leads.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

My favorite "clean" sound is a slightly dirty tube amp with the guitar's volume rolled back to where it cleans up for the most part. I like to keep that haze and warmth around it.

This is exactly what I was gonna say...
I like it when the volume is backed off but you can still tell there is something there.
Then I like a nice middle ground overdrive. Not thick distortion and not light distortion. Somewhere in the middle is good for me. Kinda like a Jimmy Hendrix, Deep Purple, or Danny Kirwan sound.

[super rad stuff]

i play with two overdrives into a slightly scooped boss EQ, usually keeping a heavier OD on(mxr classic) for my main "clean" tone. has nice grit to it when i dig in, but has a good sparkle when i back off. for heavier tones, i usually either hit my SD-1 for more of a crunch, or my DS-1 for more scooped "metal" tones, with either set about half way for drive and 3/4 for gain.

[Ninja Monkey]

I like just enough OD to get a little grit, just barely noticeable, on the bridge pup with the volume pot open, then just roll down the volume on the neck pup for my mellow clean, and use the bridge pickup for sparkly cleans. Though I like fuzz-boxes and tube screamers for solo tones.

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Probably something between Clapton on the Beano album and Schenker with UFO.

[willeubanks]

i play bass, so almost always clean, but i do like a little Big Muff on there from time to time. Matt Sharp, ftw!

[jake_xms3_punk]

angus crunchy paf not too overdriven

[Chas]

Right at the point of breakup but recently been into more of a clean sound.

[Jake]

Dirty. Though I have an appreciation for the occasional song that has super dirty rhythm guitar and clean leads going over it.

[Simon_F]

Probably something between Clapton on the Beano album and Schenker with UFO.

Yeah baby!

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Yeah baby!

We really need to think about starting that band, Simon.

[Rich_T]

I use pretty much the whole spectrum. Clean arpeggios, clean delayed/sampled and looped lines, gritty slide work, chunky rhythm parts, full-bore big muff into cranked marshall walls of sound and all the rest. Why limit it?

[El CHupacabra]

My tone right now is analogous to Keith Richards' tone on Gimmie Shelter. It's got clarity but a bit o bite where it counts.