I have used white rubber wedges as picks since reading this thread and I've found they are more than amazing. The rubber grips the strings a little if you lightly stroke them with the rubber pick and the strings start to vibrate without having to actually pick them as you would with plastic picks. It's kind of like the way violin strings makes their sound I guess. And the power of the tone is awesome! The stings really make an awesome sound unlike anything I can make with other picks. You can just lightly stroke the strings instead of picking them and the sound is louder than what a normal pick makes with the same pressure used.

There ought to be a cat's tongue rubber pick which is rough like a cat's tongue. The sound would be unreal if it is a magnified version of ordinary white rubber as I believe it could be?

I bought a Santana cd called Black Magic Woman at kmart the other day and some of the songs have identical sounds to what the rubber picks make.

And I realized today that rubber picks will never scratch the guitar or pick guards.

I just thought I'd pass this info on because most people would consider rubber to be ineffectual as a guitar pick, but the opposite is true. They are actually superior in some ways because they make loads of sound with half the effort, as you don't need to pick the strings you just stroke them !

Chow


wedges

ORIGINAL: jhonvargas

Hi,

Has any one an idea of how to get the Carlos Santana's guitar sound? I now that it has to do with Santana playing itself, the guitar, etc, but I am most interested on the effect processing used for it. I mean: is a distortion? an overdrive? or what?. Has some one one a good starting point for this?

Thanks, John

Humbucking pickups, overdriven tube amp, and very little effects, is the basic formula. For a detailed description, you can check this out:

Santana's Guitar Tone

Hope that helps!

For the original Abraxis and Woodstock era sound, I believe he usually used a Gibson SG or Les Paul straight through a cranked Fender, or at Woodstock, a prototype GMT (early version Gallien-Krueger) amp. Some websites claim he also supposedly used a prototype “Big Muff” pedal at Woodstock.

hello

i'm a big fan of Carlos SANTANA.....his sound is like a earth beat .......

you can find here my setup with digitech (GNX4) and mesa boogie (DC5)
http://devadipcarlossantana.blogspot.com/


have you some presets ? trade some presets...?

best regards



dom

Yes, I use a Fender Champ set at volume "10", Treble "10", Bass "10" whenever I play the Supernatural.

Here are a few hints for replicating the guitar sound of Carlos Santana. First of all, go easy on the effects.

If you're talking about his early sound (Abraxas, etc.), there would just be a guitar w/humbuckers. He used an SG, as well as a Les Paul Special. The amp should NOT be too over-driven. You couldn't GET amps like that back then, so he used a hot-rodded Fender Twin. For sustain, Santana employed techniques like adding echo (tape) and reverb (spring), doubling parts, standing in front of the amp for feedback, and turning up the volume control as the note died down. And, sometimes, on songs like Samba Pa Ti, he would set a wah-wah at a certain point and then leave it there for the whole song.

During the middle period (late '70s through late '90s), he of course had his trademark PRS Santana Signature model (different ones, depending on the year), and his ubiquitous Mesa Boogie amp. Effects are still sparing -- occasional wah wah and echo -- but the distortion is much more overdriven. In latter years (think "Smooth"), he has the some tone, but smoothed out and somewhat effected by the producers.

Finally, there's the famous Santana Sustain. To get it, you DO need an overdriven amp / humbucking guitar combo that has decent natural sustain. Then, during sound check, crank the amp up to performance volume and find the "sweet spot" -- the place where you get enough feedback to keep a note ringing endlessly, but not enough to squeal. Mark that spot with tape, and stand there whenever you need a super long note.

Hope that helps! :)

Excellent thread.

Santana probably used a variety of gear ... for guitar (albeit I appreciate Santana songs much more)

Assuming you've got a Les Paul and/or humbucking p'ups ... and money is no object, about $2000 will get you an Ax-fx Ultra processor (which I possess) ... which might get some of us in the Santana ball-park.

The sound is pretty close. Link: This guy has been criticized by a few members of Cakewalk forum for claiming he nearly got that Santana sound. What do you think? http://soundcloud.com/wil...a-earths-cry-heavens-3

Why are you bringing up such old and closed threads? And two of them?...

Weird thread(s). Seems like half-a-dozen people (or maybe just one) signing up just to talk about Santana's tone, all supplying links, none of which I'm going to click on.

Nowt as strange as t'internet.