Gretsch players, I got myself one, now what do I do with it?!

I

iamjackslackof

Well-known member
I got a Gretsch! I've always been a Les Paul guy, but I've started getting into rockabilly/psychobilly, and I've always wanted a Bigsby, so here we are.

I've always been focused on the LP into Marshall sound, and spent a long time long chasing Zeppelin tones, so I mostly ignored pedals and amps that didn't fit that mold.

Now I feel like I have a blank canvas tonally. So maybe you guys can enable me with some pedal or amp suggestions that will sound good with a Gretsch with low output humbuckers.
 
Paging @HamishR...



I'll suggest:

Slap-back echo via an Aqua Puss clone

Valco made Gretsch amps back in the day, so maybe a Valco-sim pedal. Maybe.

Tube-style Tremolo of some sort or De Armond clone.

Fender Bassman amp, '59 tweed or if you dig Setzer then a '63 Blonde with a Roland Space Echo Preamp driving it.
The 59 will be closer to your wheelhouse.​


Princeton Reverb would be my main amp suggestion, 'cause it's favoured by Jim Campilongo (even though he's known for his '59 bridge-strung top-loader Tele, not any Gretsch). It's big enough for most gigs, unless your drummer aspires to be Bonham.
 
When he was strapped for cash, this rockabilly guy who only played Gretsch sold me his early 70s twin reverb. His instrument (also for sale) sounded excellent through it, certainly better than the 80's ibanez studio double cut that i had at the time. Kind of tragic that he was never reunited with it since I also had to sell it later that year. He was way into Rev. Horton Heat so I assume his choices were influenced there but I'm not sure.
 
Last edited:
Haha! Thanks Feral Feline! I'm a long term Gretsch tragic. I gigged with a 6120 of various Setzer incarnations for years. Now I love my Duo Jet - it's a '53 Vintage Select but I have TV Jones' Filter'tron Classics disguised as Dearmonds in it and it is "the sound in my head".

Grestches are a kind of half-way point between Gibson and Fender with the best of both worlds. You get the twang of the Fender with the girth of the Gibson - sort of. I love the twang with the fat trebles, so keeping the low strings clear is important to me. Playing rockabilly you do need that clarity for the low string boogie runs, etc. So overdrives with clipping later in the circuit, like Rats, Bluesbreakers, even Klons don't work so well. Of all the PCBs available here I would probably recommend the Danae or the Snozberry (but leave the second set of clipping diodes off the Snozzberry). I have developed little tricks to improve the low string clarity in ODs since hanging out here.

Really you don't need much to get that Rev Horton Heat sound. A BF Fender with decent headroom (I use modified tweed styles myself), a good low-gain OD and a simple slapback delay is mostly what you need. If you want to get into fuzz then a Fuzz VIII or Starboard fuzz can work. For inexpensive delay you could build a Seabed Delay or buy a TC Electronics Flashback Mini and use the Slapback setting which is excellent.

From there maybe tremolo would be fun, and a Simulcast as a booster is cool.

I got into building pedals from building amps. And I got into building amps to try and get the sounds I wanted from Gretsches. Most stock amps will fart and futz when you wanna twang. Brian Setzer gets an incredible tone but that comes at some volume. Trying to get that sound at modern gig-friendly volumes can be tricky.
 
iamjackslackof said:
I got a Gretsch! I've always been a Les Paul guy, but I've started getting into rockabilly/psychobilly, and I've always wanted a Bigsby, so here we are.

I've always been focused on the LP into Marshall sound, and spent a long time long chasing Zeppelin tones, so I mostly ignored pedals and amps that didn't fit that mold.

Now I feel like I have a blank canvas tonally. So maybe you guys can enable me with some pedal or amp suggestions that will sound good with a Gretsch with low output humbuckers.
Click to expand...
Treat it like a single coil Fender guitar and you'll be fine. I love a semi-hollow with low output pickups into my early 60's Gibson combo and my 1970 Bassman 50.
 
HamishR said:
So overdrives with clipping later in the circuit, like Rats, Bluesbreakers, even Klons don't work so well.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, it's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for regarding pedals

Feral Feline said:
Slap-back echo via an Aqua Puss clone
Click to expand...
How close does the newer MKIII come to the older MKI/II? I found a PCB for the MKI at The Tone Geek. I may get it any way, but the MKIII Is cheap and easily available. I think it's based on the DM-2, and I have a GGG or BYOC BBD delay that is supposed to be based on the DM-2, so I wonder how far off what I have is from an Aqua Puss as well.

Who am I kidding, I'll prob get them all, being a pedal junkie like the rest of you, but I can at least pretend to prioritize and save money lol.
 
I have no clue. I've just heard/read the Aqua Puss is all that. I have the WH Echo-Puss and with modulation at a minimum it'll do for slapback.

Build them all, let dog sort them out (ie the ones that your dog/neighbour's dog can't stand the high-pitch whine of is the one you don't want — or maybe it is).

Yeah, any delay that can give a good slap-back sound will do. I bet the simplest PT2399 delay would do, you don't need tap tempo and the repeat(s) is/are minimal...

Like I said, I don't really know, I'm just a bass-player.
 
iamjackslackof said:
I got a Gretsch! I've always been a Les Paul guy, but I've started getting into rockabilly/psychobilly, and I've always wanted a Bigsby, so here we are.

I've always been focused on the LP into Marshall sound, and spent a long time long chasing Zeppelin tones, so I mostly ignored pedals and amps that didn't fit that mold.

Now I feel like I have a blank canvas tonally. So maybe you guys can enable me with some pedal or amp suggestions that will sound good with a Gretsch with low output humbuckers.
Click to expand...
immediately change your beer brand to Hamms and your liquor to moonshine ... and if you smoke, you'll be switching up to lucky strikes
 
I don't really like the Aqua Puss for slapback so much. It's ok...I find it a bit muddy for slapback. The Boss DM2W is better IMO but then it has that tone suck which spoils the bite of the bass strings. Honestly the TC Flashback slapback setting is one of the best I have used and has no tone suck. For slapback the delay doesn't need to be fancy - just clear and present. I've tried a Strymon El Cap and didn't like it at all. Great for other kinds of sounds, not my pick for slapback.

The PT2399 based Deep Blue is pretty good. At the moment I'm using a UA Starlight delay which is amazing. I have two settings, one is slapback (I think I'm using the straight digital delay for that) and a longer delay (much as mzy12 suggests) which is the beautiful Memory Man setting. Gretsches pair well with delay.

If you want to go crazy with slapback and tape saturation FX the Strymon Deco is amazing. The first version is nearly a do-it-all rockabilly machine, except that you can't dial out enough low-end in the distortion. Maybe the new version is better? I'm very tempted to try it.

FWIW I can't recommend TV Jones' Filter'tron Classics enough. They take a bit of getting used to and are finicky about height adjustment - a bit of experimentation is highly recommended - but the clarity and punch are beautiful. The tone from the bridge pickup can be raw and old-school rock'n'roll or ethereal and glassy. I love the cluck you can get from it. It's when you use a Gretsch with Filter'trons that you get why a slapback delay sounds so good - it can be the final piece which makes the tone pop. The delay can actually help the sound cut through.
 
HamishR said:
If you want to go crazy with slapback and tape saturation FX the Strymon Deco is amazing. The first version is nearly a do-it-all rockabilly machine, except that you can't dial out enough low-end in the distortion. Maybe the new version is better? I'm very tempted to try it.
Click to expand...
The deco has a low cut trim in the secondary settings. The slapback on the deco is great, and it's great on the belle epoch deluxe too

1000001347.jpg
 
For a couple years I have had one of the newer made in Indonesia Gretsch Streamliner Junior Jet Club Joey JoeJoe Junior how many more words can we use in this name guitars. I dropped an absurd Seymour Duncan in the bridge and tore out the stock p90 from the neck. Thus was born Heavy Larry, the Gretsch from hell. I rewired him recently. Put the stock pickups back in. Now he goes by Lawrence. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Don’t love him with most drive pedals. Good with a lightly crunchy amp. Clean with a little optical compression and Dispatch Master is my jam with Lawrence.
 
Harry Klippton said:
The deco has a low cut trim in the secondary settings. The slapback on the deco is great, and it's great on the belle epoch deluxe too

View attachment 59049
Click to expand...
Is that the new one or the old one? I had the old one, used the "hidden" controls and rolled off as much low end as I could but it still wasn't enough. I emailed them and they said that I couldn't do anything with firmware updates but they would look at it in the future. I haven't properly tested the new one yet. They're really expensive where I live at the moment.

I do have one of the new Flints though (and still have my old one) and the differences are minor but useful I guess. I like having an adjustable pre-delay for the reverb.
 
HamishR said:
Is that the new one or the old one? I had the old one, used the "hidden" controls and rolled off as much low end as I could but it still wasn't enough. I emailed them and they said that I couldn't do anything with firmware updates but they would look at it in the future. I haven't properly tested the new one yet. They're really expensive where I live at the moment.

I do have one of the new Flints though (and still have my old one) and the differences are minor but useful I guess. I like having an adjustable pre-delay for the reverb.
Click to expand...
I have the old one. I wish I had the new one so I could have presets. That's the worst part of the deco, it does too many different things too well
 
I know what you mean! It's the one thing I find so frustrating about a lot of delays these days - with all that processing power on board how hard would it be to give a 1/2 dozen presets?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top