All my Sound Clips: Rock Monkey Guitars Custom, Hand Wound Guitar Pickups by Chris Robertson

Sound clips and info about my recordings

All the clips in this section have been updated since august 19th

To hear the old sound clips go here Old recordings

Something to keep in mind when you listen to the clips

Your amp changes everything. Here is a clip of one of my pickups through a Marshall and this is the same pickup in the same guitar in the same position with the same EQ settings on the amp but it's through a bassman You can hear how different they sound! What this means is that you need to listen to the clips and read the descriptions. In reality my sound clips don't really let you know what tone you will get in your amp. The pickup's descriptions will give you a much better idea about the tone you will get in your amp and in your guitar.

Tech Info about my sound clips

My amp is a 1966 Fender Bassman with no master volume and I'm using 2 Jensen p12r speakers in the cab. Unless otherwise noted, I am not using pedals or digital effects. The distortion you hear is from tube saturation from the power amp not the preamp. This type of overdrive is a little fizzy and rough when compared to the smooth preamp distortion

Most of the clips are taken with the EQ way up, or all the way down. The extremes are not usually where the pickups sound best but I want to give you an idea of the tonal range that the pickups cover. You will be able to EQ them on your amp to make them sound much better.

Note: I have added a midrange control to my amp. Whenever I'm changing the midrange from the "normal" amount I will note it. When I do not note a midrange value, it's because it's at the stock value.

Clean volume set to about 3

Cleanish volume at 3 but the high output pickup is still driving the amp

Dirty volume at 5 or 6

Cranked volume is 8 to 10

Although I've got a great ear for tone, I'm only a marginal player (at best) so all my sound clips are pretty basic. To make it easier for you to tell the difference between the sets I also tried to record clips that were essentially the same riffs.

Note: After you click on a sound clip, it will seem like nothing is happening for at least 10 seconds. For slow internet connections and bigger sound clips it can take even longer. If you don't think the clip is loading, try right clicking and then go to "save target as" to save the file to your hard drive.

Single coil pickups
I have 2 Strat-style guitars. One is a cheap old Strat-style Fernandes with what appears to be an 8pc alder body. The other guitar is a strat-style Epiphone with a laminated body. Both guitars have had no modifications other than the pickups.

Smooth Groove 1962			Resolution
SG-62	Neck	Clean, Bass, and treble at 10. Midboost "on" Using 12" Eminence Legend speaker	Hi	Med
SG-62	Neck	Dirty, Bass, and treble at 10.	Hi	Med
SG-62	Neck	Cranked, Bass and treble at 10 Scooped mids.	Hi	Med
SG-62	Neck	Cranked, Bass and treble at 10 Midboost "on"	Hi	Med
Smooth Groove Custom Extra Warm
SG-CEW	Bridge	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SG-CEW	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SG-CEW	Neck	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SG-CEW	Neck	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med

Swingin' Cool
SS-C	Bridge	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SS-C	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SS-C	Neck	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SS-C	Neck	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
Swingin' Hot
SS-H	bridge	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SS-H	bridge	Dirty. Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SS-H	neck	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SS-H	neck	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
Humbuckers
All humbucker sound clips were recorded using my Ibanez RG with a basswood body and edge pro trem.
Heritage Humbuckers
Warm Heritage
HH-WH	Neck	Clean, Bass and treble at 6	Hi	Med
HH-WH	Neck	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
HH-WH	Neck	Clean, The amp has the same EQ settings as I use in modern* sound but I didn't use the tonebone pedal.	Hi	Med
HH-WH	Neck	Dirty, Bass and treble at 6	Hi	Med
HH-WH	Neck	same clip as above but with added reverb and compression		Med
HH-WH	Neck	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
HH-WH	Neck	Cranked, Amp set for modern* sound	Hi	Med
Neobuckers
Hot Neobucker
NB-H	Neck	Clean, Bass and treble at 6	Hi	Med
NB-H	Neck	Dirty, Bass and Treble at 6	Hi	Med
NB-H	Neck	Dirty, Bass and Treble at 0	Hi	Med
NB-H	Neck	Cranked, With Tonebone Pedal for a slightly more modern* sound	Hi	Med
Super Hot Neobucker
NB-SH	Bridge	Clean(ish)Bass and treble at 6	Hi	Med
NB-SH	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 6	Hi	Med
NB-SH	Bridge	Cranked, this clip was a special request. I used my Tonebone pedal with gain, bass, and treble all at their maximum limits for a stupid amount of distortion. Then I tuned the guitar down to C.	Hi	Med
NB-SH	Bridge	same clip as before but with compression.		Med
Beefbucker in humbucker mode
NB-BB	Bridge	Clean(ish), Flat EQ, Amp volume 5 guitar's volume turned half way down	Hi	Med
NB-BB	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
NB-BB	Bridge	Cranked, Treble 3 Bass 0	Hi	Med
NB-BB	bridge	Cranked, treble bass and volume all at 10	Hi	Med
NB-BB	bridge	same clip as above but I added reverb, and compression.		Med
NB-BB	bridge	Cranked, This clip is from a Marshall amp with the bass and treble at 10 and the mids at 0.	Hi	Med
Beefbucker in single coil mode
NB-BB	Bridge	Clean(ish), Bass and treble at 0, Amp volume 5, guitar's volume turned down half way.	Hi	Med
NB-BB	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
Beefbucker clips by Owen Stimpson (taken before amp was fixed)
NB-BB	bridge	Clean(ish) Bass and treble at 0, volume on guitar turned down, amp volume at 5	Hi	Med
NB-BB	bridge	Dirty, amps volume is at 5, mixing board's treble boost switched on. EQ is flat	Hi	Med
NB-BB	bridge	Dirty, it's exactly the same sound clip as above but I didn't add a treble boost at the mixing board.	Hi	Med
Specialty Humbuckers
2Face Hot Texan
In humbucker mode
SH-HT	Bridge	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SH-HT	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
In split coil (single coil) mode
SH-HT	Bridge	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
SH-HT	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
7 String Pickups
My 7 string clips were recorded using a $200 alder body Washburn 7 string.
7 string 2Face in humbucker mode
7S-2F	Bridge	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
7S-2F	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
7 string 2Face in split coil (single coil) mode
7S-2F	Bridge	Clean, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med
72-2F	Bridge	Dirty, Bass and treble at 0	Hi	Med

7 string 2Face clips by Owen Stimpson (taken before amp was fixed)
Humbucker mode
7S-2F	bridge	Dirty, Tonebone classic pedal used for distortion	Hi	Med
Single coil (split coil) mode
7S-2F	bridge	Dirty, Tonebone classic pedal used for distortion	Hi	Med

*Fender is not known for high gain, I have spent a lot of time an energy trying to find amp setting that make my bassman sound like a Marshall. I am using a Tonebone classic pedal, with the level at 1, high at 9, low at 9, filter at4, drive at 4, top end switch on bright, mid boost at 12db, and drive gain switch at high. Then plug into the bassmans 1^st normal channel volume at 3, bright switch on, treble at 1, and bass at 10. I then run a jump from normal input 2 to bass input 1. On the bass instrument channel I set the volume at 3, deep switch on, treble at 5, and bass at 10. All of this gives me a sound that is similar to (but not exactly like) a Marshall JCM 2000 with the treble and bass up and the mids all the way down. The Marshall amp still gives a much smoother overdrive tone with more compression, more lower midrange and less upper midrange.