Tone Tasting: John Mayer Lead & Rhythm Tone on 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room'

On this episode of Tone Tasting we're going after "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" by John Mayer using the Steel String Clean Drive.

GEAR:
Fender Strat
Vertex Steel String Clean Drive
Quilter 101 Reverb
DI to recording counsel (no mic or speaker used)

PERSONNEL:
Guitar - Tim Marconett
Audio - Ari Carpenter, Josh Gleave
Video - Andrew Harris
Editing - Karl Young
Director - Mason Marangella

LOCATION:
25th Street Recording - Oakland, California

#vertexeffects #tonetasting #steelstringclean

[johnydeltablues]

fender strat pups, neck-middle position, volume on guitar on 8, little bit of compression before drive, some reverb... all going to a loud fender blackface type amp on clean setting .
that's it.

[kymn]

„We’re gonna use a strat again, in the neck position“

😭😭

[TheEchelon]

The rythm part was extremely quiet and that's the part people care most about in this song. Probably didn't do this setup justice.

[dzines]

It’s should be a rosewood fingerboard. Also it’s played in the 4th position. Even John Mayer said that. It’s the magic position.

[hurstod]

Been watching videos of these pedals all day! Suck a beautiful tone. Seems to keep that thick, punchy, fat tone at all frequencies.

Almost freaking able to order one before all this COVID crap happened, but I do still enjoy the tones and playing! Thanks guys!

[BeefNEggs]

You guys sound great but Neck + middle pickups for the intro and first solo. He probably/maybe changes to neck for the lead in the second/third/eighth bigger more overdriven solos. If your chasing tone you gotta expect some constructive criticism. Definitely liking the clean drive!

[zacharynorman]

Mason! Thank you for this video! I actually just e-mailed you via the website with a question (no idea if it goes to you directly or someone else) but thank you for making great products and a great video here. Btw, LOVE seeing you in 25th street studio! I am a Bay Area native myself and spent a few days in there last year recording a number of tracks.

[J]

He Mason,

You think its possible to get a tutorial of this version of slow dancing. I just cant shake off how incredible this one is, also im sure my steel string pedal will shine extra much with it

[JJL]

My always on pedal. Drive pedals into the steel string. Mason what voltage do you prefer? I like the compression at 9V. Sometimes i run it at 12V.

[robertmillar]

Sounds great, just placed my order! Which Fender Strat is being used? Vintage, RI or Custom Shop?

[KillBill]

love the series - agreed, prob should've repped a rosewood neck and run 4th position all day for this one. Still - great tones and really close mimic.

[vhcxhbvg]

$200? That's deserving. I'm in college though and just paid $400 for using a "fake" parking pass which was going to fund my project strat with no electronics. After that, this is for sure my next purchase, I love Mayer's clean and gritty tones

[jessejohnson]

Hey Mason! What speaker was the Quilter run into? It doesn’t have a direct out.

[andrebnogueira]

How can you go to the audio interface if you're using the speaker output? Unless you're using something like the twonotes torpedo, you can't plug a power level out into a line level input.

[metalheadblues]

Anyone wanna guess with string size Mayer uses ? Wouldn't be surprised if it was 9's

[mikesantolini]

Great tone guys! What happens after the quilter? Do you mic a cab?

[christophmartin]

Love the pedal!! But where can i get one in Germany? :)

[gratefulmusicsound]

You guys pick the wrong selector position on this. It’s should be the 4th position and then tweek the volume down a bit with the right amount of gain.

[daveeckers]

Could you do a tone special on
Trey Anastasio from phish

[FifeFamily]

Yes tone is in the fingers. But for this song, it helps if you choose the MIDDLE pickup for the intro rhythm guitar. That’s what’s on studio recording. In my opinion.