GUITAR
LET’S TALK ABOUT GETTING A BETTER TONE! | Chris Rocha
Your tone is one of the most important things was “Wow, you’ve got chops” but now the best There are a few reasons why I do this. The main
that characterizes you and it can make or break compliment is “I love your tone”. one is that I need to have a small mobile setup
upcoming opportunities. For quite some time,
do that I can record and produce while I’m on
I’ve gotten a lot of people that tell me that they These days to become a successful guitar tour. Hotels don’t take kindly to loud tube amps
can notice my sound in songs I’ve worked on. player you don’t have to be this virtuoso player blasting at 2am.
At first, I took it like I needed to broaden my but you do have to have great tone. One horizons and develop a wider range of tones, question I get asked frequently is if I prefer Whatever you prefer whether it’s a full analog rig
which I’m sure is true, but then I started taking analog or digital. My answer is pretty simple, or digital setup you can achieve that signature
it like a compliment. People started requesting I love them both. My current pedalboard is a tone that will be recognized by others. Give it
me on their song cause they wanted that hybrid of both worlds. We have such great time and definitely go after what you want and
“vintage Chris Rocha sound”. digital tools at our disposal now that we don’t prefer your sound to be. We’re living in a time
have to have a $7,000 rig to have an awesome where you won’t be short of tools.
A while back I worked with this guitar player sound. Here’s a breakdown my current setup.
that was extremely talented and could play I’m using analog drive and distortion pedals (El
circles around me but all he kept saying was Valiente, Eternity Drive, Hot Cake) an analog
that he was working on developing “his” tone amp simulator pedal (Simplifier), digital IRs for
just like I had developed mine. Back when I was can simulation (HX Stomp) and digital delays
younger the biggest compliment you could get and reverbs (HX Stomp, Specular Tempus).
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May 2020
Chris Rocha
Lives in Houston, TX, and is the guitarist and
producer for Miel San Marcos
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