How I Build Ambient Guitar Tone (And Why It's Less About Reverb Than You Think)

I original filmed this class for Guitar.com's virtual trade show last summer, but if you missed it I wanted to make sure it was here as well.
I get a LOT of questions about my tone. It's more than you'd think. Most people are asking me how to dial in "ambient" guitar tone. The issue being that it's almost always through the lens of reverb choices. So we are gonna take the next 40 minutes and talk through every facet of my guitar tone, from dry tone shaping with drives and compression through reverb choices. Along the way, though, I hope you'll see the important secret here; it's way less about reverb than you think.

[@RhettShull]

Great tone and great video!

[@tubingforever]

Hey Rhett, what would be your choice for a $1000 tube amp for home playing. I want clean headroom for my pedals.

[@ernststavroblofeld2109]

Snaaaaaaaaaaaaake!

[@mjs2016]

@@tubingforever tone master deluxe brother

[@compucorder64]

​@@tubingforever don't know if you got your amp. But, was looking for similar, and settled on Vox AC15. And a EHX Hot Tubes pedal in front, and a Two Notes Torpedo Captor strapped to the back, for when it needs to sound cranked, but not be too loud. The AC4 and AC10 don't sound as full and are still very loud, just not so clean sounding. A second-hand hand-wired or Alnico AC-15 might come in at around $1000. Or the AC15-CH head version has power scaling. For a bit more money, the Marshall SV20 head sounds great clean too, but you get the bonus of the driven plexi tones too, plus power scaling, and it's not too big/heavy. All of these can do live too. Fender, not sure I love most of their amps sub $1000 for home. The Pro Junior and Hot Rod Junior sound boxey, the Vibro Champ is characterful, but limited. Hot Rod Deluxe is a good live workhorse, but it's hard to tame for home. For louder, with tons of clean headroom, I prefer the EHX reissue of the Sovtek MiG 50 head to most of those Fenders. Or a vintage Traynor. Don't know if a Fender '68 Custom Princeton 10" would be enough clean headroom, but those have a nice character too. Could use it with a larger cab, like a more efficient 2x12", with 99db efficiency Eminence Cannibis Rex though; get that deeper bass, sound like 50% more headroom and push it well into Vox AC15 territory but with a Fender tone, if you prefered that to Vox or Marshall.

[@rogerloydmccoy]

So much packed into this. I have gone back to it again and again. I would love to see a 2023 version of this if you get time please. Awesome !!

[@nryan777]

You mention the importance of mixing your ambient loops in a daw for clarity as opposed to just stacking with an on board looper. I’d love for you to make a video detailing your process for this!

[@StephenShugert]

I would LOVE a video like this!

[@stanimirlambov7222]

Me too!

[@ericwillett8709]

Second and third that

[@winstonsmith8236]

My one tip for ambient/drones/loopers is for each loop to have as much unique sound qualities to it as possible. Try and tweak or use different gain, reverb, delay, modulation, EQ-as much as you can differentiate, to create separation between tracks so they have their own sonic space. Really helps preventing compositions from turning to mush.

[@skypekai]

Your channel is phenomenal man. Feels like the good ol' days, no rushing anywhere, enjoying the moments.

[@PeteBrownGuitars]

Really useful stuff, Mark. I've recently been contemplating an upgrade to my board where reverb is concerned, and this video may just have saved me a bunch of money. I have a love/hate relationship with my Enzo; invariably it's you who convinces me to be more patient and methodical and to give it another chance.

[@stanimirlambov7222]

I love this video! Very inspiring and cleared some thoughts on ambient guitar for me. Thank you, Mark!

[@adgtr383]

Amazing video, would be interesting to see an updated version now that I assume you've changed some pedals. Amazing tones you have an approach to ambient guitar that genuinely amazes me, your ability to make sounds that other ambient guitarists don't tend to achieve is incredible.

[@MD-jz7xx]

Totally mesmerized and inspired. Love it my dude.

[@davidfalconmusic]

I love this video format. Lots of useful information in a entertaining way. Thank you! :)

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Glad to hear it! Looking to do more stuff like this.

[@leadcatpress]

Very cool stuff! I've never focused on effects, but you've made me want to experiment with them. Thank you.

[@winstonsmith8236]

RAD man! Can't wait to watch this and dig in. There aren't enough meaningful, helpful tutorials on playing ambient.

[@davidsummerville351]

I'm getting into this Ambient thing, so I'm subscribing. Looking forward to this. Thanks!

[@makingmusiconline2309]

Fabulous stuff! I've learned a lot from this.

[@SojournerTracks]

I haven’t spent a lot of time on ambient guitar but this was really inspiring. Love the delivery and tempo. Also I really want an iridium now...

[@dorianford6227]

Very unique and clever way to use Enzo and opened up a lot of possibilities for me

[@calebwhitcraft1664]

That straight-to-the-desk tone was actually pretty great, haha.

[@Psa_-dj7zh]

This is Zach, I absolutely love your approach on this ambience setting. I can’t wait to see you do a full-review on the Hologram Microcosm and the Harmony Silhouette is on my wishlist

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Microcosm is a beast. It took me a while to get one but well worth every penny

[@Pro355Street]

The dry tone tips are awesome. I hope you don’t mind that I sat down right away and borrowed your Enzo settings. Oh my goodness..it opened up a whole new world, truly. Awesome video!!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Enzo dry mode; one of the best things on the planet.

[@Tvaroh]

I think the main point that is easy to oversee is to set the correct filter envelope type which is done by pressing alt key and left footswitch.

[@winstonsmith8236]

@@Tvaroh what’s the correct filter setting for what he’s doing- attack/decay?

[@scottbomberg7904]

this was really helpful to me, could you make a video about your playing and note choices?

[@EulogyfortheAngels]

Dude, love this setup!

[@majorbalna]

Very insightful. Thanks for doing this.

[@GavinBlane]

Really enjoyed that, thank you!

[@JonathanGasper]

Cool video. I have never seen your channel before today. I only dabble in ambient stuff, but when I do, I generally find that delays, and especially reverbs usually sit better in the bigger picture when set with a long decay and a low mix. It would seem I am not alone in that, lol. Anyway, good stuff. Just subbed.

[@spindal_1]

This is really great! A different take on ambient tone. Really breaks it down and great use of the microcosm! Thank you!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Thanks so much. “Why it’s less about reverb than you think” has been a crucial piece of the puzzle for me. Glad to see it resonates with others. Also, if you like the use of the microcosm here I shamelessly recommend my 2 hour demo on it.

[@spindal_1]

Thanks I will do! I actually hadn’t thought about creating 6 seconds of space and running it in overdub mode 🙌🏻 Can you adjust the overdub level to gets repeats to fade away? Maybe loop level would do that?

[@jesselandreth4497]

This is awesome! I definitely use too much verb. Would also love to know more about how you post process!

[@dutchbassscapes2185]

Very interesting and useful info here !!

[@snoopyoverthehills]

your tone is great! thanks for the video. now i want the microcosm even more...

[@GuglielmoCok]

Well, this is probably your best video. it’s awesome. so inspiring. thank you. now i think we need another one, maybe including the gravitas ❤️ 😉

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Do love the gravitas. It might be fun to do another pass at this later this year as a part 2 / update now that I’m using the gravitas, generation loss, volante much more.

[@TheTyrynir]

30 mins in is MAGIC. I need that tone. That is some early PS1 soundtrack shit.

[@soundethersinfo135]

Thank you, there's a lot to think about here.

[@bobcraig1982]

Thanks so much for this, really inspiring stuff! I've bought an Enzo recently and have been wrestling with a bit trying to get the sounds I want, so these tips are very much appreciated :)

[@banwavy]

How did you end up liking the Enzo?

[@RickGomez]

What a great video Mark. Great job discussing the reasons why you put the pedals where you do and what their functions are in relation to your target tones. Meaning, if you don't have a Thermae or Enzo you may have something that accomplishes a similar task. Super helpful. And, yes.... I have absolutely been using too much reverb.

[@stuartdennis8506]

This is a great video 🙌🏻

[@neoxavier5477]

I really enjoy that Enzo, if you could do a special tutorial on that would be fantastic.

[@arendbouwmeester3924]

Great video! You’re a wise man and absolutely right about the essential approach to get a useful basic tone and not or not too much reverb. Reverb in ambient stuff is to me like a tomato-sauce in every dish.. makes everything sounds almost the same. If I watching video’s of loop-artists I always skip forward to see if anything has changed in sound etcetera, if the overall-sound didn’t change in time , I think it’s utterly boring. What I did is using the fade out function on the tc electronics X4, and using a Zvex Loopgate with the nicest musical fade out. I also have got the Irridium, I split my guitar after enhancer/compressor/pre-amp and Got 2 seperate parallel fx-paths to the seperate L&R inputs of the irridium, If you come out of the irridium you have also 2 mono-paths going into the digital wet effects ( which makes them ‘stereo’ again). At the end I use a small RJM mini mixer. This way I have morepossabillities to keep things interesting.

[@daveychainsaw5685]

Very interesting tutorial Mark. My gen loss v2 just arrived so this is really helpful. I haven't got to grips with the Microcosm yet, love what you do with it here and really like how you set up the Enzo. I'll have to try that! Thanks.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

The microcosm is totally a "take it slow" kind of pedal. I found that, in exploring what the modes do, that I benefitted from turning everything else off and turning the mix to max. that way you KNOW what's coming out based on what you put it. Then you can start to learn it's tricks and apply them elsewhere.

[@daveychainsaw5685]

@@markjohnstonofficial Thanks Mark, that's good advice, I have been trying that. Thought i tend to end up scrolling through all the different modes and end up a bit confused. I need to get to grips with the looper and the hold as well. I love how you held that repeated chord at the beginning of the Gen Loss V2 video, would love to know how you did that.

[@dalewarner1890]

This is a real education. Thanks very much.

[@noveltycrusade]

Man this is a really useful video 👍👍

[@WillBrahm]

Thank you Mark!

[@julianhyde1645]

Jesus Christ! That board is FLEXIN’!

[@dver89]

Great video!!

[@billsstudio2528]

Just getting into ambient stuff. Too fun. I use a bedside table with casters large enough to fit 4 pedals. RC-500 looper, Eventide H90, Cloudburst, and El Caspistan. My small pedalboard on the floor with compressor, few OD's and Chorus and tuner feed the 'stereo 4 pedal' ambient setup. Finally goes into Fender Deluxe and Badcat combo set clean. Sounds epic. KZbin to get quick references/tips saves huge amounts of time and gets me to sonic heaven quickly. Great fun and can opens up creative doors you might not have created otherwise!

[@DALVAmusic]

Great sound !

[@asharpbflat7179]

A tap tempo switch under your heel would be perfect 😜 just kidding, great video, I'll have to continue watching now 😁

[@mikeroadblock]

Great video.

[@KunchangLeeMusic]

Great tips

[@drewroze4168]

Great stuff, brotha!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Thanks man

[@fleshist]

This is a wonderful video. Thank you. Changes everything for me. Also, think I saw you perform at LIT back in the day? Heh. That Secret Weapons?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I’m gonna assume that’s a different SW. haven’t ever performed under this moniker as it’s mostly just a KZbin series

[@jerrycharles66]

Mark, thanks for the great video. I learn so much from watching them. Do you prefer the Mercury 7 over the Walrus Audio R1? I agree that the airy Mercury 7 quality is very unique but it also seems like the R1 has some unique features.

[@GSC333]

Thank you!

[@marttahapary7318]

Insane sounds and great video! I like your use of the Enzo I'll try to copy that preset. Besides, is it possible to get that 22:52 sound with the Meris LVX? I love that sound..

[@banwavy]

You should pick up a Mastro Valvola LEM sometime. It’s truly amazing and uncomplicated. Great video!!

[@JLP-333]

Microcosm kills it everytime.. so much fun

[@mattysanford]

Super helpful as always. Would love to see/hear what your current setup looks like.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I’m sure I’ll do a current board rig rundown sometime in the near future. It changes too frequently to merit a video right now though

[@Rainy78]

Hey Mark, I'd love to know what you're using as of today for your dry tone. I see you've switched a few pedals around, including Benson preamp and/or Germanium boost. Also the ACS1 instead of the Iridium. I love your new dry tone and would love to achieve it! Any chance on sharing exactly what pedals you are now using to achieve such mastery? 😏 Thanks brother!

[@EvanLividicus]

Good stuff Mark!! Your voice volume felt a little low, had to turn up quite a bit!

[@Mike_Spor]

Hi Mark, sounds great. awesomeness. Have you tried the new UAFX pedals?

[@paultyrrell8060]

Fantastic video, thankyou. Wondered what your thoughts were on putting the wet effects after the iridium. I have tried both and prefer the wet effects post iridium.

[@jiatao7687]

Me too～

[@MEJ0RVIDA]

Love the video, are there alternatives for the Enzo? I'd like to compare a little but haven't found some refreshing alternatives yet.

[@jacksole6840]

Shallow water sounds amazing as a low pass filter! Thoughts on what you like better about the chase bliss low pass?

[@tendingtropic7778]

Very good video! 1 question: is the iridium end of chain? and where doe the output of the iridium go? directly to audio interface? or an amp that we don't see?

[@tendingtropic7778]

Great video. What is the best dry guitar tone? can you visualize this in an EQ curve?

[@KrisRedusJazz]

Is there another pedal you’d recommend for the dry envelope filtering like you’re using the Enzo for but that is cheaper (since it wouldn’t have all the synth features)??? Amazing video btw! So well done.

[@TheMrMulligans]

The Source Audio Spectrum is a killer and versatile filter and worth looking into.

[@jordanb9511]

Good advice at 32:15 for solo lobo/br guitarists EQ troubles live. Realizing the power of giving myself a few filters to work with on my board.

[@MrKadidle51]

When using an amp, would you have some of this stuff in the fx loop, and would you drop any of it that you using in this?

[@ingreynelg]

How do you keep everything so clean and quiet? I have half of your gear in that pedalboard plus some additional candies but my rig is so noisy. I haven’t figured out if it’s the power supply (cioks) or the cables, or the pickups.

[@Mike_Spor]

I cant imagine if you wrote a song with Rabea. you both are the gods of sound, to me. and the fact that you both use really great products...in my opinion.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Thats very kind of you to say. Rabea is crazy talented. Would be a very weird, very cool collab. haha

[@grumpyoats]

Do you have all the Meris pedals on Buffered output ?

[@Gnolas]

Hey Mark, where does your signal go after the iridium? Do you use an actual amp and mic to record or do you go into a DAW? If you do go into an audio interface directly, do you further modify your sound or do you create it all with just your pedalboard? In my experience once I have a good "analog" sound it's really hard to catch and record it as it is, without having it sound much smaller in the recording. Thanks!

[@galacticom]

interesting that your pedal board is not on the floor. Makes sense, as you have easy access to dials - would be nice to see your little table. I am new to the pedal world, and your videos are very educational. thank you.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Board still goes on the floor for live gigs. Although i would like to change that and just keep a midi controller on the ground. But for videos it’s way easier to keep it on the table to quickly dial sounds in. And it’s nice when you’ve only got one camera.

[@galacticom]

@@markjohnstonofficial I will be a ling time student of yours. thank you dear friend.

[@riccardomurtas4801]

It is really interesting. You should do a similiar video-lesson with less expensive pedal gear. Maybe something easier to find used but with a comparable result.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

This is a video idea that has been bouncing around in my head for ages now. I'll have to do that soon.

[@BenGilbey]

Do you have the Iridium connected to midi?

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Beautiful! Great video. Love all of it, sir. Except for my steadily growing peeve, the shimmer... shimmer pitch shift has become an overused sound, and beyond that... honestly i have almost never heard a good one that wasn’t a rack Eventide through filtering & reverb. Seems like shimmer verbs almost always sound digital in a bad way. For those kinds of clear highs, a synth pedal with multi-octave sine wave oscillator is a much better-sounding option. (Personal opinion.) i think if shimmer sounded better, people out there wouldn’t be hearing it as a gimmick & getting tired of it now. (Trust, in 15 years it’ll sound like 80s gated reverb to people) Personally i’d add some distortion for its ability to give you fuzzy warmth. I find the 1981 inventions drv on a super filtered-out setting makes single note lines sound like butter. Thanks again for the great video! Subscribed, looking forward to check out your other vids!

[@fransarro5181]

Totally agree, I HATE shimmers reverbs. I sold my Blue Sky for that purpose, between others. I got a DBA Rooms and i'm happy, specially with 3 first modes.

[@ajleslie2]

Mark, what do you rest your pedalboard on? Can you fit a small amp underneath? Thanks

[@krokus5714]

Lástima tener esposa e hijos, si no, esa pedalera sería miaaaaa! Gracias!

[@oO5Dynasty]

wow

[@jessieplaysmusic8530]

Is the thumbnail a different board?

[@laydownmisere3674]

Would you use a pedal compressor before or after the Euna?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

EUNA should always be first; it’s a buffer at it’s core and that’s how it should be treated

[@boomieboo]

Thanks for the great lesson! Can you do the same with only digital pedal (apps/software)? I saw a tutorial called '' The 7 Guitar Tones All Guitar Players Chase '' with James of the Music is Win channel who used nothing but digital pedals and they were awesome. Would love to see your take on digital pedals to achieve this kind of sound as well.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Almost all of this is digital. The only analog gear being used here would be my compressor and my drives. Everything else is DSP based. If you’re looking for purely software based gear I can’t help because it’s a world I very intentionally stay out of

[@boomieboo]

@@markjohnstonofficial Ok. Yes I just meant software as in app versions that emulate physical pedal sounds. I'm new to the electric guitar and pedal world but the ambient sound you play is almost EXACTLY the type of sound I want to create. I asked about the software versions because I imagine that some pedals go out of production and are hard to find and/or expensive. Whereas the software versions that recreate them are readily available and affordable. So your review of which ones are worthwhile or not would've been helpful and relevant. Maybe at some time in the future, you'll hear some pedal-emulating software that you feel is worthy of a review. Either way though, thanks so much for this video and what you do! Keep up the great work.

[@PedalPoopers]

Hi Mark, nice to meet you! Your approach was interesting, but I feel like alot of this could have been done with my tone knob, a volume pedal and a delay/reverb pedal such as an Avalanche Run, at least for the sound on the first 15 minutes of the video. For the rest of the video it was more about the reverbs and delays than anything. I am an ambient guitarists myself though

[@krisofnh]

I was trying to wipe the nail above your computer monitor off my screen thinking it was a speck of lint

[@hypnoticGrill]

min 15:49 : ... and the star sheriffs !! KSSSPISCHH! ;)

[@snoopyoverthehills]

do you play ambient guitar solo live shows?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I do not. I do shows when I am in a band (Almanor will be playing shows soon, ideally), but I don't see a lot of interest in doing stuff like this live as I typically multitrack my work as opposed to live looping.

[@tendingtropic7778]

Isnt having the 29 pedals EUNA in front of the chase bliss preamp (fuzz) generally not recommended?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I don’t really use the fuzz in the preamp very often so it’s kind of a non issue for a board like this.

[@tendingtropic7778]

@@markjohnstonofficial tnx for the reply. One more question, do you use the stock IR om the iridium? Or eg york audio?

[@richardweidner1625]

you need to add a boss pedal there for color

[@markjohnstonofficial]

(Tuner)

[@Sagerydian]

Do you still use your Supro 1605r?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

A bunch. It’s set up in my amp room w the benson Vinny cabinet right now.

[@mrdeer5585]

How do you pair Euna with Automatone? It makes the fuzz tone sounds horrible. Any tips?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I’m just not wild about the fuzz and don’t use it often

[@gurtana]

I have a question, why did you record "dead air" into the looper first?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Table top boards make for awkward “punching in” as I can’t get my feet to the buttons. So instead I record a blank loop of a length of time I know I want and then start populating it

[@gurtana]

@@markjohnstonofficial Right, I get you.

[@stefanoemmanueli3696]

Is Iridium last in the signal chain?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Almost always, yes

[@datanautastv3188]

@@markjohnstonofficial Right now I'm liking it before my delays/reverbs but you are totally right. The room knob is the magic sauce and by having it early I don't get most out of it.

[@johnbleeker8249]

yee

[@alexisontiveros3201]

Microcosm pedal is a reverb??

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I wouldn’t say it’s a reverb. But it does HAVE a reverb.

[@korryramone]

Fantastic video. My ears thank you, my wallet's a little pissed.

[@jjcevallos12]

Basically a computer on a Velcro board

[@pjakobsen]

Great video. Although if the goal is to make music that moves the soul, why even use a guitar? A synth module can do all this and so much more - and would be way more cost effective. You would just be working with a keyboard instead of a fretboard, but that should be immaterial to the end goal.

[@frankfrank7921]

Did you have to sell both kidneys to afford that board?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

The Emerson boards are actually pretty reasonably priced for what they are

[@frankfrank7921]

@@markjohnstonofficial I was mainly referring to the Meris and Chase Bliss pedals. Good for you having them but they are pricey. Of course the Microcosm will set you back a bit too.

[@markorfila3832]

Ditch this whole pedal board for a H8000 !

[@jat5am]

How I Build Ambient Guitar Tone (when you've got ≈3k$ pedalboard)

[@makingmusiconline2309]

Heh, start with a couple of caline or joyo pedals ..... it becomes addictive .... and it's cheaper than a pack of cigarettes a day!

[@jat5am]

@@makingmusiconline2309 I don't smoke, I have couple of grands equivalent pedalboard and I know this is addictive :) It's just funny that video with such a basic name requires this much investments like it's totally okay. Folks can get nice sounds without top-notch premium priced pedals.

[@datanautastv3188]

@@jat5am It's true, just make sure you have an Iridium. hahaha. I have been collecting pedals that go from JOYO to very expensive and I'll say this.. You are right, there are cheap pedals out there that just sound amazing but without the Iridium in my rig I would argue not even the expensive ones come to life. It truly is magic. I know it doesn't get much credit in this video but I've found it to be a much more important tool than my compressors, preamps and dedicated EQs when it comes to recording good guitar tone.

[@jat5am]

@@datanautastv3188 thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a closer look. Haven't used it.

[@MoonWalkersbin]

you practically made a synthesizer from guitar. get a synth with keyboard. easier then.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I like playing guitar more than I like playing keys

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

Need to be a millionaire just to buy the pedals

[@Lodit24]

There are A LOT of guitars that are more expensive than that board, and still make for worse sounds