What Is An Edge Of Breakup Clean Tone? | Tone Talk

Hi! I'm Will and welcome to my channel. Today we're talking about what exactly is an edge of breakup clean tone. Join me as we discuss (small rant) what that is, what it isn't, how to get there, and what to do once you've gotten there.
Amps & Pedals used today:
Ceriatone HRM100
Paul Cochrane Timmy v2
Thanks for watching. It's an honor to get to spend this time with you all. If you enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe. We are releasing a new video every Monday. So, until then, have a great week, and we'll see you next time!
0:00 - Welcome
0:09 - Why Are They Different?
2:46 - Ceriatone HRM100
4:21 - Clean Tone
6:55 - Edge of Breakup Tone
8:28 - What About Pedals?
10:06 - Clean Tone w/Timmy v2
10:53 - Edge of Breakup Tone w/Timmy v2
12:08 - Until Next Time

[@darwinsaye]

Not to be picky, but your initial “clean” setting, while fully clean with the single coils, with the humbucker (starting at 4:25) was definitely more what I would call an edge of breakup tone. You were feathering the strings to keep it from breaking up, but when you hit them harder it was starting to overdrive (it should be impossible to get *any* drive with a truly clean setting, even hitting the strings hard). Which I think raises an important point; you have to change your edge of breakup settings when switching to different output pickups or guitars if you want to have the same consistent degree of “on the edge” tone.

[@willruddermusic2646]

Fair point! Also, any speaker close mic'd is going to sound more "overdriven" then when listening "in the room". The preamp and poweramp can be pristine, but because clean transients are so much more powerful than distorted transients (because with distortion comes clipping and compression...clean is unclipped and uncompressed) most of that "grit" that you are hearing is actually coming from a Celestion GT75 speaker. It's crazy how many absolutely tiny details go into a tone or a sound. Thanks for the comment! Always welcome the discussion!

[@darwinsaye]

Will Rudder Music Very true!

[@AriqAlok]

Excellent content sir! Exactly what I was looking for with my Blues Jr. IV -- thanks!

[@onegolol]

This video was so helpful! Really well explained and edited! Thank you :)

[@ElectronicCity715]

Love the vid man. Subscribed, thanks

[@PTS74]

Beautifully explained, good job Will.

[@willruddermusic2646]

Thank you! I feel like this is one of those things in the guitar community where everyone has their own personal view of what exactly an edge of breakup tone is. Very happy to share what my opinion is and see what others in the community think as well! Appreciate you checking out the video!

[@rizzaramon7213]

The ceria in ceriatone means happy/cheerful in malay. So cool to know my neighbouring country makes awesome amps.

[@toneseeker87]

I subbed because of your crystal clear explanation. ❤️

[@willruddermusic2646]

Thank you!!!

[@PhilORourke]

Thank you, really good video. Glad I subscribed

[@willruddermusic2646]

I haven’t posted a new video in months, unfortunately. But I sure do hope to deliver more content after the summer! Thank you for subscribing!

[@SweFPV]

Great vid, good flow, great topic and reasonings! Keep it up! Subbed!

[@willruddermusic2646]

Thank you very much!

[@ZacBarnesMusic]

Great video! Thanks!

[@kakarotosama3571]

Informative

[@DiscGolfFool]

As a non-guitar player I found what you said informative and interesting. I'm looking forward to learning more about guitar stuff watching your channel.

[@willruddermusic2646]

Thanks brotha! Appreciate your support and checking the channel out!

[@jackarmistead5353]

Maybe pick up a guitar? You might enjoy it.

[@DiscGolfFool]

@@jackarmistead5353 oh I have and know a few songs and chords but I have stubby fingers. I'm a very good drummer or use to be.

[@matt-770]

The aesthetics with the gold on purple of the Royal Majesty Ceriatone are as good as it sounds, there's nothing to detract from it.

[@willruddermusic2646]

I agree ;) love love love Nik and everybody at Ceriatone. Incredible amps!

[@rufledore]

I am going to see how my amp is doing :)

[@logancircles8276]

Interesting. I went from single coil to humbucker pick ups and noticed when playing harder there was more gain.. Little did I know I just discovered a little amp break up..

[@michellelaverickmusic]

Q. I love my vox and Marshall amps which I blend with clean amp using an aby pedal. My problem as support artist with 30mins it’s too much gear to lug. Plus it tends antagonise the sound guy who don’t understand why a support artist would show up with so much gear. I’d be just in their way… So if I wanted break up with someone pedal to go off to pa what would I use?

[@kerrytyk111]

Shoutout for Ceriatone!

[@stevengorum2727]

It enables one to use a more dynamic approach to a solo or a particular rhyme. Huh ?? It gives you more Dynamics

[@willruddermusic2646]

Yes. This amp is a Dumble clone. And, a thing the Dumble's are kind of known for is all the touch sensitivity and dynamics on your picking hand while playing. For instance, similarly to how a horn player can play 1 note really clean or with a lot of growl...the design of the Dumble amps allows you to play a note at the same volume relatively clean and relatively distorted depending on how soft or hard your pick attack is. All that to say, it allows you to be more creative when playing a phrase or melody to be able to adjust the sound of a note without having to change anything on the amp.

[@MurdaMetz]

Hello again so I made so progress with my edge of break up tone . I think a good way to describe it is that it’s almost clean except when you get to the higher notes , then you Just want enough dirt to where the tone breaks up when you dig in , I’m getting the best tone of my life right now . I also think these vintage telefunkens and mullard has a little bit to do with this haha . 😂

[@willruddermusic2646]

Haha! That’s fantastic man! Would love to hear a clip, man! Even if it’s a phone recording.

[@MurdaMetz]

@@willruddermusic2646 I have a studio , what’s your email , I’ll send you a clip my next day off which is Thursday .

[@MurdaMetz]

@@willruddermusic2646 before i used to use to much gain or not enough , but now I know the importance of just enough and how much it impacts my playing and I have a lot to look forward to . Thanks for the great video btw . It really helped me understand more how to get an awesome tone .

[@willruddermusic2646]

[e-mail]

[@creeping_deth2761]

JUICY TOAN

[@MurdaMetz]

What about driving the power tubes vs the preamp stage for some break up ? I find using an attenuator gets me some pretty great results on master volume type amps .

[@willruddermusic2646]

It’s a different affect but can achieve similar results. As you push the power section…the feel of the amp will change pretty drastically in the low end and midrange the more you drive the power section. More sag. Low end will get more loose. Mids will push pretty significantly.

[@MurdaMetz]

@@willruddermusic2646 this is what I noticed myself , it seems that I’m able to get a fuller sound of edge of break up tone using less preamp gain and more power amp gain , especially on non master volume amps .

[@willruddermusic2646]

@@MurdaMetz I would be willing to say that trying on the preamp section would give you more dynamics and a wider range of breakup where as relying on the power section would give you a more consistent less dynamic sound. Both absolutely have their uses! I love both haha

[@MurdaMetz]

@@willruddermusic2646 this is good to know , so if I want more dynamics I would want to rely mostly gain staging the preamp ? I’ll give this a go , thank you ! I’m working on my dirt tone , or edge of break up tone , it sounds mostly clean unless I dig in , but I want a little more bite when I dig in , so what would you recommend, for single note stuff I can get it sounding great , but it’s when I play chords that it seems to shrill , or spiky .

[@MurdaMetz]

@@willruddermusic2646 I’m using a be-50 deluxe , going into a 1x12 g12m creamback 65 , btw . I have my clean tone dialed in , and when I go into the be ( dirt channel ) I want it to sounds mostly clean with a little break up that comes after the initial attack , so a little of compression to the attack and sustain to the decay , this is what I’m trying to achieve, but without losing the base clean tone I have set up . I’m wondering if using a pedal for a little dirt on the clean channel would be better vs switching to the dirt channel ?

[@paulrusinko666]

Is this the same with a solid state amp?

[@willruddermusic2646]

Great question! I am not 100% sure…but I would think a solid state amp wouldn’t change its characteristics that happen naturally when you push a preamp/power amp tube. I would expect a solid state amp to keep its characteristics even when pushed. Clipping/Gain/Distortion may be introduced by pushing a solid state amp…but I would imagine it wouldn’t affect the mid range and overall feel and responsiveness like a tube amp does.

[@williammurray9055]

'D' style?

[@psychotogether5114]

Rhett Shull left the chat.

[@willruddermusic2646]

😂 Love his channel. Him and Rabea are both guilty of having full crunch tones and initially calling it an “edge of break up clean channel” before they correct themselves later in their videos after having a bit of a laugh at how crunchy their tone really is

[@psychotogether5114]

@@willruddermusic2646 i literally had to turn it off and look and another video. You explain and play it perfectly. I love both of those guys but Rhett’s was so crunchy that when he eventually added a pedal it didn’t sound that different than when he had it off. Thanks a lot.

[@willruddermusic2646]

@@psychotogether5114 thanks so much for checking my video out, man. It means a ton! Just happy to have helped in any way I could.

[@psychotogether5114]

@@willruddermusic2646 you 100% did but now it’s too late I have to wait till my next day off to try it! Haha. But I cannot wait!!

[@williammurray9055]

Dumple. OK

[@williammurray9055]

Dumble

[@willruddermusic2646]

Yep! That's all that means. It's used a lot and usually it's pretty vague and to what exactly it means. For me, when I think Dumble, I think the biggest, sweetest, juiciest clean tone, ever. And then smooth, but more importantly, incredibly dynamic overdrive.

[@willfowler8540]

Hey! Mine names will too! And I play guitar! Wierd

[@willruddermusic2646]

Nice to meet you, Will! We (Will's the play guitar) da best!

[@nuendo2496]

The PRS is not a good guitar. Flat.

[@willruddermusic2646]

Interesting opinion. I disagree completely. But that’s the beauty of it all. To each their own! What’s your preference and why?

[@HiredGoonage]

Such rubbish