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Hello to all,
I'm a little hesitant to ask in case of getting laughed down, but is it possible to get a Santana type lead tone (particularly in the song 'Smooth') from a Fender Prosonic with a Les Paul guitar?

The reason I ask is that everyone has been telling me that the 2nd channel on the Prosonic is very 'Mesa-like' and I heard he uses a Mesa Mk. IV. Is tis right?

I've heard he also uses a Dumble (?not at all familiar with these?) and people have kind of hinted that this provides the tone that everyone recognises as the Santana sound.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I'd also like to hear what others think of Santana's tone. I'm the only one of all the guitar geeks I know who really likes it!

Thanks,
-Benja

i dont know about his gear !!!! but i think santana is the sh1t!!!!!!!!

never be hesitant to ask if you dont know the answer ... that being said, the internet is a great place to find answers before resorting to asking questions .. google knows a lot of stuff about people's gear ... so does the search function ...

he doesnt use a mk iv

he uses a mk i and a dumble and some other gear

it is important to understand that there is no one single such thing as 'mesa like' sound ... there are a number of 'mesa like' tones that are nothing like each other .. santana's tone might be thought of as one of the mesa signature tones ...

i'd advise you to go play the amp in question with the quitar in question and see if you like the tone .. do not take anyone's input as gospel truth about tone, least of all someone who is trying to sell you something .. trust you ears

good luck
t4d

the mark I is kinda like a hot rodded fender. a big difference is the fact that the prosonic combos used 10quot; speakers vs the 12quot; in the mesa

I don't see why not? Remember.. One of the 1st Mesa Boogie's was a Fender
princeton that Randall smith hot rodded for Carlos. With a good O.D. pedal
There's not to many tones you can't get out of a Fender.

You should check out Fender Pro Tube Series Pro Reverb or Concert Reverb.

With a PRS neck pickup and those amps, you can get very close to a Santana-like tone.
They have a great gain channel, with endless sustain. All tube, even the spring reverb and tremolo. You can even bias them with a volt meter on the back panel, without even disassembling the amp.

Good advice so far.

Mesa Boogie resulted from the experiments of hot-rodding the Fender amp for Carlos.

T4D is correct. Go play the gear you're interested in...and trust your ears.

You might find the tone you seek with DIFFERENT gear than Carlos used.

If you are trying a distortion pedal I would look at getting a big muff. I can get some Carlos-esq tones with that.

To get that kindda sound, I with go with the MArk I santana pups, now its all reissued

I remember a tread a while back in wich someone said that an Alnico II Pro might get the job done pup wise.

You should go to Santana's site, he has what he uses in some page, but then again he also lists it in shaman and I think Supernatural (let me see that, yes I'm too lasy to use the delete key)... he does.

As far as I know he rarely uses FX's, I think he only used a Tube Screamer on The Calling and that was because he was using a strat to match Eric Clapton (read this in an interview with CS).

As for amps I don't know what models and can't tell you by the way they sound (not only don't I have that sort of ear but I lack experience) but I know he has some sort of falling out with Mesa Boogies because he was trying to get some changes made to his amp and the guy who runs the thing basically told him to stuff it, so he's back using the Dumbles (from what I gathered he was using them before the Mesas).

I may not be right on certain details, others might shed some more light. and don't be afraid to ask, nobody knows everything and we gotta learn someway.

BTW, Santana ROCKS!

whatever you do, do NOT emulate the tone he was getting last night on the 'world music awards' show ... his tone was @$$ ... muddy, dull, inarticulate ... like the tone control was rolled full off .. pure crap

t4d

my understanding is that the compressed Santana tone comes from using multiple (2 or 3) OD pedals. I don't know what flavor he uses, but using 3 three tube screamers in series would be key to get closer to his tone.

Thanks for all the tips everyone. The reason I'm asking is that I'd like to be able rip-off that tone occansionally for the a few lead lines, I don't want to be Santana or anything. My local guitar tech just left my house and he says he's got both my amps up and running again, and better than ever! So I'll soon find out how close I can get.

Thanks for all the gear tips as well, but like I mentioned in this thread, I don't want the Santana thing to be my stable tone, I just want to be able to tap into it from time to time. So I don't really want to spend any money on getting that final 10%, absolute accuracy isn't really important here.

Because I don't want to set my gear up with getting the Santana sound as a priority, would I better inclined to roll off my tone knob than setting the amps EQ? I was listening to the pickup sound clips on the PRS website, they do sound pretty good. There wasn't really any thing I didn't like.

Thanks for all the tips,
Benja

I don't think you can really get Carlos Santana's tone with a Fender guitar...but if your Fender guitar has humbuckers and you're playing through the right amp you can get close enough. Carlos has such a distinctive tone and touch...I've never heard anyone except Carlos really sound like Carlos. Like Carlos always says: his tone comes from his heart, soul and even from his balls!

I don't think you can really get Carlos Santana's tone with a Fender guitar...but if your Fender guitar has humbuckers and you're playing through the right amp you can get close enough. Carlos has such a distinctive tone and touch...I've never heard anyone except Carlos really sound like Carlos. Like Carlos always says: his tone comes from his heart, soul and even from his balls!Sorry, I should have been more specific. I am looking for a means of getting a Carlos type sound from a Fender Prosonic amp and an Epiphone Les Paul. I have a Seth Lover in the neck which I think should be able to get at least within the same ballpark. My bad, Lew. Sorry again.


Originally Posted by benjaturnerSorry, I should have been more specific. I am looking for a means of getting a Carlos type sound from a Fender Prosonic amp and an Epiphone Les Paul. I have a Seth Lover in the neck which I think should be able to get at least within the same ballpark. My bad, Lew. Sorry again.

My quot;badquot; actually...you clearly said you had an Epiphone Les Paul and I read your post to quickly.

You know what? IMO, if Carlos were to play your Epi Les Paul with the Seth Lover, he'd probably sound just like Carlos Santana...especially if he played it through his amp and gear.

IMO, Santana's tone comes from his touch, note selection, vibrato and phrasing...and from being Carlos Santana.

Carlos sounded like Carlos right from the get-go...right from his first album.

And in those days he didn't play PRS guitars, or Dumble or Mesa or Boogie amps. He played a Gibson SG, a Gibson ES-335 and used a cranked Fender Twin Reverb.

IMO, you should work on capturing Carlos feel: his choice of notes, his phrasing, his vibrato, the way he finishes a phrase with that little quot;liftquot; he does at the end of a phrase and his attitude.

If you can get that together you'll be able to sound more like Carlos than if you used his exact gear.

lew has it down exactly right .. to wit, have you heard henry garza from los lonely boys? .. he gets a carlos thing going on a strat !!! ... its more about tapping into that vibe, learning those little phrases, and tearing into it ...

have fun
t4d