I've always found that my favourite clean tones arent very clean and my favourite dirty tones aren't very dirty.

This episode should be called “Confessions with Zach.”

Edge of breakup on a Tweed or Princeton is one of my greatest joys in life.

In metal we have the opposite problem. People think they have to dime the gain. But most metal records have way less gain than you’d expect

I like to practice clean.  It's not as fun nor does it sound as good, but it keeps you honest and forces you to really work on technique.

I think of it as “perceived clean”.  The goal is to have a sound that reads as clean but has all the juice of a driven tone

That Tele straight into the the amp with no dirt is an amazing tone all by itself.

Grit is a tool and, like any other tool, has a time and place. I've also noticed that a lot of classic rock guitar (e.g., AC/DC) uses LESS overdrive than what I'd always thought.

@askzac 30+ year producer here… easy way to say understand what you were talking about at 7:40 is saturation or harmonic distortion is exactly that…harmonic. The reason why we put saturation on a sound is because second and third order harmonics created octaves and fifths etc on top of the original fundamental. So the reason you put it on a bass for example is to hear the octave harmonic so the bass cuts through on small speakers. That’s the reason you slightly dirty guitar cuts better then a clean guitar…because you are hearing subtle octaves of the fundamental. That = perceived clarity and definition.

The clean is so much better than the dirty . I'm 67 years old . I went through the early '70s heavy loud stuff and still like it . But now in my '60s enjoy clean and acoustic tones. Don't get too old to enjoy playing  , I am at that point now, do whatever you need to do to avoid this part of aging !

John: "He's a nice old man, isn't he?"
Paul: "He's very...clean."

As James Jamerson would say , there`s funk in the gunk .

I think for this channel your clean sound is fine. It’s refreshingly old school and honest in a sea of YouTubers with their giant pedal boxes and pedal promotions.

11:36 one of my favorite Roy Buchanan riffs

Yep. Back when I was into electronic music production I learned this lesson producing 808 kicks. They are extremely deep electronic kick sounds with virtually no mid range information – very hollow and booming. Add some distortion and it starts to bring out mid range overtones that can be heard even when you don’t have a subwoofer. Same principal applies to any instrument. The more of those harmonic overtones you bring out in the signal, the easier it is to hear it

I always have dirt I just use the guitar volume to dial it in

Don’t forget the EP BOOSTER!

The Wampler Belle is perfect for this.  The ODR circuit is so transparent.

You’re not a dummy Zach. We’re all on our own journey with guitar. I thought I didn’t need to learn music theory to play, yet through playing, I’ve learned (and still am) music theory.

I've always loved your tone, but I've come to the same realization myself! I've heard a too clean, thin, crystalline tone in my tone on playback online. I've added a little more grit to my dry tone, gained up a little bit on my OD, and I've learned to roll back my treble (thanks to your video) and I've had better results. Thanks. Now, if I can just make my fingers move to the right place at the right time, I'd be on my way! 😂