Defining “That” Worship Sound.
What is great worship tone? “That” worship sound can be very difficult to achieve because of the range of tones the worship player needs to cover. From verse to bridge or song to song, the tones can be drastically different. The beginning of a worship sound all starts with the guitar and amp, your core tone/clean tone. We're trying to achieve two different sounds, and the challenge is to get both from one rig. Parts of the song might need a very warm (more bass, more mids, tamed high end) clean tone, while other parts require the opposite—broken up, overdriven sound with less bass and pushed mids.
The goal is to have enough articulation and note separation between the bass, middle, and high strings so that when you strum, every note is heard clearly. This is clarity. When you pick out a guitar, you want a middle ground of all these characteristics. Starting with guitar selection, the Fender Stratocaster gives you the mids and chimey highs, offering sparkle and clarity on the high end but lacks the bottom end grunt for overdriven territory. On the other hand, a Gibson Les Paul provides lots of warmth and great clean sounds and can deliver the low end when pushed, but doesn’t have as much high-end sparkle.
From our perspective, the two guitars that fit the middle ground are a Fender Strat with the right pickups (we use Lambertones Blondies) or the Gretsch Duo Jet or semi-hollow body with Filter'Tron pickups. We use TV Jones Classics in the neck and Classic Plus in the bridge pickups. Both of these guitars deliver the best of both worlds: clarity in the high ends and punchy low ends.
Choosing an Amp for Great Worship Tone
Choosing an amp is the next step in achieving a great worship tone. Following the same guidelines, you need an amp with a nice, warm clean tone that can be pushed into overdriven sounds and get the high-end chime to cut through the mix. The two most widely used amps in worship are the Fender Deluxe Reverb and the Vox AC30. These low to mid-wattage amps (20-30 watts) are known for staying clean but can be pushed into overdrive. Selecting between the two is personal preference: the Fender has a warmer sound, while the Vox has more mids and sparkle. The decision also depends on your guitar pairing. The Fender pairs well with a Telecaster because the Tele is brighter, and the Gretsch pairs better with the Vox because it has more low-end punch.
Today, many of us use amp modelers because we play on noiseless stages, but the amp sims are modeled after these amps and still help achieve what the real amps do.
Dialing in Core Clean Tone
The goal is to set your amp tone at the edge of breakup—where the gain of your amp is set so that when you strum lightly, you get a clean, non-overdriven sound, but when you dig in and play chords, the amp starts to break up. This is where the amp sounds best and is ready to be used with effects pedals. Turn up your volume/gain until you reach that edge of breakup sound.
Next, turn to your tone stack and start dialing in your EQ. We’re aiming for a balance of warm and bright sounds. The guitars noted above have tone selector switches that can be moved to three different positions: neck, middle, and bridge. The neck is the warmest (darkest) while the bridge is the brightest. The middle is the balance between the sounds. I start by dialing in the tone at the middle position. You want to achieve a balance of warm and bright so that when you strum a full chord, you can hear articulation between the strings from top to bottom. If one frequency (bass or treble) stands out, adjust the bass and treble knobs on the EQ until you get a balanced sound.
Without changing your EQ, switch to the neck pickup and strum. It should be pushed a little to the warm side. If the bass notes “flub” out (lose definition/sound muddy), go back to your middle position until they’re balanced again and re-try it on the neck pickup. If it doesn’t sound flubby, move onto the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup will be inherently brighter with less bass. Strum a chord and listen for high frequencies that don’t sound shrill. If they do, go back to the middle position, lower your treble a little, and adjust the bass until you have a good balanced sound. You’ll be switching between the three positions as you EQ to find the balanced sound—you want to be as bright as possible in the bridge without sounding shrill and as warm as possible on the neck without flubbing out.
Once you achieve this, you have your “Core Tone” that you can use in any pickup position depending on what the song calls for.
Setting Up Your Drive Pedals
Now, let's move on to your drive pedals. There are three categories of drive pedals: overdrive, distortion, and fuzz. They range from least to most aggressive sounds. While fuzz can be used for worship, it’s the least used and hardest to dial in for worship tone, so we’ll focus mostly on overdrive and distortion.
Overdrives fall into two subcategories: transparent and non-transparent overdrives. A "transparent" overdrive means it sounds just like you’ve turned up the gain on your amp without altering the overall sound of your guitar. The bass, mids, and high frequencies are not affected when you engage the pedal, maintaining your core guitar tone but with more overdrive.
Non-transparent overdrives alter your EQ as well. The most widely used circuit in this category is the Tube Screamer, which removes bass and treble frequencies, giving your tone more mid-focus to cut through the mix. Distortion pedals sound more like a cranked Marshall amp, delivering a really crunchy, overdriven sound.
Dialing in your drive section is the next step in building 'that' worship tone. Worship tone covers a wide range of sounds, so I use three pedals on my board. I primarily use three overdrive pedals/sounds on my board: one overdrive, one Tube Screamer-like overdrive, and one distortion. Between these three pedals, you can achieve most any sound you need, from clean edge-of-breakup rhythm guitar to saturated lead tones. I get all three of these pedal sounds from the Lion and Lamb, stacking the different circuits and calling them up with MIDI when I need them. Without MIDI, I use the onboard presets to achieve the three different sounds I need.
When to Use Each Drive
It’s up to you to decide which stage of overdrive you need, but typically there are three to four stages of overdrive used in worship:
Stage 1: Transparent overdrive sound dialed in to have just a little bit more overdrive than your core, edge-of-breakup tone; volume at the same level as your core tone; tone/EQ adjusted to where it doesn’t alter your core tone.
Stage 2: Distortion pedal sound turned up a little more than stage 1, with the volume knob slightly above stage 1 and tone knobs adjusted so it doesn’t alter your core amp tone.
Stage 3: Non-transparent overdrive with gain and volume matching stage 2, altering your tone. Dial in the tone knob to balance between dark and shrill.
Stage 4: Combination of stacking two drives for the song’s dynamics—stacking distortion and transparent overdrive for an edgier rhythm sound, or non-transparent overdrive with another drive to cut through the mix.
Wet Effects for Worship Tone
The next critical part of ‘that’ worship tone is wet effects (reverb, delay, modulation, tremolo, vibrato, and chorus) and how to use these to create atmosphere or enhance your core tone. Enhancing your core tone involves using wet effects to add depth and space. Using an amp in a room does this naturally with spring reverb and natural reflections. Since many of us don’t have real amps, we add reverb effects to achieve depth and space.
For dialing in wet effects, start with a little spring reverb, possibly in your amp modeler. Use a base of spring reverb with a subtle amount—you're not trying to create an effect but add depth. Then, add space with a room or hall reverb. If you play in a small room, use a room reverb with shorter decay; in a big auditorium, use a hall reverb with longer decay. Keep mix levels low to create space without overpowering your tone. Use a multi-algorithm reverb like our Revelation, leaving on room or hall reverb all the time as part of your core tone. When you need to add effects, switch algorithms for a more noticeable effect reverb.
Using Delay
Delay can be part of your core tone or an effect. For core tone, use an analog or tape delay with a low mix and long repeats to create a clean “wash” under your tone—the repeats should not be very noticeable. The Eternity Delay can achieve this, providing a solid foundation for your core tone. This is optional but worth trying to see if it enhances your sound.
Final Thoughts on ‘That’ Worship Sound
This is our perspective on ‘that’ worship sound. The rest of your wet and modulation effects can create specific sounds to support lead lines, rhythmic delays, ambient swells, or altering the intensity of your guitar tone. Layering different effects is a big part of the worship sound and varies by song. Adding effects is essential but requires another article. Here are a few guidelines for dialing in effects in worship:
Non-traditional reverb: Bright, airy, with lots of movement (e.g., modulated algorithm on the Revelation).
Rhythmic delay: Prominent in the mix, used with picking patterns for rhythmic sounds—dotted 1/8th delay is popular in worship music.
Modulation effects: Chorus, tremolo, and vibrato are commonly used. Artists like David Hislop of Bethel make heavy use of modulation effects.
This is how we describe ‘that’ worship sound and how we've designed our core line of products to achieve it. Dialing in your sound takes experimentation and getting to know your rig. By following these principles, you'll discover the sounds you're missing and fill in your core worship sound.
