How to Get a Funk Tone With the St James Suite

If you’re a fan of funk music you will know that you need a very clean, snappy tone to play it. Funk tones should be percussive and snappy sounding but not too thin.

It doesn’t matter if you’re playing classic funk tracks or looking at a more modern approach, the rules set out in this lesson can be used as a jumping off point for whatever tone you’re chasing.

Choosing a Cab and Mic

Funk music is known for its tight, snappy sounds. Using a big cabinet, or multiple cabinets, is often not a great start for this genre. Larger speaker cabs will push out far more low end than you often need for playing funk.

Usually, in a funk mix, the guitar is playing chords with multiple notes removed to make room for other instruments in the sonic space, the same should apply tonally. You don’t want your guitar tone to get in the way of other things going on in the mix.

Using a smaller speaker setup like a 1×12 is the best starting point.

Mic wise, you can use a dynamic mic if you want a snappy, aggressive funk tone, a condenser mic if you want a full bodied, full range tone and a ribbon mic if you want a warmer, more vintage funk tone. There are no rules with mics, just choose the one that fits your direction.

EL34 or 6L6?

Funk needs to be clean with lots of headroom so the 6L6 amp will give you everything you need on the clean channel. Most funk players opt for more American voiced amps with a slightly scooped midrange. This midrange scoop gets out of the way of the brass section that is often found in funk bands.

The guitar in funk is often more of a rhythm instrument so the role of the guitar, and it’s tone, is to simply fill space without being ontop of anything else.

Gain or Volume?

For funk you don’t want any gain whatsoever, unless you’re adding a specific part or playing a solo. Clean is best so look for a high headroom clean tone.

Using Lots of Compression

Compression is a funk players best friend. A compressor will even out, and tighten up the parts you play, making each strum and hit sound uniform in volume. This is essential when laying down tight funk grooves.

Set your compressor with a high compression limit and a high blend on the fast setting. This means the compression will kick in quickly and the high blend will mean you hear more of the compressed signal over your dry tone.

EQ Choices

Funk EQ should not have too much or too little of any frequency band, you’re going to look for a balanced clean tone. With the amp already being American voiced you can play to that by bringing the mid down slightly.

For the bass, you’ll want to put them up so the chords and funk line you play feel fat, but without adding any unwanted boom. For the treble, you don’t want it to sound harsh, so bring the treble down until you get the percussive cut you need without the piercing highs.

Keep it Dry

Funk should be tight, so keep that reverb to an absolute minimum, or at best, off totally.

The same applies for the CabRig room settings. You’ll want the least amount of natural room sound as you can get away with. The tighter and more direct your sound, the more appropriate it is for funk.

Make it 80s

If you’re a fan of the 80s session player scene, you may already know that a lot of 80s pop riffs took some sensibilities from funk music, but the tones are somewhat different.

Add some chorus with a slow speed, and plate reverb to your funk tone and you’ll instantly be transported to that 80s studio session scene.

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About the Author

This article on how to dial in a funk tone on the St James Suite was written by Leigh Fuge. Leigh is a professional guitarist and content creator and also works alongside musicteacher.com to create guitar focused, educational and entertainment content.

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