How do you set up an amp/rig to get a country guitar sound?

[Elliot]

As it says above.  The specific amps I am using are a Fender Supersonic and a Vibroverb - so no mid control.

[AndyR]

Bit of an open ended question there! :lol:

I tend to use my standard blues/rock settings - they seem to do the job ok for me unless I plug a humbucker guitar in, then I have to back the gain off a bit.

For my "standard" I tend to back the bass off a quarter of a turn, and then add roughly the same amount of treble. I then set the guitar's volume and tone to about 7 for my "stock" sound. I adjust the amp's bass/treble (and any mid or presence) according to how that feels for the room or amount of gain/volume I'm using.

That lets me use the guitar controls to get wherever I want (clean/crunch/lead, and dark/bright). It works particularly well with a telecaster :D

Compression seems to be useful for certain types of country vibe. On a recording I might end up compressing a cleanish country lead quite heavily in a mix, but I've never figured out how to use a compressor in the guitar-to-amp chain.

[dave_mc]

i just use a tele (or even a strat bridge pickup) into a fender-style amp and it sounds pretty country to me. I'm no country player, though, so maybe it only sounds "close enough" to my ears! :lol:

[Elliot]

When I do it, it just sounds blues...

[Twinfan]

You want a compressor, not a lot of bass and plenty of treble.  It's all in the spank...

[Elliot]

Cheers all - I also understand that country players use an tiny splash of echo or a delay - what sort of setting does one use in terms of miliseconds and repeats?

[Telerocker]

You want a compressor, not a lot of bass and plenty of treble.  It's all in the spank...

+1. Lots of countryplayers use compressors.

[Andrew W]

Cheers all - I also understand that country players use an tiny splash of echo or a delay - what sort of setting does one use in terms of miliseconds and repeats?

A bit of slap-back echo works wonders. I usually set it to give a tiny pause before the echo, and limit it go on pretty much just a single repeat. I think you need to set the delay by ear so it feels right to you.

[gordiji]

pretty much answered above.not having mid control doesn't matter.bite is important to give twang especially in your
low strings, they don't want to sound fat, the definition will be lost with too much bass.
compresser is standard but if your attack is too low your bottom strings lose definition.compreesers are v.good in a live situation to give a boost to solo's but more importantly to fatten the sound and give sustain.the guitar is more 'playable' with a compresser.delay can be a slapback ie. 1 v.quick repeat giving a 'rockabilly' sound, or longer delay settings for filling your sound.don't forget all country isn't manic picking.    
i generally use a clean tone but some players like brad paisley use quite a bit of gain.in fact a loud amp gives natural compression and makes a clean tone 'bigger'.
check out doug seven, the most important thing for country is using pentatonics/chromatics in the right way.
oh and single coils, hope this helps 

[dave_mc]

When I do it, it just sounds blues...

that happens me with a strat's neck pickup :lol:

oh yeah and good call on the slapback andrew

[Telerocker]

Ampwise most Fenders sound good for country, maybe due to the deep reverb they usually have. I heard some Carr-amps and they fit the bill for country and rootsy styles.